Ballet Bollywood

Hi I'm back, drifting from cafe to cabaret with Ben's borrowed laptop again...

It's much warmer now than when we arrived, hovering right around freezing right now, with flurries coming down, as seen from this coffee shop window. We have a bit of scheduled downtime today, hanging out and doing the internet thing. Tomorrow we'll probably go back to the Hermitage -- it's closed today -- and we might take a trip outside the city one day this week.

We got in some hardcore sightseeing the past few days. Saturday we did several walking tours we found in a local guidebook (as supplemented by our personal guide Ben), visiting the church of the Spilled Blood -- probably the most beautiful building I have ever been in -- and the Cathedral of St Isaac, which has a tower and observation deck at the top. Dinner that night was Mexican (!), followed by a couple of pints of Guinness at "Mollie's Irish Bar" (!!) .

Last night was the ballet. We saw "La Balyetiere" (or something like that), a romantic tragedy set in India. Pretty awesome, especially at the end when we got kicked out while taking pictures (really we got kicked out because they were closing, but I think the pictures were what truly riled the old lady usherette). Russian dinner beforehand, and we followed the show with absinthe and vodka at Ben's apartment.

Flat Isabel: I've been taking pictures everywhere we go, mostly with this little paper cutout in the scene, given us by a grade-school teacher friend. Apparently, kids make these little "Flat Stanley" (or in our case "Flat Isabel") dolls for some geography learning experience, and travelers photograph them in various places around the world for the kids. Isabel has been on all our sightseeing excursions, and she's totally given my picture-taking a narrative structure...

Comes The Revolution: The two buildings we saw saturday had a lot in common: both were monumental, like un-usably large (the Church of the Spilled Blood has never been used as a church), both were built approximately at the end of the nineteenth century, and both seemed to be made to exalt Imperial hubris, at the expense of the blood of the people -- the Church of the Spilled Blood was built in commemoration of / answer to the assassination of a previous emperor, like a slap in the face to those who did it.

St Petersburg

Just a quick post via Ben's borrowed laptop...

The trip over was somewhat long (not too bad), but totally uneventful: we breezed through security and customs everywhere, which was great except that we budgeted a lot of time for all that, and had mucho downtime in Newark. Flew all night Tuesday, connecting flight in Munich, and hit town by about 4:00 local time -- GMT+3? (By the way, Lufthansa's service made all US airlines look like the penny-pinching shitbags that they are.)

We're staying at a pretty nice place, the "5th Corner Mini Hotel," about 2 blocks off Nevsky Prospekt, and within walking distance of the Hermitage (visited it yesterday, just scratched the surface), the Russian Museum (Thursday), and Ben's new apartment, which we visited yesterday. By the looks of things, we seem to be in an up-and-coming section of town, not quite fashionable yet but getting there -- plenty of coffee/tea places, bars, restaurants; our street is overrun with shoe stores, and there's even a yarn shop around the block. Anne is in Heaven.

We hit the night life last night, saw a "Dixieland Jazz Band" at the Jazz Dance Hall up the street. Real nightclub atmosphere, a room full of round tables with little lamps on them just like some old movie, plus a dance floor in the back of the room. The band was awesome, a bunch of Russian men, mostly older, including an ancient banjo player who managed to totally rock out. They all took turns with solos, and also with singing -- mostly imitating Louie Armstrong -- but they also did absolutely wild renditions of "Rock Around The Clock" and "Route 66."

Anyway, that's it for now. We're doing a walking tour of cathedrals and other outside stuff today, while it's a relatively balmy 20 degrees or so. It's been shockingly cold outside, especially at night.

Gone (Ice) Fishing

Well, we leave for Russia in a few hours, bus from Southside to Newark, then to St Petersburg via Munich. This would be a perfect blogging opportunity, but of all my gizmos I'm only bringing my camera, too many hassles, even legal ones for some toys... If I find/borrow a computer I'll post something, but otherwise it'll be pretty light.

If all goes well, we'll be back in the USA in time for the Superbowl.

Social Climbing

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 13% BF

 

A couple of good rides this weekend, which was good because there won't be any more riding for a few weeks...

