We're Having A Heat Wave

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 167.5#, 10% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 166#, 8.5% BF

 

Oh yeah, it's hot out...

 

This weekend was the VMB/Hubbard rides (us riding at Hubbard on Saturday, then the Hubbard crew coming down to Sals on Sunday), and I'll have more to say about that but not now -- suffice to say it was two days of fun but brutally hot riding. Not many stories, the usual "we rode and it was fun, then we hung out and drank, and that was fun too," but I do have some photos ,which I'll post in a day or so.

 

Meantime: Happy (belated) Birthday, Dad! But, see my comment to the previous post.

 

Dropped Handkerchief, Thrown-Down Gauntlet, Whatever: I felt pretty depleted yesterday after this weekend's rides, but they were short rides and this afternoon was supposed to be stormy, so I did a benchmark ride on the road bike. Just laying this down for the lurker boyzzz: Mud Run, 13:45 bottom to top, and I know I can take another 30 seconds, and maybe a minute off that time, just by being fresh. I will not be at the Tuesday night "hard ride" tonight, the VMB meeting is at Sals so I'm riding there if I ride at all; I'll leave it to all y'all to beat my score on your own.

 

Weird dream last night, dreamt I had typhus or dysentery or something.

 

In Other News: I busted a tooth yesterday, bottom right, second-to-rear-most molar. Not the whole tooth, just a corner, but still. It had been hurting for a day or so, every bite like chomping on a raspberry seed, so something must have gone wrong... doesn't hurt now chewing on that side, go figure. Have to get it looked at.

 

Yoga this morning (wow I was sweaty in seconds), and maybe a Sals ride tonight. Stay tuned for the possibility of some very interesting -- in a good way, or a bad way -- posts over the next week or so.

Friday Quietude!

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 8% BF (well I guess I know where the heavy food is)

 

"Soldiers, as we often say, do revolt; were it not so, several things which are transient in this world might be perennial." -- Thomas Carlyle

 

Today In History: On this date in 1989, a man stood in front of a tank.

 

Anyway, gym last night but no run, I had a bit of a late start and couldn't fit it in. Dinner was Christian Springs, which is becoming something of a "supper club," as we now have a small group of Thursday regulars. Tonight is the towpath, then I'm going up to the Poconos to crash at Joe's place, so we can carpool up to that ride near Scranton tomorrow. He said Sue's doing the cooking, so I said OK...

 

Local Hero: Go Rob!

Astrea Redux Without Cash

Morning weigh-in: 164.5#, 10% BF (whoa)

 

Astrea Redux: Been an interesting couple of days, politics-wise. A-and that's all I'm going to say about that!

 

Without Cash: I saw this the other day and it kind of pissed me off, so I was glad to see I'm in good company.

 

Yoga last night, and tonight is the gym plus a run. I'll be hitting Christian's Spring for dinner, maybe meet some people there.

I Love A Happy Ending

Mia cuts her chemo lines
Originally uploaded by Julie Cotton.

Whew!

Man I know that feeling, how good it felt when the PICC line came out, even if mine was just for an infection... I ran across a picture of this girl a year or so ago, and it really affected me, especially after I saw she had a relapse. It took me this long to look again, but she's been in remission for more than a year now.

Every life can be long and scary, maybe she can never say she's out of the woods but for now she's got her life back. If you want a roller coaster ride go check out her grandmother's photos; you have to read between the lines but it's an amazing story.

The Grievous Angel Stands Before You

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 8% BF (whoa)

 

Rode last night with Joe & Cindy, and also Jorge; now I know what "tempo pace" (one of those terms I hear but never really knew) looks like. We did about 32 miles in maybe 1:50 or so, for about a 17 mph average: not slacking, but not blazingly fast either. You know, tempo. Pretty fun ride too, and I felt strong as all get-out on at least two of the hills. Getting there, getting there... in fact I am now almost there.

 

Hit Christian Springs for dinner on the way home; tonight is yoga and shopping, and dinner at home.

 

Eyes Blinking In The Sunlight

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 9.5% BF

Just poking my head out into the Internets...

Seems So Much Longer Than A Year: It's been a year since news blogger Steve Gilliard passed away. Rest in peace Steve, I'm definitely not the only one that misses you.

Octopus Grigori Sez That Ain't No Thing: PZ Myers lets us know that you can teach a very old dog some new tricks.

Just A Little Bit Of Something: Via Alicublog, some Vanishing New York.

Worked late here last night, then went home and cleaned the bikes; I also did some laundry, but not much else -- oh yeah, I claimed my 3rd mug at Porters. Came in early but I'm not staying late: tonight is the "hard ride" with Joe & Co if the rain holds off.

This Is The Picture

Morning weigh-in: 165#, 9% BF

 

OK, back to "weekend update" mode:

 

Friday night was the towpath. Me, Larry and Brian, down to Sand Island and back, and we ended by listening to "Jazz in Center Square" when we got back to Easton. (Hard to believe we were listening to high school kids, they were really good.) Brian and I went from there to Christian Springs for dinner, where Doug & Lori (also Greg H and Rich) caught up with us after their Jacobsburg ride. Nice crew, and we basically took over the (small) back room.

 

Saturday was rainy, and so it was a rainy day in the woods at Allamuchy -- the trail day did not get cancelled. Pick-and-shovel work, I was filthy and exhausted afterward, so I blew off the Crawfish Festival. I got home, showered and still felt a real need for more grooming, so I got a haircut at Eskandalo. I asked for "short" and -- well, I got it. I have to admit it looks good like this, but then again that's why I go there.

 

My Saturday night was Pearly Bakers, where I checked out the Trouble City All-Stars. Hung with a few friends in the crowd.

 

Yesterday (Sunday) was a much nicer day out. I started the day with an early-morning yoga class, then hit the Quadrant for brunch before riding down to Bethlehem. I met Ann (one of the displaced Which Brew regulars) along Applebutter Road, and we did a pretty serious ride, going north and west before returning to Bethlehem. A good rider and a very interesting woman, among many other things she brews her own beer and even grows her own hops... We hit the Brew Works for a late lunch, got in a few beers & bull before I took off.

 

My total mileage for the day was 45, giving me 105 miles for the week. I am way behind.

 

Reading: I returned to Male Fantasies again, picking it up where I left off at Part 2 (Floods, Bodies, History). So far so good, but that's pretty much what I said about Part 1... Meantime, I also got back into Schulz and Peanuts, for a little sunset reading on the porch.

 

Early bed last night, not long after dark. Came in to work early, probably staying late & calling it a "rest day."

 

UPDATE: Oh. My. Gawd.

Chomolungma, Chopper One

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Today In History: On this date in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to summit Mount Everest.

 

In Other News: Johnny Rotten's got new teeth. And glasses. Oh yeah, and a new record coming out.

 

Came in to work early this morning. Walked outside and heard helicopters, saw one hovering over downtown and knew there'd be trouble. The radio traffic report informed me that there was an overturned tractor-trailer on the US22 bridge over the Delaware, and the road was closed in both directions... A little zig for gas, a little zag through town, and I hopped on 78 for the drive in, was just a few minutes late.

 

Parody Chases Its Tail: Oh, I guess it wasn't a Mexican gang rape after all...

 

Le Viol des Vierges Chinoises: Also on this date (in 1913, as Pynchon fans will note) Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring debuted to, uh, universal acclaim.

 

Yoga last night, yoga this morning, running/gym tonight, ride tomorrow night. Saturday is trail maintenance at Allamuchy (and probably a ride), then I may go over to the Crawfish festival to meet some friends if the weather holds.

 

Auschwitzgate Update: It's never a good idea to go Swiftboating the greatest generation. (A little more here.)

Space Madness!

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 8% BF

 

Still so tired, legs are still fatigued and sore. Tonight is yoga, plus laundry & shopping, and I will be eating the last of my leftover cheese-brats from Michaux.

 

Sense/Net: I was going to write a bigger post last Friday, on a subject similar to the one posted here, but it got a bit too long-winded. Go read that instead.

 

Reading: Nothing right now -- I can't believe I left Against the Day in North Carolina. I will probably be picking up that Charles Schulz biography (my last unread Christmas present) where I left off.

 

Listening: Nope.

 

Wow, I need a life.

Carpe Weekendum

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 166#, 10% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 167.5, 10% BF

(Just posting to keep the silence from getting too deafening, much to say but I'm too tired to say it.)

Good holiday weekend, but now I'm exhausted. I basically seized every day until they started seizing me back: rode Friday (Towpath), Saturday was "brick day" (yoga, gym, Jacobsburg), Sunday I drove down to Michaux to meet the campers (of course we rode), and yesterday was towpath/Sals. Each of those days included a night out too, with Saturday (semi-"virtual pub" BBQ) and Sunday (camping) nights involving fire and copious amounts of alcohol. It was an awesome weekend, and maybe I'll talk more about it, but not right now. Today was a total rest day -- no ride, no exercise, and I'm going to bed in a few minutes... Dinner was leftover camping food.

