Red Red Wine

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 169#, 10% BF
Morning weigh-in (Saturday): 168#, 9% BF
Morning weigh-in (Sunday): 170.5#, 11% BF

Yeah, she has a boyfriend... saw her Thursday night at Porter's, sorta-semi went there to see if I'd run into her, you know, by chance: "Fancy meeting you here! Blah blah can you be my girlfriend, Mollie?*" Jesus. Anyway she was there, but before I could bust my move I saw she was there with some guy. Oh well. There's a saying, "looks, brains, personality, availability -- pick any two!" She's off the charts with the first three, my mistake to think she was single.

Today is the bus trip to McSorleys, with dinner at Carmines afterward. I was going to ride this morning, but yesterday was a tough yoga class and a tough workout in the gym, and Friday night was a night ride on the towpath and at Sals, and my body is whooped. I'm walking downtown in a few minutes, catching the bus at 11:00.

In other news, I'm cleaning my apartment. Good Lord.

*Not her real name!

Ice Nine

Crush Girl is a dead issue. That is all.

Ficht Nicht Mit Der Raketemensch

Morning weigh-in: 170#, 10% BF

Positively fiery hot lap last night on the towpath: 23 miles in 1:25, for a little better than 16.2 mph average. My personal best, when I lived on Southside and the distance was 25.4 miles (but I was 10 years younger & twenty pounds lighter), was 1:28, which pro-rates to 1:20 for the current route. So, not bad! Best part was, I got the whole ride in before dark. My legs are killing me today though, especially my calves. (Tonight is the gym, and I think I'll be skipping any leg workout.)

One bummer right near the end though: when I tried to make a left into my neighborhood, signalled, and was about to get into the left part of the lane, but a car behind me (black Toyota pickup actually, with a couple of Junior Yahoos in it) refused to let me over -- in fact sped up to cut me off. Almost hit me, I actually flinched. They turned the same way I did, and I chased them but they ran a stop sign at the end of the street and were gone. I don't know what I would have done if I caught them, except maybe get beat up, but I was livid.

Home, shower, then Which Brew for dinner and the Chain Gang meeting. It didn't quite work out that well: long wait for food, orders jumbled... The meeting itself wasn't all that great either, oh well. I wore shorts which are apparently a little too unfashionably short, got comment about it & an eventual grope from Gropey Girl -- I'm less OK with that than you might think, and will wear long pants next time I'm there. Also ran into Crush Girl at the end of the evening, but (sigh) there wasn't much rapport.

All Is Wellness

Morning weigh-in: 170#, 11% BF

 

"Happy the people whose annals are tiresome." - Montesquieu

 

We had the CIGNA Wellness Bike Tour stop in to work today. Stood around the parking lot for like an hour -- the cyclists apparently had gotten lost somewhere -- then listened to the HR director, deputy mayor & a CIGNA VP talk about "wellness." All this while Snotboy stood right next to me, totally invading my space (it wasn't crowded either, and I can say now that he smells), and doing his nervous-habit Snotboy thing: snorting, then coughing as he chokes on what he just snorted, playing with it in his mouth or whatever, shuttlecocking the snot back and forth between his nose and throat, over and over and over again -- gaaaaah! Good thing they didn't check my blood pressure... That's one hour I'd like to have back.

 

My own sinus issues seem to be waning. I took off last night: no ride, went to bed early and it seemed to help. I was thinking of working late again, but I now think I'll slip in a quick ride before the meeting.

 

Happy International Talk Like Pirate Day!

Q: How much for the corn?

A: Arrgh! Buccaneer, matey!

 

Speaking of pirates, I wonder what the Flying Spaghetti Monster is up to?

Jumble a Song Title And Put It Here

Morning weigh-in: 171# , 8.5% BF (my guesstimate is more like 14%, the scale's batteries must be dying)

 

Shout Out: Happy Birthday, Mom! I will call tonight.

 

Win Some, Lose Some Kept up a whirlwind pace last night: drycleaning, haircut, chores, gym, yadda yadda. All got done without a hitch until I went to the laundromat -- put laundry in the dryers, went to to get coins, the @#&$!!&! coin machine's busted and I have maybe three quarters in my pocket. Oh well, pack up wet laundry, go to Porters. I caught the 2nd half of the game, so I got to see myself win the office pool, $100. Sweet! Now I have to buy donuts for tomorrow.

 

Really not much to say. Working late again tonight, followed by a night road ride (or maybe I'll do the towpath), then I'll give the laundry another try. Tomorrow is a rest day, so I want to hit it pretty hard.

 

By the way, Doug and Lori are both sick, sinus infection. I've got a bit of that going on as well; we probably all caught it from Spanky who was sick as a dog at the BASH. Stupid shared bottle of cheap tequila... They (D&L) were going to host the Chain Gang meeting tomorrow night, but that doesn't look like it's happening now -- I'm going to call Which Brew, see if I can get a reservation on short notice. Hopefully people will still show up, I'm supposed to pick up my winter jerseys and some E-Load from my various contacts.

Culture Jamming From Beyond The Grave

Morning weigh-in: 172#, 12% BF

 

So anyway... Came in to work today and I had a new phone, with new phone number. Never had a phone at work, not sure I want one. (I will get the number out to those who need it -- but cell phone is still and always the best choice.)

 

I'll probably be working a little late tonight, skipping yoga -- I always get something out of the beginner class, but right now there are a bunch of true beginners in it and they might need more help than me -- in favor of drycleaning & a haircut, then I'll probably hit the gym. Laundry night, also Monday Night Football so I'll hit Porter's to catch a quarter or so, reload my sports camouflage for office conversations: "How 'bout them Denvers? Yeah that guy sure is a great homestar runner..."

 

They Are Immune To Your Recuperation: I know I was saying how disappointed I was to check out the old punk songs again, only to find some of the luster worn off -- but this is just Situationist comedy gold.

 

Back From The BASH

Doug In The Rain
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

And I had a blast! My photos are posted and can be found here.

By the way, a little perspective from getting away: I realized that the reason I've been so agitated recently is because I have a major crush on someone that I won't mention by name. I've known her, not well but for a long time, and always did think that she was hot and really nice, but all of a sudden, hmmmm... I have a feeling that nothing good will come of this, so stay tuned.

Almost Forgot

An Anniversary: Today is the day we all learned a valuable lesson -- if you find glowing blue metal in an abandoned hospital, don't eat it! Also, Ad Decimum but that's old news.

That Reminds Me: What radiation story would be complete without the Kidd, Of, Speeeeed!

Listening: The Cramps, "Can your Pussy Do The Dog?" (Sorry Mom, but you did once buy me the album.) Now it's Johnny Cash, "Big River." Told you I was moving on.

Outta Here: Hit the gym after work, short (10 mi) fast (20+ mph avg) warmup ride beforehand. That felt good. Now I'm heading downtown (after Neko Case stops singing) for some dinner, and tomorrow I'm off to the BASH, three days of a mini Mountain Bike Weekend. My blues seem to have evaporated...

Ou Sont Les Fafblogs D'antan?

Morning weigh-in: 172#, 10% BF

Saw something at the Washington Monthly asking "What are the funniest blogs you read?" My own top five:

1. Sadly, No!

2. Alicublog

3. Bats Left Throws Right

4. Tbogg

5. The Poor Man Institute

(Funniest political blogs, anyway. YMMV, as always.) These were all well represented in comments over there, along with most of my honorable mentions, but someone mentioned the one I forgot about, good old Fafblog, once the best there was and a blogroll to die for, now gone the way of the Whiskey Bar. Wonder what ever happened to those guys...

Listening: Basically just finished my Sex Pistols retrospective, found that only a few of the songs seemed to hold up to my memories/expectations -- the songs actually seem slower now than they did back then, and way more hokey. Time to move on.

UPDATE: Fafblog? Yes, Fafblog! Oops, forgot to put the link in, but I fixed the shit out of that.

Unsettled

Morning weigh-in: 170.5#, 12% BF (so close I can almost taste it)

 

Been kind of uptight lately, snappish and not very able to assimilate disquieting news -- sorry about the phone conversation last night Mom, though once it's stripped of the editorial tone I'll still stand by what I said -- having trouble sleeping, absolutely no appetite...