 

Friday night I went out for a hill ride in Williams Township and other nearby areas. I cut through Freemansburg, to meet up with friend and fellow rider Bill K, who was coming from Forks, and we arrived at our rendezvous spot (the start of Gaffney Hill Rd) almost exactly as planned, almost like military precision or something -- the phones helped. We rode together from there, trying to get as many hills in as possible: Gaffney Hill, Wassergas, Ringhoffer, a few other smaller things, then he took the towpath home from Freemansburg while I went over the last hill to Market Street. Got close to home and saw Anne walking to Brew Works, scrambled into my regular clothes and finally caught up with everyone there. I was whooped -- Bill's  a polite rider, but he's a lot stronger than I am, and I was pushing myself to maintain a decent pace -- and was fairly mellow, had dinner and maybe one beer before I ran out of steam.

 

Saturday was a hard-core social interaction day. Anne baked a cake and we went over to Deb's sister for the memorial service, which was nice even if it was sad: there were lots of people there remembering her mom, and they had photos and other things to commemorate her life. (It's funny, there was such a strong family resemblance between Deb, and her sister & niece, that they looked strangely familiar, and even the photos of her mom had a deja vu quality.)

 

Later in the day Anne's family had their long delayed Christmas get-together, which was a raucous blast. Anne's family is large, and interesting, and just plain fun... Plenty of food and hanging out, a gift exchange; I've got tons of photos, which are already posted on flickr -- go click! I think I do best in smaller crowds, and the sensory overload finally caught up with me; I was toast once again by the end of the day.

 

Sunday I got up early, and drove over to meet a bunch of guys at Sals. VMB group ride: a friend or two, but mostly guys I didn't really know. This turned out to be a great ride, lots of fun, and I have to say I was riding well for a change. I was leading for a while, and it was funny how I panicked -- they're all right on my butt! -- and took off like a bat out of hell; later on I drifted to the back, where I could be my usual Take My Own Sweet Time self, but even then it was more a social grace than a physical necessity: I was riding and conversing rather than feeding the pissing contest, and I always felt like I had a lot more in the tank if I needed it. Conditions were primo, dry/frozen and fast (probably the last time it'll be like that until the temperature drops again), and we ran into a lot of others out there, getting in one last early morning ride before the rain and thaw. We got back to the cars just as the first raindrops fell.

 

I drove directly over to Blue Sky, and met the team (Anne, and Donna with her son & his girlfriend) for breakfast. Except for a haircut (and our Sunday Night Libation at Brew Works), I spent the rest of the day napping.

 

Tonight I'm packing, and we are on our way tomorrow.

 

Kumbaya

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 12% BF

 

Really cool time last night at Porters, hanging with a big chunk of the old Which Brew crowd, as well as the usual people I see on a more regular basis (no names, to protect the guilty). Some nights I might just sit like a bump on a log, and exchange maybe 5 words with my neighbor, but things were way more conversational last night; it was a hard-core interactive evening. Jazz combo, "meet the brewer" schwagfest with Stoudts Brewing (we came home with a tee shirt and two pint glasses), a Reuben, and some Stoudts oatmeal stouts: a winner all around.

 

I hit the gym before that, but I hit it so hard -- I really upped the ante on those lower-body plyometrics -- that I had to quit early. Did a little shopping, looked at smartphones and found out (from the Best Buy counter girl, no offense but not the most reliable source) that the Droid is not the way to go internationally. (I'm still leaning toward the Droid, but I was a little disappointed last night, then even more conflicted/confused when I ran into someone at Porters who has one, and loves it enough to get rid of his Blackberry.) Also hit Mal-Wart for trip related under-necessities. Socks, Spider Man pajamas, you know the drill...

 

The lights are charging, and tonight I am doing a road ride before ending up (most likely) at Brew Works.

 

The Plan, Man: I am going to do the Wilderness 101 once again this year (so sad, something to prove), and also Allamuchy and (most likely) Big Bear. My plan originally was to start that "Time Crunched Cyclist Program" regimen in February, continuing that through early April, regrouping for a month or two, then hitting it again for another 8 weeks before the W101. However, I do not think I'm ready to start real training, and the next two weeks off will not help things... My current, rethought plan is to do base work through April, just miles miles miles in the bank, then start the TCTP in May and run it for about 12 weeks, up to the W101. With the extra base work, I might take on the more aggressive of the training regimens offered.