Michaux pictures are posted, by the way.

More Sweet Nothings

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 10% BF

 

Not much to say... Chain Gang meeting last night, after that short "yoga burst class," pretty good meeting (and good food too as seen above), but my evening was cut short by by an allergy attack -- I am way more sensitive to pets than I ever was before, especially my skin. So, early home, early to bed for my now-typical 5:30 wake-up. That coffee-yoga-shower-computer routine seems to be working out rather well, by the way.

 

Tonight is the gym, then dinner at XSpringH if all goes well.

Quietude

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 9.5% BF

 

WTF #1: Man clocks deer in Quakertown hair salon.

 

WTF #2: How low will it go?

 

Good ride last night, just me, Greg and Eric, and a little cooperative weather. We did a loop from Greg's house, and despite two flat tires we did 25 moderately hilly miles in 1:25, for a 17.5 mph average. Not freakin' bad!  The Christian's Spring meetup was cancelled (we're rescheduled for Thursday), so dinner was the leftover pasta/tuna.

 

Tonight is the Chain Gang meeting, and I may try to get in that "yoga burst" mini-class beforehand.

Scars I Have Known

Morning weigh-in: 165#, 10.5% BF

 

Kind of sick last evening/night, lower GI thing, not sure what was going on but we'll close the bathroom door of charity on that scene... Needless to say, no exercise and no going out; dinner was pasta & tuna with wilted spinach, plus a spinach/asparagus salad. (I hit the Easton Farmer's Market last week, but the pickings were slim when it came to actual produce.) Did some housework, laundry, blah blah, got a few computer things done.

 

Tonight, if it doesn't rain too bad, will be the usual Tuesday night follies (I hope). Dinner, with or without the ride, will be at Christian's Spring Hotel, since I'm meeting some Virtual Pub peeps.

 

Can I Play? I see, via Pharyngula, that there's a new blogging game in town: tell a story about some non-surgical scar you have, then pass the invite along. Here's one of mine:

 

I guess it was around 1982-1983 or so, and my parents were out of town so we naturally had a party -- don't worry Mom, not a big deal, just a few guys drinking beer, but we did have a theme: we decided to cook pizza from scratch. Got the ingredients, preheated the oven, and made the most beautiful, professional pie you ever saw, the only downside being that we made the pie on a plastic tray, which couldn't be put in the oven. What to do? The pizza was too fragile to just slide off the tray... We eventually took one of the oven racks out, covered the pizza with a dish towel and another tray, flipped it over, replaced the offending tray with the oven rack, flipped it back and -- voila! (This was all done very carefully, like playing Operation with oven mitts on, by a roomful of hungry, inebriated, and solicitous young men.) So there I was, holding the pizza triumphantly upright and on the correct tray, all prepared to start cooking it, and I backed into the hot oven -- I jumped, startled, the pizza started to slip, and I grabbed it with my arms without thinking, sort of hugging the hot oven tray. Tsssssss! Sizzle sizzle, like the start of "Kung Fu" when he leaves the Shao Lin temple, I got two nice scars on the inside of my forearms. Never felt a thing.

 

So who to tag? Well, I only know one other blogger, so yeah I'm looking at you MTBSailor! Anyone else who wants to share can do it in comments.

 

 

International Society For The Prevention Of Plate Tectonics

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 165.5#, 8.5% BF (mission accomplished, I guess)

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 166#, 9.5% BF

 

Was thinking about change the other day, and it came to me in the the image of plate tectonics (well, the original vision came as rulers strapped to moving tables, but still): the plates are going to move, and if things hang up at the fault lines, then the longer the movement is resisted the more violent the inevitable release will be. My life has been like that lately.

 

(By the way, there actually is, or once was, a "Society for the Prevention of Plate Tectonics." I'm pretty sure it was a spoof.)

 

Speaking Of Earthquakes: I was in the coffee shop on Saturday, and some girl, reading headlines about the Chinese earthquake, became upset about the plight of the -- pandas. Three things:

 

1. There are 50,000 or so people, trapped under rubble and dying.

 

2. You push something to the edge of a cliff, and it doesn't take much to knock it off. The real threat to pandas is not earthquakes.

 

3. We might not be in any position to do much about the real panda problem, but (like the half dozen non-cute women who disappeared while CNN searched Aruba for the photogenic young blonde) there are many living things within our reach, which may be less cuddly or worthy of superficial attention, but which actually could use some help.

 

So anyway..

 

Friday night I hit Boulevard Lanes in Allentown for dinner, where my old friend Shannon is now running the bar & kitchen. Apparently they're about to drop $2 million to remove alleys and change the place into a real bar/pub/nightclub, but I'm not sure if I, or even they, know where they're trying to go with this. I hit the Funhouse after that, but it was lame so I went to Porters, where I saw Eric & Janna but they were on the way out -- just before they left though, Janna whispered to me that she was throwing a surprise party for Eric's 30th birthday the next night -- I was supposed to RSVP but I never got the invite...

 

Saturday was a brick workout, yoga, gym & a ride at Jacobsburg, interspersed with various errands and chores. I had just enough time to get home, shower & get a card/gift, and I was off to the surprise party. Pretty good time, I must say. The whole crew was there and we had a blast.

 

Yesterday was mostly just lying around, playing with the computer; among other things I posted the last of my North Carolina photos. (I also hit the evening yoga class.) I went to bed early, but woke up at like 2:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep until about 4:00 -- I blew off the early overtime so I could get one more hour of sleep, and it was the best hour of sleep I ever had...

 

 

 

 

Wisdom

Morning weigh-in: 163.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Rode the towpath and Sals last night with my friend Joe (formerly of Warren Glen, and before that Easton, but now living in the Poconos), not sure of the mileage but probably about 28, just over 3 hours of riding. That's a pretty serious ride, but I was still a little surprised at the drop in weight: I've been skimping proteins and leaning on the carbs rather heavily over the past few days, which usually puts the weight on, and I thought I'd done pretty well with the rehydration thing. I like lower numbers, but I have to take this one as an ominous sign... Legs were toast last night, so I came in this morning and ate the equivalent of 4 eggs (scoops of scrambled egg w/ cheese, plus an omelet), and spent the morning feeling like I'd swallowed a bowling ball.

 

Meantime: A little morning yoga to make up for the missed class last night, and tonight is the gym.

5:30 Comes Around Pretty Early

Morning weigh-in: 165#, 9% BF

 

Rode last night, 38 miles in just over 2 hours; not counting some backing and filling time we probably had an 18-19 mph average. Me, Joe C, Greg M, Jorge, Scott S and Eric B. Great fun, very competitive ride.

 

More Dispatches From The Stealth Apocalypse: Your house is burning faster.

 

Dinner was at the Christian's Spring Hotel, and unlike the last few times I was basically the only one there. I didn't stick around either, since Joe and I had sampled a post-ride libation (Foundation Brewing's "Devil Dancer" triple IPA, 13% ABV) that nearly put me on the floor -- beyond hoppy, but you could also quite literally taste the alcohol it was so strong; it was like drinking vodka and grapefruit juice.

 

I'm working my way through the menu there (XSpringH), making sure I've tried everything and know my favorites before I revert to just getting the same thing every time... Last night was the beef burrito. Yeah it was good.

 

A-And While We Were Out Fiddling: I really think it's the fungus that will inherit the earth.

 

Anyway, early night. Did a few minutes of computer stuff when I got home, and then it was bedtime -- I've been coming in to work at 7:00 AM, getting up at 5:30 to make it happen, and that gets rough if the evening lasts too long. I'm riding tonight instead of going to yoga, so I did a quick workout while I was waiting for the coffee to be ready, couple of sun salutations and a pose or two, just enough to get the juices flowing. (I think that's a pretty decent morning routine, actually.)

Parson's Tale

Morning weigh-in: 165#, 8.5% BF

 

There are a lot of religious guys here at work, though (as someone on the Internet once put it) it's more a community than a theology thing. My old group seemed to lean rather heavily Baptist, at least on the Project Management side, but this new group I'm in skews more Catholic than anything else. There's one guy who now sits near me, one of the ones I'm talking about, who reminds me of Parsons from Orwell's 1984. Big rotund guy, loud, everything he does is a chuckleheaded commotion -- and I swear the guy has sleep apnea even when he's awake. Uh, hang tough Donny Satyagraha, this ain't even in the same league as sitting near Snot Boy.

 

Yoga last night, and tonight is the "hard road ride." I was planning to hit yoga tomorrow as well, but I may finally get around to that towpath/Sals thing. That's supposed to be my secret weapon this training season, and I haven't even started yet.

Rainy Days And Mondays

Morning weigh-in: 164.5#, 9% BF

 

Happy belated day, all you mothers!

