Not Seen Nothing Like The Mighty

Morning weigh-in: 172.5#, 11% BF

Friday off, sunny day -- I'll be hitting the trails as soon as breakfast is settled in (and some chores get done). I have a few errands for later in the day, but I want to take advantage of the nice weather.

Queenie: Lotta stuff about Sally Quinn out there lately, but this one's my favorite.

Monster: Looks like Selene is kicking butt in the Trans-Sylvania Epic MTB stage race. I knew she would...

Off to do my thing.

Sweat Loaf Die Die Die

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 10.5% BF

 

Did an "over/under" interval ride last night, again on the towpath. These were more difficult than last week's routines, requiring greater effort but also a greater amount of fine-tuning, tighter control of that effort. Still, it was a fast and fun night on the bike. Good soundtrack too, some uptempo Jonathan Richman and Avett Brothers on the way out, and I caught some real barn-burners on the way back -- until I was flying along, jamming to some WT lizard-brain anthem from the Butthole Surfers, and almost almost rode into some family types riding along. After that I just felt dirty...

 

Burnt Chrome: Speaking of music, on the way in this morning I saw a bumper sticker for The Slamhounds, a band I'd never heard of but they sure had a cool name -- or would have, maybe 20 years ago when Count Zero was still fairly fresh. Now, even if it's cooler than, say, Straylight Run, the name does smell just a little bookwormy. (Of course, the term does have another meaning -- and now I feel dirty all over again...) I hear that Neuromancer may finally be made into a movie, and the producers promise "no Keanu," but it may already be too late. Life goes on.

 

By the way, I posted some more photos on Flickr the other day, stuff on my phone from my parents' visit. I am almost caught up with my droid photos; the last ones (from Dirt Fest) will go up sometime this weekend, hopefully. I am also almost -- almost! -- reconciled now to the fact that I lost my camera, and will probably replace it tomorrow. Tonight is the gym.

 

That Summer Feeling

Morning weigh-in: 172.5#, 10.5% BF

 

Week two of the training, and I am feeling like fiery death -- at least, I've been really, really tired and sore when I get up, but that's how I usually (used to) feel on summer weekends... It's actually going well though, I seem to be transitioning well enough into training mode, and though it's too soon to see results, I have seen some payoff from my focus on higher pedal cadence, especially on hills. My biggest problem so far has been scheduling: other commitments, even other rides have come along and forced changes to the routine, which luckily is meant to be at least somewhat flexible. The intensity is ramping up this week, we'll see how it all shakes out.

 

Great weekend, the summer season really started off with a bang. We hit the Bookstore Friday night after a towpath ride (and dinner at home -- they have no food for me there), with Donna, and Erin, and also Doug & Lori. Lots of fun but it was a late night -- Saturday was supposed to be morning yoga, but instead we slept in... A Blue Sky breakfast (with the previous evening's partners in crime), then a BBQ outside Tamaqua later in the day, and we finished the evening at Brew Works, where we said our goodbyes to bartender Amy, who is getting married. Big crew: Donna & both her kids, Liz, Debbie, plus Spanky & his daughter later on.

 

Sunday was a charity ride in Jim Thorpe, organized by my friend (and former neighbor, cancer survivor) Mike B. Beautiful day, awesome scenery -- we were on Broad Mountain, and the mountain laurel is now finally starting to bloom. We stopped in at Anne's mom's house for another BBQ, then went home and napped. Yesterday we watched Anne's nephew race at the Tour of Somerville, then did a road ride of our own, out near Hellertown with our friend Paul, followed by one last BBQ at Paul & Ann's. No nap, but we were in bed by 9:30.

 

By the way, I ripped a bunch of old Jonathan Richman CD's and put them on my droid this weekend, probably saved the songs just days before the CD's self-destructed.