Tornado

So this oversized dirt-devil decided to traipse through my neighborhood and take out a lot of patio furniture, trampolines, and soft-wood trees.  No major damage, thankfully. 

I need two more adirondack chairs though.  They didn't make it.

Friday night campout

AB is quite proud!

AB and I went on our first Cub Scout campout last Friday night. We were pretty concerned about the weather, so instead of doing the full campout, we split around 9:30pm, which all but 4 families did as well. It was really muddy, but very fun. The boys had a great time running around, and it reminded me of when I was in scouts. We got to make smores, and had a nice catered cookout (kinda Johnson County, don't you think?). No matter though, there were smiles all around.

Muddy Buddies

This was also the graduation ceremony for each boy to move up into the next rank. The incoming first graders were also indoctrinated as Tiger Cubs. AB, with his buddies, were all super excited. I remember that feeling well. I just wished I would have stuck with it a little longer and gotten my Eagle Scout, but girls and other interests took over.


I had a great conversation with the Cubmaster's father, who is one of AB's buddy's grandpas. Everyone knows him because he has a real teepee. He told me the story of it, and many more stories about him growing up, and about a great scout troop let's the boys run the show. The adults are there to make sure no one gets maimed, but otherwise they stay out of the way. That is how leaders are made.

More Muddy Buddies

I don't think that there are many avenues out there for boys to become leaders and free-thinkers. Most everything these days involving youth seems to reward "average" and to "stay within the lines". I hope AB has fun and gets a lot out of this. I have lots of good memories from Scouts, as does my dad. I'd say we're off to a good start.

Ride to the Stars

Yea, I know that's a lame title.  I rode to the Louisburg Observatory and back.  Pretty neat, and a lot smaller than I would have thought.  I even stopped to take a few pics like my buddy SC.  He's quite the blogger, you know.

It was a really fun ride, despite being into a 20mph headwind the first half of the ride.  I just took it easy, figuring to save a little for the trip back home.  Lap 1 avg was 15.5, lap 2 was 19.7.  I'm actually surprised lap 2 was slow like that.  Seemed faster at least.  Anyway, it was a great ride, and didn't get chased by any dogs or breezed by any cars.  Not much traffic.  It'd probably be better if I could get out around 6am and do this ride.  Probably less wind, even less traffic, and a little cooler.  I'll be needing that soon.

If the weather cooperates, I'll be trying my first crit tonight.  We'll see.  Doesn't look promising.

Over-eating

Lack of better judgement.  That's what let me get back on the scale after laying off of exercise for 6 weeks.  I'd gained 1% body fat and about 3 pounds.  Not a huge amount, but it's been a struggle to lose the last 7-10 pounds of fat.  I'm re-reading "Racing Weight" now, and that seems to help me regain focus.  It's a terrific book for any cyclist or endurance athlete.  I've been very impressed with it, and it certainly helps you understand what you, as an athlete, need to be doing.

One of the first statements in the book is a bit of self-marketing, but does have some interesting insight.  Most people want to lose weight because they want to look good or feel good, but an endurance athlete has the added goal of wanting to perform at a high level.  While our goals and methods are very different from the average person, we both fight some of the same battles.  The primary thing holding me back (and a lot of others) is the fact that high-calorie, low-satiety food is everywhere.  I can walk into a McD's with $5 and walk out with 1200 calories, no problem.  It takes me about 1-1.5 hours of hard riding to burn that off, strictly speaking calorically. (Yea, I made that word up).  But what nutritional value did I get from that?  And what un-necessary additives/preservatives/chemicals did I ingest as well?

This is less about being a food snob, and more about living well, and not feeling like crap after you ate some manufactured food product.  It's hard to eat well in this country.  But I think things are getting better.  It needs to be cheaper though.  How many low-income families are overweight because it's too expensive to eat well?  And then they are the same families struggling through medical bills because they are 100 pounds overweight and have diabetes and whatever else?  It's a vicious cycle.

So the intent of this post was going to be how I have a tough time walking away from food, and accordingly lose weight pretty slowly.  But then it turned into a social opinion piece.  Funny how our brains are wired.

Maybe I'll revisit this topic later.  But for now, I'll think about riding my bike.

At it again.

Finally decided I had a long enough break, and am cranking up my workout regiment again.  5 days a week, rest days on Friday and another TBD day.  Lots of biking, lots of core work, some weights, and some running.  The name of the game is more overall fitness than such a razor sharp focus on cycling.  I gotta keep it varied and interesting.  I can't just ride 6 days a week anymore.  I rode on the trainer (it was late) on Monday pretty hard, and then did a short run last night.  I'll be running at least 2x a week.  It's great for weight loss, and I enjoy it because it doesn't take long.  At this running-impaired state, I can be done in less than half an hour.  Hopefully I can increase that as time goes on.

I'm going to start commuting at least once a week, twice would be great.  The weather is awesome and there's no excuse, especially with it being bike to work week.  I brought my clothes in today so I can ride in tomorrow.  Left my wipes at home, but I can fit those in my jersey pocket.  I also keep a pair of shoes at work, which is handy. 

Tonight I'll probably do some upper-body work, and some core.  I'll commute tomorrow, then group ride on Thursday night.  Friday off, then get some decent miles in on Saturday, maybe some hill work on Sunday.

Sounds like a plan, at least. 

I get to go to the Royals-Cards game on Saturday thanks to my beautiful wife.  That should be great.  I can't wait.

p.s. You can tell I'm scatter brained today because everything is short choppy sentences.  Better than nothing, I suppose.

Another one.

Yea, this is just becoming my own YouTube site.

Ha HA!

Cube etiquette

So if I'm rockin' out on my earbuds and am fidgeting/dancing around and letting out a little whoop and/or singing along, is that a faux pas?

I tend to get lost in my music, so it probably has already happened, and will happen again.  Historical performance is indicative of future results, in this case. 

It might just be a fun social experiment.

"Hey, it's that singing firewall guy."

"Yea, he's weird." 

A tale of two cities

Saturday: Gorgeous
Sunday: Not so much

So I managed to get my first (mild) sunburn of the year on Saturday.  I went out for a ride on Saturday, and got some decent miles in.  I put on some of my new sunscreen that I got for Christmas.  I got it for triathlons, since it's supposed to be a good active sunblock, but it works great for just cycling too.  That was in the morning.  I then took a shower, and then goofed around outside most of the rest of the day, and burnt my face, forearms, and calves a bit.  Not too bad, but I looked like a dunderhead since I told Penny to make sure to put sunblock on while she was doing a beautiful job planting flowers in the landscaping.  AB got burnt too at baseball practice.  I sure can look like an irresponsible parent sometimes.

My ride on Saturday was nice.  I went at it pretty hard, as I wasn't up for lolly gagging around.  My heart rate averaged at 165bpm, which was about 10bpm higher than usual.  Some of that was indicative of effort, but some was probably due to me not drinking enough water.  I need to get back on to that kick.  Nothing will deter an athlete like being dehydrated.  Maybe not enough salt, but you gotta have water too.  I drained my two bottles on the ride, but should have been drinking a lot more on Friday.  Everyday, really.





On Sunday there was a nice Colavita contingent out racing the Sheehan Road Race.  It looked fun, and I kinda wish I could have been out there, but I would have gotten killed.  At least I think I would have.  I need a couple more weeks of training before I start hitting the TNW's and to get ready for the Tour of KC, then Tour of Lawrence.  I had planned on going to Tulsa, but I am really doubtful of that now.  I am excited to get back on the horse though.  I hope to head out for one of the Hill rides, which will probably make me depressed.  But getting your ass kicked for free is better than paying $25 for it.