Illigitimi Non Carborundorum

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 10% BF

...or I guess I should say Nihil illigitimates carborundum...

So, they removed the MAC machine from the other building here at work, without telling anyone, and today I needed money to get lunch (scramble scramble)... 400 emails waiting Wednesday night, another 177 last night, and I even got a "we think you're sending a virus" email from some dumbass "ISP administrator," no doubt the result of the Allamuchy mailing list fiasco...

Rode the towpath last night w/ Brian and Joe & Cindy, then ate dinner at Which Brew.; met Theresa there. Tonight? Not sure of the agenda, but the Mighty Manatees are playing at the Funhouse, and Three Monks are at WB.

By the way, I really like my new modem, a US Robotics one with lots more blinky lights than the last one, and a louder speaker. Dorky, but cool.

Thursday Fly-by

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 177#, 9.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 178#, 8.5% BF

Had a good post yesterday, but Blogger ate it and I didn't feel like retyping, oh well...

Got the modem, got a new serial cable, works like a charm. Tried it last nite after a short ride plus dinner at WB w/ T (once again, 'puter made me stay up late). Tonite is a towpath ride, tomorrow another one -- since I also rode Turesday, I think recovery is coming along nicely.

We're Number Three!!

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 172.5#, 11.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177#, 9% BF

Trouble at home, I think my modem's fried. It can detect incoming rings, but outbound signals don't seem to be getting into the phone line. Thunderstorm yesterday, maybe a transient in the phone line? Anyway, no internet access at home until the situation is resolved, so only light, lunchtime blogging for a while.

Allamuchy was last weekend. I went up straight from work Friday and camped (though dinner was at a restaurant, and breakfast was also bought at the Boy Scouts cafeteria -- I was really roughing it), and we raced Saturday, Saturday night, and Sunday, heat, rain, night and fog, and -- we took third place in the 4-man Masters group! Photos haven't appeared yet, but results can be found here.

Our other team (Pedal ya Pansies) took seventh in the Vet 4-man, a Chain Gang teammate won the Jr 2-man, and of course it was fun to see all the old friends (Beth & Kevin McG, Dave & Selene, Doug V and Scott H, etc etc, but no Gary, Gina, Gerry or Joe G). Of course, we also had the disco ball up and running, and we decorated our campsite (and bikes) with jungle-oriented stuff and little plush monkeys... Totally exhausted on Sunday, crashed by 8:00 or so (except for a mealtime wakeup).

Last night I hit Porters for dinner. That is all.

Working Through The Checklist

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 12.5% BF

Getting ready to go to my boss's retirement luncheon, just passing through...

Worked on the bike last night, things look good. I cleaned/lubed the drivetrain, cleaned the cables & housings as needed, and put new pads in the front brakes. (I also got my drycleaning done & did laundry.) Tonight is the rest of the laundry, garbage, and packing the camping and non-food stuff for the weekend; tomorrow is food shopping. I want to have the car packed Thursday night, so I can just go straight to Allamuchy from work Friday. (I was thinking of riding tonight, a short ride to double-check the bike and seat the new pads, but now it looks like rain.)

Time Passes

Morning weigh-in: 173.5#, 11.5% BF

It's kind of funny, the past few days I've been getting a feeling almost of surprise, when I'm just hanging out and time passes, like I want and expect time to just stop for a while... of course, this usually happens about 6:00 AM... Tomorrow is my boss Walt's retirement party; he'll be gone to his new home out near Palm Springs probably this weekend. Allamuchy is also this weekend, and the summer is winding down.

Rode last night at Jacobsburg, felt like I was working but my average speed was pretty low -- uh oh. Nothing I can do about it now though, just do the final race prep on the bike, buy food for the weekend and pack. I'll probably be going up Friday right after work.

Escape from West Virginia

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 11.5% BF

Last week's trip was pretty cool, two days out of the office, followed by four hours of waiting in Parkersburg Airport (for our flight to stop being delayed and get cancelled), then seven hours of driving back to Allentown in a Korean econo-box rental... got home at about 3:30 AM, went in to work around noon Friday.

