Have you seen this guy??

For clues, seach here. Or here. Or finally, here.

Shabbos +1 ski trip

Things aren't looking good for Shabbos +1, kids. If there's snow -- and the Weather Channel says 100% chance on Saturday -- we should hit the dirt.

Quick, somebody buy me a mountain bike!

It's official.

Ya know how Aaron mentioned on the turkey day ride post to not be a fatty? Well, I'm afraid I really need to heed that advice. I jumped on the scale a couple times in the past week and I'm up to 168.8!!!! I haven't been that heavy since my first year as a cat 4, about 4 years ago.

So I've officially let myself go. I should have figured that a few months of doing maybe one long ride a week interspersed with commuting all of 6 miles round trip was not going to be enough calorie burning for the amount of food I was packing in.

So now's the time. I'm going to start training......for nothing. Other than to keep my weight down and have fun on the group rides next year. It's really fun to hurt people on group rides. Pushing them to their limits will help both them and me.

I ran this morning. I think I have to pick that up again if I want to drop some weight. Use some different muscles to shock my body into being a better furnace. I also need to portion control. I don't need a double serving of cereal for a total of 400-500 calories in the morning. And I especially need to limit or drop the consumption of soda. That's another 400 calories I'm consuming a day. So I either need to switch to diet soda (blech) or just guzzle the H2O.

At my fittest I was right around 150. I could fly up climbs and still have a monster engine to hurt people on the flats. I don't know if I'll get down that far, but I know it'll be healthier overall if I do. So if you see me drinking a regular soda or pounding doughnuts (unless we're on a 4+ hour ride), give me that stern look of disappointment to get me back on track.

Weekend plans.

So my plan is to do the Eppley road TT with Brady and friends at 1pm on Saturday. Sounds like a good time.

Then Sunday, or rather Shabbos +1, I do have to be at my house by 11:30am, so the earlier we get started, the better. I mentioned before possibly starting at 8am at one of the coffee shops by 120th and Blondo. Makes for an easy ride for Bryan so he won't have to drive half the distance to our meeting place.

Let me know if this sounds like a good idea for Sunday. If not, well too bad.

Happy T day

Give thanks gobble gobble

T-day + 1 ride.

The offers have been made.

Crane coffee at Cass and the Keystone trail at either 8am or noon.

Chime in if you have family obligations and would like to ride while all the crazy people are shopping beginning at 8am. Yes it will be cold, 25 degrees, but we can get a good 3 or 4 hours before families start to feel dejected.

Chime in also if you would like to avoid your families or get off work(?!) at noon like Jonny does and want to go riding at noon. It's supposed to be around 40 by that time. 25 verses 40....hmmmm....

So this is an official poll. The responses will determine our start time. Post now or forever hold your peas.

T-day ride....

Thanksgiving weekend 2007, earn your "consumption of mass quantities" ride.

"Yeaaaagggghhhhhh! Lets do this!" Joe -from Family Guy

ps. don't be a fatty

A Shabbos +1 FYI

I'm not riding. Mike's not riding. Observe the day in your own special manner.

Reality check

Props to Brady for making me check myself, before I wrecked myself.

Backstory:

On the ride home after the truly fun and adventurous Cranksgiving race, I mentioned to Brady that I was thinking of converting my heavy Bianchi commuter to a single speed. He piped up right away, "Now why would you do that? What's wrong with the way it is now?" This reaction caught me off guard.

Usually when you tell a cyclist you're going to strip down to one gear, they shower you with accolades for being a bad-ass. I believe Brady was really just naively curious why limiting yourself to one gear would be a good idea. In the conversation, I tried to explain away how one gear is less maintenance in crappy weather, less possible equipment to fail, and a little lighter too. We changed subjects after that. But everytime I pondered what kind of fancy lightweight single speed specific wheel I could build up, or what gear I should use, Brady's question would again ring thru my mind. Then yesterday, I got the answer.

I decided to pick up a couple groceries on my way home from work, but made a little ride of it by heading out to the Hy-vee on Cass St and 70something-ith. My legs and back were sore from my fun mtb ride the evening before and there was a slight 30-40mph North wind. So when I turned north on the trail from Pacific street, I busted down to my 23 tooth cog in the back and spun easy. I was Sssssooooo glad to not have a 42 - 16 gear as my only choice. Plus, the side benefit is I won't spend any more money on stuff I really don't need.

So to Brady, Thank you sir for your astute observation of the glaringly obvious. One gear is not all you need all the time.

Coffee...

Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee

(deep breath)

COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE

(pant, pant)

coffee....

Just a pre-warning.

I'll be out of any Shabbos riding this weekend since the cyclocross races in Lincoln are hosted by our team and I'm helping out. Oh wait a minute, Bryan's doing that crazy running thing and not many others have been joining our ride, so there you go.

Ok so nevermind. IGNORE THIS POST and go on about your business.

Shabbos +1: sleeping in

I propose the following:

8:30 start from my house.
Coffee prior, if you're there about 20 minutes early
Ride for 3 hours.
Go home.

