We Can Be Heroes

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 9.5% BF

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

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

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 10.5% BF

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

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

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

Night's Legal Tender

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 13.5% BF

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

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

Running Between The Raindrops

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

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

Tonight is the gym.

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

I Am The Owl

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12% BF

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

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

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

-- Dead Kennedys, "I Am The Owl"

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

Yackety Yak

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 12% BF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rocketman

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

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

Tonight is the Chain Gang meeting.

My Big Bear Photos

The Sid's Bikes Crew
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

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

Burnt, Basted, Prostaglandinated

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13% BF

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

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

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

VO2 Max

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

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

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

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

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

Friday Doldrums Blogging

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

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

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

Glamour

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 9% BF

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

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

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

More from West Virginny

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 11% BF

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

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

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

More Fun In West Virginia

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 9.5% BF

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

The race was awesome.

Been Thinking Again About The Stealth Apocalypse

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13% BF

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

-- Albert Einstein (attributed)

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

Pushing thru the market square, so many mothers sighing

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

News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying

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

-- David Bowie, "Five Years"

The Big Buzz

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 11% BF

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

UPDATE: Scooter gets 30 months. Sweet!

The View From Lunch

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 10% BF

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

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

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

Truly Sad News

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

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

The Weekends Go Too Fast

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

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

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

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

A Million Stories: Salamander

Salamander
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

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

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

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

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

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

Um...