 

Been a while since I had to do one of these, but here's a weekend update:

 

Friday night was supposed to be a towpath ride, but it was rainy and cold so I blew it off and went to Porters for dinner. I saw Larry, my usual Friday night ride partner, there, and he said "Please don't make me look like a wuss by saying you rode tonight!" Uh, no problem dude...

 

Good band, good company, but I made it an early night, even though I am very close to getting my next mug: I was tired, the beers I did have went straight to my head, and I wanted to get up early anyway.

 

Saturday was a brick workout day: in between errands & chores I managed to hit the morning yoga class, then the gym, and finally that Friday towpath ride, one day late -- I hooked up with Larry and we rode to the Action Wheels Spring Fling in Bethlehem. (I saw Joe G's brother Jon there, doing some stunt riding, not sure if he saw me. Didn't see anyone else there that I knew, it was mainly that BMX/downhill crowd.) I was thinking of riding Sals too while we were down there, but I still had some more errands, and Larry was on a rigid bike with semi-slick tires (ie more towpath- than singletrack-friendly), so we headed home.

 

Got home, got a call: Lara & Fred were having tacos in the back yard, come on over. Me, Fred & Lara, Art, Margarita, Michele, and Joe M a little later;  basically it was like a virtual pub mini get-together. The last part of the day turned out very nice, maybe a bit chilly (I was in shorts, duh), and Fred shot off a bunch of fireworks after dark, when some more friends of his showed up.

 

I should have stayed there, but I wanted to catch that Tommy Ramone / Uncle Monk thing  at Christian's Spring Hotel. Took off from NJ for Nazareth, I arrived just before 11:00, and once again, the show was already over... Hung out anyway, saw Frank P from the Bethlehem bike advocacy scene, as well as a Eskandalo Alison and her BF Nick -- I think that's their official hangout -- and basically the other half of the virtual Pub contingent. All agreed, I just missed a great show... Doug stopped by for a few minutes, on the way back from that trail summit at State College; he looked a bit tired, like he'd seized the day or something.

 

Sunday was morning chores, then I hopped on the bike again, fully intending to ride Sals. Pulled out into the back alley to get going, and that's where I ran into Which Brew regulars Mike and Carole walking their dogs. Watching their weight & their budget, haven't seen them in the usual haunts, so we got to talking -- lots to catch up on.

 

After that I rode downtown, thought I'd get something to eat...

 

I spent so much time dawdling (home, talking, and over brunch), that I decided I'd better cut my ride short: I just rode the towpath again. Good thing too, because I felt kind of tired towards the end. Saw my hairdresser one more time this weekend, out near Freemansburg -- she said she rode, now I have seen the proof if not the helmet, giving me something to harp on at my next haircut. (Also saw my friend the aggressive goose, who came out after me again, but flinched mightily & backed off when I raised my foot.)

 

Mother's Day dinner was with Mom & Dad in Jackson, dessert was at my brother's house.

More North Carolina Photos

Laurel Mountain: Eric
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I posted another 30 photos or so, shots from our second ride aka "the rainy day." Go check them out.

Speaking of rain: Skipped the ride tonight, it was just to wet and cold. Going down to Porters for dinner in a few minutes, probably see Larry there.

Friday

Morning Weigh-in: 166#, 8% BF

 

Gym last night, standard endurance workout with Dawn, plus a 2 mile warmup run beforehand. Yoga didn't seem too hard while I was doing it on Wednesday, but last night I felt tired and sore, and my running speed was down a few notches. It's probably just that I'm still tired from the weekend, though that seems so far away now...

 

His XSH for dinner last night, had a chicken sandwich with a couple of Double Whites. Saw Judy, Ann and Lee, as well as Sarah (I think) and her husband whose name I don't know, but they were all finishing up as I got there. I decided to keep it pretty early -- I've been getting up at 5:30 AM -- and since they stuck around with me for a bit after dinner, I left not long after they did. Bed by 11:00.

 

Tonight is the towpath, rain or shine, then I may head downtown -- it's OK, I'll be sleeping in tomorrow, all the way until 7:00.

Deep Red Bells

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 9%

 

"It looks a lot like engine oil

And tastes like being poor and small

And Popsicles, in summer." -- Neko Case, "Deep Red Bells"

 

Worked late last night, then went to yoga. Came in early this morning, and I'm leaving at the regular time to go directly to the gym; dinner tonight will be at Christian's Spring Hotel again -- I got the call last night, some Which Brew regulars were planning a get-together there. I'll still probably go there on Saturday as well, but I also got a text from a friend, inviting me to check out a band at her bar that night as well -- I have a feeling there may be some competition for the Which Brew crowd, now at loose ends...

 

"Does your soul cast about, like an old paper bag,

Past empty lots and early graves?" -- Neko Case

 

"But Technology, alas, braidcrowned and gold-thighed maiden, always comes up for grabs like this."

-- Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

 

Not Listening: I haven't listened to her in a while, but the other day I remembered a conversation where I used Neko Case as an example of how rock may not be dying, but it sure is calcified because the current best musical talent seems to have abandoned it. That conversation was with Jason, another WB semi-regular -- cook there too for a while, as well as at Weyerbacher -- who now hangs out at the newly-refurbished Colonial Spaghetti House. Hmmm, note to self...

 

"All talk of cause and effect is secular history, and secular history is a diversionary tactic."

-- Thomas Pynchon

Projector

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 10% BF

 

Rode last night from Joe C's place: me, Joe, Cindy, Greg, Eric B, and Scott S who I haven't seen in probably a year; we were also met on the road by Joe Viagra -- he's a drug rep, that's one of his products and the name stuck, at least with me -- who rode with us for a bit before continuing on his own way. (There's apparently a "Tuesday night crowd," and nobody besides me was surprised to see any of the others.) We got in about 31 miles total, maybe 17 mph average: a good pace, sometimes faster than I would have liked for a recovery ride, but I (mostly) avoided getting sucked into the game at the front, getting crushed anyway, and needing a recovery day from my recovery day... I should probably make this part of my weekly routine, I'd get faster in a hurry.

 

I hit Christian's Spring Hotel on the way home, got a roast beef sandwich & washed it down with an Allagash Double White. Saw Eskandalo owner Alison there, with her boyfriend Nick who used to work at Which Brew. Funny, his hair used to be so long and unkempt... They were there for Movie Night, some late-50's teensploitation flick about bad-girl HS gangs or something. I stayed at the bar, didn't check out the movie room; it didn't seem that interesting even for camp, and I just wanted to eat & get home. I'll probably be back Saturday though, when Tommy Ramone shows up to play bluegrass -- wait, what?

Doldrum Believer

Morning weigh-in: 165#, 9% BF

 

Dinner was Porters, soft tacos, and I knocked a few brews off my list (I am getting very close to earning my third mug), directly after yoga. Chatted with an older couple, a music professor and his wife/girlfriend/friend/whatever, and also Marty & Maria, who rode a cute little pink tandem down to the bar. Pretty cool, I didn't even know they rode -- actually I'm pretty sure he doesn't, but she used to: Jacobsburg, back in the day.

 

Work is very busy and very satisfying, by the way. Things are quiet; not much is happening and the drama level is dropping again (and thank goodness for that, even if it was mostly just internal drama), so postings may get a bit boring for a while. Tonight I'm riding the road with Joe C and company. It's supposed to be a "recovery ride" tonight, but I know the crowd so we'll see. I'm leaning towards beans & rice for dinner.

Dead Calm

Morning weigh-in: 164.5#, 10% BF

 

Happy Beltane! Just walked past the lobby here at work, noticed that the flags are hanging straight down. It looks totally windless out, blue skies and sunny and I'm not riding tonight -- it ain't discipline, I'm just tired from yesterday. I'll hit yoga class tonight and call it "active rest." Last night's dinner was black beans with a bit of salad, tonight's will probably be something Mexican.

 

My friend Scott rode in with me this morning; he bicycled over from Nazareth, and I gave him a lift the rest of the way. He just got back from Sri Lanka and India, and I got to hear about some of his adventures. He says he saw places that looked like Costa Rica and even Moab, but didn't do much biking, just some running and a lot of yoga.

 

Ladies, Don't Drink The Water! I think the fertility clinic must have had a wastewater spill, and it got into the drinking supply -- there are two women out on maternity at Easton Yoga (three counting Kelly who just had her baby); I saw Weyerbacher-back-in-the-day barmaids Cara and Rachael the other day, and both were close to due; and I expect to hear something from Jeff and Tracy about their new addition any day now. On the way in to work today, we listened to Social Distortion (one of Jeff & Tracy's favorite bands), to send them some good vibes.

Moving Up On My Over/Under

Bikes Allowed
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Whelp, I'm home from Michaux. The bike's been cleaned, lubed and put away, dinner's over; it's almost like Christmas has come and gone... I went down with Eric B and Joe, who both had phenomenal days (Joe actually came in 3rd in Masters), and I managed to pretty much hit the goal I was shooting for, a 3:30 finish time (my official finish time was 3:31:28). Not bad, and especially when it turned out to be a perfect day!

