The Bash

Well, we're back from the RCST "Bash," four days of camping, biking, partying, and just plain sitting in the rain in the woods...

 

Basic Timeline: Anne and I arrived Thursday afternoon, and spent the evening at the group campfire with the other VMB early birds. Friday was a total washout, a rainy failure of a day, until we turned it around with a surprisingly pleasant ride; the evening chili contest -- I didn't win, again, though the winner was named Don --  segwayed into the now-traditional, and frighteningly successful, Friday Night VMB party, a luau this year. Saturday was still rainy but we did our "big ride" of the weekend, and got back just in time for the BBQ chicken dinner (this was also the night we -- the VMB campsite -- got into a confrontation with our neighbors over our late-night noise); and on Sunday the sun came back out, just in time for the end of the party, though we did get in a nice scenic ride up to the hang glider launch before we left. Back to camp for the last of the packing, and we were out of there by about 2:00. An awesome weekend, despite the rain.

 

(By the way, my big plan of pacing myself, and staying mellow through the luau so I could enjoy -- or at least be alive for -- the Saturday ride, paid off in a big way.)

 

I have pictures which I'll post pretty soon I'm sure; I'm still working my way through the West Virginia stuff so enjoy the recent additions and stay tuned for more...

 

 

 

900/99

Almost afraid to get on the scale, I've been eating so much (and exercising so little) lately...

 

Well, it's 9/09/09, whatever that might mean to you. Labor Day has come and gone, kids everywhere are back in school, and we leave for the RCST "Bash" tomorrow. It's been a week since my last post, and it'll probably be another (eventful) week until my next one, so here are some of last week's highlights before they fade away:

 

I got my teeth fixed  last Thursday (except for the one crown I still need: stay tuned). I am now officially on the road to better dental health, and celebrated with a burrito from Tulum -- my new dentist is in Coopersburg, so I stopped for take-out and had lunch with Anne at home. A really nice break in the daily routine, except for the Novocaine part...

 

We Don't Need No Bodhisattva Part 1: Thursday's moonlight ride was a blast. Me and Anne, Doug and Lori, Eric and Kris, and new cyclist Donna -- a group night ride with more women than men, probably the first time I've ever seen it. We cruised down to the Chain Dam, turned our lights off and checked out the light on the waterfall, and then cruised on home, chasing the trains that rolled along the other side of the river. Though we weren't pushing the pace too hard, we were also not slacking; the pace was brisk and I was a little worried for Donna, but her general runner's fitness kept her right up in the mix. What was I worried about?

 

Afterward we went over to Brew Works for a quick bite. I thought it was "late, wow maybe as late as midnight" when we left, but the kitchen clock said 1:00 AM when we got home -- ouch!

 

Friday night was First Friday in Southside Bethlehem. I was hanging with Anne and Donna, and we met up with Lori and checked out the shops. We stopped in at Clothesline Organics, then went to the Cutters grand opening, over to Home & Planet (nerve center for First Friday), and I escaped back to Clothesline Organics to share a beer with Josh while the ladies visited a shoe store  -- I was pretty estrogen'ed out, and would have paid someone to talk baseball or NASCAR at that point...

 

We also stopped in at Danielle's birthday party at the secret art space. That was very cool, but the space is non-alcoholic so we adjourned to the Tally Ho for a quick one and came back. Billy, Danielle, Fred & Lara, and Joanna, and Pete, and Pete -- a big dance party, lots of transplants from the Easton scene. (Strangely enough I saw Andrea on Thursday, and Kateryna outside Home & Planet on Friday, but they're not transplants: back in the day they were Bethlehemites visiting Easton, and Southside was and is their home turf.)

 

That was another late night, and Saturday is sort of a blur now -- we had a funeral, just a simple graveside ceremony for Sally's mom in the morning, then visited Anne's mom for a barbecue in the afternoon. The funeral was one of the strangest I've ever been to, lots of laughing and stories, and Sally's mom had lived a long and full life, but it was still a funeral and still rough, and emotionally draining, and by the end of the evening at Anne's mom's I was fighting to keep my eyes open. We were probably in bed by 9:00.

