The Days Drag But The Weeks Fly By

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 12% BF

Rode the singlespeed at Jacobsburg last night. Not too many people there: saw Brian's car but not him, talked to Rich B (he was leaving as I arrived), and eventually ran into Marv, Keith et al... they were looking for Lance, whom I eventually found and rode with. OK ride, but the wetter trails were a little beat-up from the recent weather, and the rocks were sweating & slimy, and my glasses fogged up from the humidity -- who am I kidding? It was a great ride.

Home, shower, laundry, then down to Which Brew to see Gonzo Project, a sort of splinter group, I think, of the Insidious Rays, with slightly different focus: they play a lot of jazz standards, some Zappa, etc. I feel vindicated in associating the Insidious Rays with early Zappa, since they're actually supposed to be touring/playing with some Mothers alumni soon.

Two WB conversations:

Conversation #1: On Tuesday, I was hanging with Scott when Christian came in. Chris is a martial arts instructor & kickboxing coach, and he recently ripped a bunch of tendons in his shoulder training & sparring with one of his pro fighters. Done with surgery and out of a cast, but he still had very little movement available, and some ability (depending on the damaged tendons) would never return. This set Scott off -- he was all like "don't listen to those doctors!" -- and eventually the conversation devolved into a discussion of the relative will to live of animals vs humans. Lots of "Suppose, all other things being equal, a coyote sees two deer and one has a bad leg, which one will he go after?"
Scott, who's an avid hunter, replied with "No! the coyote will go after the doe and follow it back to the fawn!" I think we all were agreeing with each other and didn't know it... consensus was that Chris will have to stick to his rehab work. I guess you had to be there...

Conversation #2: Last night I sat down next to Megan, a personable and pretty girl somewhere in her early twenties, semi-regular, she hangs out there with her father on occasion. Hi Megan, yadda yadda blah blah, and she says "you know, I sold tee shirts like that for [some eco-charity] in middle school," which is exactly how I got the shirt, from my friend's daugher -- also named Megan, and about the same age -- when she was in like 8th grade. Feels like yesterday to me... I suddenly felt old (to say nothing of the shirt), and must have looked it, since Jessica, sitting next to her, came to my rescue: "Yeah Don, you're old!"

That's why I go to Which Brew.

Fast Week

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 12.5% BF

Did chores (laundry, bills, garbage, cleaned out fridge) last night, skipped the gym. Dinner was a turkey & swiss sub from the corner deli. The guy slices meat, cheese, tomatoes for one sandwich at a time, uses romaine lettuce leaves instead of shredded iceburg; some hot peppers, mayo, oil & vinegar, those subs are like crack...

Had an incident on Route 22 Tuesday on the ride home: box van changed lanes without checking, forced me into the curb to avoid hitting him before he realized & swerved back (I originally thought he hit me, but it was just the shock of the curb). The guy took off, I tried waving him down but he kept going, lost him at the Delaware River bridge... too bad his employer's name and number were on the truck! I gave them a call, bitched, said I would call "tomorrow" (ie yesterday) with any damage I found. No damage, and I left a message yesterday saying so but I wanted to make sure the driver's cage got rattled. It's one thing to make a mistake, everyone makes them but it's what you do afterward, to deal with it, that counts.

If the weather co-operates I'll ride the 'burg on the singlespeed tonight, otherwise I'll just hit the gym.

Close call: went to use rest room earlier today, it had been cleaned and they'd used unfamiliar & somewhat effeminate air freshener -- for a second I thought I'd accidentally walked into the Ladies Room. Panicked glance spotted the urinals, phew...

Mid-Week

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 12.5% BF

Not much to say. Rode last night, towpath to Sand Island where I met Doug, then we rode an abbreviated Sals ride. Pretty decent, though I felt very tired afterward -- still went to Which Brew though, can't miss my Tuesday night...

Tonight is gym/laundry.

(Re)Reading: Claudius the God.

Pick-A-Nick

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 179.5#, 10.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 178.5#, 10% BF

Falling behind on my photos: Memorial Day weekend, Tom & Barbara's wedding, Dad's birthday, Mountain Bike Weekend, and now Heath & Margarita's wedding... I'll get right on it I swear...

Had a dream last night I found a kitten on the PPRAC ride. No allergy problems, dreamland is good like that (usually).

Hall of Fame: Thanks & Congratulations to my Uncle Pat, whose $250 donation is my biggest so far.

The weekend...

Friday night seems so long ago now. It looked like rain so I blew off riding, and later went to Which Brew to meet Brian and Eric. Talked to Hans for a bit; his brother Heath's wedding rehearsal dinner was on the back deck -- luckily, the rain never came. A Skulldiggers side project was playing, and the place was extremely crowded, so we (me, B & E) shared a table in the back with Chris & Kara, Weyerbacher manager & waitress, now married I guess, & some of their friends.

My plan for Saturday was to ride Fiddler's elbow before working out at the gym, but I blew that off in favor of my standard Sat AM: pick up the drycleaning & then have breakfast at Coffee Works. I got to the gym early enough, so I went for a 2 mile run (it felt great), had a good workout with Dawn -- except I forgot that we agreed to do a body fat test, and the run put the kibosh on accurate results so that's now scheduled for next week -- and finished with Fiddler's Elbow.

That should be a two hour ride, depending on the exact route, and the highlight is the climb up Fiddler's Elbow Road in Harmony, reputed to be the steepest road in New Jersey -- a total death march for about a mile, with the final section being so steep it's almost silly. I got there, as storm clouds started gathering, then I started the climb and the weather turned even more ominous, and finally I came around the last bend and confronted "the Wall," with lightning and thunder and swaying trees -- all it lacked was a gloomy Frankenstein castle. (Actually there is one: a house at the top where the owner, a youngish guy, is usually outside w/ a friendly greeting -- & a comment, if you're walking: the hill beat me, I had to stop and regroup before hitting "the Wall" but made damn sure I rode past the house...) Into the storm, and I decided to cut the ride short, was done in probably 1:30 or 1:45 even with the slowdown from rain/visibility issues.

Saturday Night, or rather evening, I stopped by Margarita's house, post-reception BBQ. This was the less formal thing for friends etc, pretty nice. They are now off on their honeymoon, a Windjammer cruise in Penobscott Bay. I left there and went back downtown, met Joe & Cindy and Doug & Lori at the River Grille (fancy dining, good thing I was "dressed up"), joined them for a drink there, and one next door at Montague (a disco? wha?), then headed home.

Sunday I joined up with a bunch of guys from Valley Mountain Bikers to ride at Locust Lake near Tamaqua, someplace I didn't think I'd ever been before. Serious riding, but I had been there before, knew it as "the Burma Road trails;" I guess that name should explain the difficulty level... Excellent day!

Sunday night was Paul and Mary's Heritage Day party, with burgers, dogs, orzo salad -- great tasting stuff & I never had it until this weekend, now had it two days in a row -- food, beer, etc etc, and front row seats for the big fireworks show. I hung out there with Brian, Paul & Mary, Violetta, Scott S from work, plus lots of people I sort of know as "Mary's friends" or "the Genesis crowd." Good bunch of people.

I took Monday as a rest day, worked on the mountain bike. Tonight I'll probably do a towpath/sals ride, wednesday a road ride w/ Joe G, Thurs singlespeed at the 'burg, Friday towpath...