Annie Get Your Gun!

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 171.5#, 10% BF

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 173#, 10% BF

 

I'm doomed. Anne has been looking for a new road bike all summer, something fast but not too pimped-out, and tonight we're going over to Bike Line to pick up her new Trek. (I will post more details, model and size and color etc, as I find them out myself). She's keeping her Cannondale as a commuter/utility/touring bike, which is how it's currently set up, with fenders, panniers, lights and a generator -- in other words, heavy -- but will now have a "fast recreational bicycle" for the speedy fun rides. Since she's already pretty strong and quick on the commuter, she's only going to be faster on the new one...

 

Stayed in on Wednesday night, but last night I hit the gym -- first time in a month -- before heading over to Musikfest, to meet Anne, Donna and another friend. Fish Tacos and Rockwell Red at Brew Works, then we checked out Start Making Sense, the Talking Heads tribute -- again! I can't get enough! -- at the Starfish Lounge.

 

Tonight is probably the maiden voyage for Anne's new bike, and then I may go to the Funhouse to catch The Insidious Rays, yet another band I used to love before they disbanded/disappeared. I'm not sure I'm up for a late night in a smoky bar (we still have a few in PA), and Anne's sister is visiting with her grade school kids, so we'll see.

Wall Of Contusion

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 8% BF

 

There was a little slipping and sliding going on here and there, but the only time I actually fell in Saturday's race was when I was walking: I was crossing some bridge with missing decking, and my foot slipped on the wet wooden surface and I went down hard. I almost fell through the hole in the bridge, but luckily my shin broke the fall... I had a ridiculous lump at first, like something you'd see grow on a cartoon character's head (like, after Bugs Bunny hit him with the hammer), and there must have been some serious hematoma because my foot and ankle are now all purple.

 

My shin's been fairly achey ever since, but I've been doing a lot of walking and standing on it, hitting Musikfest the past three nights. Sunday was best, even though I was at my most tired and sore, because we got to see most of what was there before the vibe turned sour; Monday and last night we were out a little later, when things become not-so-nice, and the mood, especially in areas where the teens (and cops) congregate, turns aggressive, like everyone's just waiting for the spark that starts the big fight. Still, I've seen some good bands -- Sunday was Brazilian music, Monday was Large Flower Heads and Dr Dog, and last night I caught the last part of Start Making Sense -- and we've been having a lot of fun with our home-decorated Dollar Store mugs, which we (me, Anne, Deb and Donna) have been casually mentioning we made at "MugPlatz, over by the old stone buildings" everywhere we go...

Doh!!

Back from the Wilderness 101, where fatigue and slow times forced me to bail out at mile 89 (the final checkpoint, only a dozen miles from the finish). Oh well, that was my first DNF ever, and a worthy one it was... Better luck next year, eh?

I went up with a guy named Dave, an acquaintance from Big Bear and local riding, and he rode a smart & fast race, and finished in 11:30 or thereabouts. Other than that, I saw no one else I knew, but it was still a fun party afterward, even if the faster riders drank most of the beer before I could do much damage...

Here's a view of my race.

Isn't That Always The Way?

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 173.5#, 10.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 173.5#, 9.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 174#, 11% BF

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 173.5#, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 173.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Oh well, looks like I wo'nt be Hemingway OR Skeletor anytime soon, two of my favorite muses being beer and food... Speaking of which, we (Anne and I, and Debbie) hit Tap & Table as an alternate venue for "Two-Brew Tuesday." It was pretty much as I'd heard: neat, French-rustic (and almost medieval) decor, a huge beer list with awesome selections and high-ish prices, and, I'm told, fantastic food -- everything they fry is fried in peanut oil, so I think it's best I just avoid their food altogether. Deb got a burger with fries and declared it the best ever, Anne took a bite and agreed, and I had another beer... (As an aside: there was nothing on the menu, nor any sign on the walls, that said anything about the peanut oil -- I'd seen it on their website and asked, and I could tell the bartender knew what I was getting at by her answer.)