Friday night was a towpath ride with Doug and Brian (his first time on the bike in maybe six weeks), followed by dinner at Cannons. I found out later that Joe & Cindy went to Which Brew, figuring to meet me where I "always go" -- doh!

Saturday was a "half-selfish day," chores/gym etc, then went to Weyerbacher, hung out with Theresa. We had lunch at Porters, dinner at Which Brew, a really cool day. Sunday was the trail maintenance day, race course prep for the 24 Hours of Allamuchy.

I stopped by T's last night (afternoon really), and we walked downtown to watch some live entertainment -- high school kids, singing and dancing at the riverside ampitheater -- then busted out the Dazed and Confused DVD.

Freakin' A-

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 12.5% BF

A true fly-by: at home, grabbed lunch & my clothes on the way to the airport. I'm leaving in a few minutes, but first:

I rode Round Valley last yesterday, felt good & fast but my time was about the same as the last (disappointing) ride there. In my defense though, this time I ran into Scott H & Doug V, two teammates from "Freakin' A-", my Canaan team from 1997. Did a little catching up, found out that they're also doing Allamuchy, both solo. My actual, rolling average speed was 8.6 mph, as opposed to 8 mph last time... I always told myself that if I could manage a 10 mph average at Round Valley, out & back on the "hard" trails, I'd move up to expert; this was a loop, partly on the road, and I'm still way off. Oh well.

Stopped by T's last nite after the ride, talked her into meeting me at Which Brew at 9:00 while my laundry dried. Nice to see her, but there were some obnoxious louts (smelly too, according to T, & also bartender Carrie), which made the place less than perfect until they were thrown out.

Bike-O-Rooni

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 12.5% BF

I was going to ride the towpath last night, but blew it off in favor of errands, chores, and bike maintenance. Dinner at home: 5-grain tempeh stir-fry with peppers, onions, garlic, ginger, tamari and a little tahini, some serious eating. Worked on the bike after dinner, mainly just did a clean & lube, & gave Theresa a call: she saw that specialist, and he said she didn't have a torn rotator cuff, but it was inflamed and she probably would tear it if she didn't follow his advice (rest, special exercises); he also gave her a bunch of killer cortisone shots.

Tonight I'll be riding up at Round Valley, tomorrow and Thursday I'll be in West Virginia somewhere for work, and I'll probably be riding the towpath on Friday.

Yo, later.

A Burst of Energy

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 14% BF

Tired this morning. We (me, John C, Doug, Scott, Joe C, Rich and Bob) rode Allamuchy yesterday in the rain, a tough ride with food-coma-level meal afterward, and I basically passed out when I got home. Woke up later and had a burst of energy: I got the next set of boxes/junk ready for the garbage, straightened up the living room and vacuumed (also used rug cleaner), and did a quickie-clean of the bathroom while doing laundry; the dishwasher went on after the washing machine was done. I was sort of motivated because I spilled coffee as I left the house this morning, I wanted to get that dealt with, and I guess one thing led to another... I feel pretty good about this little project because I've been straightening and reconfiguring lately, but each step forward made things look worse as I tore into the mess, and last night I got the first payoff -- suddenly, I could see a major improvement in the place. Between the ride and the late-nite housework though, I wore myself out, overslept and woke up exhausted.

The weekend:

Friday was a towpath ride, where I met Doug and he broke his seatpost bolt. Spent about 30-45 minutes trying to put in a spare bolt he had, or at least get the broken part out but no luck -- Scott S from work rode by, on the way to Musikfest, and stopped to lend a hand and enjoy our comedic stylings, but nothing any of us tried worked so Doug had to ride home seatless. Luckily I brought lights, because the seatpost snafu put me in the dark on the return trip. I went to WB afterward, met T and her son Kyle, who was up visiting.

