I was supposed to go for a ride after work, but managed to procrastinate until about 8:30, then it took me another 45 minutes or so to get to the point where I was actually on the saddle and rolling. Rode the towpath to just before Freemansburg & back. I was so bundled up (temps in the teens, major wind chill) and it was so windy that I didn't move very fast, got home around 11:00.

yesterday, continued

Morning weigh-in: 183 lbs, 15% body fat. So things are going my way...

One thing I didn't mention yesterday: I saw a Virtual Pubbster at my gym yesterday, the girl who carpooled with Joe G and me up to Burlington two years ago, and chewed our ears off all the way up with tales of woe. Outdoorsy girl, but she recently joined the gym because, like she said, she has some New Years resolutions of her own...

She's been dating the singer from Endless Mountain (local bluegrass band) and seems much happier now, life is good again ("be like the squirrel, girl"). Anyway, it was a strange coincidence, since I almost never run into these people outside of a Virtual Pub context, and I'd just joined that band's mailing list the night before. I guess it's a small world after all.

Recipe for Disaster

One of the girls in the Chain Gang is a real homemaker, very into crafts, cooking etc. She thought it would be a good idea if we all contributed recipes and made a Chain Gang cookbook -- after all, our unofficial motto is "an eating club with a biking problem." Nothing's been done about it yet, so I posted a recipe on our mailing list, "Fettuccine and Wilted Greens in Olive Oil and Garlic," which is a vegan version of the dish that got Joe, Doug and myself kicked out of the Black Bread Cafe (in Jim Thorpe) a few years ago.

The story: Joe (who's vegan, and rather strict about it), Doug (vegetarian, not so strict) and I rode in Jim Thorpe, and afterward decided to get some food in town. I'd been to the Black Bread Cafe once or twice before and liked it, and I think Doug & his wife (or was it Joe & Cindy?) ate there a few times as well; it's a somewhat upscale place (though "precious" may be a better term) with really good food. Joe was a little skeptical when we suggested it, but that's where we ended up. I forget what Doug ordered, but Joe got something like "pasta & wilted greens" which came with a garlic sauce -- this was the only thing on the menu he could order besides salad, and he made a point of telling the waitress up front that he couldn't eat meat or animal products, milk etc, before ordering (like I do with food allergies). I ordered the same thing as Joe, plus the black bean hummos appetizer.

Doug and I are pigging out on our appetizers while Joe sits there hungry, and then our meal comes out, all fancy and garnished -- with grated parmesan cheese. Joe stares at it for a second in disbelief, then asks the waitress to take it back and get him some without the cheese. She comes out with a new plate, and Joe starts eating, but stops because the sauce was made with butter. Doug and I are still stuffing ourselves, but I'm starting to sense trouble... Joe gets the waitress to take his second plate back, hopefully to get some non-butter-based sauce.

About a minute later, out comes the chef, all decked out in his chef uniform -- he might even have had one of those hats, I don't remember -- and he starts out jocular but you can see he's pissed. (By the way, there's a framed article on the wall, complete with photo, about how wonderful and upscale-french-cuisine-savvy our new friend is.) He demands to know what's wrong, Joe starts telling him, he gets all testy, which ticks off Doug who fires a few zingers, and tempers are mounting, and finally Chef Jaques says "Well, what do you expect me to do, make a whole new batch?"

Joe says "Uh, please?" and that proves the straw that brakes the camel's back.

Chef starts yelling "Get out! Get out of my restaurant!" We tried to pay, but he was like "No! Get out NOW!!" So we left. Coward that I am, I was dying of embarrassment the whole time, but as soon as we were outside we all burst out laughing and ran away down the street. We just got a $90 meal for nothing, though Joe was still hungry...

I've never been back, though I hear they have a new chef.