This Will Make You Cry: Here's a little something, not really about cycling. Don't forget, it's not too late to donate to the PPRAC ride. Good Luck You Guys (and Gals)!

This Will Make You Laugh: Anne saw this in the NY Times and checked it out, then sent it to me -- it's where I got the above link.

Well, last night was the Brew Works, and today is the start of Musikfest, and I'm out of here for the tomorrow's Wilderness 101. I also posted more pictures; you know what to do.

Interludes

Morning weigh in: 170.5#, 11% BF (Yeah it's a Sunday, but I felt like bragging.)

An Incident At The Hippie Deli: We went for breakfast Friday at a fairly popular (and crunchy) Ithaca deli, which shall remain nameless for fear of lawsuits. We happened to sit near the exit, which was also where the trash bins were -- trash bin, maybe one or two different recycling bins, and composting, they were really into it: while I was sitting there, one customer admonished another one for misusing the trash bins, and made him re-do his garbage.

They leave, we continue eating, and eventually an employee shows up to take care of all the refuse. Anne was about to say "Wouldn't it be funny if they put it all in one bag?" when that is exactly what this guy did. We actually stared and watched everything he did to make sure we weren't imagining it, but sure enough, he dumped all the oh-so-carefully separated refuse into one big bag and tossed that in a bin outside.

Arachnology: We had a houseguest the week before last, one of Emmi's scientist friends stayed over while passing through en route from Knoxville to somewhere in New England. She arrived while I was out riding, and I caught up with her and Anne at the Brew Works -- it turned out that she's an entomologist and a spider expert. I asked her to tell me "in layman's terms" what her research was, and tried not to drool when she said she studied the effect of spider predation (who are, in her words, "the lions and tigers of the little world") on the impact of other insects on leaf mold formation. I asked her if she was talking about something like the Lotka-Volterra equations, and she just chuckled.

Anyway, we're winding down from vacation and getting ready for work tomorrow. We got back Friday and unpacked, then we did a fairly long ride yesterday, stopped in at Hans & Kim's wedding reception picnic, then stopped in at Toby & Erica's housewarming party, then utterly crashed... Today we're making beer -- rather, Anne's making beer, and a cherry pie, and I'm fooling with this interactive-TV lightning-box doohickey until there's some heavy lifting to be done. It's stupid hot and humid, and I'm trying not to move too much.

Meantime, more pictures, this time of our hike. Enjoy!

Yeah I Ate Pie For Breakfast...

...but that was back in Vermont, where it's all about "when in Rome." Right now I'm sitting in The Owl Cafe in Ithaca, drinking coffee and getting ready to go enjoy dinner at the Moosewood Restaurant (if we can get in), and a cucumber-infused gin and tonic at Felicia's Atomic Lounge -- well, maybe not in that order...

We've been bouncing between really nice hotels, and camping, all week. First was Middlebury VT, where we met Ben, then the three of us went up to Silver Lake State Park -- we were told of a great place called "Silver Lake," with lots of hiking, and primitive camping, but ended up at a "family friendly" lakeside camp, which happened to have the same name, and (unlike the other place) happened to be on the map. Oh well, we had fun, and I finally got rid of my "biker's tan" on the beach.

The next day we climbed Mount Abraham, an awesome hike, and then went back to civilization in Middlebury: we saw the new Harry Potter movie, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would, and had dinner at the local brewpub.

The next two days were camping between Lake Saranac and Lake Placid, and it was definitely a mixed bag. We finally found some good roads to ride, but local traffic, and road conditions, were pretty bad especially between the two towns. (We did find some good stuff, with the help of some local bike shops.) Camping was fun the first night, then the next night was rainy, and the tent leaked so we slept in the car, and I got positional vertigo again, and puked up my spaghetti & meatballs...