 

We Don't Need No Bodhisattva Part 2: I hooked up with another old friend on Sunday morning -- Nick got a mountain bike about a year ago, and after many false starts we finally made solid plans to go ride together at Sals. I had no idea what was going to happen, but we met for coffee at Wired, where he told me he mostly uses his bike for commuting and used to ride BMX when he was younger, so I figured he'd be OK in terms of both stamina and bike-handling.

 

Once again, I was worried about nothing: we basically rode everything there except Boulderama and the stuff near Dodson, and I kept up a fairly good pace but he was right there. (I think maybe it's time for me to get one of those T-shirts: "The older I get the faster I was.") We had a good two hours of fun, but then both our phones started ringing, and texts started coming in; the world had caught up with us and we had to bail. It was a pretty convenient situation for Nick -- his sister just had a baby and was in St Luke's, and he rode right over to visit. I called Anne, out on her own (road) ride, and we met at a very crowded Blue Sky for lunch.

 

That afternoon was a visit to my parents, and I got to see my Uncle Frank & Aunt Pat, for the first time in probably years, since they were visiting too -- they were up for cousin Claire's wedding.

 

Monday was back to Sals with a bunch of JORBA and VMB people, followed by a late lunch at the Brew Works. That was fun, but probably a mistake: we had Donna and Debbie over for dinner, and that was a total food-fest (pasta & ciabatta with nasturtium butter, plus a bunch of Puerto Rican fruits & delicacies that Debbie brought back from vacation -- we never even got to the peach crumble...), followed by another visit to BW, where we mostly just sat and groaned over our over-stuffed bellies.

 

So that was the summer's swan song; yesterday we checked out a "Pints and Policies" symposium at Brew Works ("Get your tail on the trail," basically about the local greenways), and tonight I make chili.

 

(These missives would probably be shorter if I did them more often.)

 

TEACHER: Johnny, can you spell "banana?"

JOHNNY: Yes, but I don't know when to stop: B-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-A...

 

Idyll

Yep, "summer is in deceleration" as the saying goes, but yesterday I had half a cantaloupe (from the garden) for breakfast, with blueberries (from the mountain), yogurt, and Anne's homemade granola. Got home from work, and we bicycled over to Coca Cola Park to watch the Iron Pigs game with some friends, and then had dinner at Brew Works. What an awesome day! Except for a lunchtime trip to the dentist it really was close to perfect.

 

Tonight I think is more a chore fest, playing catch-up with stuff that didn't get done over the weekend, lawn and laundry and so on. I think I'll be stopping at the local bike shop, getting a new riding light and dropping the others off for repair; tomorrow we're hitting the towpath for a moonlight ride.

 

 

Time Stands Still Here

Well, not really, there's been a few changes even since the last time I was here, but here we are, sitting on the back porch at Elk River Touring Center, the old grassy field to my left and the forest (Gauley Mountain) rising like a wall in front of me...

Today we went hiking, which was something I never did down here. We went out to the Cranberry Wilderness Area, which is sort of behind, ie southwest of, most of the local biking I know. The wilderness area encompasses a whole bunch of the local tundra-style valleys and peat bogs, high-altitude wetlands that, because of the colder mountain climate, retained arctic flora that came south and established itself with the ice ages, but retreated with the retreating ice everywhere else. Lots of sphagnum, rhododendron (OK, not that exotic), oswego, strange little orchids and cranberries and herbs... I have pictures, stay tuned...

The bogs are protected, so needless to say there's no biking in the Wilderness Area -- until now I've only spied the place from afar, scenic overlooks and the like. Our hike, which was about 5 miles long, took us along some upper meadows, an old abandoned road, and finally out into the bogs on a wooden walkway -- this time I finally saw it all, up close and personal.

Today was hiking, yesterday was the bike ride. We rode up Gauley Mountain on Old Mine Road, through intermittent rain and bright sunshine (sky and weather was very dramatic all day), and then did a short loop on Tea Creek and Gauley Mountain Trails before continuing on the Forest Service roads, out to the Prop's Run trailhead. Eight miles of wet downhill singletrack later, and we were back at Elk River. Shower, some drinks at the bar, and and an awesome dinner -- it's scary how good the food is here -- and we were in bed by 9:30.

We were dawdling this morning, got up late etc and our hike was nothing like yesterday's epic, but I think the mountain air is going to make tonight work out the same as last night. I can't believe tomorrow we have to head home.