Anyway, here's a version that'll please just about everyone, with one possible exception:

Fettuccine and Wilted Greens in Garlic and Oil

Ingredients:
Light olive oil, suitable for cooking
A jar of minced garlic in olive oil, or you can mince your own, several cloves worth
A box of fettuccine, or whatever pasta you like
A bag of mesclin-style salad mix (w/ baby spinach, chard, radicchio, arugula etc)

Pour maybe 1/4 inch of oil into a frying pan and put a couple of spoonfuls of minced garlic in it (amount varies according to taste -- I like a lot). Start heating the oil on low/medium flame, stirring constantly, and start the water for the pasta.

Keep cooking the oil, stirring often and taking care not to burn the garlic, while the pasta cooks. When the pasta is ready, drain it and set it aside.

Toss several handfuls of the mixed greens in the oil (way more than you think you'll need, since they'll shrink when they wilt), and turn the heat up a bit. Stir everything around and let the greens wilt, then pour greens/garlic/oil over the pasta and stir it all together.

This makes enough for two meals for me, your mileage may vary. Enjoy!

The Party's Over

Back to work today. But, instead of being stuck in a long drawn out boring day, I walked straight into an emergency! And it wasn't my fault! Dealing with a series of tube leaks in a header we supplied, meetings, research etc, took up the morning, then in the afternoon I started on the (rush) job that I'm supposed to be on. Union meeting at 4:00, the day just flew by...

Went to the gym after work. Colette, a riding friend from way back, has just started teaching spinning classes, and also switched to my gym, and has been bugging me to check out her class (I told her "after the new year"). I haven't done a spin class in years (and didn't particularly enjoy them then), but I found myself actually surprised by how much I liked her class. Well, Colette's always been pretty cool, so she's got herself a convert.

Today was also "Mug Night" at Which Brew: dinner discounts for Mug Club members on the first Monday of the month. They're normally closed Mondays, but the local PBA uses Which Brew for their monthly meeting, so they open for members as well. Typical Mug Club crowd; I met Brian there for dinner. He'd just come from his gym, where Colette used to work & convinced him to join, before she quit to teach where I go so he wasn't all that happy to hear my story... I had pork and saurkraut (traditional New Years Day dish hereabouts) and a Lancaster Milk Stout to wash it down.

And that was the end of my holiday... in the immortal words of Samuel Pepys, "and so to bed."

Well, after about half a week of my new diet/exercise resolutions, I'm up two pounds... I know the conventional wisdom is not to be too obsessive about the scale (it's not even that accurate), but the "fat is converting to muscle so you're really getting more slender & in better shape even if the weight goes up" adage doesn't really hold all that much water for me: I have reasonably good muscle tone, not much intramuscular fat -- mostly I just have a serious inner tube, but this is the ominous "syndrome X" situation -- so there's not much "gain muscle to lose fat" opportunity. Still, if the scale doesn't start telling me what I want to hear soon, I'm going to throw it out the window. In other fitness news, I finally got my HRM watch battery replaced (it's only been about a year). My resting heart rate is currently 54 bpm.

One small reason why the weight might have gone up: Went to a co-worker Christmas party last night in Parsippany (my friend Vito, who retired about a year ago). This was the party that got rescheduled from the night of the big snowstorm, just before Christmas. For dinner they had pizza, antipasto, filet mignon, yams, potatoes, onions, broccoli casserole (Vito's wife & daughter are vegetarian, as is Jay Chandran, who I hadn't seen since he retired), a spiral ham (in case anyone's afraid of Mad Cow), homemade wine, sausage & peppers (Pat Gargone said he liked them, last Christmas), and several different pies for dessert. Good time and an unbelievable spread, but so much for my resolutions -- I'm surprised I can even move this morning!

We (Chain Gang) were supposed to go ride at Allamuchy this morning but it's raining and cold. Maybe a "Cold Mountain" matinee instead?