Saturday was "selfish day," coffee shop, gym, chores etc, but I also talked Joe C into helping me change the oil in my forks. This turned out to be a little involved but not very hard (he has all the tools and has done it many times before, half the battle), and the forks are working beautifully again. Took Joe & Cindy to dinner as a "thank you."

Sunday we rode at Allamuchy. The plan was for a 40-mile epic, but the weather wasn't cooperating, rain left over from the hurricane etc. We got in about 17-18 miles in about 5 hours; adventures on the wet slippery trails included a few crashes (standard), getting separated for a while (no biggie), some flats and broken chains (minor bad luck), and... John's frame broke. We were at maybe mile 10 when that happened, and he had to limp back to the car via the Boy Scout Camp and the road (he hitched a ride, luckily), while we worked our way back through the woods. What actually broke was his left chainstay, part of the rear swingarm so he should be able to get just that part pretty quickly, hopefully. I had a lot of trouble with visibility as my glasses kept fogging up, something I'd better solve before the race.

After that we had dinner, then home, nap, cleaned the house...

UPDATE -- more Linux: I got my internet connection to work better, and have some idea what was happening though I'm still not sure about what actually was going wrong. Basically, the PPP connection protocol has a provision to compress the packet header information -- I guess that would be information like what the packet contains, who it's from & where it's going etc, as opposed to the actual data that the packet is delivering -- which cuts down on transmission overhead on older, relatively slow dialup lines. The packet (with its normal header) routes its way around the internet and arrives at my ISP, which then compresses the header and sends it to me. My guess is, I enabled the VJ compression on the latest kernel rebuild, and either my ISP was choking trying to comply, or the data was more vulnerable in low quality phone lines. (Alternately, there may be a bug in the newer kernel.) Whatever the ultimate cause, my PPP software was picking up compression errors and stumbling...

The "quick and dirty" solution was simple: I added the line novj to my /etc/ppp/options file, which tells pppd to not use compression. I haven't noticed any real problems, and big files download pretty fast now. So far so good...

Friday the Thirteenth

Morning weigh-in: 172#, 12.5% BF

Major accident on the way in this morning, on the interstate, right at my exit for work. I took the secondary roads in just for a change of pace (no idea about the accident), found it backed up, took tertiary road and it was backed up, got to work about a half hour late. Not sure what happened, but they had the eastbound lanes all closed and there were rumors of fatalities -- possibly a westbound truck crossed the median.

Anyway, I rode Round Valley last night, and felt good though my time (and cardio/fitness) was way off. Unfortunately, my technical was off as well, since my front shock was acting funny -- not enough damping or something, felt very squirrelly in the rocks. I managed to avoid all rain, which was good, but rain got Musikfest so I didn't go last night. Passed out instead for a while, then played with the computer.

Speaking of fitness: I talked to Brian last night, who told me he saw the cardiologist that Dona recommended. The doctor gave him an echocardiogram on the spot, said his ejection fraction was actually in the upper 30's / low 40's, not 25 like that other test showed (normal is 50-60). Doc said there may have been innacuracies in the first test, or his heart has improved (pretty rapidly) since whatever virus attacked him; he's still convalescing, but that's incredible news. The doctor also said that, if it weren't for his fitness level, the worst-case scenario would very likely have meant needing a heart transplant -- Brian told me he kissed every one of his bikes when he got home.

More 'puter talk: I configured the "modem lights" applet to connect to Epix, and things look good that way but there were still slowdowns... I just happened to check out dmesg, and saw a bunch of "PPP: VC compression error" messages, took the clue and ran with it: this (I know now) is Van Jacobson compression of packet headers, and although a Google search revealed lots of problems/questions similar to mine, but few answers, I think I found a way to disable it for now. That's a job for tonight, hopefully.

