Belated Birthday

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 10.5% BF

Not too bad a weight hit, considering last night's dinner was pizza & beer, but I did manage to maintain my self-control.

Rode last night, 12.5 miles in maybe 55 minutes, a short & sweet hill ride before the Chain Gang meeting. (Another good meeting by the way, very productive, if talking and planning count as "productivity." It almost didn't happen, since we had some last-minute venue changes and uncertanties on where to relocate -- all's well that ends well though...) Couple of guys did a monster hard ride before the meeting on their new bikes, I guess Spring is really here despite appearances.

Happy Birthday To Me: Finally got a chance to open my birthday presents. Thanks Mom & Dad! I'm already most of the way through all three books (well, two are references, but still).

Tonight will be the gym, dinner will be leftover pork tenderloin.

Speedy McBikerson Fly-By

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 5.5% BF

Not sure what that body fat's telling me, usually it's a pretty reliable indicator of hydration (if nothing else), and I had a fairly non-hydration-stressed day yesterday (no alcohol, yoga was more "active rest" than a true workout, drank plenty of liquids, etc). It Is A Mystery.

Amanda at Pandagon takes a pretty good look at shopping by car vs deliveries vs running your errands by bike. (Don't forget to check out the comments.) I have my $0.02 to add but not the time, so I guess it'll have to wait until another day...

Probably getting in a bike ride tonight, then having the Chain Gang meeting -- maybe!

Playing Catch-up With Myself

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 10.5% BF

Ho hum, another day, another return to a previous post's title... yesterday's title was a quote from a speech in Against the Day, in which evil plutocrat Scarsdale Vibe declares (in about 1918 in the Rockies) that the striking miners and other mountain poor are doomed to extinction, and will be replaced by more presentable slaves, who will be drawn by recreational opportunities and trapped by their mortgages. I meant to use it as a comment on global warming and the recent storm -- yeah it's flooding again -- but didn't actually get around to saying anything about it.

Anyway, yoga last night, yoga tonight; tomorrow is the Chain Gang meeting, and maybe a quick ride beforehand if I can get it in.

It Is Inevitable. It has Already Begun.

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 9.5% BF

Looks like a little bit of un-suppression going on in the weight there, bounceback from Sunday, which was a complete rest day that ended with four bowls of cereal at midnight -- the Friday and Saturday trips to Which Brew probably didn't help either, but my weight Saturday afternoon was 178#.

Mea Culpa: Oops, my bad, looks like I used "errata" incorrectly in my last post's title. Oh the irony...

Holy Cow what the hell is going on in Virginia?

Listening: In the car it's Gregorian Chants (again), but in the house my new all-time favorite song is Galaxie 500's "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste."

Requiem and Errata

Well, I'm back, flew in yesterday. Picked up my car (which didn't start at first -- it worked fine when I brought it in last week), did some laundry, went for a ride, then went to Which Brew for dinner. Ah, home... Today was early-morning yoga, then the gym; later in the day I rode the towpath out to Sals, did a short lap there and got home just before dark.

Requiem for the Midwest in the Key of Vanilla: Southern Illinois is a pretty weird place, or rather I should just say it's not like here. That's for sure -- I wouldn't want to live there, and I didn't even like visiting... Farms, a prison, the plant, an interstate and not much else. Plenty of white bread, string beans, you know you're in trouble when the hippest things around are the corporate chain restaurants.

So It Goes: Rest in peace, Kurt Vonnegut -- his peephole closed while I was away.

When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloomed: John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln on this date in 1865. Out in the Land of Lincoln, spring had already arrived, at least in the southern part where I was, and lilacs were blooming in the dooryards.

They Will Fly Towards Grace: My friend Joe's sister passed away while I was gone; she'd been very sick for a while (cancer of some kind, I didn't pry). I also ran into Doug and Lori today at Sals, and Lori said her grandmother had passed away last night. It's been a tough week.