 

Don't know what the root problem is, but I know I've been unconsciously trying a few, ah, ad-hoc solutions. Last week I hit WB (ditto Porters) a little more than I should have; this week I've avoided that particular good decision but chose one only a little better: I couldn't sleep last night so I went out riding the singlespeed. My usual sprint workout, back and forth the numbered streets, sprinting up and coasting down (stopping or jumping onto the curb at every street or sign of a car, since I'm invisible sans lights -- that's part of the game), working my way downtown and back a few times. The first hour was a little crazy, then around 11:00 the traffic quieted down and it was just me and my breath and legs. Sprint, coast, sprint, coast... Good workout, especially if I'm physically up for sprinting, but the "can't sleep --> go riding --> burn out" is how I screwed myself up last year. Like I said, it's better than sitting in a bar, but only marginally so.

 

Got to bed around midnight, slept OK. Got up this morning, early, and ran.

 

Now How Much Would You Pay? Anyway, what else I did: stopped in to Bike King, bought some derailleur cables and, purely on impulse, a new rear XTR derailleur. Not the newest one, but one of the older ones I like (though the most recent XTR's look pretty sweet). It was last one he had like that; the product line was discontinued years ago. The cables were also XTR (sheesh, $40 cables?), so  all together I paid about $160 for the both of them. Put them on last night, the Turner shifts like a dream now. That bike could really use some TLC, but then so could the singlespeed, as I discovered last night. Squeak! Squeak!

 

Tonight is yoga.

 

"Give me a dozen such heartbreaks, if that would help me lose a couple of pounds." -- Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
 

Under The Banner Of Heaven

Morning weigh-in: 171.5#, 8% BF (WTF? must be a hydration issue -- but I do like that weight)

 

Playing Footsie: Slept in this morning, played hookey from work to go to the doctor's office. Ankle surgeon, final visit one year later, and I got a clean bill of health -- with the usual ticking-time-bomb disclaimer: "You do realize that the infection may return at any time..." What-eva, I think I'm good and the hardware is permanent as far as I'm concerned.

 

Remembrance: Pat Driscoll, Dean Eberling. Just thought I'd say a few names out loud. And here's some Sadly,No! caught in a reprise of being serious. (As for public ceremonies, well, here's a little rudeness.) Funny, I was dehydrated that day too, snuck out of work early and rode the towpath to clear my head -- it was actually a beautiful day, "nine-eleven weather" as the New Yorkers call it now. Went to give blood, me and half the Lehigh Valley, two AM before it was my turn and the nurse couldn't find my veins.

 

Meantime, today's the anniversary of another faith-based mass murder.

 

In other news, I hear that Into The Wild is being made into a movie.

 

 

The Borderline They Call Hazel

Morning weigh-in: 172.5#, 12% BF

 

One Other Reconnection: Saturday morning I was running around doing errands on a very tight time budget, so needless to say there were all sorts of delays thrown in my path. One delay was OK though: I saw my riding buddy & former neighbor Mike B outside his old house. He looked OK if a bit haggard -- he had the stooped posture & body language I associate with a medical beat-down, and the realization that you're not just mortal but frail -- but told me he was basically out of the woods. In other words, he's cancer free, and had in fact been so since June. Unfortunately, he had two more treatments, to make extra-double-sure it was in remission, and the second treatment wiped out his immune system; he spent most of August in the hospital. But he's back, the last PICC line comes out Friday, and he'll be riding Saturday.

 

We joked about "Lance Armstrong syndrome" and about how Dona, who once told me "you have no idea what fatigue is until you've been through this," came back as a monster rider. Mike laughed and said that hills he's suffered on don't seem so bad now in retrospect.

 

A History, A Pattern: Wikipedia sez that today is the 110th anniversary of the Lattimer Massacre, the killing of a bunch of striking immigrant mine workers by sherriff's deputies near Hazelton. I guess the nuts don't fall too far from the tree up there, but luckily their latest great idea was shot down, pending appeal of course...

 

Tonight is yoga, then Mug Club night, and I'm curiously reluctant to go... Tomorrow (if it doesn't rain) is a road ride, then the VMB meeting. This weekend is the BASH, and I personally could use a weekend in the woods about now, rain or no rain.

Beth Opens Presents

Beth Opens Presents
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Put a bunch of photos up on flickr, mostly of the baby shower but a few recent mellow rides as well. Enjoy!

Steer Toward The Sound Of The Guns

Another high speed weekend, like I'd been shot out of a cannon...

Hit WB & Porters on Friday. Post Junction was playing at Which Brew, and was a little disappointed at not seeing some people I'd hoped would be there, but did see Joe & Cindy with Eric & Janna, which was very pleasant, and also very much of a surprise. They were getting ready to leave about when I got there (early AM road ride for Joe & Eric, while I did a towpath ride after work & arrived late), so we only hung for a few minutes but it was nice.

More Un-Missed Connections: It was hot inside so I went out on the deck, and sat with Stu & Cathy who I hadn't seen in like a month -- I was thinking of sending an "Is Everything OK?" email. Turns out they'd been up in Canada & upstate NY on a road trip, as well as doing one or two other vacationey things. Good to see them, even if they looked pretty much the same.

At the same table were Jeff & Tracy, another couple I hadn't seen in a while (embarrassing fact: they're my neighbors, I can see them any time I make the effort). Tracy dropped a news bomb: "I'm pregnant!" Things is moving along, they even sold their car and got a family-style SUV...

Joe M was also hanging out, but another guy showed up: a friend who shall remain nameless but whose recent conversations have become tedious and disturbing (obsessive, delusional, concerning a girl he likes), which left a bad taste in my mouth right at the end of a pleasant evening. Went across the street -- I know he doesn't like it there, but real reason was because WB closes early & they don't -- got another beer to help wash the taste out. Not really my crowd, but there were a few people I knew. (I could talk more about this night, maybe I will later.)

Doily, And More Doily: The next day I skipped morning yoga, but hit the gym. I saw Janna again as she was leaving (she teaches spinning there). Good workout, yadda yadda, numbers were good even if I didn't feel especially strong -- legs are doing well, I expect I'll be able to start hitting them hard when the season ends -- I am already jonesing for leg workouts. I got some good gift ideas from Dawn S ("go to the mall, get a gift card") for the "co-ed baby shower" I'd be going to later in the day.

Anyway, on the way to the mall I had lunch at a new place in P'burg that a friend recommended, sort of tea-and-sandwiches place. Very nice but very estrogen, which I guess got me ready for what was coming...

That afternoon was Beth & Kevin's "co-ed baby shower." First one I ever went to, and hopefully it'll be the last -- the people were nice, it's just that that party format is really annoying. Luckily it was actually just a barbecue for most of the day, and they didn't do the whole shower thing until the end. I dropped back and punted, got them a gift card, but some people had really nice gifts. (Their daughter Charlee was 2 months premature, so there was a lot of specialized "preemie-sized" clothes.)

The party ended soon after the gifts were done, and I went back to Easton, to a friend's 40th birthday party. Low key, but lots of good food & company. Bed by midnight, maybe 11:00.

Sunday: Trail maintenance at Allamuchy, fixing damage from the race, then I rode towpath/Sals. Saw Dave J from the PPRAC ride at Sals, but we were both leaving by then. My bionic weather foot tells me rain's coming, and from what I saw the trails (at Sals, Allamuchy, and even Jim Thorpe) could sure use it.

Things I Missed: There was a lot of stuff going on this weekend, including the P'burg Criterium & a collegiate MTB race at Lehigh on Saturday, and the Hellertown Hill Climb & a road race (through the Allentown Brew Works, for one lap at least) in Allentown. I caught part of the Hill Climb from the towpath, but it's not the same since the stopped letting people hit each other with beer bottles...

Well, Duh

I had this same experience last year with the ankle and related health issues:

The bill arrives today and (without any itemization) totals up to -- are you ready? -- $116,749.00 (not included the cardiologist fees which are billed separately-- about another $6k).

I kid you not.

