Friday, May 20, 2005

Fast Week

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 7.5% BF

Rode at Jacobsburg last night, met Bryan's son Lance in the parking lot, eventually caught up with Marv, saw plenty of others especially the Blue Mtn Ski Club crowd. Lee has a new singlespeed, a Cannondale -- yikes! So much for the snob factor...

On the way home I stopped at Brian's house, helped him strip his bike. He snapped his frame, got a new one via warrantee and must now put his components on the bike. Home, computer work -- this time using the 'puter to do something, instead of doing something with the 'puter, if you know what I mean -- then bedtime around 12:30.

Tonight I think I'll blow off riding, since its rainy and chilly and I'm a wuss.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Wasn't That Something?

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 9% BF

Had a time crunch last night: was suposed to be at my friend Eric's house for a ride at 6:00 PM; he lives on the other side of the Lehigh Valley and I had to drive from Jersey, stop and get salad etc (post-ride bike club meeting & dinner party), then pick up the bike. I left work at 4:30 as usual, and everything was on or ahead of schedule until I went to Nature's Way, a health-food store in downtown Easton, on the way home. They were out of those bag o'salad thingies. WTF??? They guy's like "they'll be in tomorrow, and you can be sure they're fresh!" Well that's just wonderful fella, but that salad will be eaten long before tomorrow no matter where I buy it, and will be fresh no matter where I buy it, and by coming to your store, gambling that you'd have a standard item in stock, I've screwed myself...

So now all of a sudden I'm under the gun. I go home & get bike, then drive over to the sprawl/rush-hour/traffic-jam part of town to the supermarket. Usual piddling frustrations at the checkout (lady in front of me has to pay by check, cashier is in slow motion -- at least, so it seems to someone in a rush), no biggie and I'm out of there. I leave the parking lot, get on the road to Route 33 (which will take me to I-78) -- and the road's closed. Gaaa! Quick U-turn back into the 25th Street traffic disaster, waste fifteen minutes even getting over to Rt 33, and arrive at 6:05, everyone dressed and ready to go except me. But they were still there, waiting and I was ready quick enough.

Decompression time. The ride was good, not too fast but hard because of the hills, and the day was beautiful. Meeting was also good, but very short -- we got back late from the ride, dinner had a lot of chatting going on, and it was the latest meeting start ever at 9:15. We were done by 10:00, and I was home & in bed by 11:00.

Tonight will be either the singlespeed at Jacobsburg, or the gym again if it's not nice - unlikely, from the look of things right now it'll be beautiful.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Not Much More Than Nothing

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 8% BF

Apparently, I'm still dehydrated. Rode last night, got a late start on the "short Harmony ride" so I blasted it out in 45 minutes rather than the usual hour -- that's pretty damn fast, maybe just under 20 mph average. I started/finished at the gym, did an upper-body workout after the ride. I thought it would be cut short by the 9:00 closing, but I managed to get just about everything in. Did laundry; dinner was Which Brew, despite my good intentions...

Tonight is another road ride, followed by the Chain Gang meeting.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

I Got Nothin'

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 11.5% BF

A "nothing" evening: played on 'puter: read a little bit, bed around 11:00. (Did laundry, dishes & some chores left over from Saturday, so it wasn't a total waste.) Feel much better today, will probably hit the gym after a Harmony ride.
Not sure what dinner will be, but will probably try to hit the supermarket tonight for healthier future meals -- also, tomorrow night is the Chain Gang ride/meeting/dinner and I'm bringing some food, therefore must shop tonight for that, since there's no other time to do it.

Monday, May 16, 2005

But Why? But Why? But Why?

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 4% BF (not likely)

Friday night I did the towpath ride with Brian, then we grabbed some dinner at Which Brew. The Skulldiggers were playing, place was packed so we ended up in the back room where we were joined by Hans, Heath, Stu & Kathy, some others -- we were sitting near the "alternate bathrooms" that only regulars seem to know about, got a lot of visitors. Brian left early, but I stayed and talked with Hans & Heath until maybe just before midnight.

Saturday was the "Allamuchy Epic," a Chain Gang ride but we also invited the VMB to join us. Me, Doug, Bob, Rich B, Joe & Cindy, Joe G, Greg H, Joe Viagra, Kris K, Scott S and Pete H, an even dozen riders. Very good ride but very hard, we only got in 15 miles in five hours of riding. (There were several major mechanical problems, which always slows things down of course.)

We mostly skipped any big post-ride meal, but I got a call at home from Doug: "don't take a nap or eat anything, we've got reservations at Cactus Blue." This is a new Mexican restaurant on Schoenersville Rd that D&L have been raving about. It's a very good place, & they were able to accommodate our relatively big crowd (maybe 16 people). Early night for me though.

Sunday was supposed to be rainy but it turned out quite nice indeed, which was good because we did another fundraiser at the Whitehall Wal-Mart. Me, Eric & Kris, Lori P, Kris's dad, and Brian who came later bearing pizza. Tired when I got there, I was exhausted at the end.

An observation I made: you can both confirm and destroy pretty much any theory or preconceived notion you might have about human behavior, simply by sitting on a bike in front of Wal-Mart and soliciting donations for a few hours.

Early dinner was a turkey sub, followed by a nap -- then I was wide awake until midnight. Read a little (from Idoru) in the last of the daylight on the porch. The little girl who lives downstairs, maybe four years old, popped her head up over the screen door: "Hi! What are you doing? Why? What are you reading? Can you read it to me? Why not? What's your name? Why?" Cute girl, but I didn't get much reading done until her mom shooed her away...

I may hit the gym tonight for weights only (no cardio), but I think I'm flirting with dehydration so I may just take it easy... I drank 100 oz of water on Saturday's ride, and 28 oz of water plus 96 oz of Gatorade at Wal-mart (also another pint of water, a liter of sprite and a 12 oz beer when I got home), still think I'm down a pint or two.