By the way, here are my New Year's Resolutions (actually, one resolution in two parts, and two goals to make it palatable): I resolve to live healthier, by eating better and exercising more regularly, including adding running to my regimen. My goals are to lose 14 lbs (get down to 170#) by late March or early April, and to run a 5k about the same time. I want to run the 5k within 25 minutes, but will be happy with anything under 30. (I'd really like to get down to maybe 165 by June, but I'm not sure about how that fits with my larger Lean Body Mass. My days of being 145 lbs are long over...)

How will I do it? Not sure yet. I think I have enough diet info to eat healthy if I'd just do it, but I may want to follow a specific diet like the "Fit or Fat Target Diet" or something along those lines. We'll see, but in the meantime there's the exercise: I've been pretty slack over the last year or so, and I think I'll have to get kind of regimented about it for a while. But the good news is, my old friend Colette is now teaching spin classes at my gym on Monday nights, so I'll go for that workout, hit the towpath maybe once or twice during the week, then hit the gym for running/lifting Saturday and one more day during the week, and something outdoors, aerobic and daylong on Sunday -- I should be sick of it by February!!

I think that ought-four is going to be a good year...

A quick recap: Christmas was good, didn't go anywhere though (XC snow/weather conditions were rumored to be shitty in VT). A couple of good rides here and there, some running (gahh!), some good parties including the Chain Gang Xmas dinner (Chinese food), Doug & Lori's impromptu bash, and Greg & Judy's 2nd Annual New Year's Eve Blowout -- very subdued compared to last year, where we all ended up on Greg's boat trailer as he drove us around his lawn, but by all other, normal standards, an excellent party -- then yesterday's traditional New Year's Day hike. Myself, Doug & Lori, Brian, Bob & Karen, Joe & Cindy, and Joe and Cos, up Tammany Mountain (Delaware Water Gap) to the lookouts, then down the back way & along Dunnfield Creek, two hours or so.

I haven't been blogging here for a while, because there has been one event that would have to go here, and I found it a little hard to talk or think about for a while... my friend Mike Kucher passed away in his sleep on December 6th.

Mike had been a friend since grade school: he was a year younger than me, my brother Kevin's age and one of several of Kevin's friends that I sort of glommed onto. Mike was a litle closer than most though, he was practically a member of our family.

He'd gone into the Navy just out of high school, and contracted Hodgkins Disease (aka leukemia) while serving, so ended up with a medical discharge, and disability, and treatment at Walter Reed. Remission for a few years, then another bout with Hodgkins, then remission again, then (years later, but still years ago) throat cancer... he took a real beating from that (chemo, radiation, removal of part of his jaw and throat), but two years ago last summer we'd had a party for him because he'd been cancer-free for five years. He'd been through hell & obviously would never be the same -- he had no saliva glands, and with half his throat gone he had to re-learn how to swallow etc -- but he'd made it, he survived and won and the rest would be gravy.

Like with most of my high school / Manalapan friends we had already been drifting apart for a while by the time of that party, so I wasn't really aware of any illness or trouble, but at Kevin's wedding this October he was extremely thin, and had difficulty eating or even moving his arms. He put a brave face on it (as usual) but his fiancee told me that the radiation treatments, years earlier, had caused nerve damage which was only now manifesting itself. (Apparently his inability to eat was also causing underweight/malnutrition problems; he'd been in the hospital for pneumonia and had a feeding tube inserted in his chest.) Even with all that, when my mom called to tell me it took me completely by surprise. That was Saturday evening, the 6th. The wake (closed coffin) was the next Tuesday night, and the funeral was Thursday. The wake wasn't too hard (standing room only, many people I hadn't seen in years, you can almost forget why you're there), but the funeral was way rougher than I expected.

Well, rest in peace Mike. You deserved better in this world and didn't get it; maybe we'll meet again in a better one.

Back from Thanksgiving dinner at Mom & Dad's. More on that maybe but first I thought I'd mention two recent things I read.

The first, several weeks ago was about the mythology developed by homeless kids in Miami. It was several years old, and possibly was a hoax but the story was compelling and disturbing. You can read it here.