Got It About A Week Back

Morning weigh-in: 171#, 11% BF

 

Looks like I've been slacking a bit on the postings, it's been a week since my last one. What's been going on?

 

24 Hours of Allamuchy: This was the one we were doing as a memorial to Brian, and we raced as "Hahl's Disco Roller Dogs." Disco balls and inflatable aliens all over our campsite (plus a few aliens in the woods), disco-era costumes and music, and Karen got a giant vat of hot dogs cooking -- free hot dogs to anyone who would bust a dance move. Anne and I got there Friday night, and the hanging out was pretty cool, including a big group dinner back at Mama's in Hackettstown, but the weather became uncooperative -- huge thunderstorms overnight -- and except for a short, very hot and humid morning, Saturday was a washout. The race started auspiciously enough with Bob racing in a giant hot dog costume, and Cindy took the second lap; I went out with Joe, Karen, Doug and Rich to keep her company, and I was glad because that was the only riding I did -- we put out three more racers, and I was nerving myself up for a rainy night lap, when (at about 10:00) the race directors called the race because of all the rain, and my decision was made for me. Ironically enough, the rain stopped not long after... I was tired and went to bed a bit early, but you could tell there was a lot of unused energy in the woods: lots of hooting and hollering, and the last thing I heard was a crew of racers from other teams coming up to get their free hot dogs...

 

Bodhisattva: Friends Debbie and Donna have both recently taken to bicycling, and while we were camping and feeding the mosquitoes at Allamuchy they were taking advantage of the nice weather back home -- they had a real Adventure Bike ride, Bethlehem to Porters in Easton (and back in the dark) with several of the crustier customers from the local bike scene -- good friends of mine, of course! When we got home Sunday I was still jonesing for a ride, and Debbie was still enthused, so we hit the towpath again. Two days in a row, Deb was a hurting puppy by the time we got back, but I think we had fun.

 

Anne and I also rode with Donna yesterday, a mellow road ride north of Bethlehem. I used to joke that "Bodhisattva is French for sucker," but it's really fun to be able to share in their discovery and enjoyment.

 

Oh My Aching Back: I'm not sure what I did, but I've had a nasty backache since Allamuchy. At first I though it was from camping on a hard surface -- the pain happens only when I'm lying down -- but I'm back to sleeping in a nice comfy bed and it's as bad as ever, maybe worse. I suspect a broken rib, or maybe a muscle sprain, but unless I pulled something last Thursday at the gym I have no  idea how this might have happened. I'm getting a massage tonight, and I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow; hopefully I'll have some answers and a little relief soon.

 

Tonight we're hitting Porter's after my massage, and then Anne and I are heading down to Elk River for the weekend tomorrow (after the doctor visit).

 

 

Short Week, Long Weekend

Here I am on the porch, digesting dinner (steamed stringbeans from the garden, bread, cheese, and a huge, blood-red heirloom tomato, also from the garden -- yum!), just watching the day end... Anne's up visiting Ben until tomorrow night, last chance to see him before he goes to study abroad for a year, so I'm living the bachelor life for a day or so.

Today was the gym, and beside that mostly chores, some stuff around the house and some bike work. I prepped the Turner for tomorrow's ride at Fell, and I also gave some love to the road bike, putting on some new tires -- the old ones were so worn they were almost see-through, and I've had a few flats recently, not a normal occurrence. Not a lot of activity really, even with the puttering-around-the-house stuff, but I'm totally whooped right now. I think it's going to be an early night, because tomorrow's an early morning.

Thursday was a fairly somber day at work, but I managed to keep busy and the day moved along. We hit Porters, a sort of Friday night on Thursday thing, saw the band and met a bunch of people. Yesterday was a full day: medium-longish ride with Anne, then we bottled the beer we brewed a few weeks ago; we finished the evening at Brew Works. Looking back, I think I'm entitled to a night in...

What's Up

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 172.5#, 10.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 170.5#, 10.5% BF

So I'm home for the second day, off as in "laid off," at least until tomorrow when I go back to work, exercise my seniority rights, and start at my old position. Kind of a demotion, but hey it's still a job...