Things were trending downhill, so yesterday we high-tailed it out of there. We found a laundromat -- long story, but basically they don't have many near Lake Placid -- and relocated our base camp, with our wet camping gear & clean clothes, to Ithaca. It was time for a nice hotel again, so we're staying at the Holiday Inn downtown. Dinner, drinks, a good night's sleep, and a good ride, and things are looking up once again.

By the way, I've posted pictures: some shots of a recent ride at Jacobsburg, and of our first camping adventure. Enjoy!

Supercaldera

Well it's been a rough week, but now I'm on vacation, and last night I finally committed to the W101 -- as in, paid and registered -- and I also got us those reservations for Elk River in late August. Right now I' supposed to be getting ready for our Vermont/Adirondacks trip, packing, getting an oil change etc, so we can leave around noon, but I just thought I'd touch base here first -- I'm bringing the computer, so I'll post (and post pictures) as I can, but I wanted to say that though the world will never be the same, at least things are starting to look up and feel normal again.

Goodbye My Friend

Brian Poses On Porcupine Rim
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

This is a shot of my good friend Brian Hahl, posing last year at one of his all-time favorite places in the world. Brian passed away about an hour or two ago. There's not much more I can to say right now. I love you, brother.

Let's Try This Again

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 13% BF

 

It's Crunch Time: My Wilderness 101 training is starting to come down to the wire, and I really do not feel ready. Looking at my training logs (via Garmin Connect), I have to say that, if I don't reach my goals at the 101, I blew it basically back in April and May:

 

Month     Miles       Training Time

Feb        130.9       15:49:45
Mar        319.8       34:16:19
Apr        261.8       26:09:03
May       276.4       26:24:48
Jun        258.2       27:04:06

 

(June was a special case, since I spent two weeks prepping for, and recovering from, Big Bear -- where I first noticed that I was in trouble.)

 

The numbers don't really look that bad, actually, but there is a dip of about 20% in both miles and time from my original march statement of intention. Rain, and refusal to ride in it? Other slacking? I know that at least some of it is due to offroad rather than road training, which is a shame since I've been pushing the road miles (and road hills) these past two weeks, and already see an improvement.

 

With the race only about 3 weeks away, it's really too late to do anything new; I'll just have to continue the way I'm going and hope for the best. I think my "biggest bang for the buck" at this point ,is to try to lose some weight: if I can get below 170 lbs by race day I'll be a lot happier -- I'm coming into this about ten pounds heavier than I weighed last year.

 

Last night, by the way, was a really nice ride at Sals. Pedals worked, I tightened the headset and that stopped its weirdness, and trail conditions were primo. Despite what I said above, I think I'll ride there again tonight.

UPDATE: wrote this at lunch but only posted it now at night. Sals was good, and so was Brew Works...

 

 

 

Mission Aborted

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 12% BF

 

Better Luck Next Time: I was set to ride Sals last night (once I finished cleaning/lubricating the bike after Friday's adventure), but on the way over I was having trouble staying clipped in to the left pedal: nothing looked wrong with either the pedal or the cleat, but I'd pop out at odd and inopportune moments. Not fun, possibly dangerous, I turned around after getting partway down the Orange ("Roller Toaster") trail. I can't be sure, but I suspect that the pedal was the offending part, since it took a beating on Friday, and the shoes/cleats worked just fine on Sunday's road ride. I got home, mowed the lawn (still no photo evidence, heh heh), and after dinner I replaced the pedals with the somewhat newer ones on the singlespeed -- the right pedal came off just fine, but the left one was sort of seized on to the crank and put up a struggle; I also noticed that the spindle bearing was pretty gummed up (and there were a few holes knocked in the housing for water to get in too), so I think the pedal was at the end of its useful life. That's my dominant foot, I guess it just takes more of a beating than the right pedal...