Reading: I finally finished Against the Day. After becoming disinterested and putting it aside for more than a month, I brought it along last week as airport reading and was completely engrossed once again; I just finished the last five pages (of 1085) today. Like Mason & Dixon it had a bittersweet ending: "they will fly towards grace" was the final line of the book. (I've heard it said that Against the Day is sort of a prequel to Gravity's Rainbow: flip the last page and you get "A screaming comes across the sky.")

Requiem For A World: I also re-read The Road recently, even though it's a tough, heartbreaking book. There's a payoff in multiple reads though, since I now know that it was a nuclear war that brought on the hellish world in the book, and that the mother was pregnant with the boy when it happened. I hear the book is now on Oprah's book club list, or something.

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." Go in peace.

My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready To Go

I also got in an early morning ride, then did laundry, dishes, garbage, cleaned the house, emptied the fridge (into my stomach) & generally got the house ready for my absence; I also dropped off my rear wheel with Brian (he'll bring it to the bike shop for me tomorrow) and dropped off my car for a new muffler, oil change and inspection. Busy day, see you in a week...

That Worked Out Pretty Nice

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 6.5% BF

Really nice ride yesterday with Joe, kind of easy ("conversational pace" as the saying goes -- and we bullshitted almost the entire time), hitting the hills and trying to avoid the wind; we were out for about three hours and got maybe 32 miles in. I think we were both surprised, because it felt mellow but that was some solid mileage, especially for a hill ride. We ended almost in the dark though, and took a dirt road shortcut back to his house. Both of us were pleasantly surprised, since neither of us was motivated to go out riding in the cold, wind and snow (flurries, but still); this ride was literally "just what the doctor ordered." A little Italian post-ride take-out -- and some car trouble (Joe's car) picking it up -- more BS about the Chain Gang and the old days, and all of a sudden it was like 10:00. Home, some computer stuff, and I was in bed by 11:30 or so.

Tonight will be the towpath, dinner will be leftover take-out from last night (I got something called a "bomba," like an Italian version of a Cuban sandwich, and I could only eat half), plus maybe some stew. Tomorrow will be yoga, the gym, and more stew.

In The Name Of Love

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 180#, 13% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 179#, 10% BF

Early morning, April 4: I missed it yesterday, but rest in peace, Martin Luther King.

Tuesday night was Svaroopa yoga -- which used to be very predictable (basically the same routine every week) but is now branching out into other moves -- then last night was the gym. I don't remember Tuesday's pre-grocery-shopping dinner, but last night was a bag of salad and a glass of milk, plus a handful of dry cereal before I hit the hay. Lately, my big meal of the day has been lunch.

Man that was pathetic: I downloaded mplayer a while ago and wasn't too impressed, mainly because of an annoying error message ("font not found: subtitle.tff") that kept popping up, and because I couldn't get movies to scale, like to full screen size. Two minutes with Google and the mplayer FAQ last night, and I had both issues resolved -- and it is pretty much the best Linux mpg/wmv/etc player, just like everyone said...

Riding tonight, probably the road with my friend Joe, then maybe dinner with him & Sue -- I've blown off their last few post-ride dinner invites, so must take them up on it tonight if they make the offer again. Otherwise, I'll have some of that bean & tomato stew. Tomorrow is the towpath, followed by more stew, and Saturday will be yoga followed by the gym. Anyway, that's the plan so far.

Hemo The Magnificent

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 10.5% BF

I was thinking yesterday about educational films I saw as a kid in school, and especially remembering a series that featured a professor and his sidekick interacting with various cartoon characters. I googled "blood," "sea water" and "professor" yesterday, and found these Amazon reviews. I guess I wasn't the only one who remembered that most famous exchange between Dr. Fred Baxter and Hemo The Magnificent...

Blood On Fire: Blew off yoga yesterday: it was so nice out I did a towpath ride, 22 miles in 1:34 for an average of about 14 mph. Not bad, but I have to remove maybe 15 minutes from that time to make it really respectable. (Tonight is back to yoga, the class I blew off last week.)