Meantime, what else has been happening? Well, I started going back to the gym, and I also started going back to yoga -- both of them were on hiatus for about a month while I prepped for the W101. I've been pretty careful with my eating too recently (except last night: Two Brew Tuesday and Tuesday Tacos at Brew Works), and I think it shows.

Tonight I may gain back a few; we're going to see that "Julie and Julia" movie and drink martinis. That's after a towpath ride with Anne.

Annie Get Your Gun!

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 171.5#, 10% BF

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 173#, 10% BF

 

I'm doomed. Anne has been looking for a new road bike all summer, something fast but not too pimped-out, and tonight we're going over to Bike Line to pick up her new Trek. (I will post more details, model and size and color etc, as I find them out myself). She's keeping her Cannondale as a commuter/utility/touring bike, which is how it's currently set up, with fenders, panniers, lights and a generator -- in other words, heavy -- but will now have a "fast recreational bicycle" for the speedy fun rides. Since she's already pretty strong and quick on the commuter, she's only going to be faster on the new one...

 

Stayed in on Wednesday night, but last night I hit the gym -- first time in a month -- before heading over to Musikfest, to meet Anne, Donna and another friend. Fish Tacos and Rockwell Red at Brew Works, then we checked out Start Making Sense, the Talking Heads tribute -- again! I can't get enough! -- at the Starfish Lounge.

 

Tonight is probably the maiden voyage for Anne's new bike, and then I may go to the Funhouse to catch The Insidious Rays, yet another band I used to love before they disbanded/disappeared. I'm not sure I'm up for a late night in a smoky bar (we still have a few in PA), and Anne's sister is visiting with her grade school kids, so we'll see.

Wall Of Contusion

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 8% BF

 

There was a little slipping and sliding going on here and there, but the only time I actually fell in Saturday's race was when I was walking: I was crossing some bridge with missing decking, and my foot slipped on the wet wooden surface and I went down hard. I almost fell through the hole in the bridge, but luckily my shin broke the fall... I had a ridiculous lump at first, like something you'd see grow on a cartoon character's head (like, after Bugs Bunny hit him with the hammer), and there must have been some serious hematoma because my foot and ankle are now all purple.

 

My shin's been fairly achey ever since, but I've been doing a lot of walking and standing on it, hitting Musikfest the past three nights. Sunday was best, even though I was at my most tired and sore, because we got to see most of what was there before the vibe turned sour; Monday and last night we were out a little later, when things become not-so-nice, and the mood, especially in areas where the teens (and cops) congregate, turns aggressive, like everyone's just waiting for the spark that starts the big fight. Still, I've seen some good bands -- Sunday was Brazilian music, Monday was Large Flower Heads and Dr Dog, and last night I caught the last part of Start Making Sense -- and we've been having a lot of fun with our home-decorated Dollar Store mugs, which we (me, Anne, Deb and Donna) have been casually mentioning we made at "MugPlatz, over by the old stone buildings" everywhere we go...

Doh!!

Back from the Wilderness 101, where fatigue and slow times forced me to bail out at mile 89 (the final checkpoint, only a dozen miles from the finish). Oh well, that was my first DNF ever, and a worthy one it was... Better luck next year, eh?

I went up with a guy named Dave, an acquaintance from Big Bear and local riding, and he rode a smart & fast race, and finished in 11:30 or thereabouts. Other than that, I saw no one else I knew, but it was still a fun party afterward, even if the faster riders drank most of the beer before I could do much damage...

Here's a view of my race.

Isn't That Always The Way?

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 173.5#, 10.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 173.5#, 9.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 174#, 11% BF

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 173.5#, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 173.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Oh well, looks like I wo'nt be Hemingway OR Skeletor anytime soon, two of my favorite muses being beer and food... Speaking of which, we (Anne and I, and Debbie) hit Tap & Table as an alternate venue for "Two-Brew Tuesday." It was pretty much as I'd heard: neat, French-rustic (and almost medieval) decor, a huge beer list with awesome selections and high-ish prices, and, I'm told, fantastic food -- everything they fry is fried in peanut oil, so I think it's best I just avoid their food altogether. Deb got a burger with fries and declared it the best ever, Anne took a bite and agreed, and I had another beer... (As an aside: there was nothing on the menu, nor any sign on the walls, that said anything about the peanut oil -- I'd seen it on their website and asked, and I could tell the bartender knew what I was getting at by her answer.)