The other was in Dirt Rag magazine, and was the winner of their reader-submitted story contest. It was about racism, alcoholism, death, friendship, courage and the Portal Trail on Poison Spider Mesa. I can't get it out of my head. (Nothing online that I saw, you'll have to buy the issue.)

The photos from the Which Brew Halloween Party are here.

The Joe man is back...
-- Big Black, "Bazooka Joe"

Sunday night, and I actually have enough energy left over to write here...

Last weekend I went camping, on a backpacking trip with my friend Joe. He's a natural athlete and avid outdoorsman, but last December he blew out his knee so we haven't done much outdoor stuff -- and no riding at all -- since then. Anyway, he'd been bugging me to do a backpacking trip for a few years, even convincing me to get a really good backpack (which has been gathering dust ever since), and his knee has rehabilitated enough to give it some exercise, so we decided to finally get in a hiking trip. We went to a place in the Poconos called the Thunder Swamp Trail System, which can be wet, but is relatively flat and non-technical, a fairly easy trail as these things go...

It was the hardest three days of my life. The trails were rocky in places -- it is Pennsylvania -- but not all that difficult; it was just that I was totally out of my element, and not used to walking with a pack (weight: 40 pounds) on my back. Joe also took care of the food, and he's a militant "organic food only" vegan and thinks I eat too much anyway -- we were starving ourselves by my standards!! Not enough calories as far as I was concerned, which might have contributed to the fatigue, but luckily he's a good cook and the stuff we did eat was tasty. All told, we hiked 15 miles or so: 3 on friday afternoon, and about six each on Saturday and Sunday. Considering that he did the entire 29 mile trail with his old girlfriend, on a 3-day weekend a few years back, it was a a woefully disappointing performance -- and we (I) couldn't blame his knee, since he managed to be ahead and constantly waiting for me... I was totally whooped. I basically blew off all exercise for the rest of the week, and pretty much blew off everything Sunday and Monday nights except sleep. My legs, especially the little stabilizer muscles, were killing me through Wednesday. Great weather though, flurrys on Friday, sunny and not too chilly for the weekend.

Thursday was a trip to Linden, NJ to a job site. Nothing special, they just wanted a few more pairs of eyeballs going over a unit problem area. Some questionable piping (small lines, like 1" pipe or less), problems with supports, everything was under control without my two cents but it was a day out of the office, though Linden ain't exactly the Bahamas.

Friday was a late-night towpath ride, then a quick trip to Which Brew to see Endless Mountain, that bluegrass band.

Saturday: back to hanging out with Joe in the woods, this time on bikes. Beth & Kevin McGatha have an annual "Chili Ride," which starts with a ride at Allamuchy and ends at their house with a party, bonfire and chili cook-off. Great time, rode with Lauren Detoro who I haven't seen in a while (jeez! when did she start smoking?), and a bunch of other people I don't really know except through Beth. Kevin didn't ride -- old motocross injuries finally caught up with him, and he's also recovering from knee surgery, so he and Joe talked knee braces and ACL tissue replacement... We left about 7:00 and raced back to Easton to see the George Bush "Liar Liar Pants on Fire" effigy ride in and park at Center Square. About eighty self-conscious "protesters," and one pro-Bush heckler (give him credit, he wasn't shy) for them to argue with. (In the paper this morning, it was a "white hot debate.") I owed Joe dinner for doing the food last week, so it was my treat at Touch of Thai, then another early bedtime for me.

Today was yet another Joe day: myself, Joe, and his ex-girlfriend, Cosmia -- and he just broke up with that non-biking girl he's been dating since the knee, hmmmm... We went up to Jim Thorpe, rode the singletrack out in the strip mines for a few hours (hard, technical riding, lots of fun), and checked out the scene in town before taking off. That might be it for Indian Summer.

Anyway, those were my past two weekends. One other piece of "news:" greedy Don now has an Amazon wish list. More on this as Christmas approaches.

