So Much For The Rest Day

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 10.5% BF

Got an email yesterday from my friend Joe, he wanted to ride at Jacobsburg last night and wondered if I'd join him. My plan was to rest up so I could bike to work today, at most maybe hit the gym. Didn't quite work out.

Fast crowd: Greg M was there on his old hardtail, Rich B was riding his singlespeed, I was on my Turner and Joe was on his brand-new Titus. The 'burg is easy enough to allow a pretty quick pace, but I haven't done anything like that in a while -- not since I used to train with Greg and Joe, as a matter of fact. We maintained a 10.8 mph average, 15 miles in about an hour and a half, not really far but I was spent by the high level of effort (on my part). I hit Taco Hell on the way home, scarfed down my burritos and was in bed by 9:30. I'd already semi-given-up on the bike commute, but still went through the motions of getting ready -- when the alarm went off at 5:00 AM, I gave it my final answer...

Since I reckon my weekly mileage Monday-to-Monday (and this Monday was a long holiday ride), I already have 100 miles for the week, so I'll just do the towpath tonight like I always do on Fridays, get 25 miles instead of 40.

Meantime, check out this beautiful site.

Ouroboros

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 10.5% BF

Kekulé dreams the Great Serpent holding its own tail in its mouth, the
dreaming Serpent which surrounds the World. But the meanness, the cynicism with
which this dream is to be used. The Serpent that announces, "The World is a
closed thing, cyclical, resonant, eternally-returning," is to be delivered into
a system whose only aim is to violate the Cycle. Taking and not giving back,
demanding that "productivity" and "earnings" keep on increasing with time, the
System removing from the rest of the World these vast quantities of energy to
keep its own tiny desperate fraction showing a profit: and not only most of
humanity— most of the World, animal, vegetable, and mineral, is laid waste in
the process. The System may or may not understand that it's only buying time.
And that time is an artificial resource to being with, of no value to anyone or
anything but the System, which must sooner or later crash to its death, when its
addiction to energy has become more than the rest of the World can supply,
dragging with it innocent souls all along the chain of life.

- Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

The serpent he's talking about is Ouroboros, the archetypal snake that encircles the World, devouring its tail, and the dream is the one where Kekulé, trying to figure the shapes of organic molecules, is stumped by the ring-shaped benzene, until the serpent appears to him in a dream. (If you've ever smelled gasoline, you know what benzene is.)

Anyway, rode home yesterday, but arranged via email to meet my friend Joe on the way home, do a ride with him. (Joe's a year younger than me, and we used to be pretty regular training partners at Round Valley. In 1998 he took 1st place in the Sport Senior Men class while I took 1st in Sport Vet at a race there; since then I've slowed down considerably, but he moved up to Expert and became shockingly fast: I thought I was a hero for doing the Wilderness 101 in 12:28, he did it in 9:03 this year.) He was on his road bike, but did a hard training ride the day before & would cruise along with me -- I was on the 50-pound (racks, panniers, work clothes etc) Iguana, and killing myself... We rode some very pleasant roads out near Harmony -- in other words, hilly roads -- and parted ways by the Free Bridge. I probably got about 30-35 miles in on the ride home.

Mug Club Night at Which Brew, but it was quiet there otherwise. Tonight is gym/laundry, maybe stir-fry a little of that tofu I bought before it goes bad.

Indian Summer

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 10.5% BF

Went to Cycle FunAttic last night, volunteer meeting for the upcoming Phillipsburg Criterium. Russ (the bike store owner and the guy who loaned me those wheels for the PPRAC ride) is the race promoter, so I figured I'll return the favor & help him out. Free pizza last night, free sandwich and teeshirt on race day, how could I resist?

Bicycled in to work today, awesome morning. Can't believe I almost blew it off, but that early rise is the hardest part of the whole deal.

Rocky Bastiche

Morning weigh-in: 172.5, 11.5% BF

Friday Night: Super-hot lap on the towpath, 1:25 or maybe a little less, followed by an early night at Which Brew. Another fundraiser, this time for the victims of Hurricane Katrina: whenever you bought a "Hurricane" (a popular New Orleans drink) a dollar would be donated and you'd get a commemorative glass. I almost didn't go, but at the end of my ride I ran into Mike and Carole -- normally I pass their house on my ride, this time I didn't, and there they were walking their dog down my alley; they told me about the fundraiser & said they'd be there. I got a kick out of going there, ordering a Hurricane from bartender Katrina -- her eyes rolled so hard I though they would roll right out of her head...

Saturday: Selfish day, drycleaning, coffee shop, gym etc. I was thinking of doing a road ride before lifting, but my legs were toast so I ran instead. Felt good, decent workout. Night was back to WB to catch the Insidious Rays, though it was another early night, rest up for the big ride.

Sunday: The big ride -- Doug & Lori, Eric, Brian and myself, all the way up to R.B. Winter State Park to ride Cowbell Hollow. Scha-wee-eeet! Pictures soon. Got a call from Doug when I got home: they were going to dinner at Porters w/ Eric & Kris, did I want to go? Quick shower and I get another phone call: they're at Porter's and the kitchen closed early. Another phone call: 1818 Tavern was closed, ditto Pearly Baker's... I suggested Shruty's Pub as a last resort (not quite "dinner evening out," more like "NASCAR on the big screen, Coors and bar food"), got the message to Brian who'd already gone to Porter's, and met them all at Shruty's. Pretty nice, good salvage to the evening, and of course I could walk there...

Monday: I got up around 10:00, hopped on the bike by 11:30 and rode downtown for some coffee & brunch, then took the towpath to Bethlehem and rode the Salisbury trails. Got home about 5:00, showered, then went out to see "The Constant Gardener" w/ Joe & Cindy and Brian. Very good movie, I expect at least some kind of Oscar nod, but it's definitely not "feel-good hit" material.