This Will Make You Cry: Here's a little something, not really about cycling. Don't forget, it's not too late to donate to the PPRAC ride. Good Luck You Guys (and Gals)!

This Will Make You Laugh: Anne saw this in the NY Times and checked it out, then sent it to me -- it's where I got the above link.

Well, last night was the Brew Works, and today is the start of Musikfest, and I'm out of here for the tomorrow's Wilderness 101. I also posted more pictures; you know what to do.

Interludes

Morning weigh in: 170.5#, 11% BF (Yeah it's a Sunday, but I felt like bragging.)

An Incident At The Hippie Deli: We went for breakfast Friday at a fairly popular (and crunchy) Ithaca deli, which shall remain nameless for fear of lawsuits. We happened to sit near the exit, which was also where the trash bins were -- trash bin, maybe one or two different recycling bins, and composting, they were really into it: while I was sitting there, one customer admonished another one for misusing the trash bins, and made him re-do his garbage.

They leave, we continue eating, and eventually an employee shows up to take care of all the refuse. Anne was about to say "Wouldn't it be funny if they put it all in one bag?" when that is exactly what this guy did. We actually stared and watched everything he did to make sure we weren't imagining it, but sure enough, he dumped all the oh-so-carefully separated refuse into one big bag and tossed that in a bin outside.

Arachnology: We had a houseguest the week before last, one of Emmi's scientist friends stayed over while passing through en route from Knoxville to somewhere in New England. She arrived while I was out riding, and I caught up with her and Anne at the Brew Works -- it turned out that she's an entomologist and a spider expert. I asked her to tell me "in layman's terms" what her research was, and tried not to drool when she said she studied the effect of spider predation (who are, in her words, "the lions and tigers of the little world") on the impact of other insects on leaf mold formation. I asked her if she was talking about something like the Lotka-Volterra equations, and she just chuckled.

Anyway, we're winding down from vacation and getting ready for work tomorrow. We got back Friday and unpacked, then we did a fairly long ride yesterday, stopped in at Hans & Kim's wedding reception picnic, then stopped in at Toby & Erica's housewarming party, then utterly crashed... Today we're making beer -- rather, Anne's making beer, and a cherry pie, and I'm fooling with this interactive-TV lightning-box doohickey until there's some heavy lifting to be done. It's stupid hot and humid, and I'm trying not to move too much.

Meantime, more pictures, this time of our hike. Enjoy!

Yeah I Ate Pie For Breakfast...

...but that was back in Vermont, where it's all about "when in Rome." Right now I'm sitting in The Owl Cafe in Ithaca, drinking coffee and getting ready to go enjoy dinner at the Moosewood Restaurant (if we can get in), and a cucumber-infused gin and tonic at Felicia's Atomic Lounge -- well, maybe not in that order...

We've been bouncing between really nice hotels, and camping, all week. First was Middlebury VT, where we met Ben, then the three of us went up to Silver Lake State Park -- we were told of a great place called "Silver Lake," with lots of hiking, and primitive camping, but ended up at a "family friendly" lakeside camp, which happened to have the same name, and (unlike the other place) happened to be on the map. Oh well, we had fun, and I finally got rid of my "biker's tan" on the beach.

The next day we climbed Mount Abraham, an awesome hike, and then went back to civilization in Middlebury: we saw the new Harry Potter movie, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would, and had dinner at the local brewpub.

The next two days were camping between Lake Saranac and Lake Placid, and it was definitely a mixed bag. We finally found some good roads to ride, but local traffic, and road conditions, were pretty bad especially between the two towns. (We did find some good stuff, with the help of some local bike shops.) Camping was fun the first night, then the next night was rainy, and the tent leaked so we slept in the car, and I got positional vertigo again, and puked up my spaghetti & meatballs...

Things were trending downhill, so yesterday we high-tailed it out of there. We found a laundromat -- long story, but basically they don't have many near Lake Placid -- and relocated our base camp, with our wet camping gear & clean clothes, to Ithaca. It was time for a nice hotel again, so we're staying at the Holiday Inn downtown. Dinner, drinks, a good night's sleep, and a good ride, and things are looking up once again.