Linux Voyager: Ship of Fool

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 13% BF

Playing with the computer the other day, managed to knock out its knowledge of the modem. Pretty easy to fix in the long run (restored a symbolic link), but I also got a look at how kppp works as well as the GNOME "modem lights" panel applet. (Finally -- finally! -- got that to work correctly without having to use kppp, also learned a bit about lock files. Stupid mistake, as usual.) Next up is: why is downloading so slow with my 2.4.26 kernel, especially since the 2.4.18 seems just fine? Looks to me like a bad compile, maybe module problems. (Speaking of which, I think I have a handle on my 2.6.7 problems, hopefully a little time to mess with it soon.)

Didn't ride last night, got to Round Valley and there was a lot of thunder & lightning, so I went home and threw out a bunch of boxfulls of really old computer manuals (The Internet For Macs For Dummies, Hypercard Reference Manual, Microsoft Basic for Mac, etc). I have about a roomful of stuff to work through still, either to toss it or put it in storage (toss, toss), plus lots of sweaters (save).

After that I went overt Theresa's house & watched Cold Mountain with her. It was OK: the book was better of course, and T's original assessment -- chick flick -- was pretty much correct. Pet allergy problems from the visit, sigh.

Will try for another RV ride tonight, then maybe see the Fellas at Bethlehem Brew Works (aka MusikFest) tonight.

All Quiet on the Wednesday Front

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 176#, 10% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 175.5#, 10% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 176#, 11.5% BF

Hmmm, let's see... the weekend...

Friday was a night ride up at South Mtn Park with Doug and Rich, who was riding in the dark for the first time. Interesting ride, from about 6:30 to 9:30, 16 miles total (of which maybe eight were very technical singletrack). I think Rich had himself a bit of an eye-opener in terms of both equipment and technique... Afterward, I met Theresa at Which Brew, where we saw the usual suspects as well as Doug & Lori, plus a band (Illinois Slim?). I thought I'd screwed up by arriving so late (T was there from about 7:00), but she was pretty cool about it. She and I drifted over to Porters (where it was mobbed) after WB closed, and caught a set of Leather & Lace.

Saturday was my usual "selfish day," gym, chores etc. I burned two copies of my bear photos (the big, 800k versions) for Dawn & Heather, and brought them to the gym. Theresa was going to see the Dead at the Tweeter Center with a bunch of people, so I stopped by Weyerbachers Brewery where she runs the tours, ran a few more errands and then met her and the show-goers at WB & saw them off. I went to MusikFest that night with Doug & Lori and Joe & Cindy, saw the Red Elvises and got some of that spiced corn on the cob.

Sunday I slept in until 10:00, then went for a road ride. Breakfast (brunch actually, and huge) was at The Coffee Works, kind of cool to ride downtown, get a bite and then ride into the countryside. I hit the Stockertown rail-trail for a part of the ride, which was nice but wasn't really meant for road bikes. Dinner was pizza and a movie (Clerks, now 10 years old) at Theresa's; I got to hear about the show (she loved it, was very happy with new singer). Next time I'm going.

Monday & Tuesday, not much to say: Jacobsburg "recovery ride" on Monday, Tuesday was the Democratic MeetUp at Wegmans. A little better than the last one I went to, since there were more oddballs this time (think "I have an agenda and here's my chance to hijack the meeting and rant").

Anyway, if the weather holds, and it probably won't, I'll be riding Round Valley tonight.

Yet Another Fly-by

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 11% BF

Suppression weight: that's the weight loss from dehydration, lack of eating (less food in the pipes) etc that comes just from trying to lose weight. Looks to be about two pounds, since I rested up and ate "normally" and that's how much of a bounce showed up this morning.

Anyway, last night I went to WB to meet T, and it was a zoo. They looked short-staffed, and the Insidious Rays were playing, which brought in a big (and very young) crowd. Margarita came in with Jay DeJ; they were going to hit Touch of Thai for dinner, but that was closed (vacation trip back to the old country) and they were starving. Good Luck! -- the kitchen was running way behind, but they eventually got their dinner.