In a column lateral to the "amount billed" I then find the "amount allowed" i.e. the amount that Blue Cross is actually willing to pay the hospital. That amount: $4730, or less than 4% of the total charge. But wait, there's a footnote appended to the amount allowed. In fine print at the bottom of the page the annotation says that the provider accepts the amount allowed as payment in full and that I, the insured, owe nothing.

Doug told me he had the same experience, and I remember a conversation with a woman (waitress, uninsured) who was stuck paying full price for major surgery. If only she had a corporation or rich man to own her... Stand in the shadow of your padrone, baby, only the powerful can negotiate with the powerful.

Zoinks!

fake babies two
Originally uploaded by badsibot.

Man that's one freaky picture. Was out exploring flickr, and since none of my friends/contacts have posted any pics lately I went a little further afield...

Apocalypse Then and Now

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 12% BF

Remember how I said that Saturday's yoga class (with Michael Lear) really got me stoked again, and I felt good to be able to hang in the more advanced class? Well, at last night's class I heard that he and his wife are moving to NYC, to be closer to her job. Anyway, good workout last night, then laundry nite.

Some science: Looks like there's a hole in the asteroid belt, new evidence for the "meteor killed the dinosaurs" theory. Meantime, in our own bid for extinction, the ice caps are melting, and wheat prices are rising. I just might live to see the end of the world after all...

Tonight is bike/gym, then probably corn on the cob.

UPDATE: Fixed the link to Michael Lear. Skipped the ride, hit the gym.

Doldrums? Imposing Order?

Morning weigh-in: 173.5#, 10.5% BF (Not bad, not bad...)

 

Took yesterday as a rest day: no biking or gym, though I did do a little yoga at home, that 15-minute routine. Went food shopping, blah blah, ate a cheesesteak at the new "Hot Dog Drive-In" (can't shop hungry) but did not go out for real.

 

I was downloading software, some big files so I couldn't play with much else online -- didn't want to choke the download / hog the bandwidth --  and so I used my spare time to clean up a little, mostly just collecting books from various places around the house and putting them in the new bookcase. Some other light tidying might be in order, maybe I'll straighten up a little more as the week goes on, start getting ready for "spend more time in the house" season.

 

Tonight is yoga, then laundry; probably going out while the laundry dries. Oh how it all falls apart so quickly...

Summer In Deceleration

Morning weigh-in: 122.5#, 10.5% BF (NFLikely)

Well, the Labor Day Weekend has come and gone...

Friday: Did an "easy spin" on the towpath on the singlespeed. My intention was to practice high-cadence riding (hence the SS), but after a while I thought I was going to go insane, crawling along while my legs spun madly away beneath me... Met Brian afterward for a Which Brew dinner. He called while I was on the ride and said he had news that he wanted to deliver in person: due to scheduling conflicts with that "Science of Racing" thing he does, he's going to have to drop out of the VT50. Oh well, shit happens, but he was still pretty disappointed. Pork tostatas, Pyramid Apricot Ale, music by the Family Circus Trio (aka guys from Post Junction).

Saturday started with a yoga workout, followed by chores and breakfast at the coffee shop, and then a gym workout (with legs once again). The leg weights were light, but yoga was pretty intense -- I finally screwed up the courage to take one of Michael's classes, and to tell you the truth I'm pretty stoked on yoga again because of it -- and my body was quite tired by the end of the day. An early evening at my usual local watering hole -- Mexican pizza, more Pyramid, Dave Cahill & friends making the music.

Sunday I did a "local epic:" I had breakfast at the coffee shop, then I rode around Easton until Genesis Bicycles opened (I needed tubes), and finally rode down the towpath to Sals. Since I woke up already tired & sore, with muscles full of prostaglandins, I kept things pretty mellow until I got to Sals, but even there I didn't really try to hammer. On the way home I met a Maryland couple, who were visiting the area specifically to ride the towpath! Pretty amazing, when you think about it. We got to talking, and they told me that there's a new section of the C&O canal (their stomping ground), and you can now go from Georgetown to Pittsburgh offroad. Hmmmm...

Sunday evening was a party at Judy's place (she's the one with the composting toilet). Only a few people there that I knew well, but it was really nice. Dawn S had given me some corn on Saturday that her husband had grown, so I brought that. (She was worried that it would be "starchy," but it tasted great to me.) Plenty of other good stuff there to eat too, of the BBQ & summer salad variety. Turns out it was Judy's birthday, or near enough the actual date for us to sing.

Monday: A killer Jim Thorpe ride. Me, Doug, Brian, Joe C, Rich, James, and maybe a half dozen other people. We did the singletrack through the strip mines, then the core group climbed up to Flagstaff -- we were very disappointed to find the bar closed at the top -- and rode over Mauch Chunk Ridge and down Bob's Option. I was surprised at how well I was riding, especially considering the preceding days' experiences. Afterward, the good old core group treated Rich to dinner at the Hotel Switzerland, since it was his birthday. Guinness, pork tenderloin medallions and a few tall tales -- good times, good times...

Some News: The 24 Hour race was so bad on the trails, that All-A-Muchy has been canceled. Oh well.

Florida Photos!

Kevin And Olivia
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Get 'em while they're hot & fresh, I just put a bunch on my flickr page.

Turnabout and Rehabilitation

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 176#, 12.5% BF

 

I guess I don't get as much "suppression weight loss" from the yoga as I might have expected (toughh workout, forget pigs: I sweat like a fountain), though I'm sure dinner at Which Brew didn't help either. Last night was similar: bike/gym, then dinner again at the WB. I didn't even bother weighing myself this morning. Fun night though, and anyway I was pretty heartened by the hot lap I did before the gym workout: it's a 14-mile "warmup ride," and I did it in 47 minutes, averaging 17.7 mph. Since I also did some (light) leg work at the gym, my legs are now killing me.

 

In the news: So I see that the Violent Femmes are now suing each other over the use of one of their songs in a Wendy's commercial. I'm stuck wondering how long it'll be before I see "Anarchy In The UK" backing up a Range Rover commercial. Hopefully never...

 

Tonight is the towpath, maybe on the singlespeed, then back (yes) to WB for Fred's 40th birthday, and also Art's. Tomorrow is yoga and the gym.

Back To The Battle

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 12.5% BF

 

Rode last night with Doug, at least for part of the ride: he dropped back and got lost, did his own ride while I cruised around looking for him... I did the Hellertown hill ride, but did the Applebutter Rd -- Rt 412 -- Easton Rd -- Saucon Rd "far loop" backwards, which is not the way I like (I prefer heading west on Applebutter Rd, which is an awesome twisty downhill in that direction), but it was still pretty nice.

 

Working Towards Something: I'm trying to get ready for the VT50, getting my cardio/endurance back up to snuff, while also trying to drop a few pounds. (I'd like to be 170# for the race, and it's a little ambitious but I want to be 165# for All-A-Muchy -- my real target race -- which is on Oct 6th.) This basically means I'll be doing a lot of road rides, especially hilly ones, to approximate the hilly but relatively non-technical VT50 course, and to get my cardio workouts in without beating myself up too much.

 

So, I'll be hitting yoga tonight (a solid workout in itself), but tomorrow will be a Harmony/P'burg ride as a gym warmup, Friday will be the towpath (um, it's like a road), Sunday will be an early morning towpath/Sals ride, and Labor Day will be... what? Monday might be a tough call, since I have a Sunday afternoon picnic/party to go to.

Back In The Saddle

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 11.5% BF

Many things happening since my last post: went to Florida & visited my brother & his family (stay tuned for pictures) and uh... OK that's all really...

Oh yeah. The weekend before, we (the old Lehigh trails crowd) did a "goodbye ride" for Damion, who was moving with his family to eastern Washington State. That was in the morning, then in the afternoon I drove down to my parent's house and helped them pack. That was probably the last time I'll ever be there -- they're closing & moving out this week I believe. I took lots of pictures of both things; the Damion shots are already on Flickr and the house photos (some of them) will be soon.

Anyway, I'm back.

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 173#, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 175.5#, 10.5% BF

Took a rest day yesterday, and had the monthly Chain Gang meeting at Joe & Cindy's house. It was actually a really good time (I'm not surprised or anything, a pleasant evening was what I expected but it was still nice), killer food and conversation. Saw Bryan Klein, who showed up on his new motorcycle.