By the way, I've posted pictures: some shots of a recent ride at Jacobsburg, and of our first camping adventure. Enjoy!

Supercaldera

Well it's been a rough week, but now I'm on vacation, and last night I finally committed to the W101 -- as in, paid and registered -- and I also got us those reservations for Elk River in late August. Right now I' supposed to be getting ready for our Vermont/Adirondacks trip, packing, getting an oil change etc, so we can leave around noon, but I just thought I'd touch base here first -- I'm bringing the computer, so I'll post (and post pictures) as I can, but I wanted to say that though the world will never be the same, at least things are starting to look up and feel normal again.

Goodbye My Friend

Brian Poses On Porcupine Rim
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

This is a shot of my good friend Brian Hahl, posing last year at one of his all-time favorite places in the world. Brian passed away about an hour or two ago. There's not much more I can to say right now. I love you, brother.

Let's Try This Again

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 13% BF

 

It's Crunch Time: My Wilderness 101 training is starting to come down to the wire, and I really do not feel ready. Looking at my training logs (via Garmin Connect), I have to say that, if I don't reach my goals at the 101, I blew it basically back in April and May:

 

Month     Miles       Training Time

Feb        130.9       15:49:45
Mar        319.8       34:16:19
Apr        261.8       26:09:03
May       276.4       26:24:48
Jun        258.2       27:04:06

 

(June was a special case, since I spent two weeks prepping for, and recovering from, Big Bear -- where I first noticed that I was in trouble.)

 

The numbers don't really look that bad, actually, but there is a dip of about 20% in both miles and time from my original march statement of intention. Rain, and refusal to ride in it? Other slacking? I know that at least some of it is due to offroad rather than road training, which is a shame since I've been pushing the road miles (and road hills) these past two weeks, and already see an improvement.

 

With the race only about 3 weeks away, it's really too late to do anything new; I'll just have to continue the way I'm going and hope for the best. I think my "biggest bang for the buck" at this point ,is to try to lose some weight: if I can get below 170 lbs by race day I'll be a lot happier -- I'm coming into this about ten pounds heavier than I weighed last year.

 

Last night, by the way, was a really nice ride at Sals. Pedals worked, I tightened the headset and that stopped its weirdness, and trail conditions were primo. Despite what I said above, I think I'll ride there again tonight.

UPDATE: wrote this at lunch but only posted it now at night. Sals was good, and so was Brew Works...

 

 

 

Mission Aborted

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 12% BF

 

Better Luck Next Time: I was set to ride Sals last night (once I finished cleaning/lubricating the bike after Friday's adventure), but on the way over I was having trouble staying clipped in to the left pedal: nothing looked wrong with either the pedal or the cleat, but I'd pop out at odd and inopportune moments. Not fun, possibly dangerous, I turned around after getting partway down the Orange ("Roller Toaster") trail. I can't be sure, but I suspect that the pedal was the offending part, since it took a beating on Friday, and the shoes/cleats worked just fine on Sunday's road ride. I got home, mowed the lawn (still no photo evidence, heh heh), and after dinner I replaced the pedals with the somewhat newer ones on the singlespeed -- the right pedal came off just fine, but the left one was sort of seized on to the crank and put up a struggle; I also noticed that the spindle bearing was pretty gummed up (and there were a few holes knocked in the housing for water to get in too), so I think the pedal was at the end of its useful life. That's my dominant foot, I guess it just takes more of a beating than the right pedal...

 

(Dinner, by the way, was awesome: Anne grabbed a bunch of string beans from the garden and steamed them, and we had cheese and avocado sandwiches with piles and piles of string beans.)

 

That's Living: Sunday's ride worked out a little better. Anne and I rode through the Durham township area (my recent stomping grounds) to Reigelsville, and then down to Milford on the Jersey side, then we rode back to the Reigelsville Inn where we met Larry who rode down the towpath from Easton. Outdoor seating by the canal, some lunch -- menu was mostly seafood so I just had bread, but it was good bread -- and a couple of Magic Hats, and finally we made our way back to Bethlehem via similar Bucks County back roads. Sunny day, life was good on Sunday... We had dinner outside too, at Brew Works.

