Boy, Am I Tired!

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 7.5% BF

Not sure what these body fat percentages mean, since I'm pretty much where I always am in terms of subcutaneous jelly, probably 15% in reality. I figure it (the low figure) may be due to dehydration. Weight is probably because of a trip to Taco Bell...

I've been pretty tired lately, mostly because I've been up late (like, after midnight, late for me nowadays) playing cyber-catchup after being away. I can't do that, I need more sleep especially when I'm cranking out the exercise watts, and I already know that the key is to step away from the magic box on my desk... So, I got home last night from work, started fooling with the computer (told myself I wouldn't, even as I sat down to read emails etc), ran out of time to do a pre-weights ride. I felt exhausted at the gym, grabbed some Taco Bell for dinner on the way home, promised myself an early bedtime -- and sat down in front of the box until midnight again. Doh! God I love that thing...

Hot Lap!

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 10% BF

Did some chores last night, ran a few errands, then decided to get a towpath ride in anyway. I was on the bike by 7:00, rode to Sand Island & back and was home before dark, say by 8:30. Not bad, I felt (especially on the towpath itself) like I was riding like my old "summer self." The return ride, racing the last of the daylight, was especially fast: I caught up to some college kid in full "real cyclist" gear, jersey etc, he was moving fast but I passed him. He grabbed my wheel and I pulled for a little while, but eventually he blew up & fell off the back. Yep, still got it.

Death And Burlington

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 10% BF

Well, we went to Burlington anyway, and it turned out to be the right move. We all brought our road bikes -- that was probably the first "road bike vacation" I ever did, not counting PPRAC -- and did an 87-mile ride along Lake Champlain, across the Charlotte Ferry and into New York, then back via the Crown Pointe bridge and up the Vermont side. We got caught in a few sprinkles and one deluge, but it was mostly pleasant going. That was Saturday; Friday night was bar-hopping (me and Brian) then dinner at Pacific Rim -- spiciest noodles I ever ate -- with Greg & Judy and Kris & Eric, then a rockabilly band at Red Square and a deadhead/jam band at Nectars. Saturday night (after the ride) was dinner at the VT Brew Pub, and a somewhat more subdued version of Friday night; Kris was in bed early for her marathon, and we were all tired. Doug and Lori arrived in the early evening.

Sunday morning was watching Kris race her marathon, which was pretty easy for us since the course was routed to go through downtown about every 3-5 miles. She did very well, made her goal and looked surprisingly not-shattered afterward. Back to the hotel, naptime for everyone for a while, then we went out to the New England Culinary Institute for a celebratory dinner, and yet more barhopping -- Kris was finally released from her training regimen. The town was a little quieter though, no throngs of tourists (though Brian and I ended up hanging out at Ri-Ra, the Irish pub, with a bunch of singing, pubcrawling Dubliners -- heard everything from "Rule, Brittannia" to "The Rose" to "Goodnight Ladies"), and the people who were out seemed a little rougher around the edges, especially later in the evening. Monday was a travel day.

Rest in Peace, Carole: I found out last night that my cousin (technically, my cousin-in-law) Carole passed away. She had breast cancer; the details were not clear to me but apparently they'd known for a while that there wasn't much the doctors could do for her. Mid-forties, husband (my mom's cousin Paul) and two young kids. So sad. Memorial service will be this weekend.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Gallagher: my friend Joe's dad passed away last Tuesday. Don't really see or talk to Joe anymore, so I didn't hear until Doug told me -- and he'd heard it from Bernie, who rides with Joe these days, apparently. Joe was one the younger kids in a big Irish family, so his dad was up there in age, though you wouldn't know it to look at him. He'd actually fought in WWII, so his funeral (on Memorial Day) was a military service. I'll have to give Joe a call, also stop by his mom's to pay my respect. That makes three deaths last week.

Much Ado About Nothing

No morning weigh-in -- oops!