Solaris: If there is other life in the universe, how would we recognize it, and how would we communicate -- what would we even say to each other?

Tonight was the gym, and dinner was salad with pita & babaganouj. I'm going out to catch a band at Which Brew in a bit, but wanted to eat healthy here at home first.

PPRAC Stories: Bill

The Inspired Rider
Originally uploaded by hanskneller.

I have a few photos of him, but this shot by my friend Hans is the best one I found.

Bill's son is a testicular cancer survivor, and in the course of his son's illness and treatment, Bill became involved with an online support group. Needless to say, he became very close to a lot of people struggling with this disease, and with their families.

Every night after dinner, he would announce that he was riding for a particular person the next day: someone who survived, or was still undergoing treatment, or maybe someone who didn't make it. He would wear a LiveStrong shirt, and have everyone sign it, and after the ride he was sending the shirts to these people or their families.

There were a lot of true athletes on this ride; Bill was a decent rider but he was not one of the hotshots gobbling up the miles like they were nothing. Especially on the tough days he rode on pure heart.

He definitely earned my respect, I'm proud to just know what he did.

The S-word

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 10% BF

Rode tonight after work with Greg and Rich, lightning pace at Sals. I felt better than I did Sunday, and way better than last Wednesday's Sals ride, but I can tell I'm still tired. I also think I have a sinus problem a-building, which I'm handling with Mucinex. (Sudden weight loss, fatigue, colds: it all adds up to overtraining, which, in the absence of any recent formal "training," is probably just the aftermath of PPRAC. It beats the other reason some of my friends are tired lately -- there seems to be an epidemic of Lyme Disease among Lehigh Valley mountain bikers right now, especially those frequenting Sals and South Mountain. DEET is your friend.)

The Situationists: Still reading Babylon's Burning, and finally -- though you could feel it building to this -- someone finally mentioned the S-word. Situationist.

PPRAC Stories: Kelly

Ride Day 2: Kelly
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Pretty girl, young but not the youngest person on the ride, she was a rock-solid rider with a core of iron... This was her second PPRAC ride, and I'd heard that she'd had some rough events in her life in the two intervening years ( this article talks about her brother and why she's participating), but when she got up one day after dinner and started talking about her big brother, how he stuck up for her when they were kids and how he'd passed away, only ten weeks before the ride, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Marching Around Breathing Deeply

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 11% BF

Fatamy: I can't find a link, but I saw in the paper that Tatamy is now outlawing skateboards, unless you're on your own property or riding in an orderly fashion at the government-supplied skate park or something... My standard Drunken Rant (#4, "Skateboarding Saved The Youth Of America") may be inserted here; I'll just note in passing that Tatamy is also the town where that "Road Raging Driver Assaults Cyclist" guy lives, and rename the town Fatamy. So long, fatsos!

OK, pot kettle black but at least I'm out there working it, and also not making it illegal for those kids to pursue fitness on their own terms...

Anyway, saw the "final show" of the Insidious Rays at the Funhouse on Friday, slacked off (for good reason) Saturday morning before hitting the gym & then MusikFest. Sunday I rode American Standard with a VMB dude named John. Last night was laundry, and dinner at Porters.

Jim and Me

Ride Day 5: Our Official Greeter
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

This was at breakfast in Williamsport, at the Williamsport Home (formerly: "The Wiliamsport Home for the Friendless") -- it seemed to be an ordinary nursing home, but maybe they were indigent or whatever...

Jim was our official greeter, the breakfast line started behind him. Everyone basically introduced themselves, made small talk and thanked him for the hospitality, etc. He was in heaven -- sometimes when you're sick you have to fight just to be seen as human.

(I have to point out that not all the residents were happy with our presence, some were downright grumpy that their favorite tables were in use when they came in breakfast..)

James and Me

Don's Memorial
Originally uploaded by hanskneller.

Here's a photo of me at the Young Democrats Club in Williamsport, taken by my friend, fellow PPRACster and flickrite Hans. The guy on the wall behind me is our eleventh President, James K. Polk.

The connection? I do this ride in memory of my friend Mike, who passed away in 2003 (among other people). He served on the nuclear sub USS James K. Polk, and came down with his first bout of lymphoma while in the Navy.

A Little More of the Old Catch-Up

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 178.5#, 6% BF (Mug Club Nite Monday)
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 176.5, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 177#, 11% BF

Reading: I picked up sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs the other day, and read it on vacation. The verdict: annoying -- the guy's not nearly as clever as he thinks. Meantime though, I got Babylon's Burning at the same time and also started it on vacation; it's a history of punk from about 1974 through Nirvana (maybe 1992). Big thick meaty book, full of facts, stories, extensive quotes, I'll be enjoying this for a while. (Speaking of annoying, I've also been having a hard time finishing Black Swan Green, it's just getting a little tedious.)

Listening: Patti Smith's 1975 debut Horses. I now have "Land" on CD, and also "Gloria." Sweet!

Rode Tuesday at Sals, saw that I was still not quite recovered... Monday was beginner yoga (hot, and I was the only one who showed up so there was no hiding from the teacher), and Wednesday was the intermediate class, where the teacher "took it easy" but I was still a puddle of sweat.

More PPRAC news: I finished posting my vacation pics onto flickr, you can see all 121 of them in this set. (You can also find a bunch of photos by others in this group photo pool.) Enjoy!

Vacation's Over

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 10% BF

That's pretty good, I didn't gain weight on the trip (and since I had pizza/soda last night the loss was probably more until damage was done).

Believe it or not, I went for a ride yesterday. I felt a little edgy, like I was missing something (and surprisingly, did not feel tired), so I decided to do a towpath ride on the Turner. This meant about an hour or so of long-overdue maintenance first, but I got rolling around 5:30, and met Doug & Lori, as well as Eric & Kris, Eric & Janna, Joe and Cindy and Joe G down at Musikfest. I gave Doug the ribbon I carried on the ride (with the names of two friends who died in the past year), then stuck around for a few songs before bolting.

(I'll probably be doing the Musikfest thing again later in the week.)

Got home, found the boy two houses over using a broom and stepladder to try and get something off my roof -- the girl next door is now attracting the attention of the local boys, including this dork, who threw her flip-flop up there. Out the bedroom window with my own broom, problem solved, then it was time for some pizza on the porch.

...And I'm Back

Got home yesterday. I've basically been resting and doing laundry ever since, though I have posted a few pictures on flickr: check this set for what I've already posted, and stay tuned for more...

The trip was awesome. The rides were tough (especially later in the week), the scenery was beautiful, and the people -- the riders, the support crew, and the people who took care of us in the towns -- were the most wonderful group you could want to be counted among. I've been on an emotional high all week, and when things finally ended I actually felt kind of depressed that it was over.

Watch for ride stories as the week progresses.

One more for the list of heroes: My cousin Ed donated online while I was away. Way to go Ed!

Be Right Back...

Morning weigh-in (remember them?): 179#, 11% BF

Zoinks! But then again, I've been tapering/slacking, and also eating out a lot, over the past week. I usually gain weight on the PPRAC ride though, so I better be careful.

I am out of here; in about 10 minutes I'll be leaving for the starting point (Holy Trinity Church, Palmerton PA), first step on the road to um, Erie... See you all in a week, hopefully with some good stories.

Thanks again to all my wonderful sponsors -- you rock, but now I gotta roll.

Vermont Photos

Me On Burke Mountain
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

This is a shot of me at the top of Burke Mountain; after the day's ride, we drove to the top to check out the view. Not the best portrait because of the lighting -- I processed some others to get better brightness on the faces, maybe I should have done it here too -- but the scenery is good. You can find the rest of my photos here.

Enjoy!

The Road To Mandalay

I've been back from Vermont (which was lovely) all week, just haven't had a chance to post. We have a new Internet policy at work, all sorts of sites are restricted now -- so the days of the lunchtime epistle are over...

Getting ready for my next trip (the Cancer Ride), which starts Sunday.

More for the wall of heroes:

Uncle Pat
Claire
Lawrence
Doug and Lori

Thanks for supporting me!

