Be Right Back...

Morning weigh-in (remember them?): 179#, 11% BF

Zoinks! But then again, I've been tapering/slacking, and also eating out a lot, over the past week. I usually gain weight on the PPRAC ride though, so I better be careful.

I am out of here; in about 10 minutes I'll be leaving for the starting point (Holy Trinity Church, Palmerton PA), first step on the road to um, Erie... See you all in a week, hopefully with some good stories.

Thanks again to all my wonderful sponsors -- you rock, but now I gotta roll.

Vermont Photos

Me On Burke Mountain
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

This is a shot of me at the top of Burke Mountain; after the day's ride, we drove to the top to check out the view. Not the best portrait because of the lighting -- I processed some others to get better brightness on the faces, maybe I should have done it here too -- but the scenery is good. You can find the rest of my photos here.

Enjoy!

The Road To Mandalay

I've been back from Vermont (which was lovely) all week, just haven't had a chance to post. We have a new Internet policy at work, all sorts of sites are restricted now -- so the days of the lunchtime epistle are over...

Getting ready for my next trip (the Cancer Ride), which starts Sunday.

More for the wall of heroes:

Uncle Pat
Claire
Lawrence
Doug and Lori

Thanks for supporting me!

Linux Voyager, Hardware/Gadget Edition: I've been preparing for the trip all week, and one thing I did was buy a new memory stick for my camera. The one I already have is old; it's sort of "two-sided" and each side holds only 128 Mb, so I got a new 1-Gig card -- since the new card has a different shape it came with a special adapter for the camera. Well, the card works great in the camera, but the printer cannot read it -- my printer has a built-in memory card reader, but for some reason it reports an error when it tries t access this one. Encryption, DRM? Whatever... I had no other way to read the card, so I picked up a USB memory stick reader today. Fiddled with the fstab file and everything was A-OK. My computer is now festooned with USB gingerbread.

Short Week

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 175.5#, 12.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177.5#, 9% BF

B-b-but where was the booze? Normally when the body fat is down like that and the weight's up, it means I went out the night before... last night was yoga and dinner at home, but there was probably a bounceback from some weekend weight/water suppression.

Thursday night: Gym workout with Dawn, then Which Brew to catch Post Junction. It was a later night than I would have wanted: they usually close at 11:00 on weeknights, but stayed open until midnight, and I stuck around for the whole show.

Friday night: Had what was probably my best towpath time in two years, 22.5 miles in 1:20, just below a 17 mph average (personal bests used to be 1:28 for 25.4 miles, ten years and 20 pounds ago when I lived on Southside). I was trying to make it home in time to go to a special Kirtan Workshop at Easton Yoga, but I was late for the start (like, over an hour late) so I skipped it. Which Brew for dinner, where I saw the Dan DeChellis Trio (sans the sax player, which would have made it a quartet anyway); I also saw some people who went to the Kirtan thing, and they told me I missed a great event. Oh well, there'll be another one in September, and the show at WB was good.

Saturday: Great yoga class, super workout with some different things (mostly from Kundalini yoga) in the mix. After that I skipped the gym, and went out on an exploration...

Patience, Willow: I rode down almost to Bethlehem, to check out the ruins of an abandoned amusement park. (When I mentioned this place to friends, I got a few stories about trips there as kids -- I also heard stories from younger friends, about sneaking into the place after it was closed.) I didn't find much, but it was my first visit, more recon than anything else -- there's supposed to be quite a bit still there, if you know where to look. I'll be back, but most likely on foot, and I'll probably do it in the fall/winter, when the vegetation is dormant.

Euro Vision: This was close to the Freemansburg section of the towpath, so I dropped on to that and cruised back to Easton. I hit downtown and did a mini "hub crawl" -- like a pub crawl, only on the bike -- stopping at setta Luna (first time there: had a Hoegaarden), then Pearly Baker's (Dogfish Head Farmhouse Ale), and finally Which Brew (Weyerbacher Muse), where I also got a burger and a coffee. Outdoor dining all the way, it was a pretty sweet setup.