 

(Dinner, by the way, was awesome: Anne grabbed a bunch of string beans from the garden and steamed them, and we had cheese and avocado sandwiches with piles and piles of string beans.)

 

That's Living: Sunday's ride worked out a little better. Anne and I rode through the Durham township area (my recent stomping grounds) to Reigelsville, and then down to Milford on the Jersey side, then we rode back to the Reigelsville Inn where we met Larry who rode down the towpath from Easton. Outdoor seating by the canal, some lunch -- menu was mostly seafood so I just had bread, but it was good bread -- and a couple of Magic Hats, and finally we made our way back to Bethlehem via similar Bucks County back roads. Sunny day, life was good on Sunday... We had dinner outside too, at Brew Works.

 

Firecracker: No ride Saturday, but Anne and I went to her mom's house for a BBQ with all her brothers and sisters and their families. Good times, spent mostly stuffing face (rather than painting the porch, which we arrived too late to help with). We hung out most of the day and checked out the town fair, but skipped the Jim Thorpe fireworks, opting to escape before the roads got crowded, and got home in time to catch the Bethlehem ones from the porch steps. (Stay tuned for photos.)

 

A Short Epic: Here's a link to Friday's ride. I'll post pictures for this event soon as well.

 

Tonight I'll be trying for a ride, probably on the road, if the rain holds off.

That Was The Day That Was

Well, here it is: the 4th of July, and we are about to head up to Anne's mom's house for some BBQ, fireworks -- and a little porch painting...

We were up there yesterday too. I was riding, and met Anne at her mom's house afterward. Breakfast at Blue Sky, VMB ride on Green Blaze (22 people, 15 miles in 4 hours, mud, blood, sweat, rain and a dip in the lake), JT visit, then Tulum and a little First Friday before I totally ran out of steam. Yeah it was good!

And now I'm off to do at least some of it again. See ya!

Like Pina Coladas And Getting Caught In The Rain

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 12% BF

 

Well, today marks the one-year anniversary of "Anne and me" as an actual relationship. Time flies when you're having fun, nyuk nyuk...

 

(This is what I wrote two years ago, and this was three years ago, give or take.)

 

I did a singlespeed ride on the towpath last night, moderate pace (as far as my heart was concerned, though my legs were spinning away like hamsters), out to my turnaround point at the 3rd St bridge in Easton and back, just under 2 hours. The post-ride plan was to stay in, but I got a text from Doug & Lori, who also did a towpath ride on the tandem, and who were outside at Brew Works having dinner when they saw Anne ride by (she got home just as I did, basically) and invited us over.

 

Once again, a most pleasant evening, hanging out on Main Street. A couple of summer beers (Blueberry Belch, Hefeweizen), conversation, and people watching, and then we saw Heidi who told us that Greg and the VMB post-ride crew was inside -- they couldn't come out because outdoor seating was closed by then, but we went in to visit by ones and twos. The weather was very pleasant, but there was lightning to the south and eventually a bit of a drizzle, so D&L took off and A&I went inside. We eventually made our escape, and had to ride home in the rain, which was surprisingly pleasant.

 

It poured all night, which makes for good sleeping weather, but when I left for work I noticed that my car's rear windows had been open all night in the rain. Doh!

 

Get em while they're not extinct: Had a banana with breakfast, and two with lunch. Tra la la, la-la la la...

 

Tonight is the gym, then I'm meeting Anne at Sette Luna for dinner with Toby & Erika and Judy.

Sometimes The Light Don't Shine

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 173.5# 12% BF

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 175.5# 12.5% BF

 

Playing: Fun ride Monday night, playing with my new toys: I developed this route at MapMyRide, downloaded it into my Garmin and tried following it, but I had a late start and had to cut things a bit short. Still, and despite a disappointing average speed (hey it was hilly!), I had a great time. Beautiful night too, by the way, blue skies and perfect temperature.