Linux Voyager, Hardware/Gadget Edition: I've been preparing for the trip all week, and one thing I did was buy a new memory stick for my camera. The one I already have is old; it's sort of "two-sided" and each side holds only 128 Mb, so I got a new 1-Gig card -- since the new card has a different shape it came with a special adapter for the camera. Well, the card works great in the camera, but the printer cannot read it -- my printer has a built-in memory card reader, but for some reason it reports an error when it tries t access this one. Encryption, DRM? Whatever... I had no other way to read the card, so I picked up a USB memory stick reader today. Fiddled with the fstab file and everything was A-OK. My computer is now festooned with USB gingerbread.

Short Week

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 175.5#, 12.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177.5#, 9% BF

B-b-but where was the booze? Normally when the body fat is down like that and the weight's up, it means I went out the night before... last night was yoga and dinner at home, but there was probably a bounceback from some weekend weight/water suppression.

Thursday night: Gym workout with Dawn, then Which Brew to catch Post Junction. It was a later night than I would have wanted: they usually close at 11:00 on weeknights, but stayed open until midnight, and I stuck around for the whole show.

Friday night: Had what was probably my best towpath time in two years, 22.5 miles in 1:20, just below a 17 mph average (personal bests used to be 1:28 for 25.4 miles, ten years and 20 pounds ago when I lived on Southside). I was trying to make it home in time to go to a special Kirtan Workshop at Easton Yoga, but I was late for the start (like, over an hour late) so I skipped it. Which Brew for dinner, where I saw the Dan DeChellis Trio (sans the sax player, which would have made it a quartet anyway); I also saw some people who went to the Kirtan thing, and they told me I missed a great event. Oh well, there'll be another one in September, and the show at WB was good.

Saturday: Great yoga class, super workout with some different things (mostly from Kundalini yoga) in the mix. After that I skipped the gym, and went out on an exploration...

Patience, Willow: I rode down almost to Bethlehem, to check out the ruins of an abandoned amusement park. (When I mentioned this place to friends, I got a few stories about trips there as kids -- I also heard stories from younger friends, about sneaking into the place after it was closed.) I didn't find much, but it was my first visit, more recon than anything else -- there's supposed to be quite a bit still there, if you know where to look. I'll be back, but most likely on foot, and I'll probably do it in the fall/winter, when the vegetation is dormant.

Euro Vision: This was close to the Freemansburg section of the towpath, so I dropped on to that and cruised back to Easton. I hit downtown and did a mini "hub crawl" -- like a pub crawl, only on the bike -- stopping at setta Luna (first time there: had a Hoegaarden), then Pearly Baker's (Dogfish Head Farmhouse Ale), and finally Which Brew (Weyerbacher Muse), where I also got a burger and a coffee. Outdoor dining all the way, it was a pretty sweet setup.

Saturday Night: BBQ/Party at the Rigler's, a blowout they do every year with their next-door neighbor. Good time, but I (mostly) stuck to the Diet Cokes at that point.

Payback, Bi-yatch! Sunday was a ride at Blue Marsh with Joe & Cindy and Eric. Fun but relentlessly aerobic -- and fast -- and I eventually cracked by trying to keep up with the rockets. They stopped for some lunch at the beachside snack shack, and I passed them without realizing, so they eventually caught me and we finished together. Twenty four miles, two and a half hours, 100 ounces of E-Load (and a quart of OJ plus 20 oz of Coke on the ride home), I was spanked.

I'm going up to Vermont for a long weekend this Thursday, tonight is yoga and bike prep.

Bring On The Dancing Horses

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 11.5% BF

Great but very active/sweaty yoga workout last night, followed by a bag-o-salad for dinner -- I ran out of honey-mustard dressing so I made my own (ingredients: honey, mustard, plus a little lemon juice and olive oil but -- duh), tasted great. Tonight is the gym.

Listening: Some late-era Echo & the Bunnymen CD. New versions of old hits, dance mixes etc; when I bought it I was disappointed, but right now I'm really digging it for some reason. Maybe because I forgot what the originals sounded like?

Who's The Samaritan Now, Eh? An Observation: I'm in the Valley Mountain Bikers, a local bike club with maybe 200 members (30-50 active ones), and when I solicited for PPRAC donations I got nothing, zip, zilch -- this is my third PPRAC ride, and I got similar results for those rides too. Right now one member is fighting cancer, by the way.

Meantime, I asked Kelly Jo, Mistress of Which Brew, to send something out on her mailing list (shout-out: Thanks K-Jo!); it went out yesterday and I already have two donations.

A good Samaritan had a dollar. He walks into a bar and says to the bartender...

Trees! Treeeeeeees!!!!!

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 11% BF

Weight's still bouncing around between 175 and 179, looks like the problem -- as always -- is diet, so I guess I'll have to re-rededicate myself to losing that weight. Re, re, re, re, re, re, re, re... Last week I rode 220 miles; so far this week my mileage is zero. I'm working on it.

My town is once again an official disaster area, this time from a major thunderstorm which blew through yesterday. Lots of big trees in my neighborhood fell down, like onto houses and power lines; two big ones are down on my block alone and we actually got off easy. Roads closed everywhere, it was like a crazy maze trying to get around all the roadblocks and one-way streets in Wilson. Power was out (for safety reasons I think), and only came back on around 3:00 AM. I decided to skip cooking, went down to Which Brew (natch), where power was also out but they were serving beer, salads & hummus, so that's what I had for dinner. They closed when it got dark.

By the way, fireworks were great for Heritage Day, ditto Mary's "Merritage Day Party," and the 80-mile ride before all that was also great, even if it was stinking hot. My friends and I all seem to be riding well.

We Can Be Heroes

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 9.5% BF

PPRAC Hall of Fame: Thanks Mom & Dad for your generous donation!

Took a half day today to get some bank biz done, going for an early afternoon ride after I'm done. Bad food day yesterday (breakfast, or breakfasts, mostly to blame), but it was a good night in the gym, and I actually feel pretty fit.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 10.5% BF

So my car went into the shop Monday night for an oil change; since I got some other things done it was an all-day event Tuesday, with early-bird drop-off. Mug Club Monday night at Which Brew, home, bike on car & drop it off. Ride to work Tuesday, then to shop for car Tuesday night. Yesterday was the Independence Day ride and picnic (both of which were lovely) -- and I realized that, for the past several days, I'd been doing a bike ride every 12 hours or so...

By the way, yahoo is phasing out their photo section, so I had them import my photos into Flickr. I'll be organizing them soon, stay tuned.

Starting the Enlightenment with a Ka-BOOM! Happy anniversary, Principia Mathematica!

Night's Legal Tender

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 13.5% BF

So put on your Ghost Shirt,
As if that will save you,
And if you can pray,
Well, pray for rain too...

Highlight of the weekend? The incredible Friday night, or Saturday's hung-over yoga? The killer ride, the angry rattlesnake, the streamside BBQ, the peach cake? The house with the breezy composting toilet?? Not even your hairdresser knows for sure.

Running Between The Raindrops

Morning weigh-in: oops! forgot to weigh in...

Good towpath ride last night. Radar showed storms to north & south, but I-78 corridor was clear so I took the chance. Not a fast ride, but steady -- until it looked like a storm was coming so I cranked up the speed on the way back. Time was 1:36, not bad, and I just barely beat the storm.

Tonight is the gym.

Reading: Still on Black Swan Green. Interesting, it's all first-person singular, following one character, but the book's structure is still pure David Mitchell: every chapter is a new story, each fairly separate from the rest but each building a part of the larger story. What was that word, vignettes?

I Am The Owl

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12% BF

Everything Comes Back To A Dead Kennedys Song: The CIA took themselves a big document dump, of stuff they did from 1959 to 1973 or so, that they thought might have been illegal -- they're calling it the "Family Jewels." For the past few days this has been the buzz internet story -- but this ain't news, any more than it's news that professional wrestling is fake, even when a wrestler admits it's fake.

"...in ten years or so we'll leak the truth,

but by then it's only so much paper!"