 

This also gives me a chance to run more. I agreed to run a half-marathon with Anne and some others, and I need to get in some real training for that too.

 

Dammit, I also want to go skiing! Maybe it'll get cold again when we get back. Mud season sucks, I think I have cabin fever.

 

 

Black Bird Speaks

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 179.5#, 13% BF

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 180#, 12% BF

 

Feeling a little better, blues are starting to fade...

 

A Public Service Announcement (for anyone struggling with pairing Garmin devices, and resorting to Teh Google): I got a Garmin accessory for Christmas, a pedal-cadence monitor which communicates wirelessly with my GPS. Before they can do that, however, the two units have to establish a communications link. The process is called "pairing," and it's sort of like the units get introduced to each other: you hold the GPS near the monitor, with no other monitors or GPS units nearby, and they do the rest. (Once the devices are paired, they automatically recognize each other, and will work together even in the presence of other accessories/devices, or other riders with similar GPS units.) There is one "undocumented feature" though: the airwaves have to really be quiet when you do this, and more specifically, the units will not pair if there's wi-fi around. Well, we have wi-fi throughout the house, and so do all our neighbors... I spent about a week fiddling with the cadence monitor, replacing batteries and pressing reset buttons etc, no luck until I came across a forum comment that warned about the wi-fi thing. I found a spot down the street where the airwaves were quiet enough, and two seconds later they were paired. Piece of cake! -- and they have been playing together flawlessly ever since. Each new toy brings disquieting news though, and now I think my cadence is too low...

 

Down to the wire: I was getting nervous about our visas so I checked online yesterday -- they'd been approved and were on the way back to us, and when I got home the package had already arrived. Whew! Except for packing (and one more confirmation with the hotel) we are now ready for Russia. Well, except for the language thing... I'll be bringing a camera but no laptop, so posting may be sparse for a bit -- though I might pick up a new smartphone (the Droid has been catching my eye lately), especially if I can get one I can use internationally. We shall see.

 

Last night was the wake for Deb's stepdad. I carpooled with Lori, and met a few friends (Eric & Kris, Greg, Janna & Eric) from the old Masters Swimming days, but otherwise it was mostly Deb's relatives and neighbors. Deb seemed to be holding up OK. Pretty sad, he had pancreatic cancer and it took him out rather suddenly.

 

Tonight is the gym, then over to Porters. This morning was beautiful, with the predawn frost colors, and the crows all fleeing their epicenter along the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hive Leptosouls Give Virgins Instant Sex...

...and busy times make for sparse blogging, even if there's more to blog about in busy times.

 

What's up? I am super-busy at work, I just went through a weeklong feeding frenzy -- last weekend was all about the quest for pizza, and then there was comfort food midweek, and Brew Works and Blue Sky and yadda yadda et cetera through this weekend -- and some friends are dealing with the loss of parents  (hence the comfort food), and in between I just don't seem to have time to really sit still and think, and when I do, I have other things to think about than blogging. (There's also this: though I do tend to chronicle my life here, I had a few posts that were getting too diary-like, lists of events, food I ate and so on, that I abandoned and deleted. That wasn't and isn't the direction I want to go with this, even if that's where it seems to trend most of the time.)

 

The weight: I didn't check it for the past few days, but I'll get back into it soon. It's probably not good, but not radically bad either; it had been hovering around 180 for the past week, and I'd guess that's where it is now. (I have to say though, that except for the past few days, I have been keeping track: I found a few sports/fitness/coaching sites that let me record my workouts, weight, etc, which I've been playing with, and these posts here were originally a just a substitute for that kind of thing. I'll probably keep it up here for the sake of completeness, or OCD or whatever...)

 

Reading: Just finished Solaris, which was good but not nearly as earth-shattering as the hype. I'm just at the beginning of The Cyberiad, which already seems better.

 

Viewing: We watched Memento this weekend, which I hadn't seen since it was on the big screen. Still good, still loved it (Anne's verdict: good, but kind of creepy), and I think I took home a little more of what actually happened.