 

(I've been doing a lot of exploring over that area lately, trying to develop some new bike routes as well as a back way to work. I drove in via the bridge in Milford yesterday, got semi-lost -- there's one crucial section of my route, that apparently is no longer a road though it's on all the maps -- and went home pretty much the same way. Got semi-lost again, looking for that non-road, and got home about 15 minutes late -- I found out this morning that the highway flooded in that crazy storm last night, and the backup, on my normal route, would have been more than an hour.)

 

Listening: I maxxed out my eMusic download quota for the month of June, first time I did that in a while. I downloaded the new Dinosaur Jr album just the other day, and also new albums by Deer Tick -- never heard of them but loved the name -- and Japandroids. These last two were new to me but popped up in my "based on what you already downloaded you'll also like these" list; Deer Tick's pretty country, while the Japandroids are more grunge/garage/twee, but both are good. I think the computer knows my taste!

Reading: Open Source GIS: A GRASS GIS Approach. Yeah, nerdvana, and I'm back to playing with GRASS. We'll see where it leads.

 

I skipped riding last night and I need the miles, so tonight I'll be hitting the road again -- barring another torrential downpour, in which case I'll be doing the usual Wednesday night yoga thang.

 

These Things Come In Threes

RIP Michael Jackson: I was never much of a fan (though I did watch the cartoon as a kid), and I would have been just fine if I never heard "Billie Jean" or "Thriller" ever again but they're all over the airwaves... Here is the best elegy so far. So sad in so many ways.

 

RIP Farrah Fawcett: I didn't have the poster, but I think my brother Chris did -- I was always more of a Kate Jackson fan myself, but she turned out to be a really good actress after the Charlie's Angels days. She wasn't as young as Michael Jackson but this is still a bummer.

 

Shine On, Diamond Steve: A high school friend passed away on Tuesday. I still don't know much about the circumstances, but Steve had had health problems recently, maybe diabetes or something, and he was a guy who wasn't likely to walk away from his appetites... Best guitarist that I've ever known personally.

 

A Most Pleasant Interlude

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 11% BF

 

Anne and I were planning to ride the towpath yesterday, when we got a call from Doug: he was wondering what we were doing because he wanted to ride as well. Long story short, he came over and we rode down to Riverside Park in Easton. Sometimes fast, sometimes mellow but it was a really nice social ride. The path is amazingly green right now too, very pretty.

 

Tonight I'm riding Fiddler's Elbow before the gym, then meeting Anne and the post-knitting crowd (ie her friends Deb and Donna) at Brew Works. Still didn't post those turtle pictures...

The Itch

Morning weigh-in: 176.5, 13% BF

 

Interesting weekend, not much riding...

 

We hit Porters on Thursday night, and saw The Doug Hawke Experience as well as a boatload of the crowds old (Arnie, Rathi, Dave, Bob, Doug & Lori), and new (Judy, Donna).

 

Friday I got in a short ride, maybe 15 miles (and still feeling the effects of the previous weekend) in between chores, then we took off for NJ for Lara's birthday BBQ -- yet more of the old WB crowd, and also some of the yoga/bellydance crowd. Good times, and once again there was an impromptu magic show.

 

Saturday was to be Greg's long road ride, but I took a look at the radar and decided against it. I went to Anne's yoga class instead, then we hung out at Wired for a big chunk of the afternoon. (I got some more done on that MTO program, and finally wrote a makefile for it.) After that we caught a movie (Last Call) at the film festival. Dinner was at the Tally Ho with Donna & Joe, and then we all met Doug & Lori at the Brew Works.

 

Sunday was kind of mellow, but then the sun came out and we took a walk along the canal. I took a bunch of pictures, mostly of turtles (including one huge snapper); I'll probably post them in a day or two, so stay tuned. Dinner was at the Brew works.

 

I was pretty tired yesterday despite not doing much, mainly because I took a bunch of benadryl. Skin problems, eczema sort of simmering along for a month or so, and it really exploded while camping last weekend -- poison ivy? -- then got worse over the past week.