Wow, here it is November already... just got back from voting, hope you voted too.

Killer weekend: Last Friday was a Halloween night ride (in costume: I was Frankenstein) down the towpath, where Genesis Bicycles mechanics set up spooky scary stuff. After that it was down to Which Brew (sheesh, where else?) for their Halloween bash. Saturday I was kind of hurting, but did my normal coffeehouse/gym/errands day then went to Alan & Colette Flory's --remember them? -- for a "Hot Spicy Food" dinner party, saw some people I haven't seen in a while, like Al Flory and Mike Hess, another old Chain Gang member. His wife works at the gym I go to, so I see her maybe once a week depending on schedules, but I literally haven't seen him in years. He looks the same... Sunday was a Lehigh ride on South Mountain, plenty of fun, then lunch at a new Mexican place on Main Street in Bethlehem.

Other things: My brother Kevin got married in early October. The wedding was down in Florida, and needless to say it was a blast. We also had a great ride maybe two weekends ago, two laps around Blue Marsh Lake to simulate the Vermont 50-Miler race. Only the Workmans got their entries accepted (web-based entry forms, filled up within hours); unfortunately the real race -- unlike our Blue Marsh 50 -- was a deluge and a fiasco. (I wrote at length about both of these, but my post got screwed up & lost, and I didn't have the heart to re-write it. More on both of those some other time, maybe.)

A Cultural Weekend:

Friday nite was bluegrass and cask-conditioned Troegs (speaking of culture) at Which Brew, probably the best nite there so far, and that's saying something...

Saturday I checked out the Allen Ginsberg photo exhibit (apparently he was a bit of a shutterbug all thru the beat years) at the Allentown Art Museum. I highly recommend this for anyone who's in the least interested in the Beat poets, or even just plain good photography.

Sat nite was back to Allentown for "Bat Boy: The Musical." I still love Bat Boy, but I'm pretty sure I still don't like musicals, let's just leave it at that...

Sunday was a tag-team whoopass ride with the Workmans, as Bob led an Allamuchy ride, which ended up at Kittatinny State Park where Karen took over at breakneck pace, then back to Bob for the suffer-o-rama back to the trailhead: 35 miles, all very hard and all fast. Ouch!!

"I said roadrunner once,
Roadrunner twice,
I'm in love with rock & roll
& I'll be out all night."
- Jonathan Richman

WNTI-FM is having a banner day. I'm out running errands (drycleaning, food shopping, buying underwear, all a part of my glamorous lifestyle you know), and I turn the radio on to hear a "non-standard" version of Roadrunner which is just too cool, so I have to wait in the parking lot for the song to end before getting my drycleaning. Good but skippable song while I run & get my shirts, but then, on the way home, I hear Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, which is a legendary song, at least in my mind. Finally, to top it all off, there is an accordion band (complete with dorky/ironic singer) doing a cover of Jimi Hendrix's Fire. Stuck in the car listening once again, before I can go in the house.

By the way: Allamuchy was great -- pics and results are posted here. Pretty soon I'll post a few stories from the race & also the Cancer Ride. Meantime, back to the chores...

BTW#2: rereading High Fidelity and A Walk in the Woods, both excellent and both very funny.

1952 VINCENT BLACK LIGHTNING -- by Richard Thompson

Oh says Red Molly to James "That's a fine motorbike.
A girl could feel special on any such like"
Says James to Red Molly "My hat's off to you
It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952.
And I've seen you at the corners and cafes it seems
Red hair and black leather, my favourite colour scheme"
And he pulled her on behind and down to Boxhill they did ride

Oh says James to Red Molly "Here's a ring for your right hand
But I'll tell you in earnest I'm a dangerous man.
For I've fought with the law since I was seventeen,
I robbed many a man to get my Vincent machine.
Now I'm 21 years, I might make 22
And I don't mind dying, but for the love of you.
And if fate should break my stride
Then I'll give you my Vincent to ride"