-- Dead Kennedys, "I Am The Owl"

Anyway, Svaroopa yoga last night, followed by dinner at Which Brew, where I saw Fred & Lara fresh (or not so fresh) off the plane from France. They were there for a friend's wedding, just got home, jet-lagged and no food in the house... I had some Sea Dog Wild Blueberry Wheat, presumably Maine blueberries in it because that's where Sea Dog is located. Meantime, I'm all for local stuff, but I bought a pint of NJ blueberries last week, and they are the blandest berries I've ever tasted, blander even than California agri-biz strawberries. Judging by that beer, those Maine berries must have been sweeeeeet...

Yackety Yak

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 12% BF

Not much being said here lately, sorry. It's not that that I have nothing to say, maybe more like too much, and not enough time to get to putting it down, and so the words are lost along with the moment.

Quick Recap: Thursday was run/gym, then Which Brew; Friday was towpath/Sals, then which Brew/Porters; Saturday was yoga/gym, then Which Brew; Sunday was a good solid 20 miles at Allamuchy with Bob and Joe & Cindy. Last night was yoga followed by dinner at Porters while the laundry cooked.

Vignette #1: Been fighting the weight again; as soon as I hit 175 the "nutritional discipline meltdown" comes into play, incredible urges for greasy foods, burgers & pizza etc. I think it's time for a closer look at my diet: I may be eating too much, but really not getting enough of what my body needs, hence the binges.

Vignette #2: Friday's band was smoking hot at Which Brew, could hardly tear myself away to go see Post Junction at Porters. But that was even better: ended up dancing with my (tipsy but married) neighbor as she celebrated her birthday. Dirty dancing, as the kids might call it -- the block party could prove awkward this year...

Vignette #3: Saw KEF at Which Brew on Saturday; their bassist is a blind black guy. I remember thinking wow, racism must make even less sense to blind people.

Vignette # 4: Rode surprisingly well on Sunday (actually, it's not really a surprise anymore), despite a tough start. When we got to the top of one not-as-difficult-as-it-seemed climb, one of my friends said "Yeah, the old Don is back." After a year of injury and recovery -- Yes!

Vignette #4.1: The latest energy food crazes are Clif Shot Blocks (like jello shots), and Jelly Belly's Energy Beans. I realized on Sunday that, as an adult, I spend most of my free time in the woods, riding my bicycle and eating candy...

Bloody Mary: For some reason I was thinking about this again recently.

Rocketman

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 178#, 11.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 176#, 13% BF

Rode last night with my friend Joe (the "fast guy"). The plan was to do about 5000 feet in 60 miles after work -- a brutal ride -- but we got cut short by weather and only did about 40 miles, and just shy of 3000 ft in elevation gain. Brutal enough, in my opinion... Dinner afterward was BBQ chicken with him and his girlfriend Sue.

Tonight is the Chain Gang meeting.

My Big Bear Photos

The Sid's Bikes Crew
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Yep they're now in flickr, and you can see the set here. Enjoy!

Burnt, Basted, Prostaglandinated

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13% BF

Legs & body are very tired this morning, probably from yesterday's ride. I did Sals via the towpath: four hours of riding, 33 miles, of which maybe ten were singletrack. Visited the folks yesterday, noticed the fatigue when swimming with my nephew.

Good visit, by the way. As always, photos to come soon...

I was going to ride in to work today, but decided against it, rest day is what the doctor orders, and I'll hit the yoga class & call it "active rest." Got up this morning and did a headstand, no cheating or leaning against the wall or nuthin.

VO2 Max

How time flies: I wrote this a year ago. Then again (of course), I wrote this two years ago, and this three years ago.

My legs feel a little tired and stiff right now (long ride Friday night, yoga and the gym yesterday), but lately I've been feeling (and riding) pretty strong on the bike, especially on hills. It might be the dropped weight, or maybe the body's adaption to the dropped weight (more likely, since there was a time lapse between the initial weight loss and the fitness jump), or maybe it's just the harder miles I've been doing, especially at Round Valley but also the bike commute. I noticed it a little at RV on a few of the recent rides, and actually surprised myself on the hills at Big Bear -- I was flying up things, made a lot of passes on grades and even steeps. I think my VO2 max must be rising, which is a good thing. It does go up with weight loss, but I think the real reason is better aerobic capacity overall -- and I think there's been a rise in my high-end, anaerobic endurance as well. Hey I'll take the win.

Reading: Still doing Black Swan Green, but I also have been re-reading at Faulkner's "The Bear," just nibbling.

One More From The Stealth Apocalypse: The birds, especially songbirds, have been disappearing for a while now, but here's something on a more personal level. (By the way, I remember being seriously creeped out by Lovecraftian whipporwills myself as a kid.)

"Who you gonna blame when your slaves all die of sorrow?" -- me

Friday Doldrums Blogging

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 176#, 9% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 176#, 10.5% BF

Yoga Wednesday night, followed by dinner at Which Brew. Gym, plus running, yesterday followed by a turkey sub for dinner. Tonight will be towpath/Sals, then off to meet the crew at Grumpy's, a BBQ/rib place in Allentown where I've never been.

I don't have much to say, but this should prove inspirational. Now go play outside!

Glamour

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 9% BF

After the gym yesterday I cruised over to the Wal-Mart, bought some socks and underwear, and while there I bought a few "gingham" (whatever that might mean) shirts: short sleeve, button-down, plaid polyester. I bought them for work, but at eight bucks a pop I'll wear them as riding jerseys if worst comes to worst...

Meanwhile, the Lizard Princess: I saw a post on James Wolcott's blog where he was ragging on those outraged by Paris's expecting & getting special treatment; his reply was essentially "welcome to the real world!" (Though I think he actually used "modern world.")

My thought was yes, the glitterati have always been playing a bit above the law, but back in the day we would not have seen this kind of circus for less than a murder... so here's to DUI, the great equalizer.

More from West Virginny

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 11% BF

This is a shot taken by Steve, our team captain. Tom (wearing the helmet) had just completed our last lap and the race is over. Our results can be found here (we're "Sids Bikes 2," click on the team name to see our stats) and our other team's results are here -- they took 3rd in their division if you can't guess their name...

I still haven't posted my photos, but I did narrow down my selection to 42 pictures, which I'll post probably within another day or so.

By the way: yoga yesterday, gym today -- no ride: thunderstorms and fatigue. Tomorrow is more yoga, then Thursday I'm back on the bike. Saw the coolest storm cell today, looked like a mushroom cloud, something you'd see over Bikini Atoll.

More Fun In West Virginia

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 9.5% BF

I'm back, had a great time. I have about 100 pictures -- took over 150, but I've already culled the real duds -- of which maybe 50 merit posting, stay tuned...

The race was awesome.

Been Thinking Again About The Stealth Apocalypse

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13% BF

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

-- Albert Einstein (attributed)

Anyway, good ride last night, Round Valley with Kevin McGatha. Mechanical problems prevented me from climbing the second of the Three Sisters hills, but other than that (and of course the "impossible" entrance section) I rode everything there; I'm actually surprised at how well I'm doing on climbs like Anaerobic Detour these days. Too bad I blew chunks at the end of the ride -- some pollen towards the end made me get all phlegmy & post-nasal. It was weird, with a very sudden onset; I coughed so hard I ended up gagging.

Pushing thru the market square, so many mothers sighing

News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in

News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying

Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying

-- David Bowie, "Five Years"

The Big Buzz

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 11% BF

Back to the boring posts. Yoga last night, followed by the Which Brew monthly Mug Club dinner -- not two days after the annual party, and maybe that's why it seemed a little quiet. Tonight is Svaroopa yoga, then I'm prepping for this weekend's race. Tomorrow is a ride at Round Valley.

UPDATE: Scooter gets 30 months. Sweet!

The View From Lunch

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 10% BF

In The News: Well, it looks like the Lizard Princess is off to jail, and I'm suggesting "Summer's Eve" for this guy's new nickname.

Reading: I just finished David Mitchell's number9dream. I had a lot of trouble with it at the start, just couldn't get into it like his other books, but I brought it down with me on vacation and knocked off a good chunk of it down there. It got a lot better, and I was totally engrossed in the story only to be disappointed by the ending, which I thought was a little too literary -- by that point I was just looking for some "happily ever after."

Now I'm reading Mitchell's Black Swan Green, just started this morning.