I felt very confident in the rough stuff (and I'm now convinced that that fork is a keeper), and found that what I call my "over/under" -- the level of technical difficulty for some physical challenge on the bike, such that I have a 50-50 chance of success given my current skill level -- has improved significantly enough that I was able to pick people off by catching and passing them when they flubbed the technical sections, actually gaining the most ground on stuff I used to dread. Anyway, Michaux is now behind us, and I think I saw what I was looking for there.

Meantime, I uploaded a bunch of North Carolina photos, maybe just less than half of what I'm going to post (so stay tuned for more), and you can find the set here. Enjoy!

Watching Girls Go By

Hey there's no Saturday morning weigh-in!

I remember a few weeks ago I tried to "be a friend" to someone, a friend who was unhappy over a soured relationship, and I said totally the wrong thing. At least, I thought it was the wrong thing, so I apologized the next day, and got a sort of "you are forgiven, and I appreciate that you care" hug, which was nice in its own way but I was also struck by how small and frail my friend felt; in my eyes she always seemed ten feet tall.

Listening: various Yes CD's, mostly Classic Yes and Close To The Edge, over and over since the trees bloomed.

Tough end to a tough week yesterday. Work was OK, then I got home and did a hot lap on the towpath. I was far enough ahead of my normal game that I managed to get in a short ride at Sals, just fifteen minutes on the Orange Loop and back out at Reeb. I was riding fast and well, and felt really stoked. Until...

The geese are nesting right now along the canal, and when they have chicks they can be very aggressive. I've never really had a problem, but last night one goose actually attacked me, and in fending it off with my foot I kicked it -- keep in mind I'm also doing around 20 mph, so the blow was extra hard. Even big birds are build kind of delicate, and I could feel a sort of sickening crunch when my foot connected with the goose's head. It let out a kind of yelp like a dog does when you accidentally step on its toes, and over my shoulder I saw it all knocked out and flapping on the ground, with its mate and chicks milling about. Not my finest moment, and the image stuck in my head for the rest of the ride.

When I got home I called the Game Commission, and they didn't seem too be too worried so I figure it's not as big a deal as it felt to me, but it did not put me in the best of moods for the evening -- from "Sister Bluebird" to goose murderer in about three hours.

I decided to go out, and went down to Pearly Bakers for dinner, that's where I ran into a big chunk of the Which Brew crowd: "Hey we're taking this place over!" Had a good conversation with Lara, then when she & Fred took off I got to talking with Andy about his house, which he's been renovating over the past few years. He's almost done, and was talking about the issues that have kept him off track: he'd been having trouble staying focused, especially after the death of his father, and of his friend Xantha last year.

Well, Xantha. Say what? I knew her too, not well but she was a pretty girl, easy to spot at a party (like one of Andy's parties) or at Porters, and she was very active with the Downtown Civic Association scene so you'd see her just about everywhere at things like the Scarecrow Festival, or out at the Farmer's Market with her toddler son Rocco. Just a little less than a year ago she was going to a family get-together in Maine, and apparently lost control of her car-- she died at the scene, and her young son died on the way to the hospital. This was horrible news, even if it was old news to everyone but me. (I was just so freaked out I didn't really believe it -- and I also could have swore I saw her at the Scarecrow Festival or the Garlic Festival last fall -- so when I got home last night I googled her obituary.) Rest in Peace Xantha, and rest in peace Rocco --- I remember teaching him how to throw pebbles at the party I linked to.

I hit Porters for one beer after Pearly Bakers, ran into Andy again there and followed him over to Fugly's (I am on the prowl for a new hangout: Porters is a "yes," Fugly's -- not so much) but I called it an early night; I just wasn't in the mood.

I woke up this morning kind of stressed and depressed -- yoga class, take me away! And that's exactly what happened... We started with a kind of meditation, two minutes of sitting across from each other, silently looking into each other's faces. (I was paired with a pretty girl so I didn't mind, but where were my walls when I needed them most?) Standard yoga class after that, but we also worked "tree pose" as a group: arms to shoulders like a chorus line, and it was interesting to feel the movement and sway, almost like wind in a forest.

Coffee shop, gym with Dawn -- first time with her in a month, much catching up to do -- drycleaning, oil change, then I hit Eskandalo for a haircut. Got an earful of current events and gossip from owner Alison, but I will not be repeating it, at least not here... We're all so fragile.

Just Thought I'd Mention

By the way:

 

Uzimaki

 

Zodiac

 

A Spring Clean

 

The May Queen

 

Just sayin...

Whoops!

Morning weigh-in: 170#, 7.5% BF

 

Hit the gym, then hit dinner at Porters -- and apparently I hit it pretty hard. I thought I'd been fairly sensible & careful, oh well. Not a very fun night anyway: it was open-mic night, not the best of entertainment options, and once again I attracted a loony -- drunk dude sitting next to me thought I was Tommy Chong, and attached himself to my ear on that basis. I texted my friend Stu to invite him on tonight's towpath ride, and found he'd already moved to Florida, like last Sunday. WTF? But that explains why he & Cathy weren't at Which Brew for those last days...

 

Like I said, tonight is a towpath ride, then I'm probably staying in -- I have to work on the bike some more, I have to keep away from the calories, I want to hit early morning yoga tomorrow, and I will also be messing around with the computer. (If you look to the left you'll see that I've added a few links, including my friend Greg aka MTBSailor's new blog, and I will be adding a few more tonight, as well as culling a few of the less interesting ones; I also have about 100 North Carolina photos to upload, and I want to get moving on that.)

 

My new cycling glasses came yesterday, two pairs so I now have a backup. Michaux will probably be rainy, so I must get the fogproofing thing happening too.

Uzumaki, Zodiac, Just a Spring Clean For The May Queen

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 7.5% BF

 

Happy Birthday, Minamata Disease! You poor fuckers...

 

Yoga last night, pretty decent and I didn't get beat up too bad, and I could already see the influence of that Max Strom workshop.

 

(By the way, I just got an email: Kelly, my original yoga teacher and a fellow mountain biker, gave birth to her baby boy at 3:45 AM today. Eight pounds two ounces, 20 inches; he will probably be named Noah. Congratulations Kelly and Michael, and welcome Noah!)

 

Dinner was Porters, a late-week laundry night, but it just wasn't the same... it was still good though: I had the "Turkey Dinner Sandwich" and washed it down with a few brews from my list -- I am now 15 beers away from earning my third mug there. Scott the bartender joked "Oh sure, they all come crawling back now that Which Brew's closed!" but the truth is, I spent more time in Porters during the WB years than I ever did before that. They were not hurting before Which Brew and they won't be hurting for business now, but there was a synergy going on between the two pubs that will now be missing.

 

Tonight is the gym, then grocery shopping and a little bike work. Michaux is Sunday.

Mourning In Springtime

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 8% BF

 

Picked up the bike last night, took it up to Sals and turned a hot lap -- 58 minutes (rolling time) for my standard loop -- on my new fork. The verdict is still out, I'm not sure, after one ride, whether I will like an air-only fork: it felt harsh & bouncy, but I noticed I cornered a lot -- a lot -- better, and of course I was going faster overall so maybe I was just bouncing more anyway. Ran into Doug & Eric, and Doug commented that the fork maybe needed more air pressure. I didn't want to mess with it on the trail but I'll be setting the preload tonight, and there are plenty more adjustments still to come.

 

You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go: Well, my instincts were correct: going to Which Brew last night was the right move, because last night was the last night. (I can remember the first days there, just about the time I started blogging.) I walked in for some dinner, the place was packed and Brujos was playing "The Weight" -- it was all I could do to keep from crying, but things brightened considerably, and everyone was saying their goodbyes-that-aren't-really-goodbyes, or at least I can hope that's what they'll turn out to be. Last thing I ate there was a plate of nachos (I am avoiding wings, and I had the cheeseburger Monday), washed down with a couple of Franziskaners; I stayed until last call and, since they were out of Jameson, I had a Tullamore Dew & Ginger Ale to finish the night. What's past is gone, we've had five years and it's time to move on. So uh, until next time...

 

The Vision Thing: My "new" glasses (which I got maybe 4 years ago) finally shit the bed the other day, and I am now wearing the backups I bought at the same time. (I actually think I like the backups better than the ones I usually wear/wore, but they were less of a radical change from the old style I was trying to get away from at the time.) I could probably do with a new prescription as well, and will be dealing with this over the next week or so -- I must get my stylish friends together to help me make the right eyewear choice. Meanwhile, my riding glasses are having end-of life issues of their own, but I've had trouble finding replacements without resorting to stores I don't like. Things got even worse over the weekend, so when I got back from NC I bit the bullet and ordered new ones from Optics Planet. They already shipped and should be here tomorrow -- we'll see if they managed to get the order right on the first try.