"Come down, come down, Red Molly" called Sergeant McRae
"For they've taken young James Adie for armed robbery.
Shotgun blast hit his chest, left nothing inside.
Oh come down, Red Molly to his dying bedside"
When she came to the hospital, there wasn't much left
He was running out of road, he was running out of breath
But he smiled to see her cry
He said "I'll give you my Vincent to ride"

Says James "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world
Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl.
Now Nortons and Indians and Greeves won't do,
Ah, they don't have a soul like a Vincent 52"
Oh he reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys
Said "I've got no further use for these.
I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome,
Swooping down from heaven to carry me home"
And he gave her one last kiss and died
And he gave her his Vincent to ride.

Jest passin' thru...

Back from the Cancer Ride, where I finished John Adams, reread Vineland (it's being read & discussed on the Pynchon mailing list) and picked up The Recognitions where I left off, as well as riding 560 miles... Tomorrow -- actually, today at this point -- I'm going to Allamuchy to set up camp for the race on Saturday. I have plenty of stories, but they'll have to wait to show up here. By the way: rode hard all day, every day for a week, got home & got on the scale -- gained 5 pounds.

Listening to the Acoustic Charts on Soundclick.com, reading Runciman's Byzantine Civilization and thinking of Arianism ("one iota of difference"), Monophysitism, yadda yadda...

I'm starting to get ready for Allamuchy, and I have this week to shop/pack/prepare for the Cancer Ride, and I have like zero free time for the rest of the week, so of course I go and buy a new book.

Mom emailed, her book club is reading Founding Brothers, which I borrowed so she wants me to ship it back. Meantime, she recomended that John Adams biography, which came out to much fanfare about a year ago, so I picked up the trade paperback last weekend.

Really good book so far (about 250 pages in, maybe halfway or a little more), and is giving me a more sympathetic view of our 2nd Prez than the one I had.

One banana, two banana,
Three banana, four,
Four bananas make a bunch
And so do many more!
-- "The Banana Splits Theme"

Just a quick fly-by to say yes I'm still alive...

Last post was before July; since then was Independence Day (engagement party for my brother, at my parents in NJ), then a weekend visiting Dona & Shawn in MD (road ride Sat, MTB at Michaux on Sunday) and back in time for Easton's Heritage Day fireworks., and last weekend a trip to French Creek, a Lehigh Wheelmen ride sponsored by Joe & Cindy -- it was pretty much a Chain Gang ride though, based on who showed up...

In between all that was work, and lots of riding, and the realization that I could stand to lose quite a few pounds, so now I'm buckling down, bought good healthy food to eat at home (I eat out too often: expensive, hi-calorie meals, plus a beer or two to wash it down, that adds up quickly even with the bike burning it off.) So, my goal is to lose 10 pounds by Allamuchy, which is a month away. I should be able to get close, the 500-mile PPRAC "cancer ride" is about a week away...

Speaking of Allamuchy: this year I'm not doing it solo, that's right I will be on a team. The Chain Gang theme this year is "Saturday Morning Cartoons," so our team is The Banana Splits -- I get to be Bingo! I'm on a four-man team with Doug, Brian and Eric.

Speaking of Eric: I was over Doug's yesterday (stopped by after a trip to UPS), and Lori said I'd just missed Doug because he just ran up to UPS -- like ships passing in the night -- but could I stick around? He had a mission of mercy to go on, and could use some help.
Seems Kris & Eric's new house has some serious water problems, which really only manifested themselves after that heavy rain. Eric was stuck at work, but Doug had some sandbags he was going to bring over to try and reroute the water flow. Naturally I went with him, and we had a most exciting adventure driving through flooded, hilly Bethlehem areas (uh, why do they call it "Fountain Hill?"), streets knee-deep or more with water raging like mountain streams, cars stalled everywhere with wet wires etc, and Doug blasting through with his 4WD pickup, like the Dukes of Hazzard or something... Kris was home, had a real "refugee" look to her eyes, told us of a pretty rough night digging ditches in the lawn in the pouring rain, pumping water out of the basement etc. We set up the sandbags, and though we would have liked to do more there really wasn't much else to do (& her dad was there, to "hold my hand while my house washes away," as Kris put it), so we took off. Pretty serious rain last few days, thunderstorms like the end of the world.