 

Firecracker: No ride Saturday, but Anne and I went to her mom's house for a BBQ with all her brothers and sisters and their families. Good times, spent mostly stuffing face (rather than painting the porch, which we arrived too late to help with). We hung out most of the day and checked out the town fair, but skipped the Jim Thorpe fireworks, opting to escape before the roads got crowded, and got home in time to catch the Bethlehem ones from the porch steps. (Stay tuned for photos.)

 

A Short Epic: Here's a link to Friday's ride. I'll post pictures for this event soon as well.

 

Tonight I'll be trying for a ride, probably on the road, if the rain holds off.

That Was The Day That Was

Well, here it is: the 4th of July, and we are about to head up to Anne's mom's house for some BBQ, fireworks -- and a little porch painting...

We were up there yesterday too. I was riding, and met Anne at her mom's house afterward. Breakfast at Blue Sky, VMB ride on Green Blaze (22 people, 15 miles in 4 hours, mud, blood, sweat, rain and a dip in the lake), JT visit, then Tulum and a little First Friday before I totally ran out of steam. Yeah it was good!

And now I'm off to do at least some of it again. See ya!

Like Pina Coladas And Getting Caught In The Rain

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 12% BF

 

Well, today marks the one-year anniversary of "Anne and me" as an actual relationship. Time flies when you're having fun, nyuk nyuk...

 

(This is what I wrote two years ago, and this was three years ago, give or take.)

 

I did a singlespeed ride on the towpath last night, moderate pace (as far as my heart was concerned, though my legs were spinning away like hamsters), out to my turnaround point at the 3rd St bridge in Easton and back, just under 2 hours. The post-ride plan was to stay in, but I got a text from Doug & Lori, who also did a towpath ride on the tandem, and who were outside at Brew Works having dinner when they saw Anne ride by (she got home just as I did, basically) and invited us over.

 

Once again, a most pleasant evening, hanging out on Main Street. A couple of summer beers (Blueberry Belch, Hefeweizen), conversation, and people watching, and then we saw Heidi who told us that Greg and the VMB post-ride crew was inside -- they couldn't come out because outdoor seating was closed by then, but we went in to visit by ones and twos. The weather was very pleasant, but there was lightning to the south and eventually a bit of a drizzle, so D&L took off and A&I went inside. We eventually made our escape, and had to ride home in the rain, which was surprisingly pleasant.

 

It poured all night, which makes for good sleeping weather, but when I left for work I noticed that my car's rear windows had been open all night in the rain. Doh!

 

Get em while they're not extinct: Had a banana with breakfast, and two with lunch. Tra la la, la-la la la...

 

Tonight is the gym, then I'm meeting Anne at Sette Luna for dinner with Toby & Erika and Judy.

Sometimes The Light Don't Shine

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 173.5# 12% BF

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 175.5# 12.5% BF

 

Playing: Fun ride Monday night, playing with my new toys: I developed this route at MapMyRide, downloaded it into my Garmin and tried following it, but I had a late start and had to cut things a bit short. Still, and despite a disappointing average speed (hey it was hilly!), I had a great time. Beautiful night too, by the way, blue skies and perfect temperature.

 

(I've been doing a lot of exploring over that area lately, trying to develop some new bike routes as well as a back way to work. I drove in via the bridge in Milford yesterday, got semi-lost -- there's one crucial section of my route, that apparently is no longer a road though it's on all the maps -- and went home pretty much the same way. Got semi-lost again, looking for that non-road, and got home about 15 minutes late -- I found out this morning that the highway flooded in that crazy storm last night, and the backup, on my normal route, would have been more than an hour.)

 

Listening: I maxxed out my eMusic download quota for the month of June, first time I did that in a while. I downloaded the new Dinosaur Jr album just the other day, and also new albums by Deer Tick -- never heard of them but loved the name -- and Japandroids. These last two were new to me but popped up in my "based on what you already downloaded you'll also like these" list; Deer Tick's pretty country, while the Japandroids are more grunge/garage/twee, but both are good. I think the computer knows my taste!

Reading: Open Source GIS: A GRASS GIS Approach. Yeah, nerdvana, and I'm back to playing with GRASS. We'll see where it leads.

 

I skipped riding last night and I need the miles, so tonight I'll be hitting the road again -- barring another torrential downpour, in which case I'll be doing the usual Wednesday night yoga thang.