 

Memento Mori: I saw on MTBr that the 10th anniversary of Dalerider's passing was the other day. He was sort of the Brian of that crowd, in the sense of being the friend and benefactor to a whole community, and I met him once when the real Brian, offended by a bad MTBr review of the Jim Thorpe trails, organized a weekend gathering -- Brian threw down the gauntlet in the form of an invite, "to see the real trails," and Chris aka Dalerider1 did the organizing. It was a real blast, and he was a cool and honest person, one of many who were there that weekend. In some ways it seemed like "holy cow it's been ten years already?" but in other ways that gathering -- maybe the summer of 1999? -- seems like it was on another world.

 

Tonight is the gym, then I'm skipping Tacos & Brews night. Tomorrow is a wake.

 

The Reference: "Hive leptosouls give virgins instant sex. Leptosoul experiences can be tiring and trying." It's a quote from The Godwhale (which I read in maybe 7th grade, and in some ways it's the only book I ever read), a mnemonic for a sequence of amino acids. It's funny what stays with you...

So Many New Leaves, Same As The Old Leaves

Morning weigh-in (Thursday):

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 180#, 11.5% BF

 

Back to the gym last night after a month off, and it was a doozy: for the upper body I changed to lower weights and higher reps to focus more on endurance, and for my legs I switched to plyometrics (ie jumping on and off a little elevated platform). A tough workout, and it was made worse by the hiatus -- but I have to say that the time off (which was mostly because I was busy/lazy) did my shoulder a world of good. My thumb, the other autumn injury, is also much better. It's an ill wind that leaves me with no justifications...

 

I am also back to yoga, and hopefully I can make it a regular thing again. I went Wednesday night, and it was a killer workout also -- I'm a bit stiff, and a bit off my stride, but I also seem to be a bit crabbed or hunched over too, hmmm -- but it felt really good to be back in the swing of things. First day of the new scene too, Alicia now doing the Wednesday night class.  Maybe the New Years resolutions were all kicking in, but the class seemed to be unusually full.

 

(Note: Hello new readers!)

 

The weight: Wednesday night was Emmi's last night in town, so I met her, Anne and the crew at The Bookstore for drinks. Very nice, they had that guitar & sax duo playing, and it was sort of a "do-over" for Tuesday evening, where the crowd was too big to just hang out. That was yesterday -- I don't know what this morning's weight is about, since we stayed in last night, with new books and an early bedtime.

 

Reading: I'm still working on that Byzantine book, but last night I started Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, which I picked up (along with the Byzantine book, and also Lem's Cyberiad) in Philly last week.

 

Tight Schedule: I got two emails yesterday, one saying my Russian visa application has been approved, and the other inviting me to the (15th annual) Superbowl of Chili, an event that I have never missed since it started, but which lands on the day we return from Russia. I have a feeling that that one's going to hurt...

 

Tonight is a tempo ride on the towpath, followed by a possible night out in Easton. Skis should be ready this weekend.

 

Low On Ammo

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 11.5% BF

 

Great ride last night. I was a little behind the other guys out (Doug, Eric, Greg) so I was surprised and happy to see their lights come up behind me on the trail, only it turned out to be two friends/neighbors (Matt H, Eric B), and so we pursued the other guys together. More lights coming towards us on the Spanky turned out to be more other riders (not sure who), then finally we caught up to Eric and Doug who were waiting for us. I hooked up with them for a while as my previous partners continued on, then peeled off when they took the trail back to their cars. It was a lot of work -- and I wasn't riding as well as I would have liked -- but conditions were awesome and we all had a lot of fun.

 

I headed home, then met everyone at Brew Works. Doug and Lori, Eric, Anne, and Emmi, and Debbie and Donna with their dates -- we took over one whole end of the bar, but there was too many of us to really make a cohesive whole (and the ladies were busy talking with their dates anyway), so Doug, Eric and I sat back and "solved the world's problems, one beer at a time."

 

Last Night, Part 2 was as good as the ride, but now I'm bushed. Tonight is yoga, then maybe another night out to say goodbye to Emmi who's heading back to school. First I have to get through the afternoon...