Truly Sad News

Rest in peace, Steve Gilliard. I guess you couldn't call it unexpected, because he'd been scary sick for a while, but this is still a gut-punch. Someone (Kos?) once called him "the best ranter on the Internet," and the News Blog was one I read every day for his take on current events, as well as food, beer and technology reviews; I might also point out that he absolutely nailed it, three or four years ago, calling out the exact shape the Iraq war would take (I heard of the Mahdi Army from the News Blog, long before they were on anyone else's radar) and illustrating his points with history lessons from WWII and colonial wars. His interests and outlook were very close to my own, and his was a voice I trusted to tell it like he saw it, and also to get it right.

I'm kind of upset, so I don't think I'll say any more, but Jane Hamsher has something to say worth reading, and so does Lindsay Beyerstein.

The Weekends Go Too Fast

Gonna Party Like It's Nineteen Seventy Nine
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Friday was pretty mellow (no ride because of the thunderstorms that kept threatening, dinner at Which Brew, early night because I was out Thursday night in Bethlehem) but Saturday was jam-packed: I ran in the morning, then hit the gym, and then decided to get a ride in before the rain, and in between all that were various errands & chores etc. Got a lot done, I was pretty happy actually.

I was under the gun because I wanted to get down to the annual Mug Club Party at Which Brew. It kicked off at 5:00; I got there at 6:30 but no worries, the party went all night. Great food as usual, free cask-conditioned Weyerbacher Muse, and a DJ playing disco. Photos are posted on flickr, check 'em out.

Sunday was trailwork at Sals, chainsawing fallen trees (damage from several recent storms), as well as cutting back a lot of the underbrush where it was encroaching on the trail. Quick lunch in Bethlehem, then we went back for a ride but we were all pretty tired and the rainn finall started coming down, so we cut it short.

A Million Stories: Salamander

Salamander
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I took this photo on my recent trip. These tiny little salamanders look just like fluorescent gummy bears, and there are times when they are literally everywhere.

About ten years ago or so, a friend and I did the Wild 100, an orienteering-style mountain bike race at Slatyfork. We were riding together, but got a late start (my fault) and then took a less traveled route to the first checkpoint, so wildlife had not yet been spooked by the race passing by. Riding up the USFS road, I couldn't get over how many of these guys were out sunning themselves in the gravel.

My friend said, "You don't see that every day."

And I replied with, "Yeah, it's amazing how many of them there are, they're everywhere you look. With that fluorescent orange color, they look almost edible."

He looked at me for a second like I'd totally lost it, and said, "You do know that I'm talking about the bear that ran across the road, not ten feet in front of us, right?"

Um...

Levez Vos Skinny Fists Comme Antennas to Heaven

I've been listening to Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven" obsessively and almost exclusively since the return trip from West Virginia. Especially the first movement, which is the ultimate driving song for cruising serious mountain roads. I was listening to it on the drive from Judy Gap to Harrisonburg, probably the coolest road I know, and it felt like I had died and was driving towards Heaven, sort of like Doc Melhorne or maybe the couple in The Robe (or whatever) who walk off into the clouds at the end. Sad, very "parting is such sweet sorrow" at the start, but building toward a triumphant end.

No Country For Old Men

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 8% BF

I'm back, had a great time. Many things to say...

By the way, I re-read Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men while I was down there. It's the story, circa 1980, of an aging small-town Texas sheriff caught up in the middle of a drug war: a botched heroin deal leaves a dozen bodies in the desert, where a local finds them and takes off with $2.2 million, chased by the sheriff and an army of drug-cartel hit men. It was an interesting juxtaposition to The Reverend Horton Heat's "Low Flying Plane:" I like to listen to him whenever I'm down in Slatyfork, and that's his song about a farmer who becomes a millionaire drug dealer after finding bales of cocaine in his fields. Two sides of a coin...

Kind of funny analogy, I did a lot of my riding on the Gauley Mountain trail system, but I've always considered the singletrack at Snowshoe to be superior. On Sunday I went over to Snowshoe, but found that things had changed...

The top of the mountain -- which once was empty, but now looked a bit like Disneyworld -- was where the action was, and that was where I finally found a bike shop. (I expected that I'd have to pay, or at least sign a waiver, before riding on their land, so I was looking for the official bike scene.) The place was packed to the gills with downhill bikers in full armor, and there were (packed) shuttles constantly running from the bottom of the hill back to the trailheads up top. Average age was 20 years younger than me.

I was told that if I wasn't going to use the lifts or shuttles I didn't need to pay, just hop on the trails and have fun, but once I got going I found their once-awesome XC trail system to be almost gone: overgrown, covered with debris, and generally suffering from neglect. Sad, actually. Sunday turned out to be my shortest ride day; I was disappointed and bailed early, which actually turned out to be a good thing because I managed to avoid the only bad weather of the whole trip (thunderstorms).

I left Snowshoe feeling like that superannuated sheriff. Luckily, the hippie-granola cross-country trails were still fine at Gauley...

I'm Outta Here!

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 12.5% BF

Well, not for a few hours yet, but I'm driving down to Slatyfork WV tonight. I should be hitting the Gauley Mountain trails around 9:00 or 10:00 tomorrow morning, then checking in at Elk River in the afternoon. Sweet! I'll be coming home Monday -- I'll be trying to get in as much riding as I can in those four days, maybe a day or two at Snowshoe, and a couple of rides behind Elk River...

Rode to work yesterday, hit yoga class on the way home, went to Porter's for dinner. Picked up the bike tonight from Saucon Valley Bikes, with Doug's loaner fork on it. (My fork is in the mail & on the way back to Marzocchi; I should see it in a week.)

Meantime, I have a whole bunch of new photos posted, including some from the race at Michaux, some from Mother's Day, a bunch from several early-spring rides in Jim Thorpe, and some from this past Sunday's "Dream Come True" charity road ride, not necessarily in that order. Enjoy!

See you next week, I'm off to talk to the trees again.

Thanks For Stopping By

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 12.5% BF

Same old same old: yoga & gym Saturday, "Dream Come True" charity road ride Sunday.

Expensive week, part 2: riding Round Valley Thursday, my front fork blew out. The bike is now in the shop but the fork has to go back to the factory for this kind of repair.

Not much to say otherwise.

The Art Of Living

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 9% BF

Yesterday was a pretty well-done day for me: bicycled in to work (only bad part was the 5:00 AM wake-up), work yadda yadda, then biked back to Easton for yoga, then home, then dinner at Which Brew -- something I wasn't too happy about weight-wise, but it was a very nice evening there.

As for Jerry Falwell's goodbye kiss, I think lapsed-Catholic Roy Edroso said it best, though I did like this retrospective.

Situation Normal

Morning Weigh-in: 181#, 9% BF

Bad nutrition weekend; last post said "not going out this weekend" but that's not exactly how it happened...

Friday night I met some friends at Sogo, a new Japanese / "Asian Fusion" place on Northampton Street. Eric & Janna, Eric & Kris, Greg, Doug & Lori, Deb -- they were there celebrating Eric B's birthday, and I really just stopped in to say hi but had a mohito while I was there. Damn fine summer drink, that mohito. I went to Which Brew after that (the others went to the Funhouse but I still wanted an early morning), had hot wings.

(Earlier in the evening I rode over steepest-road-in-NJ Fiddler's Elbow, thank you very much.)

Saturday was a bad day: I woke up out-of-sorts, did mediocre at yoga (no biggie but still), and at the coffee shop I noticed that the waitress was in a bit of a funk as well; I also noticed after leaving there that traffic was unusually bad -- not congested or aggressive, just bad, like everyone was in a funk. So it wasn't just me...

Drove all the way to Allentown to the PPRAC fundraiser at Wal-Mart (we would be riding our bikes on trainers and collecting change) and that's where I discovered that I did not have my front wheel. I must have left it outside in the alley! It was now noon (in other words, I was already late for the fundraiser) and the wheel had probably been sitting there -- or not --since I left the house at 7:30 AM...

I got home, of course the wheel was gone. I drove back to Allentown, held a bucket and worked the Wal-Mart crowd like a carnival barker. Got home, showered, took a nap, then went to Which Brew, which was closed for the evening. WTF?!? It was also raining.