 

Tonight is yoga, first time on a Wednesday in maybe a month. I am going to get my ass kicked. Meanwhile, I don't know where my next meal is going to come from.

 

Tyrant King Porn Dragon

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 8.5% BF (partial pig and python, neh?)

 

Man, I likes my crazy when it's all crunchy and good with ketchup...

 

Anyway, Black Mountain. The basic gist of the riding down there, at least for the routes we took, is that you climb for the first half of the ride, then the second half is all descent -- Black Mountain was uphill for the first eight miles or so, but it was non-technical, and a fairly easy climb except for the staircase hike-a-bike near the top. The descent went on forever it seemed, and was crazy fun until it ended abruptly and waaaay too soon. ("Forever" and "way too soon" -- how does that work? Like childhood summers I guess.) We were near the cars, but did another short section, up a little and then down to the road, for a total of about 17-18 miles.

 

We had a few mechanicals, so we stopped in at the bike shop on the way home, then somehow drifted by one's and two's over to the Mexican restaurant next door -- our plan, decided in the aftermath of our travel day's lunch stop, was to not eat Mexican again, but they had 42-oz margaritas and tasty gloppy food and the next thing you know... The rest of the afternoon was spent on the porch of our "cabin," basically napping.

 

More bike stories later I'm sure, and pictures eventually as well.

 

Last night I dropped the bike off to get my new fork installed. (Not a hard install, but I wanted them to do the tube cutting etc.) Dinner was Which Brew, possibly the last Monday night there; I met Brian there and told him about the trip, and also hung out with fellow rider Anne. I also got to see Jim & Alison's wedding photos, and later learned about a female cyberpunk author, whose name now escapes me, from Christina. A pretty good night there, all in all.

 

If all goes as planned I'll be picking the bike up tonight, and riding Sals to get the suspension dialed in. (My backup plan is the gym.) Dinner? Probably Which Brew again -- this week is very likely the swan song, the final stretch. It seemed like forever, but now, too soon, it's coming to an end.

 

 

Friggin Finally!

Posse
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Another milestone: this photo just passed the 100-views mark after sitting at 99 views for weeks. The photos from Megan's party were once among my more popular ones, but they got bypassed & left behind...

Lotta cuties in this photo, and they're all really cool people. (This is the original crew, of which I used to say they made feel young but they also made feel old sometimes. Whippersnappers.) Smoe have moved away, and a few of them I don't see much anymore for whatever other reasons, hope they're all doing alright & are happy.

Back With A Vengeance

Morning weigh-in: 169#, 7.5% BF

 

So, one pound a day, that's quite a vacation... lotta bad food choices, aside from the usual suspects: beer, wings, more beer, etc. Oh well, I had fun.

 

To Recap: Wednesday was our travel day, eleven hours on the road starting at 6:15 AM from Greg's house. I traveled down with Doug in Eric's car, while Rich drove Greg and Bob. (Dave -- self-employed and essentially nocturnal -- caught some ZZZZZ's after playing a show, then traveled down on his own a few hours later.) Our "cabin" was really an old house, rural and very nice but on the wrong side of the tracks, tucked in between a trailer park and the recycling center, and with an abandoned factory and power plant up the street. We got there a little before 6:00, unpacked and got ourselves settled in, then hit downtown Brevard looking for food.

 

Unfortunately, they roll the sidewalks up early in Brevard, at least on weeknights, and especially "this early in the season," as the locals kept telling us -- I never found out what season they were talking about, biking, kayaking, or just "summer tourist," but whatever season it was, it wasn't happening in Brevard just yet, and most restaurants were already closed by the time we got there. We ended up eating at Dugan's, an "Irish" (read: redneck, as our waitress informed us) bar which was actually really good; this was also where Dave caught up with us. Our waitress was way cool, and gave us a few nightlife tips, but even the bars were closing by 10:00 or so. (Those tips came in handy later in the week though.)

 

Thursday morning we rolled out of the cabin, consulted with the local bike shop guys, and ambled over to Pisgah National Forest, the entrance being about a mile from the cabin and visible from the bike shop, for our first ride: Black Mountain.

 

To be continued...

Greetings From North Carolina

That's a big 10-4 good buddy, comin' at ya through a 14.4k modem on Windows 98...

The trip down was long (11 hours or thereabouts) but mostly uneventful, maybe a little too much Mexican food, but we only found that out later.

Today was a 19 mile ride in Pisgah, maybe 8 miles up then mostly downhill from there. Killer downhills too: steep, roots & rocks, real fun screamers. A good day overall, then we hit yet another Mexican place, for 46 oz margaritas. Now we are just chilling on the North Carolina porch & rocking chairs.

By the way: me, Rich, Doug, Eric, Bob R, Greg H, and Dave L. We are having fun. Yo later.

Yet Another Milestone

Leopard Suits You
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I can't figure out why people keep checking out this photo, but it just passed 200 hits. Actually, I don't know this girl, but ran into a friend of hers a few days ago who said she had a bit of a self-image problem -- girlfriend, you rock, and don't let anyone tell you different!

Out of here in about 6 hours; posting may be sparse, ie nonexistent, for a few days. See you

Pack And Go

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 8.5% BF (not bad considering I ate an entire Pepperoni pizza last night)

 

Wheels Go Around In Circles: So it turns out that the fork I want (the Fox TALAS) is basically unavailable anywhere, and is on backorder nationwide -- I will not see mine until the 16th. But that's OK, I can borrow Doug's spare fork in the meantime. I was over there last night, we swapped out the forks and I started to realize that maybe the TALAS was a bit more than I wanted -- the pressure was off, I could think rationally again, and I noticed that I never actually used the length adjustability feature on my current fork. Several people had suggested the FS 100 RLC as an alternate, the main difference between that and the TALAS being that the TALAS was adjustable. OK, I don't use the adjustability, so I called the bike shop this morning and changed my order -- and it turns out, they have my new choice in stock. Oh well, I arrived at this point in a roundabout fashion, but if I'd made this decision yesterday I'd already have my new shock...

 

The hell of it is, I am about to go through the same thing with my riding glasses (ditto my regular glasses), my crank/BB, my riding shoes... hey, I notice I don't own a suit anymore...

 

Tonight is voting, drycleaning, the gym, then Which Brew for dinner. Tomorrow we go to North Carolina, next week is Michaux, and the following weekend is the PA trail summit in State College.

 

If I get a moment to breathe, maybe someday I'll get some mathematical biology off my chest...

Taste The Warm Wet Life

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 9% BF

 

Somewhere in Idoru the protagonist sees a Japanese soft drink, apple juice of some kind with "Taste the Warm Wet Life In [whatever brand apple juice]!" as its catchphrase. That was the frame for a flashback to his previous job, as a spy/analyst for some entertainment network (he had an uncanny knack for finding info through traces left in credit records, Internet searches etc): he had discovered the identity of some entertainer's young mistress, and, through her record purchases, realized she knew she was being watched, and was about to kill herself -- he rushed to her home, but was too late to stop her. (This was the incident that got him fired.) The girl's name was Alison Shires, and he thought "Taste The Warm Wet Life In Alison Shires."

 

Anyway, I was in McDonald's yesterday morning, running late and I needed some kind of breakfast. I couldn't help but notice how broken and defeated the workers there seemed, all stooped and overweight and shambling about like sleepwalkers -- and all the while some Disneyesque pop song played, Mariah Carey or similar made-for-TV hottie. These looked to me like two sides of the same coin, and the phrase "Taste The Warm Wet Life" popped into my head.

 

The Madness Of My Need: I am trying to track down a bike store that has the fork I want in stock. I can't believe no one has it, it's driving me nuts.

 

 

More Photos

I Can Lick A Hundred Tigers!
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I just uploaded the photos from yesterday's big cleanup (and ride) at Sals. You know what to do...

I am exhausted. Did another solid ride today, Lehigh and Sals, with some pretty big dogs: a bunch of Bob's NJ friends came out to see the sights. Some fast, hard riding, and I was pretty squirrely in the rough stuff -- I did not feel confident at all, especially in the beginning. (It might have just been fatigue, but I think I'll have to bite the bullet and get a new shock tomorrow. I am leaning towards Fox; Marzocchi may be played out about now.) We were all pretty tired by the end, our total mileage was over 20 and for that kind of technical riding that's brutal.

Doing laundry now. Will hit Porters for dinner while it dries, and then it'll be time to hit the hay. Tomorrow is when I get ready for North Carolina.

Another Milestone

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

This picture just went over the 200-view mark, thought I'd commemorate it. The girl in the photo is bellydancing tonight at Which Brew for "Greek Night." I was there (Which Brew) last night, I'll be there tonight.

Rode last night, rode today at Sals -- I was also part of the garbage cleanup there today, which was a phenomenal success -- and I will be riding at Sals again, plus Lehigh, tomorrow with the Jersey boys. My life is the opposite of suck right now.