After the ride I met Brian for Mug Club Night at Which Brew. Haven't talked to him much lately, so we played catch-up: he had his last speed-skating practice the other day, and is off for Spring Break but is redoing his garage or something, no real "sleep-away" vacation. He returned The Road, which I loaned to him a few months ago.

My friend Doug once commented that I became much nicer and more personable once I stopped racing regularly, and training for all that racing (this was a while ago). I took this to mean that I was more easy-going once I stopped obsessing over race results and training regimens, and became more flexible with my time, more likely to just do regular rides or go out for a beer. Brian and I were talking about routines, and I think I caught him by surprise by saying my life had more of a routine in the Nineties than now -- my routines fitted his at the time, so they were probably less visible to him -- but really the structure in my life right now is only an attempt to force a return to the rhythm that my days, and years, followed back then. You know, back when I was less pleasant...

The struggle seems to be going my way though lately, and bringing some success (and success is is what drove my earlier obsessions), so it was a little bittersweet when Which Brew friends last night started asking "Where have you been? We haven't seen you in a while..."

Monday I Got Traveling On My Mind

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 13% BF

 

Well, it looks like I'll be in Illinois next week on business, so I better get all my personal business done this week, as well as any pleasure I might have planned. Not much else to say here, did all my catch-up with last night's post.

 

By the way, last week:

 

Monday: 0 miles (yoga)

Tuesday: 26 miles

Wednesday: 0 miles (yoga)

Thursday: 30 miles

Friday: 22 miles

Saturday: 26 miles (plus yoga)

 

For a grand total of 104 miles for the week -- not bad for March! What's missing right now is the gym, but I'll very likely be combining that with some rides in a week or so. I have some hard choices to make about yoga too, since (at the very least) the Tuesday class now conflicts with my need to ride...

 

Tonight is yoga (where, if we're lucky, instructor Kelly will have something to say about her trip to Sri Lanka), then the monthly Mug Club Night at Which Brew.

 

Sunday Evening Coming Down

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 13.5% BF (yeah, just had to post that & gloat)

So, rode Friday evening (towpath), then hit the sack early.

Saturday was early morning yoga, then the "Weyerbacher Beer Ride," in which I was supposed to lead a towpath ride from Bethlehem to the annual open house at Weyerbacher Brewery. Kind of a disappointment though: no one else showed up, but I did run into Cindy riding on the towpath with her dog. Oh well, the ride was nice and so was the open house, and I saw Joe & Sue there, as well as a bunch of other friends.

Dinner was at Which Brew, where I saw quite a few of the same people from the open house earlier in the day, especially the volunteers who were probably not able to drink until the fun was over... I felt kind of sick & out of sorts (lot of people say they had or have the same thing), so I went home early.

Today was breakfast at that crunchy new Blue Sky Cafe (where the old Green Cafe used to be), then trailwork at Sals. And now I think it's time for bed...

(By the way, you can see photos of the beer ride & open house, and trailwork photos, at my flickr page.)

Tipperary

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 13.5% BF

Fun & fast (and hard) hill workout w/ Joe yesterday, then went home, ate dinner (tuna & rice) and was in bed by 9:30. Rough night, almost like I was feverish -- I might actually have been feverish, either from the hard workout or a real fever from the cold.

Or, it might have been the decongestant I took. On Joe's advice I tried Mucinex, which is really just pseudoephedrine and an expectorant, but it's time-released and it really worked wonders (except for sleep) last night and today. Weird, pseudoephedrine is now kept behind the counter at the drugstore, and you have to show ID to get it -- apparently kids are using it to make meth or something.

Tonight is the towpath, and I'll probably stay in so I can be fresh for Saturday (yoga, biking).

Mailblogging

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 9.5% BF

 

(Note the recent weight loss. Woo Hoo! I think a lot of that is "suppression weight," as in water loss or whatever from the exercise, but as long as it keeps trending downward, I'm pretty sure I'm actually losing weight for real too.)

 

My, that was disgusting: I have a head cold, maybe more like sinusitis, no doubt caused by all the tree pollen lately. Word to the wise, never sneeze with a banana in your mouth. Just sayin'...