Country girl, I think you're pretty
Got to make you understand
Got no lovers in the city
Wanna be your country man.
- CSN&Y, "Country Girl"

A bloated and depressing song, once you get past the surface of it: a monument to despair, last song on a bloated and depressing album... I got to thinking about it after reading today's featured wikipedia article: The Country Wife. No connection really between them, except the similar titles. Speaking of country women, looks like Steve Gilliard really didn't care for our new American Idol.

Meantime, back in the real world: I got a call last night from my friend Doug; he and Lori were downtown, grabbed dinner at Which Brew and would I like to join them? I'd already heard from another friend that Lori's grandfather had died during the day (it was her birthday too), and so I guess they were in Easton hanging with family and dealing with the situation. They both looked pretty subdued, must have been draining. Lori felt that her grandfather was more than ready to leave this world, and he passed quickly & painlessly; that might make it easier to let go, but it's still not easy...

Anyway, we were supposed to go to Burlington this weekend, ride up at Stowe, catch the night life, and cheer on Kris R's marathon run. The rain's been pretty bad up there, trails are trashed so it looks like riding's a wash, and with the viewing tonight and the funeral tomorrow, D&L have dropped out (ditto Bob & Karen). Maybe it's not meant to be... still planning to go as of right now though.

And speaking of Vermont: I'm signed up to do the VASS Vermont 50-Miler in late September. Registration opened yesterday evening, and it's already full.

Slatyfork Photos

Me in West Virginia
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I just uploaded a new gallery of shots from a 2001 trip to Slatyfork, take a look here. I know I have better quality copies of these photos; when I find them I'll replace the ones currently on display.

Into The Rapids Again

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177.5, 8% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 178#, 9% BF

The car went in for inspection and an oil change Monday night, only this time I took it to Revelation Motors, right down the block from me. Good job, I picked it up last night -- rather, they dropped it off during the day and I walked over and paid after work. I took a second rest day, played with the computer & did laundry, hit Which Brew for dinner. Early night, but then I went home and played with the 'puter some more, next thing it's 2:00 AM, ouch.

I've been thinking about going down to West Virginia, maybe doing the Wild 100 again, and I've been trying to drum up some group vacation enthusiasm so I've been rooting through old vacation photos, trip literature and maps etc lately. Last night I decided to put my 2001 vacation shots from Slatyfork (and 2000 photos from Moab) into photo galleries, so stay tuned for some gallery page updates. (What actually kept me up late was that the photos were numbered in a sequence I didn't like, so I had to rename them all and I decided to do it all in one shot, a single bash command, so had to experiment and foolaround, linux voyage yadda yadda, probably quicker to have done it manually but it was interesting new ground.)

Bounceback

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 11% BF

I rode the towpath Friday night, totally dragging. I think that Tuesday's "rocket ride," followed by Wednesday's hill workout, followed by the singlespeed at Jacobsburg on Thursday -- well, they all may have taken their toll. I went out to Which Brew, but it was dead so I went over to the Blue Tone Cafe to catch the Foolz, met some people, all of a sudden it was a late night...

Saturday I woke up, and had the feeling in my calf as if I'd had a cramp, all sore and feeling like it would be cramping up again. Uh oh. I skipped all cardio or legs at the gym, in fact I took it easy on quite a few exercises, then I went home and napped after eating a noodle salad for lunch. Welcome to slumpsville! I got up, got a turkey sub and a gatorade from the store up the block, then got the Turner ready for the "big ride" scheduled for Sunday. Another nap, then I went down to the Mug Club party at Which Brew -- probably why it was so dead on Friday, everyone planning on a big Saturday night. Well, I zigged instead of zagging, and now paid the price: free food, free beer, hanging out with Heath & Hans plus Brian, also a ton of other people, but I left early, was probably in bed by 10:00.