Except: my front fork is busted, feels like there is no longer any compression damping. I should be fine for North Carolina, but this has happened before and it's a factory-repair-only problem, two week turnaround, so I may be buying a new fork when I get back. Bike season, the money pit, and so it begins...

Meantime, I posted a bunch of pics from the last two birthday parties, you know where to click. Enjoy!

Ain't She Sweet?

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 9.5% BF

 

I put the Turner back together last night, rode it around the block -- man that thing just feels fast. I love my bike... I'm riding it tonight as a final shakedown, doing the towpath with my friend Stu from Which Brew (his wife told me last night to "kick his ass") then tomorrow I'm taking it over to Sals, doing a group ride after the cleanup. Happy Earth Day!

 

Dinner was leftover root crops (turnips, parsnips, carrots & onions) plus some bread. Did the bike thing, hit the gym, came home & computerized for a bit, then went down to Which Brew. Like I said, I saw Stu & Cathy there, and heard the news (good for them, bad for me) that he just took a new job and they'll be relocating to Tampa soon. Oh well.

 

An Insight: Joking with Doug the other day, I realized that every six months or so I get religion and try to clean the house, and that's when I lose weight.

 

Yet Another Desert Epiphany: This isn't new, and I may have even written about it here before but I was thinking about it on vacation, mainly because I saw Blondie songs being used to sell Febreeze on the TV... I once saw a quote about Blondie, saying that she stole a minor good idea (from Patti Smith), and beat it to death. Now I'm not entirely sure that's true, but it seemed to me like a pretty good way of looking at philosophers: they start with some insight and inflate it into a grand unified theory of everything -- like, the will to power is what makes the world go around, and it also moves the planets in their orbits. Whatever, boys.

 

Riding tonight, riding tomorrow, riding Sunday. Going down to North Carolina next week, and riding some more.

Jugtown 8:02

Morning weigh-in: 163#, 6.5% BF

 

Oh Those Social Anxieties: Was the pot roast moist and tender enough? Was the bathroom clean? Did I have ring around the collar? George never drinks two cups of coffee at home... Fear not, everything was fine, but I sure see how that stuff can be exploited -- I wonder if these things were as big an issue before the Age Of Advertising beat them into our heads.

 

The ride was just me, Doug and Eric R, and we were running late so we did a shortened version of the Hellertown loop, skipping some of the later portions south of Easton. Lori was already there when we got back (I left the door open), and Brian, Rich & Linda were walking up the street, so we just about made it.

 

Meeting was sixteen people packed into my living room, pretty rambunctious (I blame the red meat) until Eric B put his foot down, but after that it went pretty smooth. Same situation as the VMB meeting though: too much detail, too many decisions/debates; not all problems should be solved at the meeting. Still, lotsa stuff got done, mostly events and trailwork reports, and we were finished in an hour. After that is was back to the socializing, and playing with my scale...

 

A word about the body fat percentages, for my newer readers: My scale at home determines percent body fat by measuring electrical impedance: when you stand on the scale you're really standing on two foot-shaped electrodes, which turn your lower body into a circuit; the scale sends an electrical signal through the circuit, and uses the circuit's response, along with your weight (and a few parameters like height etc, that you set when you buy the scale) to calculate your percent body fat. Needless to say, there are a lot of assumptions, extrapolations -- the number is not necessarily accurate, and the manual even said not to take any given day's number as gospel; the trends are the important thing.

 

Even that is not quite true though. I find that if I'm dehydrated for whatever reason (a hard workout, say, or some alcohol consumption the day before), the scale interprets this as a lower percent body fat. Meanwhile, my legs have very little fat on them; most of my body fat is in my belly, just above what I suspect is the path of that electrical signal as it goes up one leg and down the other. As I lose weight (and hopefully it's fat I'm losing), the body fat measurements could possibly fail to note the changes, since they're happening just outside the visibility range of the scale's detection system. Thus, even for trends, the body fat could be either too low or two high on any given day. It's a good rough estimate, but in the end those body fat numbers are just a toy. (Check today's number -- one look in a mirror tells me that that can't be true. Note that I rode yesterday and had a couple of beers with dinner. See what I mean?)

 

Anyway, took the interstate this morning, since I was running a bit late. Smooth sailing, until I caught up to yet another backup on the other side of Jugtown Mountain, but my exit was just before the start of it and I was pretty much on time to work.

 

Tonight I'll put the Turner together, then hit the gym; dinner will be root crops & veggies -- all the meat is gone. Which Brew afterward, catch the reggae band.

 

 

 

 

Got R Done

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 10.5% BF

 

Sometimes I surprise even myself... Do a little bit, define "done" down a little, do a little more, define down a little more, and the next thing you know, you're done! For me last night, I was "done" with the housework around midnight: the pot roasts are in the crock pots and roasting away, the house is fairly clean, except for the two "lost cause" rooms (storage and laundry), and I am ready to just go home from here, hop on the bike & host a group ride, then come home and host a dinner party -- the very picture of domesticity!

 

Dinner last night was at Which Brew, a cheeseburger and a couple of Franziskaners. Fred & Lara, Mike H, Bob, Lou, Dave, a few other patrons scattered about the room, and Kateryna behind the bar. A pleasant interlude between cleaning the living room and food shopping, I needed that to keep my sanity. Bob was talking up Musikfest, he's got some kind of VIP membership and an extra ticket to Jethro Tull, so guess who's seeing Jethro Tull on August 7th -- sweet! He also had the date (Oct 12, plan ahead) for the bus trip to McSorley's.

 

Food shop, home, food prep, then the final and most cursory room cleaning: the bedroom.

Rejuvenated

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 9.5% BF (attention K-Mart shoppers, the pig has left the python)

 

I'm feeling much more peppy today, thank you very much. Got up this morning, did my run and felt perfectly fine. As I might have hinted the other day, I think my problem is mostly nutritional wisdom (or lack thereof): improper eating is probably the root cause of last week's crash. I'm on it.

 

Meanwhile, the taxes are done, as I may have also mentioned earlier, and the house cleaning is coming along, maybe just a little behind schedule. (The Chain Gang meeting is at my place tomorrow, and I am cooking two pot roasts which I have to buy and prep tonight, besides finishing the cleaning.) The place will be OK, but more "guy clean" than "fit for female evaluation and judgement." Well, they're all bikers, they're tough, they'll survive...

 

I should also get my Turner back tomorrow night, Rich is bringing it to the meeting. I'll put it together Thursday night and ride it Friday, a milk run on the towpath, and I should be up for Saturday's big Earth Day celebration at Sals.

 

From Red Rain To Sister Bluebird: My musical tastes have been unstable lately, bouncing around from Gang of Four to the Modern Lovers, to Joni Mitchell, to Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" this morning, a song that always reminds me of On The Beach. Probably reflecting the weather's instability as it ratchets its way into full springtime.

 

There's an old joke, the cop's prayer: "Please God, not on my shift," and I think the same thing every February or so, waiting for spring and hoping this isn't the year it fails. Well, I've already heard peepers and seen the bugs return, and this morning the birdsong formed a total cacophony as I ran. My early-spring song is Yes's "Starship Trooper," and I make a point of listening to it when the leaves are new and the sky is a deep and cloudless blue. Tonight.

Back Into The Rapids

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 10% BF

 

Back at work. Back down to 165 pounds. Same old same old...

 

Friday night I went to the Funhouse to see Run Run Run. Met Doug & Lori plus Eric & Kris at the Mexican place next door; we walked out the door and knew we weren't late because there was the band coming up the street... Good show, lotsa fun, saw the usual Funhouse suspects, and also Frank P, whose birthday, as it happens, is on the same day as mine.

 

Saturday was early morning yoga, then a bunch of chores and errands. I also hit Eskandalo for my monthly haircut, where I talked about the show with the owner -- she was one of those "usual suspects" at the show, and has connections with the band. A little BS, gossip, yadda yadda and she cleaned me up real good as per usual.

 

Next stop was Doug & Lori's surprise 40th birthday party, which was lovely. Actually it was more than just lovely, it was a solid blowout. The party was at Carmine's -- I guess that's the place to go for surprise birthdays anymore -- where Doug's mom (hi Toni!) & dad set up a serious spread in the back room, including all sorts of Italian food and a couple of kegs.

(Quote of the night: "You're not on a diet tonight, Don!" Well it's true I wasn't, I chowed down, but that was the occasion for my first good nutritional choice: my first beer went right to my head, so after one or two more I spent the rest of the evening drinking water. Doug's neighbor Brian had a breathalyzer, and I actually blew a 0.00 before I left.)

There were a ton of people there, many of them bikers, the Chain Gang and VMB crowds; I'd guess there were about 50 people total, including Doug's & Lori's families, and of course their non-bike friends. It was almost a small wedding in size. (My gift: dinner for two at Porter's.) The party started at say 6:30, and D&L arrived for their surprise at 7:00, and things were winding down by 11:00 (I suspect food comas) when I got out of there.