 

Brought the bike to work today, will ride with Joe but may have to take it easy due to the cold.

Note: I wrote this Thursday, posted it Friday.

Hump Day Already

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 183#, 13.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 182#, 13% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 182.5#, 10.5% BF

More gossip: Here's an interesting story. Very strange -- and it just so happens that I (vaguely) know the girl who was the victim. Meantime, my friend Pete, who with his beard and shoulder-length hair bore an uncanny resemblance to Arlo Guthrie, shaved his beard off and cut his hair really short. I saw him the other day and didn't even recognize him...

Bike! Rode Sunday after a rough Saturday night (ran into friend Shannon, much talk including the above-mentioned gossip), and had a really good ride. About 30 miles in the Slate Belt with Eric B and Joe & Cindy, average pace was about 15 mph. Monday was yoga -- ditto Saturday, thus there was no Friday night, which explains Saturday night -- but yesterday was a beautiful day so I did my Hellertown loop. Took me 1:49 to go about 26 miles, about 14.2 mph average which could be better but hey it's hilly, and I started and finished in daylight.

Tomorrow is another ride, in Jersey with my friend Joe, then Friday is the towpath. If the weather's nice Saturday I'll be doing another towpath ride, leading a ride from Bethlehem to Weyerbacher Brewery's Annual Open House.

Tonight was yoga also, the more athletic "intermediate" class. Monday's beginner class was tough too, with a new twist on things since the usual instructor is in Sri Lanka right now, doing some kind of alternative "doctors without borders"-type stuff. Sri Lanka -- gulp!

I Don't Like To Repeat Gossip...

...so you better listen real good the first time!

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 187#, 13% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 186#, 13% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 182#, 10% BF

That was some sandwich! Like a pig in a python... I had dinner at Which Brew on Tuesday night, got the Reuben special, which turned out to be a triple-decker corned beef sandwich on thick slabs of rye. It was enormous, and almost beat me but I got it all down, plus the fries and two Anchor Steam Porters. I know who had the last laugh though, when I stepped on the scale Wednesday morning.

The Gossip: One reason I went down there Tuesday was that I missed the St Patrick's day festivities, and got an email (sent around midnight Saturday to everyone on the Virtual Pub mailing list), stating that there had been an incident that night, such behavior was unwelcome and would not be tolerated and oh my God I had to know more... I had to wait a few days but I got the scoop at dinner: apparently someone had locked the owner/bartender in the bathroom while she was cleaning it. (Think about it, this is how a robbery would start, and also even as a prank it should raise red flags in terms of hostility issues, and potential for even more abusive behavior down the pike.) I said as much before finding out who did it, then heard who it was and who egged him on -- I'm not mentioning any names but I think that the perpetrator was just drunk and stupid, but I think the instigator might very well be on a hostility trip, especially after I found out this was his second time instigating the exact same thing.

The March Chain Gang meeting was Wednesday night at Brian's house, probably one of the biggest we've ever had in terms of attendance; we probably had close to the entire club there. We had several crock pots of chili for our potluck dinner, but I made bean and tomato stew (lentils, chick peas & kidney beans, stewed tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, spinach etc) in my crock pot, which boiled over while I was at work -- gee, maybe it was too full -- and spilled all over the counter. I was so busy I couldn't really clean the counter until last night, and by then it was all nice and sticky. Good stew though, I've been eating it for a few days now.

That was some ride! Last night I rode with my friend Joe who lives in Bloomsbury, which is on my way home. I brought the road bike to work, and we rode from his house, just getting back before dark. Two hours or a little more, maybe 30 miles (or a little more). I was whooped when we were done, and filthy as a hog: neither of us wore tights, just shorts, and between the rain and the snowmelt on the roads, there was a lot of road-gritty spray all over our legs and faces. I was so tired after the ride I skipped the gym, came home (ate stew) and went to bed.

Tonight was the gym, also more stew, and tomorrow will be yoga in the morning. I'm staying in for the night, but may go out tomorrow.