 

Locked And Loaded

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 178.5#, 12% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 179#, 12% BF

 

Not too bad, considering what I ate over the holidays, and also considering my huge lunch and dinner yesterday. No workout either -- I skipped yoga last night.

 

I went to Nestors after dinner instead; I brought my DH skis in to get the bindings checked, bottom surfaces waxed and repaired etc: a typical preseason once-over and not a moment too soon. (They should be ready Friday night.) While I was there I grabbed some anti-fog, and toe warmers, and then I drifted over -- just looking, I swear! -- to check out the latest XC ski stuff. Maybe more than just looking, because I think my skis have seen better days, chunks missing from the bottom and so on, and they could really stand to be replaced. I also want a Droid, and I must be in an acquisitive mode because I'm also thinking of an iPod. The only thing I really need right now, though, is to save money, rein in my expenditures...

 

Anyway, the yoga class I was going to take yesterday got preempted by a special event, and I had most of what I needed for a gym visit, except sneakers, so that wasn't going to happen, and there was talk of a night ride, but my lights weren't charged... Today I have my gym clothes, including sneakers (and also a yoga mat just in case), out in the car, and my lights are charging as we speak -- I am ready for anything, but I hope we ride.

 

After that is Two Brews and Tacos at Brew Works.

 

2010 So Far So Good

Didn't bother to weigh myself this morning, but I suspect it's gone up: we had a great little dinner party last night. We threw a pork tenderloin into the crock pot with some sauerkraut and apples (and beer), Debbie and a friend came over (with beer), and Donna and a friend of hers also came over (cookies, brie, and more beer), and we just sat around, eating, and talking, and laughing, nothing too crazy but it was a really fun evening.

Reading: I picked up a book about Byzantium in Philly last week, and it's pretty interesting to juxtapose it against David Byrne's book, as he writes about his experiences playing and cycling in Istanbul.

Listening: "Calibration" by either the Mars Volta or maybe a side project or something. Oops! Now it's Deer Tick, "Stung."

Playing: It's really cold out, maybe 25 and windy, but I think I'll be going over to Sals for a bit, I need to get out. I have to get my skis ready, this would be perfect ski weather.

I go back to work on Monday. Sigh.

Welcome To The New Now

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12.5% BF (so now I know where I stand)

Happy New Year! And good riddance to the Aughts...

Last night was a little bit mellow, more by accident than anything else. We started the festivities by doing the Bethlehem First Night 5k. Me, Anne, Donna, Doug & Lori, and Greg along with his daughter Julie (a high school runner who crushed the rest of us), it was a lot of fun, especially after we woke up to a snowstorm and wondered if it was even going to happen. But it did, and it really was fun, and I had a pretty good finish time -- I ran with Anne, who pushed our usual "morning run" pace, and we ended with 28:32.

After that we hit Southside. We tried to go to The Bookstore but it was closed, then we stopped in at Clothesline Organics to say hi to Kim, and finally ended up at McGrady's where we only had two beers -- except (and we found this out later) they were 10.5% ABV and, on top of our empty stomachs and running/walking in the cold air put each of us out of the game, one way or another, before midnight. Mellowest New Year's Eve in a while, for me at least, but the morning was a lot easier than some.

Today we're heading over to Judy's to say hi, then having a little pork & sauerkraut -- I'm told it's a local tradition.

Back In The Saddle, Again

Just got back from a ride at Sals. The wind had died down from yesterday and the temperature had gone up, and conditions were awesome: the ground was dry (or more likely frozen), and the trails seemed effortlessly fast, which was good because I was still hurting from all that sinus/chest stuff. A few trees were down though, probably from yesterday's wind. I moved a few of the smaller ones, and most of the rest were rideable and already "in play" -- you could see chainring marks where people had gone over -- but one tree took down a huge tangle of vines and sticker bushes with it, forcing me on a hike-a-bike detour. Still, even that was kind of fun, like exploring or something.

Reading: David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries, a gift from Anne. I got a bunch of books from my Mom & Dad too, by the way.