No run this morning, I was tired & overslept (uh, got up at 6:30 AM). Car seems good though. Tonight is a team training ride at South Mountain, with lights.

Not much happening on the computer front, but I might focus on that this weekend. Time to move forward with my web project, eh?

UPDATE: Here is a race report for the Wilderness 101, with links to photos and results. Uh, what she said...

a quick flyby

Morning weigh-in: 173.5#, 14% BF

No run this AM: dropped the car off last nite for brakes/oil etc, hitched a ride in with Scott, who works in the burner department here and lives around the block from me. It was time for a rest day anyway, I ran and rode (benchmark, 1:29, good but not great, sign that recovery is proceeding), hit Which Brew to see Theresa, then dropped off the car & walked home, about two miles.

Today was very busy at work, emergency situation (customer changed their equipment in a major way, halfway through a job without letting us know, and our matching equipment is almost completely fabricated). I worked up a solution and just finished plotting out the drawing, when the project manager came by, said the customer had just called to reject that particular fix...

T is hurting today, her shoulder may need surgery. Torn rotator cuff? Bicep tendonitis? She saw the doctor yesterday, first step on the way to the specialist, and his exam may have irritated it. We were going to do the Ice Cream Ride tonight, but it may not be a good idea with the shoulder so I might just swing by & visit her at home.

Hump Day

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 13% BF

For the record, my weight was 173#/12.5% post R & D (run & dump).

Didn't do much yesterday, worked late & ran some errands, plus did a few chores etc. Dinner was tempeh stir-fry, w/ plenty o'leftovers for tonight. Ran this morning, of course.

Tonight I'll do a ride, then drop my car off (actually, reverse that: drop off car, return home via bike ride) for an oil change and a brake job.

gonna make you sweat

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13% BF

Ran this morning, was forced to remember that when my body wakes up, everything wakes up including peristalsis... made it the full two miles without taking any shortcuts, then went home, did my duty and found my weight down to 174# (what can I say, I was curious). I suspect that a lot of the drop was water: I was pouring sweat like a fountain, body didn't calm down until I was at work. Things are a little different from the single-digit temps when I first ran...

Mug Club Night at Which Brew, had some lemony Greek soup and mousaka, plus a Franziskaner Weisbier. T was in earlier but I missed her, I arrived around 8:30 after working late and riding (short ride, slow, still suffering from the W101), and she'd had dinner with Connor at normal-people dinnertime. Hung out with Brian though, his first time out driving on his own since his cardio catheterization (he was at the party Sat, but didn't drive).

A Belly Dancer, A Party, & A Very Short Death March

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 13% BF

Got up and ran this morning, my (formerly) usual two miles which took me 24 minutes -- a little slower than my 10k target pace of 7:30 per mile. I took it easy though, first time back and it was already hot and muggy. I was a little surprised I got up without a problem, since I slept with the windows open, and the girl down the street had a party. (Parents away? Probably not, but it's a half double, and the people next door just moved out). Nothing major, just a bunch of shouted goodbyes at around midnight, then a few more around 2:00 AM. I notice that the kids on the block are starting to cluster, doing that back-to-school retribalization thang...

Anyway, the weekend:

Friday Night: I rode the towpath after work. I planned on doing a "hot lap" but ran into Joe and Cindy, who were with their dog & so riding relatively slowly. I cut my own ride short and rode with them which was just as well, since I don't think I could have held my pace/effort (I'm not yet recovered from last weekend).
After that I got ready for my evening by wrapping myself in bedsheets. It was Toga Night at Which Brew, with guest-chef Margarita's Greek recipes, togas of course (but we were actually a minority), and even a belly dancer. I met Theresa & her son young Connor there for dinner; he was in tie-dyed sheets & it looked pretty decent, but T's toga was just amazing, easily the best there. She got some fabric and actually made an outfit (complete with wig and cap) that looked like she was an extra in The Robe or something. (She said it was unpleasantly hot though.) She took Conor home and I changed out of my toga, but I only stuck around for the first set of Three Monks.