Saturday Night: BBQ/Party at the Rigler's, a blowout they do every year with their next-door neighbor. Good time, but I (mostly) stuck to the Diet Cokes at that point.

Payback, Bi-yatch! Sunday was a ride at Blue Marsh with Joe & Cindy and Eric. Fun but relentlessly aerobic -- and fast -- and I eventually cracked by trying to keep up with the rockets. They stopped for some lunch at the beachside snack shack, and I passed them without realizing, so they eventually caught me and we finished together. Twenty four miles, two and a half hours, 100 ounces of E-Load (and a quart of OJ plus 20 oz of Coke on the ride home), I was spanked.

I'm going up to Vermont for a long weekend this Thursday, tonight is yoga and bike prep.

Bring On The Dancing Horses

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 11.5% BF

Great but very active/sweaty yoga workout last night, followed by a bag-o-salad for dinner -- I ran out of honey-mustard dressing so I made my own (ingredients: honey, mustard, plus a little lemon juice and olive oil but -- duh), tasted great. Tonight is the gym.

Listening: Some late-era Echo & the Bunnymen CD. New versions of old hits, dance mixes etc; when I bought it I was disappointed, but right now I'm really digging it for some reason. Maybe because I forgot what the originals sounded like?

Who's The Samaritan Now, Eh? An Observation: I'm in the Valley Mountain Bikers, a local bike club with maybe 200 members (30-50 active ones), and when I solicited for PPRAC donations I got nothing, zip, zilch -- this is my third PPRAC ride, and I got similar results for those rides too. Right now one member is fighting cancer, by the way.

Meantime, I asked Kelly Jo, Mistress of Which Brew, to send something out on her mailing list (shout-out: Thanks K-Jo!); it went out yesterday and I already have two donations.

A good Samaritan had a dollar. He walks into a bar and says to the bartender...

Trees! Treeeeeeees!!!!!

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 11% BF

Weight's still bouncing around between 175 and 179, looks like the problem -- as always -- is diet, so I guess I'll have to re-rededicate myself to losing that weight. Re, re, re, re, re, re, re, re... Last week I rode 220 miles; so far this week my mileage is zero. I'm working on it.

My town is once again an official disaster area, this time from a major thunderstorm which blew through yesterday. Lots of big trees in my neighborhood fell down, like onto houses and power lines; two big ones are down on my block alone and we actually got off easy. Roads closed everywhere, it was like a crazy maze trying to get around all the roadblocks and one-way streets in Wilson. Power was out (for safety reasons I think), and only came back on around 3:00 AM. I decided to skip cooking, went down to Which Brew (natch), where power was also out but they were serving beer, salads & hummus, so that's what I had for dinner. They closed when it got dark.

By the way, fireworks were great for Heritage Day, ditto Mary's "Merritage Day Party," and the 80-mile ride before all that was also great, even if it was stinking hot. My friends and I all seem to be riding well.

We Can Be Heroes

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 9.5% BF

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

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

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 10.5% BF

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

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

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

Night's Legal Tender

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 13.5% BF

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

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

Running Between The Raindrops

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

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

Tonight is the gym.

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

I Am The Owl

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12% BF

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

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

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

-- Dead Kennedys, "I Am The Owl"

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

Yackety Yak

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 12% BF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rocketman

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

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

Tonight is the Chain Gang meeting.

My Big Bear Photos

The Sid's Bikes Crew
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

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

Burnt, Basted, Prostaglandinated

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 13% BF

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

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

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

VO2 Max

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

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

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

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

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

Friday Doldrums Blogging

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

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

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

Glamour

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 9% BF

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

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

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

More from West Virginny

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 11% BF

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

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

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

More Fun In West Virginia

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 9.5% BF

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

The race was awesome.