Mapping: I got a map of all the roads (and major trails, and elevation data, and rivers, and...) in North America from my Uncle Pat, on a chip that goes into my Garmin. I think it'll be more useful on road rides, but I was having fun with it today -- the level of detail is much greater than what the GPS unit comes with "out of the box." I also got, from my sister-in-law, a wireless pedal cadence sensor that works with the Garmin, but even though it's already on the bike, it's on the road bike and I think I'll wait until better weather to play with it. Thanks Pat and Tara!

Listening: "The Doldrums," by Ariel Pink. Shuffle, whatever...

Gift Season Wrap-Up

No idea what my weight is, but I have been doing nothing but eating and lying around since I got back from Florida -- hey I'm sick, leave me alone!

Most of my time has been taken up with that GRASS stuff, and I now have a pretty good database of the trails at Sals, as well as aerial photography and topographic maps, and satellite elevation data, from "the government" aka Penn State's repository for all that kind of stuff. Some serious learning curves as I try to make sense of a lot of disparate data -- and also try to dope out the Official Worst Interface Ever -- but I think I have made a fairly good start. (Accuracy can come later as I refine the database.)

A Recap: Christmas Eve Eve was and awesome night at Brew Works. a great time with friends Debbie and Donna, and Debbie's friend Rosemary, and some guys Debbie knew, and a few more peeps at the bar... Needless to say, Christmas Eve morning was a bit rough, but we went out for breakfast at Blue Sky with Doug & Lori, then visited my parents, plus my brother and his family, down in Jackson.

Christmas morning was quiet, as was the day itself. Anne brought her mom down from Jim Thorpe, and she stayed overnight, and we all spent most of the day just hanging out and reading. The next morning we met Donna and her daughter for another Blue Sky breakfast, but I was feeling kind of crappy: sneezing, stuffy nose, and an ominously sore throat... I took it easy for the rest of the day, only going out to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. (Verdict: Pretty Good.)

Today is another mellow/rest day, and tomorrow I may run and also go for a hike at Sals, and Tuesday we' very likely go for a ride at Jacobsburg. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk loot, but in the meantime, Merry Christmas Some More!

Looking Up, Looking Back And Looking Ahead

We got back from visiting my brother last night, long day of travel, from Cape Coral to Bethlehem via Charlotte NC, but we made it -- Emmi picked us up, and we went directly to Brew Works from the airport, in fact. Awesome visit: I'm still not a big Florida fan, but it was really fun to see my brother and his wife and kids, and it's obvious that they've got roots and are thriving there, despite some tough economic times.

Speaking of which... that area is pretty much Ground Zero for the whole mortgage meltdown scene, foreclosure signs everywhere, many houses empty and even gutted -- my brother showed me the house next door where the people even took the doors and fixtures when they abandoned it.

(Listening: Matthew Sweet's "Divine Intervention")

Anyway, my brother and his wife look good, he's construction and she's real estate, so this is an especially tough hit for them but they are muddling through, and the kids are adorable. I took a ton of pictures, and posted them during our Charlotte layover. You know what to do...

(Reading: Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day)

We are now past the bottom of the year, and moving forward, toward more light every day.

You Down With BDC?

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 12.5% BF

 

Ran yesterday morning and hit the gym after work, but... well... Two Brews and Tacos are a tough combination to beat. Today will be yoga, followed by Porters, we shall see who wins...

 

It's the last day of the work year for me, and close enough to the Solstice for me to start calling it Bottom Dead Center. I just got a good -- a glowing -- year-end review, and my office is packed up for the big move, which is now rescheduled for Monday (but of course I won't be here). Loose ends, some busywork, then I am out of here for the year! On the agenda: a few days in Florida to visit my brother, maybe some skiing when we get back, some last-minute Christmas shopping of course, and (also of course) plenty of cold cold biking.

 

Democracy In Action: I checked in to FB last night just a bit too late to see this go down, but it looks like some city councilman decided to do some grandstanding (at what he must have thought was little expense to himself), and it backfired in a gratifyingly big way. Ha! Smooth move, Councilman -- some really good backpedaling-weasel quotes in the article too.