 

Meanwhile: We hadn't seen Anne's friend Deb in a few days, then Saturday afternoon she reappeared on the scene, telling a tale of an insect bite, hives and incipient anaphylactic shock, and driving herself to the hospital -- she did the wrong thing there, but she did one thing right: she said she took benadryl, and a little lightbulb went off over my head... I spent all day yesteerday feeling doped up and lethargic, but the skin is doing much better now.

 

Tonight will hopefully be a towpath ride on the singlespeed, and tomorrow I think I'll bring the road bike to work, and ride before hitting the gym.

Every Angel Is Terror

Wow. Saw Metropolis last night, a restored and almost-complete version, with live score provided by Sports For Kin. That was opening night for the Southside Film Festival, and I think it's going to be hard to top -- that might have been the Lehigh Valley's cultural highlight of the season.

 

Anne and I also went to the opening-night party at Home & Planet, but it was way crowded (and I hadn't had dinner), so we slipped off to Lehigh Pizza, grabbed a bite before following the sounds of bagpipes (they had a bagpipe procession with police escort) over to the Packer Chapel at Lehigh -- which is a "chapel" in the sense that the summer mansions at Newport are "cottages;" this thing was a serious gothic pile -- where the movie was shown. Lotta people there, and Opening Night (the party as well as the show) was like a "who's who:" Anne and I walked over to the party with Scott and his brother, and we ran into Donna, and Deb & James, and also Nick & Alison, and Trevor & Christie, and some people Anne knew, und so weiter...

 

I won't do too much of a movie review, except to say that the "almost original" version was longer and very different from the one I have on VCR, some scenes that were added are crucial to character development, and to just plain moving the plot forward. The movie makes a lot more sense now. Strange to see so many new cultural touchstones this time around too: Robot-Maria as "whore of Babylon" (never noticed that before), the worker city flooding like something out of Male Fantasies, and oh! that Gernsback Continuum architecture... The whole event was a Pynchonian nerdgasm.

 

The musical performance was nothing short of amazing, a "shoegazer/post-rock" ensemble made even better by the cathedral acoustics. I said it before and I'll say it again: this was a big deal.

 

Another Year, Another Nap At Sideling Hill

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 10.5% BF

 

Jeez, you go away for a few days, and the world falls apart... (and meanwhile, back in the USA).

 

Also: Imipolex!!

 

Well, last weekend was the 24 Hours of Big Bear. I took off Friday and left about noon (OK, noonish), and met up with the rest of the Sid's Bikes crew a little after 5:30 -- they fielded three teams, which made for a pretty big campsite -- then camped, raced, camped and raced (and camped and raced) some more, and then hit the road Sunday afternoon. Home by 7:00 or so, but I am just now starting to recover...

 

THE TEAMS

 

Lactose Intolerant: me, team leader Steve, Brett, Christian, and Ken. We were really just out for fun; as long as we didn't get hurt, or come in dead last or anything, it was all good.

 

Mud Sweat and Gears: these were mainly Lehigh Valley people (Jeff & Dave K were the two I know) plus Sid's sponsored racer -- and current NJ champ in his age group -- Dave C.

 

Sid's Bikes And Beer: My old co-worker Scott and some Sids team racers. These guys were fast.

 

THE COURSE

 

Here is the official map, which looks like an early version, not quite the final racecourse as it was laid out. The course was just about 13 miles long, with maybe 1600 feet of climbing, and it was all singletrack. Unlike the last time I was there (2007), recent weather had been very wet, and big chunks of the course were slippery slop or peanut butter -- in other words, classic West Virginia.