Sunday was the South Mountain Trifecta, probably our longest and toughest MTB ride so far this year. Me, Brian, Doug, Eric, Bob W, John C, Hans and Bob F, starting from Eric's house and riding the Salisbury, Lehigh, and Emmaus trail systems -- in other words, all the riding on South Mountain, and all the hardest stuff in the Lehigh Valley. We started at 9:00 AM, did Sals first, rode over to South Mountain Park where we lost Bob F and John C to time constraints, then back to Eric's house for a quick rest (we also lost Bob W here) before riding over to Emmaus. Brian was waffling, decided to ride but cut the Emmaus part short, so in the end it was me, Eric, Doug and Hans, and Hans was back on his home turf. So much for wearing him down, he was flying... at least for a little while. We were all pretty cooked by the time we got back to Eric's.

Burgers, tomato pie, Bob's birthday cake (he left, but we ate it anyway), pretty good end to the weekend. I was very happy to finish the ride, considering how I felt Saturday, and was even happier to finish strong.

Fast Week

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 7.5% BF

Rode at Jacobsburg last night, met Bryan's son Lance in the parking lot, eventually caught up with Marv, saw plenty of others especially the Blue Mtn Ski Club crowd. Lee has a new singlespeed, a Cannondale -- yikes! So much for the snob factor...

On the way home I stopped at Brian's house, helped him strip his bike. He snapped his frame, got a new one via warrantee and must now put his components on the bike. Home, computer work -- this time using the 'puter to do something, instead of doing something with the 'puter, if you know what I mean -- then bedtime around 12:30.

Tonight I think I'll blow off riding, since its rainy and chilly and I'm a wuss.

Wasn't That Something?

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 9% BF

Had a time crunch last night: was suposed to be at my friend Eric's house for a ride at 6:00 PM; he lives on the other side of the Lehigh Valley and I had to drive from Jersey, stop and get salad etc (post-ride bike club meeting & dinner party), then pick up the bike. I left work at 4:30 as usual, and everything was on or ahead of schedule until I went to Nature's Way, a health-food store in downtown Easton, on the way home. They were out of those bag o'salad thingies. WTF??? They guy's like "they'll be in tomorrow, and you can be sure they're fresh!" Well that's just wonderful fella, but that salad will be eaten long before tomorrow no matter where I buy it, and will be fresh no matter where I buy it, and by coming to your store, gambling that you'd have a standard item in stock, I've screwed myself...

So now all of a sudden I'm under the gun. I go home & get bike, then drive over to the sprawl/rush-hour/traffic-jam part of town to the supermarket. Usual piddling frustrations at the checkout (lady in front of me has to pay by check, cashier is in slow motion -- at least, so it seems to someone in a rush), no biggie and I'm out of there. I leave the parking lot, get on the road to Route 33 (which will take me to I-78) -- and the road's closed. Gaaa! Quick U-turn back into the 25th Street traffic disaster, waste fifteen minutes even getting over to Rt 33, and arrive at 6:05, everyone dressed and ready to go except me. But they were still there, waiting and I was ready quick enough.

Decompression time. The ride was good, not too fast but hard because of the hills, and the day was beautiful. Meeting was also good, but very short -- we got back late from the ride, dinner had a lot of chatting going on, and it was the latest meeting start ever at 9:15. We were done by 10:00, and I was home & in bed by 11:00.

Tonight will be either the singlespeed at Jacobsburg, or the gym again if it's not nice - unlikely, from the look of things right now it'll be beautiful.

Not Much More Than Nothing

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 8% BF

Apparently, I'm still dehydrated. Rode last night, got a late start on the "short Harmony ride" so I blasted it out in 45 minutes rather than the usual hour -- that's pretty damn fast, maybe just under 20 mph average. I started/finished at the gym, did an upper-body workout after the ride. I thought it would be cut short by the 9:00 closing, but I managed to get just about everything in. Did laundry; dinner was Which Brew, despite my good intentions...

Tonight is another road ride, followed by the Chain Gang meeting.

I Got Nothin'

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 11.5% BF

A "nothing" evening: played on 'puter: read a little bit, bed around 11:00. (Did laundry, dishes & some chores left over from Saturday, so it wasn't a total waste.) Feel much better today, will probably hit the gym after a Harmony ride.
Not sure what dinner will be, but will probably try to hit the supermarket tonight for healthier future meals -- also, tomorrow night is the Chain Gang ride/meeting/dinner and I'm bringing some food, therefore must shop tonight for that, since there's no other time to do it.