That's it for now. Tra la la, la-la la la...

Writing this on "Sunday night," aka Monday morning.

Yesterday (Saturday, that is) I woke up to a call from a telemarketer, but with a twist: the message was a recording. There came a point where the recording said "Press 9 to order your Williamsburg vacation," so I did, then asked a lot of questions like "Who are you?" and "Do you know it's a federal crime for a telemarketer to use a recording like that?" and the human on the other end immediately hung up -- or rather, she transferred me to some (no doubt randomly chosen) landscaping business, possibly to screw up any star-69 (or whatever) attempts to track them down. Ahhh, but I'm on to them now...

Ran my usual Saturday-morning errands, had breakfast at O'Neils Coffeeshop downtown, then hit the gym for a light (ie summer) workout. First time back in a while, but the anti-vertigo stuff has been working really well, especially the spray, and I have no problems with lying down (say, to lift weights, or for that matter to sleep). Anyway, I felt good.

It was nice out, but since I rode every day since last Sunday and would ride today -- which of course is yesterday's tomorrow, or something -- I decided to take it easy physically for the rest of the day. I got a sub, some sodas and a frappucino, then grabbed Mason & Dixon and went down to Riverside Park (Riverview Park?) to spend the afternoon, about four hours and 100 pages and watching the Lehigh flow by.

A little revelation: I think I like M&D so much because the story (strange as this might sound) reminds me of myself, and of my own life.

Anyway, today (Sunday) I rode with Lee S and a few of his old Spoke'N'Wheel teammates, at Chimney Rock in Jersey. They were sort of taking it easy (when Lee or his friend Dave really open it up, I can't even keep them in sight) but we weren't slacking, and I felt good and could hang comfortably at the pace we rode; I felt especially confident over the many log crossings, just floating over them suckers. Ride wise, it was a very good day, and they're a fun bunch.

"I'm healthy as a horse,
Ahh, but everything is spinning."
-- Iggy Pop, "Nothing Comes My Way"

Yep, the vertigo is back. Shit. Shit shit. Shit shit shit shit shit!

It hit me last Monday at lunchtime, thought maybe it was a food allergy by the way it came on. Left work, went to doctor on Tuesday morning, and now I'm back on meclizine and a new nasal spray, but now I have to get an MRI as they go looking for the underlying cause.

Meantime, rides. Luckily, the balance problem doesn't seem to bother the riding as much as the walking (especially walking in the dark); I guess the biking balance is visual enough to compensate. Anyway, felt better Monday afternoon, so I rode the towpath. Ditto Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, so 75 miles in for the week by that point...

Thursday I packed, and Friday morning I left for Mountain Bike Weekend in Jim Thorpe, got there around 11:00 AM. This was the 18th annual MBW, and my 11th. There was still a crowd (1000 participants as usual, but I suspect they had fewer people to turn away this year after it filled up), though I couldn't unload one ticket, and one of my friends was a no-show, and Brian got there Saturday morning only to leave very early Sunday morning... just not the same as the old days...

Anyway, Friday was OK, Fri nite was rainy, Sat was OK except for a few storm fronts or something that came through, Sat nite was OK (good campfire weather), and Sunday was beautiful but by then the show was over.