 

THE RACE ITSELF

 

I personally was disappointed with my three laps (here, here, and here), and suspect that it was because things were slightly more technical than I was expecting, and I was skunked by what I call "the over/under," where I lost a lot of time floundering on stuff only slightly beyond my ability to handle well, mostly the slippery rocky uphills. (In 2007 the course was only slightly easier, and I swear I was flying around it that year.) Oh well, I wasn't the fastest on the team, but I also wasn't the slowest; I pulled my weight and I was pretty much the "mid-pack Sport-class finisher" I always was, so I guess it was OK. As a test and a wake-up call for the Wilderness 101, however, I'd say I have to really build up my high-intensity endurance, and I better do it soon...

 

EPILOGUE

 

Anyway, I finished my last lap around 2:00, chomped a couple of sandwiches and said my goodbyes (smart move: I packed up before my last lap), and took off. It all caught up with me about an hour later, and so (once again) I pulled into the Sideling Hill exhibit area and took a power nap. Back on the road, home by 8:00 or so -- got there just after Anne finished some major garden chores, talk about timing -- and dinner at Brew Works. Ta-Da!

 

I've been resting and cleaning up since, and tonight I'm seeing Metropolis (with a live band for the soundtrack) on the big screen at the Southside Film Festival.

 

 

 

Shuffle On Down To Big Bear

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 11% BF

 

Oh well, back to weekly spewing -- which astute between-the-lines readers know, means that the weight's gone back up... it also means I've been very busy at work, and also at home, and yadda yadda, but -- well, there you have it: the real reason. Meantime though, I updated photos last night, and there are a lot of new entries from recent events: Ben's "Russian Party" (a week ago Sunday),  Brian's surprise 50th birthday party (last Saturday), the Talking Heads tribute (Saturday night), and a Jim Thorpe ride with Anne on Sunday. Those pictures are probably all I'm going to say about those events, so go check them out!

 

The house is suddenly very quiet again. Emmi left for Knoxville on Sunday, but Ben's girlfriend visited for a few days, and some of his school friends have been coming around, so things stayed fairly lively until last night, when Ben left for school (and ultimately St Petersburg, Russia -- he won't be home again until August of next year). I guess "bittersweet" could describe the mood last night.

 

I haven't been getting much riding in this week, since most of my time has been spent prepping for the race this weekend. My bike is now ready (and I hope I am too), I have found and and transferred all my camping gear from the apartment to Anne's basement, and now all that's left is tossing it into the car and hitting the road tomorrow morning -- the rest of my team should be down there by the time I arrive. Stay tuned for stories and pictures...

Errata

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 13% BF

 

An Observation: I had a lot of problems the other day at Round Valley, mostly in the technical stuff and especially at the beginning, but when I got to the Anaerobic Detour climb I went right up it, like "why was this ever a problem?" (That may be an exaggeration.) I may have not been warmed up or whatever, or maybe not used to the rocks yet, but I think that this ride, plus my performance last Friday, at Sals on the greasy rocks, tells me where I should put the training emphasis over the final two months...

 

New Photos: I posted a few more the other night, mostly my "keepers" from the wedding. Go check them out! I will have more, from Sunday's "Borscht and Natasha" soiree for Ben.

 

Wow, A First: Playing with that MTO program, I decided to add some parts to it. I added a bunch of stuff, maybe an hour's worth of coding over the past week, then last night I put some finishing touches on and -- the damn thing compiled, and ran correctly, on the first try! I take what triumphs I can get...

 

We stayed in last night, and feasted on pork & sauerkraut. Budget concerns, weight concerns, and a butt-whipping at yoga made that one a no-brainer for me, but Anne's also still fighting that cold -- I am too, but she really got hit a lot harder -- and she had an early morning trip to Philly on the agenda. She and Emmi were NetFlixxing their way through a season of "Monk," Ben and Dan were having a college-style bull session on the porch, and I was stationed at my laptop.

 

Tonight is the gym, followed (maybe) by a walk down Main Street to check out the "Tunes At Twilight" concert, starring Dan DeChellis. Tomorrow I have off, but it's supposed to be rainy.