 

Midweek, Year's End

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12.5% BF

 

No ride last night: I got home and just felt too tired/drained -- not so much physical as just ....bleh... Spent the evening playing with GRASS, putting a few more trails into my Sals database. I read about some people who use their Garmin's "Saved Rides" feature, without actually following the saved ride, to show trails etc on the map display, so I created a GPX file of the trail system so far, but my Edge doesn't seem to be able to understand multiple-track GPX files. Oh well, that would have been pretty useful... that's on my to-do list though, generate a Garmin-compatible trail map of Sals.

 

Early bedtime last night, reading in bed by 9:30, and probably lights out within a half hour. Slept like a log, which was good because we got up early and ran this morning: 3.2 miles, 35 minutes, nothing special but I'm happy to note that the leg/ankle pain is a thing of the past. We'll be doing the First Night 5k, and, even if I don't break any speed records I know I can at least get that far.

 

The Weekend: Friday night was Porters; I caught up with Anne & Judy and a bunch of others. Haven't been there in a while, pretty nice to be back even if we were at the "cold table" by the door. We hit brew Works on the way home, saw Doug & Lori.

 

Saturday I did a long-ish ride. It was supposed to be 60 miles, but a late start & an early sunset made me cut it down to 45: I went over Blue Mountain at Little Gap, then came back over Smith's Gap, which was a lot harder than my original plan but probably cut off 15 miles, and maybe an hour, from the ride. Steep, icy in the turns, and unpaved on the south side of the mountain, Smiths Gap was actually pretty scary, especially with all the hunter's cars parked along the roadside (and the gunfire in the woods). The scariest part of the ride though, was back in civilization on Grouse Rd, when a few deer ran into the road and almost took me out on a downhill. I was pretty awake after that...

 

Anne and I joined Debbie and Donna for some window shopping and a Christmas Luminaria walk after dark, then we all crossed over to Southside and had dinner at La Lupita -- once again, we couldn't even get in to General Zapata, and once again our second choice was probably better -- and then crossed back over the river for drinks at Brew Works, where we ran into a whole bunch of other people. All of Main Street was a Christmas Madhouse, by the way: tourists, shoppers and other pedestrians, buses and cars and even horse-and-buggy traffic, and every store was a mob scene. (I posted photos of the luminaria walk.)

 

Sunday I was supposed to go help map a new park, but blew it off, which was good because the ride was canceled due to freezing rain. We walked over to Blue Sky for breakfast (met Donna, her son and his girlfriend, plus of course the usual crew). The rest of the day was reading, cooking (Anne), playing with the computer (me) and movies: we watched Bad Santa (OK), The Virgin Suicides (really good but disturbing), and finally You Can't Take It With You, a madcap romantic comedy (with social overtones) from back in the day.

 

Tonight is the gym, followed by Two Brew Taco Night, and tomorrow is the last work day of the year for me.

The Red Queen's Race

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Checking in, recording the weight, staying on top of my daily spew, etc...

 

I set up some goals at the Garmin website, and I've been under the gun to try to keep up with them: I'm currently on target for my December running goal, but my cycling goals are weekly and, thought they're not overly ambitious (100 miles this week and next, for example), it's a little hard to stay on top of them with the recent weather (and all my other distractions) -- and each week the grind starts over.

 

Meantime, I went to yoga last night -- I am falling behind there too, and I'm getting really tight again. That abandoned missive I was writing touched on this: a lot of things got me where I am right now (ie with Anne), some of which -- like Which Brew or Christian Springs -- are gone, but that's OK because they were like booster stages or something, they fulfilled their tasks. I think I could even lose bicycling (another thing that brought us together) and keep moving forward, and that's saying something... Yoga is different: it helped me be emotionally capable of being in a relationship, and maybe the changes were permanent, but if my body can return to graceless stiffness, maybe my soul can too. This is something I have to stay on top of.

 

Yoga last night, and this morning was another run (3.25 miles, 36 minutes), and tonight is the gym, a place I haven't seen in more than two weeks -- spot a pattern?

 

In other news: My skin has been very dry and itchy lately, which is my excuse to post this.

 

Winter Project: I think it selected itself, I've been playing with GRASS quite a bit lately, mostly with my maps of Walking Purchase Park.