Saturday: Was my usual "selfish day," but I seemed to be just a little behind schedule all day. Went to the gym & saw Dawn, who peppered me with anxious questions about what I thought of the bear tagging program. Apparently, volunteers have occasionally gotten freaked out about the blood/DNA samples etc... I'm starting to shift towards winter and strength training (I think it may have been a mistake to let the fitness focus be on the bike so much this summer), and Saturday's workout was the first of the new program.

Afterward I stopped by T's, watched The Sandlot (which I thought would be lame but was actually pretty good) and had dinner with her and Connor. The Riglers were having a party, but T had her son and was in for the night, at least in terms of beer blowouts in the woods...

The party, what I remember of it, was great. I ended up sleeping in the Pinkerton's basement. Verrry dangerous to have those foo-foo drinks like Skye Blue or Mike's Hard Lemonade available on a hot day (mandarin orange something-or-other is what got us all)... Joe C calls them "a hangover in a bottle" but I bounced back OK, sort of.

Sunday: We were supposed to ride the Green Blazed Trail in Jim Thorpe, but the morning was very rainy. Doug called me around noon and put together a short ride up at South Mountain. Just him, me and Eric and we were pretty low-key but it was so hot & muggy (and I was still so depleted) that I felt like total death even thought the ride was only about six miles long. Technical riding though, we took maybe three or four hours to do those six miles... I got home and slept for about three hours, then woke up and had a burst of energy until maybe 10:00 PM, got a bunch of chores done.

Tonight I'll probably do a road ride, then hit WB for Mug Night.

Bear Photos

Morning weigh-in: 172.5#, 11.5% BF

I put my bear photos here, for now.

Yahoo has a pretty crappy interface, lotta bullshit to get what I wanted done, and there was no "do such-and-such to all thse files and I'll be back later," it was all very labor intensive but they're in. Not really happy with the quality of the photos I took though, kind of blurry. I still have to learn how to use that camera.

Riding tonight on the towpath, then going to Which Brew with Theresa and her son for a toga party (Greek theme actually, Margarita is guest chef w/ traditional family recipes).

I think that the race is acting like a big rock in the river: lots of turbulence and other effects downstream. Ive been very tired lately, and the weight's dropping. Shouldn't complain, eh? I want to be below 170# for Allamuchy.

Bear With Me

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 175#, 12.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 173.5#, 14.5% BF

My friend/trainer Dawn, whose sister works for the NJ Dept of Fish & Wildlife as a bear control officer, got me an invitation to help out with their annual bear trapping & tagging program. That's what I did yesterday, and it was way, way cool. I'll post more about this (including pictures) later or tonight, but I will say that: we caught two bears (both female yearlings) and saw several others; I handled, carried, measured, and helped take blood and DNA samples as the drugged bears snored away; and I have pictures to proove it. More after the jump...

By the way: it seems that I'm not allergic to the "black-faced yellow cur" dog breed (basically, a bear hound; it's the same breed as "Old Yeller"), but bears, which smell like dirty wet dog, make me itch.

More Post-Mortem

Morning weigh-in: 175.5%, 12% BF

Just a thought: with a little better time management, a few more pounds shed and some interval/hill training under the belt, I bet I could shave off another hour from my W101 time, maybe even more. Wait till next year...

Went and saw Brian last night, recovering from angiogram/catheterization or whatever it's called: he had an exploratory procedure yesterday, in-through-the-groin-and-up-the-arteries to look for heart blockages, w/ optional angioplasty if they found anything. Luckily, there was nothing to find, and he recovered enought to be sent home. Still no idea what's up with his chest pains and irregular heartbeat, but as he said, at least he doesn't have couch potato disease -- very embarrassing for a cyclist!!

I may got to the gym tonight. Tomorrow I'm taking a vacation day, and volunteering to help track/catch bears. Maybe photos?