Central, Massive

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 8% BF

 

Sorry Algernon: Charley sez, love my rapamycin...

 

Ran yesterday, which was followed by a gym workout and a trip to XSH for dinner. Anne, Judy, Lee, and special guest Mike H. As usual, nice evening. Tonight I'm hitting the velodrome with pretty much the same crowd. It's also a much-needed rest day; tomorrow will be another big day (yoga, gym, ride, haircut, party), and Sunday is trail maintenance plus a ride at Allamuchy.

Come For The Cold War, Stay For The Jelly Donuts

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 8.5% BF

 

"Ich bin ein Berliner!" -- John F. Kennedy, June 26, 1963

 

Nice Sals ride last night. Me, Kirk and his friend Kurt, Jeff and Dave (both of whom have connections to Genesis as well as Sid's Bikes), and a girl Terri (Tracy?), who was apparently the driving force behind the ride: she's from Colorado, has been in the area for three months and is about to return home, and was sick of the towpath so she told them "Show me the good stuff!"

 

And show her the good stuff we did, basically hitting everything there (except the Yellow Trail and the Boulder Trail) in one huge loop. We rode about two hours, getting back to the cars just before dark. I think those guys were surprised a bit by the trails too; they were like New Yorkers who've never been to the Statue of Liberty until they take an out-of-towner, but I think they liked it and I'm sure they'll be back. Jeff and Dave are strong riders, and they were especially loving it. Strangely enough, I felt really strong too, even after Tuesday's "leg tenderizer" ride.

 

I had a few errands/chores to get done and my plan was dinner at Porters, so I had to bust a move after the ride. Pretty proud of myself, got it all done -- all I really had to do was drop some stuff off at Doug's, get gas & do laundry, but still -- and made it to Porters just before the kitchen closed. Woo hoo, turkey dinner sandwich!

 

Crowded night there, bartender Scott was tearing his hair out it was so busy, but I didn't totally mind, it was like "girl's night out" or something, cool enough -- though I did get muscled away from the bar by a birthday party of pocketbook-wielding twentysomethings, oh hi girls welcome to my space now get off my foot ow OK I'll move over a bit...

 

Saw Kateryna there (not part of that crowd, thank goodness); she said she's been back about a week, and I got some of the California road trip story, but not all of it I'm sure. I also saw Joe's ex-GF Paula (of course she asked about him) and also my MTB friend Lucas. Like I said, busy night at Porters.

 

Tonight is the gym, then dinner at Christian's Spring Hotel.

 

Scales Fell From My Eyes: Whoops! Gotta clean the house again, I just noticed this morning that it's getting pretty bad.

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Morning weigh-in: 163#, 9.5% BF (nice suppression work there, Lou)

 

Happy Anniversary, Battle of Little Big Horn!

 

Awesome ride last night at the Follies, 42 miles in 2:35, on a course they call "Greg's leg tenderizer." Me, Greg, Scott, Jorge, and Joe & Cindy, north over Blue Mountain at Little Gap, then a hilly loop out by Klecknersville and return via Little Gap again, the highlight of the evening being a duel between Greg and myself, bottom to top of Blue Mountain, on the way back. He beat me, in a sprint (!) by half a bike length, but I got him to admit he was working pretty hard. (Our actual time, from the lower lodge to the top entrance at Blue Mountain Ski Area, was 10:26. I could swear that thing used to take a half hour to climb.) That was one of the best rides of the year, in terms of a workout, and also in terms of scenery -- it kind of reminded me of the PPRAC ride, and Greg said the same thing.

 

I kept my promise to myself: dinner was a bag o'salad with some leftover BBQ fixin's thrown in. Tonight I'm riding Sals with Kirk and some out-of-town friends of his; I did some yoga this morning to make up for the missed class. (I don't like to miss Wednesday yoga, the week's "hard class," but Kirk asked me to show them around, this is the day that works for them and for the weather, and my weak link right now is technical skills -- I really need those offroad miles.) Dinner will probably be somewhere in Bethlehem, hopefully I'll not break too many promises...

A Clearer Future

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 166.5#, 10.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 164.5#, 10.5% BF

 

Pretty good weekend, though fraught with bad food choices...

 

Rode the towpath Friday night, then did the "Big Bethlehem Day" on Saturday: Chain Gang ride and picnic at South Mountain Park, followed by the South Side Film Festival with Doug & Lori -- we caught the last set of screenings, supposedly a series of short comedies. (More on those films as the week progresses. We saw Pete H there too, by the way.) After the films, the three of us caught up with Kris & Eric to go to the the festival's final event, a buffet dinner and party, with music by Trap Door. (Again, more -- way more -- on Trap Door in a later post or two.) I was home by midnight, which seemed early but by that point I was exhausted.

 

Sunday was the more interesting of the two days. It looked pretty crappy in the morning, but luckily the day never got worse than overcast. I met Anne F at her place and we picked up her loaner bike at CAT, then went over to Jacobsburg. It was her first time mountain biking, but she's actually an experienced & solid rider, and she took to it rather well and -- even better -- enjoyed it I think. Pretty impressive, considering she was on an ancient and fully rigid commuter rig. 

 

We got a call from another friend, and the day's plans suddenly solidified -- we grabbed lunch at Bethlehem Brew Works, then saw Get Smart with Lee and Judy. Yep, stupid fun, all in all a great afternoon.

 

So anyway, last night was yoga, and today is the Tuesday night training ride -- no XSpringH afterward though, I'm trying to get back into the nutritional discipline thing. Tomorrow will be a ride at Sals.