But Why? But Why? But Why?

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 4% BF (not likely)

Friday night I did the towpath ride with Brian, then we grabbed some dinner at Which Brew. The Skulldiggers were playing, place was packed so we ended up in the back room where we were joined by Hans, Heath, Stu & Kathy, some others -- we were sitting near the "alternate bathrooms" that only regulars seem to know about, got a lot of visitors. Brian left early, but I stayed and talked with Hans & Heath until maybe just before midnight.

Saturday was the "Allamuchy Epic," a Chain Gang ride but we also invited the VMB to join us. Me, Doug, Bob, Rich B, Joe & Cindy, Joe G, Greg H, Joe Viagra, Kris K, Scott S and Pete H, an even dozen riders. Very good ride but very hard, we only got in 15 miles in five hours of riding. (There were several major mechanical problems, which always slows things down of course.)

We mostly skipped any big post-ride meal, but I got a call at home from Doug: "don't take a nap or eat anything, we've got reservations at Cactus Blue." This is a new Mexican restaurant on Schoenersville Rd that D&L have been raving about. It's a very good place, & they were able to accommodate our relatively big crowd (maybe 16 people). Early night for me though.

Sunday was supposed to be rainy but it turned out quite nice indeed, which was good because we did another fundraiser at the Whitehall Wal-Mart. Me, Eric & Kris, Lori P, Kris's dad, and Brian who came later bearing pizza. Tired when I got there, I was exhausted at the end.

An observation I made: you can both confirm and destroy pretty much any theory or preconceived notion you might have about human behavior, simply by sitting on a bike in front of Wal-Mart and soliciting donations for a few hours.

Early dinner was a turkey sub, followed by a nap -- then I was wide awake until midnight. Read a little (from Idoru) in the last of the daylight on the porch. The little girl who lives downstairs, maybe four years old, popped her head up over the screen door: "Hi! What are you doing? Why? What are you reading? Can you read it to me? Why not? What's your name? Why?" Cute girl, but I didn't get much reading done until her mom shooed her away...

I may hit the gym tonight for weights only (no cardio), but I think I'm flirting with dehydration so I may just take it easy... I drank 100 oz of water on Saturday's ride, and 28 oz of water plus 96 oz of Gatorade at Wal-mart (also another pint of water, a liter of sprite and a 12 oz beer when I got home), still think I'm down a pint or two.

Friday the Thirteenth

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 6% BF (dehydration?)

Nothing much to say, just thought I'd stop in to record the weight. My new goal is to drop below 170#, I was thinking by June, but maybe I'll say by Mountain Bike Weekend. This is the last MBW, by the way.

Coming up: Towpath tonight, Allamuchy Epic #1 (probably in the rain) tomorrow, PPRAC fundraising at Wal-Mart Sunday.

Why Not Do Both? Or All Three?

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 8% BF

Hit the gym last night, but brought the road bike, did my "short Harmony ride." About fifteen miles, basically an hour cardio warmup before hitting the ol' weights. After that I went to WB for dinner.

Not much else going on; if it doesn't rain I'll probably take the singlespeed to Jacobsburg tonight.

Wow! Was I Tired...

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 13.5% BF

Blew off the gym last night, was waaay too tired and decided a rest day would be wiser. I'll probably do a road ride tonight if the weather holds, otherwise it'll be the gym. I did a little bike work yesterday instead, clean/lube etc, then greased the pivots and replaced the rear brake pads. Things look good for Saturday's epic at Allamuchy, but now they're calling for rain...

I also did a little computer chore-work, fiddling here & there, nothing major. Bedtime was 10:30.