This is my job.

Just replace the words "text", "book", and "scroll" with file, powerpoint, and transparency in respective order and you will have the same dialogue I encounter almost everyday.

Like Bryan, I need to get a new job. "But I still love technology, Always and forever..."

Wow, that was fun!!11

So I scurried around during the day to get ready for my first try at night time MTB riding. I had to dig out my headlight system and recharge the battery. My commuter now has a generator hub, so I no longer have to remember, but usually forget, to recharge a battery. So anyway. I get the battery going over lunch. Mod posted that he was leaving from the Trek Store to ride out there. I joined him right around 5-ish. We were both on single speeds so the riding was mellow. We had plenty of time to get there anyway. The destination was Tranquility with it's brand new trail additions.



It was dim when we arrived, but got really dark by the time we started. At the meeting place, there was only 4 of us so we were worried about attendance. Then down the trail came 6 or 7 dancing helmet lights. That was a sight I had never seen and it was pretty cool.

So we get going and since I had never done this before, I rode near the back with guys that were taking it easy. I kinda wish I had gone with the 5 or 6 faster guys at the beginning, just to get a better workout, but it was nice just riding and chatting. When us easy pacers got to the top of a hill, we took a breather and watched the fast guys headlights zig back and forth like a train of lightning bugs. Crazy fast Doug who was on a single speed cross bike took the lead after that and he was just gone. There was no way I was going to catch him. It didn't help that this particular section of the trail was completely new and rather twisty, but I thought I could at least keep him in sight. I was wrong. After the end of that lap, we all hung around for little then started the 2nd lap. I rode with the fast guys this time. They were taking it easier which is how I stayed with them. However, once Mod got to the front and got to a technical section, he was also just gone. Usually I can make up ground on the longer stretches, but Tranquility has been completely redone to make it much more technical. My long stretches were no more. Plus I was fading fast. By the end of the 2nd lap, I was toast. But it was fun.

A few of us rode, while others drove, over to Josh and Khamails place for some amazing food. It was the perfect end to a new adventure. Great food and great company. Epicly good times.

Doping is bad, Mkay?!

A two-year study has found "frightening damage" to the offspring of 52 East German athletes from the doping-infused era of the 1970s and '80s. Of 69 children, 7 have physical deformities and 4 are mentally handicapped -- a rate of serious medical issues much higher than in the general population. The reason is forced consumption of anabolic steroids during the athletes' competitive period, according to the study conducted by the Germany University at Humboldt. More than 25% of their kids have allergies and 23% have asthma. Among the former athletes, now aged 40-60, the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth is a staggering 32 times higher than in the normal German population. In addition, 25% have suffered some form of cancer and 61% have had therapy for psychiatric disorders, including 38% with severe depression and suicidal tendencies.

Wonder if they've ever done a study like this with American football, wrasslin, or Barry Bonds? I also wonder if EPO has any side effects like this. Pretty scary stuff.

At least I have a blog...

There, are you happy Legg?









I don't have much to say. I haven't been training. I haven't been doing anything really exciting. Unfortunately, there's just been a lot of TV watching.

I do have all except one part needed to put together Peters bike. Backstory; Peter calls me up saying he's living in Cali and won't be back till Xmas time. However, the HighGear Team issue Cannondale bike he borrowed was in pieces at his mom's house in fricken Papillion. And it needs to be put back together and taken to the shop post-haste (I love using old-time wording). So the biggest hassle was, his mom pretty much threw ALL of his bike stuff in some boxes so figuring out what cassette parts went together and how to get a whole headset working for the bike included a few too many trips to Papillion. And I still have to go back and find the top cap for a headset I got assembled. And let me tell you something, Peter and his bro have too many amazing bike parts just laying around. I probably shouldn't go into all the goodies I drooled over scavenging parts for the bike, but let's just say, there's enough parts for a few high end bikes. Yes, I'm jealous much.

So, for all my time and traveling Peter owes me a few meals at King-Kongs and/or Chipotle. It's a lot of gas money heading all the way down there, and I'm sure his mom is getting tired of me showing up, tearing up the garage searching for parts, then putting it back together again.

So what about you Legg? Care to respond and keep my blog hoppin? Or should I make you an author on this site too so you can be part of the MITMON experience!?!?!?

and + 1

Sunday, Jonny and I are meeting at my apt at 8am then leaving shortly thereafter. If you want to join in to make an actual group ride, post a reply and we'll setup a meeting place.

Obligatory Shabbos post

I think we've run the subject of men's nipples far into the ground by now ... I hope.

Shabbos this week -- Bike Masters ride at 9 on Saturday. Gonna be probably a tiny bit faster than normal Shabbos rides, but that shouldn't be a problem. We'll crush them through sheer might.

If you'd like to participate in pre-ride coffee, be at my house by 8:30, and then we'll ride up to the shop. Do let me know if you'll be there -- I'd like to have the beans harvested in time for proper roasting and grinding. Thanks.