Went across the street to Porters, where I had an entire cheese plate, a cheese steak and a couple of beers to drown my sorrow...

Sunday was a little better: I woke up to a beautiful day, so I hopped on the Turner and rode down the towpath to Sals. Had a great ride there, and on the way home I stopped in at the Blue Sky Cafe, ate an awesome french toast brunch. Nice solid 34 offroad miles, mellow pace.

In the afternoon I went to Howell (or Jackson, I forget what town exactly), down to my brother's house for a Mother's Day dinner. Lotta fun playing with my nephew, who got a lot bigger & more grown-up over the past few months, and also hanging out with the family. Dinner was General Tso's Chicken, followed by chocolate cake.

Yesterday was yoga (and the last of General Tso), and today will be yoga as well, but I also bicycled in to work today. Very pleasant.

The World Moves On a Woman's Hips

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13.5% BF

My right hip is sort of feminine-shaped right now, much bigger at the lower point of the hip joint than the left one; it also has an enormous but somewhat diffuse yellowish bruise coming through from deep inside. Pain is mostly gone (it's still a bit sore to the touch but that's all), and all tightness has worked its way out: I'm pretty much recovered. Yoga and riding were definitely the right decisions.

VMB meeting at Sals last night, with pre-meeting ride. Rich B, Eric, Eric B, Doug, Trevor, Greg M, Rudy & a few others, some of whom started way earlier. Good ride, but I was disappointed in my technical riding (and speed: those guys are fast), and also with the ride's relatively short duration-- we only had an hour, which is really not enough time to let things develop. I was climbing well though, no complaints there. Pleasant (and as usual lately, very productive) out-of-doors meeting afterwards at the ballfield, then I went to Which Brew -- what, again? -- for dinner. Saw Stu & Kathy, a nice surprise on a weeknight, and sat out on the deck with them, as well as Perry, Judy (talking about her new place) and Ann. I think actually prefer weeknights at the WB over weekends, which is good because I'm probably not going out tonight or tomorrow.

Parting shot: Second night in a row I had a fan on in my bedroom. Bring the heat.

Hold My Hands And Pray For Rain

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13% BF

Killer ride yesterday as I said, and hopefully I'll be up for another good ride tonight; the VMB meeting is at Sals and there's a ride beforehand. Rain cancels of course, and tomorrow will be the gym because of the rain.

Saturday will be yoga and then the PPRAC fundraiser at the Whitehall Wal-Mart; Sunday I'll be racing again, this time at French Creek. I hope I'm not overextending myself, doesn't feel like it but then again it never does until too late...

I'm pretty sure nutrition is the key to good fast recovery, which in turn is the key to multiple workouts. Last night I ate about 600 calories worth of couscous for dinner (this was post-ride, pre-ride I had a bowl of cereal with strawberries) as well as a quart of E-Load, I hit the glycogen window so I think I got a leg up on my replacement carbs. I ate all that on the porch, hanging with my neighbor Ebony, and Nick from across the street, pretending to not be nosy while the cops refereed an altercation between the teenage girls next door...

It Is A Mystery

Looking Up The Upper Switchback Trail
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I took this photo a few months ago, while XC skiing with Doug & Lori. Other photos I posted from that day are getting maybe 5 or 10 views total, but this one has been looked at 83 times so far, making it my 18th most popular photo. I have no idea why -- I mean, it's a nice picture, I like it, but it just doesn't seem like anything special.

Anyway, rode the "northern benchmark" road ride tonight, 24 miles in 1:25, OK but really just average pace by the standards of a few years ago. I felt fast though, at least until I started the return trip and realized the way out had been with the wind...

One (OK, Two) For Sociability

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 13% BF

Stopped in last night at Bike King, bought new cleats which I'll put on tonight before hitting the road. I was planning on installing the cleats last night after Yoga (which was lovely), but I got a call from Doug, met him & Lori for a couple of beers at Which Brew. Very nice catch-up, hadn't seen them in a while.

I'd gone to Bike King on Monday as well, but had forgotten my wallet which necessitated the return trip yesterday, and with going out last night, I managed to extend to three days what should have been a 10 minute task -- D'oh! Anyway, I removed the old cleats (the hardest part of the job) this morning before work, and should be ready to ride pretty quickly tonight. The hip is just now starting to feel OK, so it's not like I missed anything.

Third Knee On My Hip

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 176.5#, 11.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 178.5, 11% BF

Quick weekend recap: Friday was a hot lap on the towpath, followed by an abbreviated evening out (bed by 11:00 I'd guess), Saturday was a rest day, did some chores and had an even earlier evening out, bed by 8:00 for Sunday's 4:30 wake-up.

Michaux: A Race Report (something I wrote up for the Chain Gang)

It was an excellent day for racing and riding yesterday, and trail conditions were ideal, maybe even a bit on the dry side with a few notable exceptions. Joe and I, having left his house at some ungodly hour, and being sent on a detour through the woods, arrived around 8:30 AM, just after the 50-mile racers took off. Register, prep bikes, port-o-john, warmup, more port-o-john, and then we lined up for the start about 10:30.

The start setup, by the way, was different from previous years: we lined up on the dirt road behind registration, heading towards the parking lot entrance but from there straight, up that dirt road climb for about a mile and into about 4 miles of mixed single/doubletrack I'd never seen before. Very nice stuff, but also very tight and twisty, hard to pass -- and if anyone stops ahead, everyone's walking. That area ended with a boggy section, one of only three wet spots on the whole course, but like those other spots it was a giant mud pit; the trail literally went through a swamp. It was rideable, but once again we were forced off the bikes by the general chaos. That swamp was the last place I saw my left cleat...

I was pretty ticc'ed at first, and I lost a lot of time figuring out what happened & looking for a spare in my pack (no such luck or foresight), but in the end the handicap might have helped me: I was forced to be very careful with my foot, especially on technical climbs, and as a result I just toodled up at a sedate pace (where I might have gone in more aggressively, blown up, and walked), and actually passed a lot of guys walking up the hills.

Downhill I wasn't so fortunate. There's a lot of bike-handling done unconsciously through your feet, and for the most part (by forcing myself to think about it) I was able to compensate for that -- until one double log where I just bunny-hopped without thinking first... Foot flew to the side, bike plowed into the log and stopped, and I did a somersault over the bars, landing on my hip on a rock. I got to watch all the guys I just passed on the hill go by, thinking "those %$#!!&$ dudes probably think I'm some kind of roadie, passing on a hill and then crashing! I'll show them! Ow, I'll probably feel this tomorrow." (I was right on at least one count.)

The rest of the ride was uneventful. I was pretty far behind, and when I got to Grave's Ridge I was disappointed to see it was empty because I was cleaning it -- until I dabbed on something stupid in front of the only two spectators. That was at mile 15; there was maybe another mile or two of loamy singletrack, then a 5-6 mile jeep road climb (log sled trail, mainly), followed by a mile or so of rocky singletrack before the last bit of dirt road to the finish. My final time was 3:11 or so, just about what I expected (shooting for an average of 7.5 mph) so I was happy.

Saw Joe at the finish, first time I saw him since the start. He rode with Jay for most of the race, and his story is better than mine but you'll have to hear it from him. I also saw Joe Gabor at the finish; he did the 50-miler, and finshed not long after I did. He looked like death warmed over and said "this was harder than the Wilderness 101!" I'm guessing I made the right course choice...

Long ride home, made even longer by construction delays, but it was still one heck of a good day.

One last observation: the atmosphere was very laid-back, very "old school" as both Joe and Jay noted: things were very relaxed, there were quite a few racers taking "spliff breaks" on the course, and most everyone had a bottle of barley pop at the end. Sue, who ran support for Joe G at the rest areas, told us of one guy (probably not an official) trying to induce the 50-mile singlespeeders to chug a beer at the last rest stop, on the grounds that if they were that damn hardcore... He had a few takers.

So anyway, I have a huge (and very sore) welt on my hip, but last night's yoga helped out, and a few more days should get me back up to 100%. Dinner last night was at the monthly Mug Club at Which Brew, and tonight it'll probably be something light.

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.