Listening: Very interesting ride in today, I tuned in to WPRB which has classical in the morning. First thing I hear is some kind of Gregorian-chant-like thing, only there were women's as well as men's voices, and though it had that "big room echo" you could tell it wasn't cathedral/stone but wood/modern walls. They played a few more, one or two tunes were even in English. Turns out, the composer was born in 1960 - aha! The particular show spotlighted very new, and very old, "classical" music; next up was some rare 18th-century Croatian symphony, which struck me as ...Viennese. Maybe I was reading to much into cultural/political hegemony in each case, but I was surprised that my ear was still that sensitive.

Happy Anniversary! Today is the 1675th anniversary of the start of the Middle Ages, the day Constantine made "New Rome that was Byzantium" (aka Istanbul, aka Constantinople) the capitol of the Roman Empire. Eleven hundred twenty three years and eighteen days later, the Middle Ages ended with the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Now you know!

The PPRAC Crew Outside Wal-Mart

The PPRAC Crew Outside Wal-Mart
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Morning Weigh-in: 177.5#, 13% BF

Here I am flanked by Brian and Janna at Saturday's Wal-Mart fundraiser. Seeing Janna was a pleasant surprise -- very pleasant, also very much a surprise because she wasn't due to move back from Hawaii for another few weeks...

By the way, here's a quick recap of the weekend:

Friday I blew off the towpath ride, sort of expected it to rain (it didn't). I took the time to install the new TruVativ cranks (btw, Thursday night was a visit to Joe C's to remove the old bottom bracket), also the new chain and cassette. After that I went out to WB & met Brian for dinner. He left after that but I was digging the music, took a seat at the bar. Very unusual evening after that: some old guy there, possibly gay -- not forthright either, but that old-style whiny insinuating type -- but definitely drunk, suddenly started blubbering over a friend who'd recently died of cancer (and whose dogs he'd inherited). Guy looked exactly like the actor who played The Riddler on Batman.

Saturday was the PPRAC fundraiser at Wal-Mart: me, Brian, and Kris R, with guest apearances by Kris's dad, Greg & Judy, and Eric & Janna to help out. Four hours on trainers, working the crowd for spare change -- we got everything from change, including pennies, to fives tens and twenties, probably raised more than $500. One long extended sociology experiment...

Saturday night was late, because after Wal-Mart I passed out for a few hours. I went down to Which Brew for dinner, ran into this dude Tom who is getting into MTB racing and triathlons (the guy is my age but he's hungry, he wants to win), then the guy next to us thought we were talking motorcycles and started talking about Unadilla, which segued into a conversation about crazy times at van-ins -- and then Vince came in on a skateboard, with Pete on a longboard. All in all, a very interesting crowd.

Sunday was Mother's Day, but I screwed up the planning phase so I had the day to myself. I rode downtown on the Turner, got breakfast at Coffee Works, then rode the towpath to the Salisbury trail system in Bethlehem. On the way I saw Kris on her "long run" for marathon training (she's racing in Burlington), with Judy on MTB and Janna running alongside. I was pretty tired at Sals at first, but stopped to eat and enjoy the view, and Eric R (Kris's Eric) rode up. We rode together from there, but he was going over to Lehigh afterward and I just wanted to cruise home... I had 40.58 miles for the day, maybe six hours chamois time. All new compnents are working OK.

Last night I did the towpath again, good time though nowhere near my best: 23 miles in 1:40 or maybe a little less, should be less than 1:30. Got home, did laundry, then got a real hankering for a "Flatiron Steak Sandwich" at Porters, so off I went. So much for those burned calories... Tonight will be the gym.

Sister Bluebird

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 12% BF

About this time every year, the world outside starts to remind me of one big Yes song... The blooming, flowering trees, the moist verdant earth with vivid blue sky above it... I like to think about "Starship Trooper" about now, bust out the old CD's. Yesterday was that day.