After that I went to Which Brew, which was closed for a private party but I had my invite -- yet another birthday party, bartender Andrea turned 30. That was most likely the last big bash there and people knew it, but it was not very funereal, it was another blowout fueled by more free food -- I couldn't look -- and free beer. I was still feeling under the weather so I got a first beer, nursed it, then drank water for the rest of the night.

(Second time in one night I was chugging water in front of an ocean of free beer. The boys from Porter's were guest-bartending so the ladies could be part of the fun, except for Caitlin who opted to work. She was the one I got my water from -- I didn't want to wuss out in front of the guys. I was drinking it out of my mug, so no one else knew.)

Got home at say 2:00 or so, and the band(s) had stopped playing but the party was still going strong when I left. Yeah I got pictures, both parties.

Sunday you know about, mostly laying around, uploading photos and doing that yoga workshop. Tonight was house cleaning, taxes -- note to self: taxes first, then clean, and you won't have to get new W4 forms because you accidentally threw the originals out last week.

Last two things on my agenda are the Chain Gang meeting here Wednesday, thus the cleaning, and retrieving & reassembling my bike. Things should settle back to normal routine after that, at least until North Carolina.

I Care A-Bout, Noo-Tri-SHUN!!

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 9% BF

It's not an official weigh-in but I had to do it, I was sooooo scared of what I'd see. Well OK, that wasn't that bad a hit... Great weekend, but fraught with many bad nutritional choices (and a couple of surprisingly good ones). More on all that later.

Happy Birthday To Me: Thanks Mom! I got your birthday gifts. For all you out in TV Land, my mom sent me a copy of Complex Population Dynamics, (why, it's a "theoretical/empirical synthesis!") and also Raising Sand, the new CD by Robert Plant and Alison Kraus. Sweet!

Yoga: I took a 3-hour workshop today on "Intention, Breath, and Movement," Max Strom appearing at Easton Yoga. That was a total kick-ass workout, and way fun. I couldn't believe what I was able to do, and what I came away from the class with. I love my teachers and I know that they're actually some of the best around, but this was truly a quantum leap up -- and those instructors were all there too (as well as instructors from other places), so I figure that what happened today will be a strong influence going forward.

Moab Closure: I finally got all my photos posted, and put them (in chronological order) in this flickr set. And now my vacation is truly over! Good thing I got that done, I already have more photos to post from the weekend.

Yet More Vacation Photos

This time they're from Brian again -- you can find his Picasa albums by clicking here. By the way, it was a good thing the both of us took a lot of photos, because the other guys didn't even bother to bring cameras, unless you count Rich's cellphone...

Hanging in tonight, doing some housework and then taking a bit of a nap, since I want to hit the Funhouse later to check out a band with Doug. I'll be posting some more of my own photos tonight at some point too.

Doldrummery

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 7.5% BF (yikes!)

Ran, and also hit the gym last night, and so much for that rest day. (I had to get my driver's license renewed after work, and was done with plenty of time/daylight to spare.) I've been on a tear, multiple days of nonstop activity, and now the inevitable backlash has started: I am exhausted and sluggish, I ate too much last night (gave myself another "birthday party" at Which Brew), ate too much (and all the wrong things) this morning... I did take it easy though, two miles at a very comfortable pace, maybe twenty minutes total followed by an endurance alterna-workout, lighter weights than usual too. Not quite an "active rest" day, easier than usual but not easy enough apparently, and I expect that now I'll be kind of run down at least until Sunday.

 

I ran into two friends this week, Bryan and Lance, father and son. I saw Bryan at Joe's before the ride, he stopped by on his motorcycle (he was dressed head to foot in leather, looked like he was on his way to a Village People tryout or something). We used to ride together quite often, and he was the one I used to go on cycling trips with back in the day. Powerful guy, used to like climbing in the big ring... he's not much older than Rich, but his knees are shot, even surgery he had this winter didn't help, and now he can't ride.

 

His son Lance I saw at Jacobsburg. He was riding, part of that big Wednesday group thing. I knew he'd had some reconstructive surgery in January or so (ankle: ligaments and cartilage, snowboarding mishap), so I asked him about it and he told me he just finished rehab and was cleared for running/walking, riding and just about all other activities. He usually rides a singlespeed, but was on a new geared bike; he told me the reason was that he was missing so much cartilage now, that the doctor cautioned him against the SS -- like he could ride with gears for the rest of his life, or ride the SS for a year...

 

Two years ago I couldn't walk; last year at this time if I ran more than a mile I'd be in agony. Last night I ran two miles at a pace I used to think was fast and called it "rest." Despite everything, I think I was pretty lucky with my ankle.

Back Almost A Week Already

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 7.5% BF

 

Wow, a two pound hit -- that's what roast beef and birthday beer will do for you. Then again, after Tuesday's ride my dinner was basically Clif Shot Blocks and a couple of carrots, in other words nothing, so there was more than the usual "suppression weight" to be un-suppressed yesterday.

 

Killer ride last night though. I go there about 5:40, just as the main group was about to pull out so I told them I'd catch up. I got ready, then went chasing with Jay, who was chatting and missed the start; we swept up Greg M who was there independently, and George who waited for us, and finally we reeled in the main group. I was doing OK on the (fully rigid) SS, except some of the bumpier downhills, but I made up for it up on the uphills... Not sure of the mileage but we were out there, riding fast, but casually and with many stops, until about 7:30.

 

Then came the meeting. Very productive, which meant there was a lot of tedious back-and-forth. (John was a workaholic on vacation, sitting in on meetings with his cellphone every morning, but his motivation for staying on top of things was valid: you don't try to solve the problems in these kinds of meeting, just identify them, make sure everyone knows what's going on & assign resources to get the problem solved, and then move on. I think we're going to have to learn that lesson.) Anyway, a lot got done. Meantime, word got out that it was my birthday, so there were a few free beers that came my way, also a ridiculous paper hat.

 

It's supposed to be beautiful out, so I'm going for a lunchtime walk. I won't be able to get out tonight (too many chores/errands), and a rest day is what I need anyway. Two kinds of discipline in the world; I have the one that sends me out riding on rainy winter nights, but I still have trouble sitting still on a nice day...

Appomattox! Party Naked! Buy Me Beer!

Morning weigh-in: 163.5#, 9% BF (woo hoo!)

 

Yup, Happy Birthday To Me -- 45 years young today! It's also the anniversary of Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox in 1865, and Bataan's fall to the Japanese in 1942. (It's also Sweetness's birthday -- a Porter's regular, he's maybe 30 years older than me.) I guess the lesson here is that I may not like the aging thing but I can't stop it, so just take your lumps and go with the flow...

 

I feel like I'm a million years old today. Last night's ride was not blazingly fast (fast enough), but it was hard. Me, Joe and Cindy, and Greg, on one of Joe's "hard ride" loops. It started innocently enough, with a tailwind-assisted semi-downhill paceline -- we were doing 25 mph and I was like "why this isn't hard at all!" -- but we eventually started hitting all sorts of hills, and the fast pace did not drop. Well it did drop some, but we were still going up some long, steep hills at say, 12-15 mph, just about "cracking pace" for me, I barely able to hold on. Cindy, who did a morning run that day, peeled off after a while, and then I was left alone with the monsters, who absolutely crushed me... (Luckily they both said it was the toughest ride of the year so far, for either of them, or I would have cried.) Our total distance was like 24 miles, and our average was 16.9 mph, which means the ride lasted about 1:25. That makes sense, since we got back a little before dark. Actually I feel like a million bucks.

 

Tonight I'm riding the singlespeed at Jacobsburg, then going to the VMB meeting at the Christian Springs Hotel. I'll be milking the birthday; I expect to get a free beer out of somebody.

Moab: I Wasn't The Only One With A Camera

John and Don in Aa Huddle
Originally uploaded by tahl007.

Brian in fact brought two: one kind of like mine, and one really good one. Not sure which one he used for these, but he posted a bunch that you can check out here.

Positively Splitsville

Morning weigh-in: 164.5#, 7.5% BF

 

Ran last night, my usual two miles out past the old chemical plant and their next-door neighbor, the reservoir. (Hmmmm....) I started well and got up to a good speed, but after the turnaround I tired and slowed down. My faster friends always recommend what they call "negative splits," by which they mean that the second half of your run should be done a little faster than the first, so your run times for the successive halves will actually drop -- well I had what you might call "positive splits." Did a standard endurance workout in the gym after that, the first in about two weeks and it left me hurting.

 

My Other Desert Epiphany: Riding in Porcupine Rim, I kind of came to the conclusion that (barring a really bad crash) you really have to be an idiot to get yourself killed out there. It does happen, but you hear the stories of what actually did happen such cases, and it's always a tale of idiocy.

