Lux Vomica (or, Thin Is In)

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 8.5% BF

Stupid hard ride yesterday with my friend Joe at Round Valley. He's way faster than I am, and I basically I came home crushed. Torched my lungs, I even vomited in the parking lot at the halfway point.

The ride was hard, but that wasn't the real problem. This is more of that early-spring postnasal drip thing, which dries and hardens in my throat and lungs, making me cough so hard I eventually gag. I went without my medicine yesterday: the Mucinex which thins everything out and dries up my sinuses, and the Astelin which keeps the passages open, and without them I had some serious problems riding. Well, now I know, I learned my lesson -- once again...

Tonight is the towpath, tomorrow is a rest day and Sunday I am racing Michaux. I will be taking my pills and spray with me. Gotta keep the lungs clear.

Berry Berry Bonth of Bay

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 12% BF

I forget what Wednesday's weigh-in was, but it wasn't good, maybe 179# or so, product of a Tuesday trip to Which Brew for dinner (instead of shopping -- but I was so hungry!) while my laundry dried.

Finally did my food shopping last night. Busy evening: haircut immediately after work, then I rode the singlespeed downtown for yoga -- did a headstand, which doesn't seem quite so grail-shaped anymore -- home, shopping, dinner, garbage, then went out and prepped the Turner for today's ride. (I'll be hitting Round Valley after work tonight.)

It is Springtime. It has always been springtime. Spring is finally here for real, the weather's nice, the trees are in full bloom, and it's berry season at the supermarket. Among my purchases yesterday were a box of strawberries, a box of raspberries and three boxes of blueberries. You'll never guess what i had for dinner last night -- or breakfast this morning...

I Only Think When Provoked

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 12% BF

Yesterday was an "active rest" day; I went to the beginner yoga class. It's nowhere near as athletically intense as some other classes (thus "active rest," the only class that's less physically demanding is tonight's Svaroopa class), but I always manage to come home with something new. Many times I've gone there thinking "man I know this stuff, why am I bothering with this baby course?" only to think afterward "wow I didn't know any of that -- how could I have been so stupid?" Anyway, good class as usual, but it was unusually crowded, I even saw someone there I knew. There must be an "intro to yoga" workshop going on: students usually take one regularly-scheduled class a week in addition to their workshop stuff.

Dinner was a salad, some cottage cheese and an apple -- in other words I must go grocery shopping tonight. (Well, I was planning on a light supper anyway.) I was supposed to do laundry last night, with a supermarket trip while it dried, but yesterday morning a friend showed up at my door, who was biking to work in the rain and had decided against it. I gave him a ride in, and he rode home on a different bike (don't ask), but he needed to pick up his bike last night from my place, and by the time he left I decided I was in for the night. Thus, tonight is laundry/shopping.

Political Crack: Happy Mission Accomplished Day!

And Another Thing from the Blogosphere: This excellent post hits the nail on the head. I see this happening in Easton (where a friend once said "every time you have an urban renewal, you just end up with one more bar") and I see the same dynamic in Bethlehem with the BethWorks (or whatever) project and the coming of the casinos. Hmmmm...

Every Eight Hours, A Doctor Avoids Me: Had an apple with breakfast (oatmeal), and one with lunch (chicken stir-fry), and of course one last night with dinner. This really isn't unusual anymore; I've been on an apple kick for the past month or so, usually as a post-meal snack. I don't normally think of apples as either tasty or filling, but I find that if I get one to eat, instead of whatever it is I crave, they do taste good and fill me up just fine.

Anyway, tonight is Svaroopa yoga, maybe a more active at-home something as well (calisthenics etc), and of course laundry & shopping.

Awesomely Awesome In Its Awesomeness

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 11% BF

Great ride yesterday, maybe the best in several years: I went up to early to Jim Thorpe and rode up Broad Mountain via the "stagecoach road" singletrack, met the VMB group ride and did American Standard, then came down the mountain via the Bear Trail for a total of 29 miles, at least 20 of which were pure singletrack satisfaction.

Total adventure bike, this ride had everything: brutal lung-busting climbs, rocky singletrack, logs, loamy singletrack through the pines, hardpack, swamps, water crossings (including one very deep and raging mountain stream I had to wade, at the ruins of an old dam), a dirt cliff/embankment that I had to climb, and the infamous pipe crossing over yet another raging mountain stream. A little bit of hike-a-bike where the trail had grown in, and some road/railroad grade riding completed the picture. Weather varied from cloudy and cold in the early morning, to sunny and hot later, to sun showers, to a thunderstorm for the last mile; companionship ranged from solo riding at the beginning and end, to as many as 21 on the American Standard group ride.

Met up with a few of the crew at the Hotel Switzerland for lunch and a beer afterward, and my day was complete.