Watersleep To Firewaking

Morning weigh-in: 183.5#, 13.5% BF

"The green cusp, dreaming fishes to young ram, watersleep to firewaking..." -- Thomas Pynchon

So it's the vernal equinox, when you can stand an egg on its end, or something like that. But now its springtime.

Yoga tonight, yoga last night; tomorrow is the Chain Gang meeting. Potluck dinner, I'm making bean and tomato stew in the crock pot, though I think quite a few are bringing chili.

More bad news: My friend Mike B (not my high school buddy, a neighbor and riding partner) hasn't been around much lately, and today he called to tell me why: he has cancer. I didn't ask what he had, and he said he's mainly been getting tests right now, no chemo or other treatment yet. Few years younger than me, wife, two kids. Oh man...

Non-Attachment

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 13% BF

(Posting might get a little more sporadic, our access to this kind of internet stuff is now blocked at work, even at lunchtime, so I can no longer do my midday updates.)

So, yes I rode Friday afternoon, went 11 miles in just under 3 hours, last 2-3 miles being on the road: I went down the bike path to the new boat launch, then backtracked to the old Glendon bridge, crossed the river and took the bike path to the falls, then came up through town, returning on Northampton. Good solid ride, lots of resistance when I was off the plowed parts. After that I walked down to Which Brew.

Saturday was the gym (no yoga: I planned ahead, stayed out late specifically because I expected things to be closed), errands, haircut etc, then went to my friend Joe's St Patty's Day party (photos here).

Sunday was snowshoeing in Jim Thorpe. Beautiful day, and the snow was pretty to look at, but it was not ideal for playing in, either on snowshoes (too soft, melting) or XC skis (one skier told me it was very sticky, which I'd expect with all that sun & warmth). Oh well, Doug said XC conditions were ideal along the canal on Saturday... (By the way I took photos of the ride up, and they're posted on flickr as well; the camera's batteries died before I could take any shots in the woods.)

I happened to look at that Cancer Kids photo pool again yesterday, and that little girl Mia was there in some new photos -- she has acute myeloid leukemia, and she's had a relapse. (Just for laughs, Google "myeloid leukemia", relapse and prognosis.) It's not anyone I know, or anyone who knows me, but all of a sudden it was like there was no more air in the room. I had trouble sleeping, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

The Iron Boot Of Winter

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 9% BF

Last night was a killer workout in the gym, preceded by a mile run (8:30 but on the treadmill, sigh) and followed by chicken noodle soup & a salad; dessert was an early bedtime.

Meantime, it looks like the iron boot of winter is once again stomping on our necks... Got home early from work -- we closed at 1:00 -- and am now going for a ride. Later, as the snow gets deeper, I'll either go play with the XC skis or the snowshoes (more likely), and then go downtown for dinner and what nightlife might survive the storm.

Season of Dissolution

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday) 184.5#, 13% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 184#, 14% BF

Went to yoga last night, one of the more athletic classes (also a little later in the evening, so I stayed late at work first), then to Which Brew for dinner. Cool night, usual suspects on both sides of the bar. Tonight is the gym also after working late.

Weather is rainy, the snow has mostly melted and the ground really can't get any more sopping wet. Mud Season is upon us, and we are now truly primed for spring. It may be a bit preliminary, but it also looks like the "kid button," has been pressed: they were out in force yesterday, playing on the block.

It Seems Like Years Since It's Been Clear

Morning weigh-in: 185.5# 9% BF

Not much to report, had a pretty good if somewhat "regressional" weekend: skipped the ride and went out Friday night; gym -- no yoga -- then a grueling road ride in NJ with my friend Joe on Saturday, and out again for the evening; and on Sunday I slept in, did some chores before a more mellow PA road ride on Sunday. Pretty much the "standard configuration."

Meantime: I see that the "Gonzales eight" scandal is not only growing legs, but arms, claws and fangs as well.

Nice weather for a day or so, then rain -- but at least it's warmer, and sunny past 7:00.