 

By the way, I've been posting vacation pictures to my flickr account, I have maybe 100 or so posted so far.

 

Hit Which Brew for dinner -- it was Mug Club Night, and also the first "Metal Monday." (Not sure how rigorous their definition of "metal" might be, but the music did rock.) No one said anything, but one of the girls was totally stressed and depressed, and I took from context clues that her relationship must have tanked. Poor girl, she hasn't always had the best of luck guy-wise, and this one did look like the real deal; I just hope I'm wrong and it was maybe a bad day in some other way. Sheesh, you go away for a week and the world falls apart...

 

 

 

 

Ghost Town

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 8% BF

 

Whelp, back to work. Tough wake-up, I'm still used to Moab time. The drive in this morning was quiet, the roads almost empty, as if it were a holiday or something, until I hit a traffic jam about 100 yards from my exit. Several people are out of the office today too, showing some guys from India around NYC before they return home, and the immediate area round my cube is deathly quiet -- ditto around my old office too, not sure why that is though.

 

Tonight is the gym, preceded by a run, and followed by Mug Club Night. Which Brew is open every Monday for the whole of this month I think.

Fun With Epiphanies

Morning weigh-in: 164.5#, 10% BF

I couldn't help it, I had to check the weight, I was worried about the damage I may have done while on vacation. Not bad though.

We got home last night, landing maybe 10:45 PM; I was home by maybe 1:00 AM and in fact made "last call" at Porters -- it truly was late though, and only a few people were there that I knew... Slept in a bit this morning, checked out the Internet, and went downtown for breakfast at the Quadrant, where Violetta's dad had an art exhibit. At 80 years old, and with no prior experience or training, he started painting two years ago, mostly local architecture, and he has like 150 paintings now. It was pretty cool, especially since I ran into Vi (who'd told me to check it out) at Nature's Way, and was able to say that I saw the exhibit if she asked, which she didn't, but I'm back in the Easton groove.

Every morning on vacation I did yoga, a 30 minute routine I got out of a book. There was one pose, involving a bind that I just can't do yet, and every morning I'd do the best I could... Today I took the evening class, and the teacher has us take a card (looked like Tarot cards) from a deck, to use as inspiration for the class. Mine said "Aspire" on it, and had a picture of someone doing that very pose. Well, what do you know!

Reading: By the way, I'm rereading Against the Day. I brought it along on vacation for airport downtime etc, and because so much of the first half of the book involves that part of the country. It's actually a much better read the second time around, not that I was complaining the first time or anything but there's so much going on that I missed a lot that I'm catching this time. I'm on page 352, so I have plenty more to get through.

Things I Realized While Riding In The Desert, Part 1: Maybe it was because of Against the Day, though I felt this way before, but I really came to realize that our civilization (Europe, Asia, Antebellum South or Gulag or outsourced) rests on slavery, and maybe all civilizations.

The Classics

Well, that's it: the last ride was today, the bikes are broken down and packed, and we're getting ready for tomorrow's 6:30 AM departure. The party is over.

We saved the classics for last. Yesterday we did Slickrock, and today we did Porcupine Rim. Slickrock was so tough, even though it was only 11 miles or so, that we were totally spent -- it didn't help that yesterday afternoon was also our shopping trip into town, and what we shopped for was mostly margaritas... We ended the evening at Frankie D's, the Quonset hut bar.

NThis morning was a little rough, we were all moving a bit on the slow side, but we managed to get breakfast down and meet the shuttle with time to spare. We started the ride a little differently, from a few miles up the road and higher up the canyon wall, some new singletrack I'd never seen before, with a few crazy hike-a-bike sections as well. It was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and the mountains still had a snow cover. The riding was pretty good too... I got a bunch of photos, and even some video of Rich jumping a few drops.

Tonight we'll probably hit the local nightlife, and tomorrow the show is over.

Domesticity

It was supposed to be a rest day -- up to Klondike Bluffs for a snack break, but we also tossed in some new (to me) singletrack, some stuff called Baby Steps. We rode some fun singletrack, got lost where these guys got lost last time, and did some killer stuff that was totally new to all of us before getting back on track. The trail ended at the back end of Arches National Park, and we walked out onto the cliffs, and finally had our picnic. The ride back was essentially downhill and fast, except for a few flat tires, and a stop to look at some dinosaur footprints in the rock. Rocking high speed chase back to the car.

Dinner was steak on the grill, and we're doing laundry now (but laundry night has been every night) while taking turns getting massages -- she makes house calls! I'm done, and I am now pretty damn relaxed.

Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, will be Slickrock.

Fruita: Grazing On BLM Land

Today we took a day trip to Fruita, Colorado. We got up early and took the drive down, maybe two hours or so, hitting the bike store there about 9:30. Got some stuff, maps etc, and were on the trails by 10:30.

The trails at Fruita are mostly on public grazing land run by the Bureau of Land Management, and are much more singletrack-oriented than here in Moab: buff and twisty with lots of ups and downs, and just the occasional rocky "physical challenge." Lots of cliffs and bluffs, as we rode along the canyons next to the Colorado River. The trails themselves are configured like at Fell Mountain, one big loop with several smaller loops shooting off the main one. Instead of a big single-loop meal, you graze on a bunch of smaller hors douvres.

So that's what we did. We started on Mary's Loop, took a spin on Rustler's Something Something, back on Mary's Loop to the Horse Thief Bench loop, then after some backing and filling we ended up on Steve's Loop aka "Handcuffs." Instead of completing Mary's loop -- the last section is supposedly lame -- we took it as an out-and back, and raced each other along the cliffs and down the hill. Everyone rode well, we were flying and it was an awesome, awesome day. I took about 33 pictures (stay tuned), but Brian brought his good camera and he was the one who got the best shots.

We had an early dinner in Fruita, at the place which used to be a sports bar but is now a really good Mexican restaurant. Too much food, and it was all good. (We also picked up some good beer while we were in Colorado, where there is no Utah-style "max 3.2% abv" restriction. The beer in Utah is tasty, but it really isn't potent so much as bloating.)

So that was today, another 22 fantastic miles. We're just hanging out at the house now, no idea what we're doing tomorrow.

Without A Map: Like Rain In The Desert

The Old Quonset Hut Ain't What It Used To Be: We hit Pasta Jay's last night for dinner, then went to find the old dive we discovered last time, a scary bar in an old Quonset hut. We found it, but things had changed... it was now a "private club" *(I signed up for a three week membership --$4.00) and the beers were a bit better this time, but it was still good. Cheap too.

Hurrah Pass: It poured last night, and it was still a bit drizzly this morning. We were doing a pretty long ride (Hurrah Pass, Jackson Hole, up Jacob's Ladder and down Amasa Back Trail), and there was some spirited debate on whether we should abort, wait, or start the ride in the rain anyway. We started anyway.

Things went smoothly, even without a map, until we got to the top of Hurrah Pass, where we saw storms bearing down on us. We put on our extra clothes, hunkered down under a ledge and ate lunch while the storm blew through. After that the day was beautiful, and we were back to smooth sailing. Until...

We were going through Jackson Hole, and it was all sand. Somehow we missed our turn, but Brian realized we could take the next right. More sand, but we eventually got to the bottom Jacob's Ladder, a hiking trail up the cliff. Forty minutes of carrying our bikes brought us to the top, maybe 200 feet almost straight up. From there it was mostly downhill, down Amasa Back Trail. Plenty of rock, drop-offs and high speed fun, and then (too soon) it was over.

Membership Has Its Privileges: That private club had some awesome food at ridiculously low prices, so that's where we went after the ride. We just came from there, after ribeye sandwiches and hefeweizens, and now we're just hanging out at home.

Tomorrow is Fruita, Colorado.

This Sovereign Cure

Well that was quick! I'm not back, but John brought his laptop, and he's letting me mess around while he hits the showers.

So Far, So Good: Our trip started with dinner at Which Brew Friday night, me Brian, and Doug & Lori who saw us off. (Also saw many other peeps including Jay DeJesus, who gave us some introductions and greetings to convey to the locals out here, and hopefully they'll show us the good new stuff.) Next stop was Brian's house to crash for a while, then came our 3:00 AM rendezvous with Rich, the 6:45 flight, yadda yadda -- we got upgraded to the best seats on the plane, by the way. Picked up the van, hit a few outlets and got lunch, then picked up John at the airport; we were in Moab by 7:30 & retrieved our bikes.

Today's ride was the Sovereign Trail, we got in about 15 miles of riding of which maybe 8were pure singletrack, the rest being mostly (sandy) jeep roads. An awesome day, we were probably out for about 4-5 hours. Pictures won't do it justice, but I took about 50 of them just in case... (Not posting them until I get back, sorry.)

Next up is dinner, not sure where yet but I know it'll be good, and we'll be planning or rides for tomorrow and the rest of the week tonight.