 

Vapor Lock

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Little bit of suppression weight loss in there -- evening bike and morning run yesterday, dehydration issues etc -- but I'll take the win, especially since last night was tacos and Two Brew Tuesday. Those numbers could have been better, but they also could have been worse. Getting there, sort of...

 

(By the way, one reason for the recent logo-constipation was that I was working on a post, which grew to become an essay, and it kept morphing and growing until it was no longer timely or interesting, and I abandoned it -- suffice to say I have much to be thankful for, and I am.)

 

Garmin tells me I burned 3900 calories on last night's ride, but that seems way excessive, even considering that I was on the Iguana (aka "Old Paint," but also affectionately known as "the 50-Pounder") and I was riding the hilly roads out by Williams Township -- 25 miles, two hours, average heart rate of 125 bpm, no way I had to crank that kind of wattage. Beautiful night for a ride though, chilly enough on the downhills to slow me down, which is just as well: Old Paint has developed a weird, slow precession or oscillation of the front wheel at higher speeds, pulling left then right then left etc, which undermines its claim to better stability on winter roads, and which makes downhills more "interesting" than fun at speed. (At lower speeds it was fine, even on the occasional icy stretches near streams.) You could see the sky getting ready to snow, and passing the power plant, with its cooling towers going full blast, was a total trip. I used to dream quite a bit about power plants, especially some of the bigger ones out in the Tennessee Valley, all sepia colors and strange, skewed perspectives, like my Easton dreams.

 

Anyway, I met Anne at Brew Works afterward, and the ladies seemed pretty jazzed up. Tacos, two brews, and I personally was mellow (read: sleepy), and so we went home around 10:30 or so. I slept like the dead last night, and I think tonight's post-yoga activity will be "quiet evening at home."

 

BTW2: Yesterday was the 29th anniversary of John Lennon's death, but today, the next day, being in school and hearing the announcement over the loudspeaker, was the day I remember. Strange, I know people, adults pushing 30, who were never alive when he was.

 

Knock Knock

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 11.5% BF

 

Hi it's me. I've been here all along, but I have just been too super-busy to write. What's up (besides weight)?

 

Thanksgiving was awesome, and it lasted for the full four days: cooking/eating Thursday (ribs), Friday (the actual Thanksgiving turkey), and Saturday (the turducken); riding Thursday (Lehigh) and Sunday (Allamuchy). Emmi was home, and her college friend visited, and the whole scene was really fun. I posted pictures you-know-where...

 

I managed to hurt my thumb a few weeks back, so I've been avoiding the gym -- you need your hands to do just about anything there -- as well as any really hard riding, so I've been doing a little more running than usual lately. I had a bit of a breakthrough this past Friday, on a morning run with Anne: I wanted to get in four miles, and she suggested the towpath to protect my ankle. (My problems are not wind/fatigue/fitness, but leg pain.) We ran down to the towpath, out approximately to her usual turnaround, and ran back to pavement before dropping to a walk -- 4.79 miles, no pain, and this morning's 3-miler felt fine too.

 

The rest of this past weekendwas also really nice, mostly spent with friends Debbie and Donna, and a cameo appearance by Anne's sister too. We started with Friday afternoon at the library (internet was down at the coffee shop), then bounced around southside for First Friday (saw WB'ers Andrea and Kateryna at Tulum), before hitting Brew Works (Doug, Lori, Greg, and Arnie). Saturday, needless to say, was fairly mellow, though I did manage to dope out some useful things in GRASS while watching the snow fall. Sunday was a breakfast walk to Blue Sky, then home for knitting (Anne and the ladies -- I played on the laptop), and a nice late-afternoon snow ride at Sals, doing a little more GPS exploring.

 

I was going to ride the towpath last night, but the Turner was such a disaster (and so was my laundry pile) that I took the night off to play catch-up, and while I was in maintenance mode, I also got the Iguana cleaned up and functional. Nothing major -- clean/lube, loosen a few stiff links, pump up the tires and it was all good. I'll probably bust it out for a road ride tonight if the rains hold off. Meantime, I tried shifting the Turner with my bad thumb, and we're almost back to normal.

 

See you in a week?