The traditional "Chain Gang Jim Thorpe Epic" was slated for Saturday as usual, but because of the Game Lands situation, Broad Mountain would not be a part of the ride, so there would be no chance of epic distances if we stuck to tradition. Instead, we went to Tamaqua, where there was going to be a race on Sunday, and rode the race course as well as a whole bunch of other stuff. (Did I mention we rode Tamaqua the week before, in an unsuccesful attempt to put together a connection between the Summit Hill and Tamaqua trails? I know there's one out there, we just haven't found it yet...) We were on top of the mountain when we heard thunder, so we went back to a teenage party spot we'd passed earlier, that had a lean-to, and we waited out the storm there. After the storm passed we rode some more up top, then dropped down through terra incognita back to the race course, which was at the base of the hill. We finished off with a lap of the racecourse, but it was all one soggy mess and really wore us out: our fifteen miles today felt harder (according to some of us) than the standard epic's 40.

Got back a little earlier than usual, ate, got a massage, then chilled and celebrated Brian's birthday with a few brewskis, then I passed out around midnight. Woke up again aroiund 1:00 to check out the naked chick riding through camp...

Sunday was my day. Everyone else was leaving early, but Pete H and I had tickets to the church breakfast in Summit Hill. Pete drove -- he was also leaving somewhat early -- but I rode down and we ate, and ate, and ate...

After that I checked out the trails west of Summit Hill, then hit the singletrack near the strippings, where I picked up an entourage of lost riders, and finally dropped down the Marble Trail (in front of an audience -- and I made it!! woo hoo!!) and took the Switchback back to camp. Packed up, swam in the lake -- my first actual bathing experience since Thursday -- and then headed home.

Dinner was Thai food w/ Joe G, who said his formal knee rehabilitation is coming to a close and he should be back in the saddle soon. (He called today to say he rode the towpath.)

So now here it is Tuesday night, and I'm ready to crash.

"Daily Spew???" weekly is more like it...

Kind of a quiet weekend, and no riding trips. I helped a friend move on Saturday, and today has just been one long lazy day; we were supposed to do a leisurely road ride, but it was rainy and more importanly, very windy so I basically rolled over and slept until about noon...

Had "brunch" at the Quadrant Coffee House and bookstore, where there was live music (acoustic guitars and banjo, singers taking turns), cheese & bread & fruit, plenty of coffee and a book I selected at random: Mud on the Stars, the (somewhat autibiographical) first novel by William Bradford Huie, the guy who wrote The Fight for Air Power and The Execution of Private Slovik, among others. Very good book, I ended up buying it. Kind of funny because at least part of why I went down there was to see about dumping a lot of my old computer manuals, textbooks etc, not to end up with new books...

Ahh yes, another fine weekend! This was the Chain Gang "40th Birthday Bash" trip out to the Laurel Highlands (southeast of Pittsburgh) for Memorial Day Weekend.

We stayed at the Lingonier Country Inn, in Laughlintown PA, not far from Speedgoat, which I'd always assumed was mostly a mail-order retailer, but they also have an awesome store... Our home base (the Inn) was a sort of B&B with a bar -- need I say more? Both of these places get five stars for biker vacations.

In terms of riding: We rode in the Forbes State Forest, just outside of town. I'm not sure how much total mileage is available there, but with some backtracking we did 17 miles on Saturday and 25 on Sunday -- that's the day we got lost. The trails are a good mix of jeep road and sweet singletrack, and when they are labeled "expert" they aren't kidding. The riding was so technical, so "total body workout," that we were wasted by these rides.

...of course, the alcohol might have had something to do with it: when Brian, Matt and I got there about 11:30 Friday, we were worried no one would be up, but we found them all in the bar and going strong. We closed the place at 2:00, so we were nice and fresh for our first ride. Saturday night ended earlier and was much more subdued, but the pain/exhaustion never really went away. Sunday night was the birthday celebration, which sort of split the difference between Friday and Saturday, though there was a fairly long "discussion period" in the bar.

Check out was this morning, and we were on the road by about 11:00, with a side trip to the Flight 93 crash site and temporary memorial.

(Never did make it to Fallingwater.)