Tour de Dump

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 12.5% BF

Got home last nite, got a late start but I rode my Hellertown/Williams Twp loop, aka "the hill ride," aka "Le Tour de Dump." This takes me through most of that hilly area just south of the line between Easton and Bethlehem; since this means the ride parallels I-78, it also means I pass several landfills and zoned-for-light-industry areas, on roads with PA-Dutch-country names like "Applebutter." Two roads, Morvale Rd and Morgan Hill Rd, have that King Arthur / Middle-Earth sound sinister, so it would be appropriate for them to have industrial wastelands but they're mostly rural -- except, of course, for that rinky-dink golf course condo complex on Morgan Hill, henna...

Dropping like flies: Just found out, my friend Ron just got married a few weeks ago, very quiet (more like hush-hush) ceremony, and another Manalapan friend, Tom, is supposed to get married in June.

Fire Sermon

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 180.5#, 10.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 177#, 9% BF

To Carthage then I came... (apropos of nothing, just popped into my head)

Monday I took a rest day, and I got a call from Brian pointing out that it was Mug Club Night at WB, so that's where I/we had dinner. Great night: chili, cheeseburger & lemon lager, lotsa peeps including the Kneller bros, T, Ed, Scott, and some 35-year-old TV producer (who looked 50) who managed to get the whole bar in an uproar by vociferously defending his hero, George W. Bush. He started with Scott, who came in on a real tangent, but is loud and monopolizes the conversation at 200 words a minute when he gets excited. Guy turned to me (I was laughingly avoiding the conversation by BS'ing w/ Perry) and asked me sotto voce if Scott was a lunatic. That got me into it -- I got called a "liberal," boo fscking hoo -- then Theresa weighed in, got in his face... when I left a few minutes later, he was looking pretty frustrated, like a bull surrounded by all the picadors. I knew there was something wrong with the guy way earlier, when he told me he just bought one of those new condos on Morgan Hill Road: they're wedged between the dump, the sewage treatment plant and the interstate, but they do have a golf course, hilly and rinky-dink as it might be.

Anyway, last night I did bills, played with the computer, forgot to eat dinner. (I think it's getting close to time for an upgrade. Fedora Core 4, here I come!) Had to get some decks cleared, I have a lot of financial activity coming up: someone broke into the computer system at work and got a look at our payroll records. Luckily they were encrypted, but everyone here has to redo their checking account info, put out fraud alerts on their social security numbers, etc.

Stupid joke: Buddha on the porcelain, chanting "burning, burning, burning, burning..."

And Now For Your Weekend Update

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 12.5% BF

Friday I got in a quick towpath ride, then met Brian, Rich & Linda, and Doug & Lori for dinner at the Aladdin. Had some kind of kebab-like ground lamb dish (no skewers though), plus the usual hummos, babaganouj, fried cauliflower, fatoush salad, turkish coffee... delicious!

Saturday was back to the gym, with Dawn after not seeing her for three Saturdays. Played catch-up conversationally while lifting, heard that her sister saw a specialist for her vertigo & he found a perforation somewhere in her ear: looks like she might have an answer for her problem and she's pretty happy about that. Maybe I should talk to this guy...

Saturday night was down to Which Brew, where Three Monks were playing and it was waitress Tracy's birthday. She and her boyfriend poured some drinks into me a few weeks ago, thought I'd return the favor... but she was working, and the plan was to go across the street to Porter's after WB closed, and I was too tired to wait that long, let alone start partying at 1:00-2:00 AM, so I slunk home with my tail between my legs like a party-wannabe. Great people though, I'll have to do something nice for them.

Sunday was the first fundraiser at Wal-Mart for the PPRAC Cancer Ride. Four hours on a trainer, cycling away and taking change, with Eric and Kris, Kris's dad Frank, and Doug. Lori joined us later in the day, then Greg & Judy came to help. Not sure how much we raised, probably several hundred dollars.

Stopped over D&L's later in the evening, drilled out my old cleats on my bike shoes. Major effort, wore out some drill bits, went & bought more, wore out a bunch of them too (screws are usually pretty hard steel) but got the job done. Doug made chicken tacos, very tasty -- he wanted to show off a new tequila-lime marinade someone turned him on to.

Bedtime after that. Now today looks good, I may do a singlespeed towpath ride if -- if! -- the weather holds out.