Just a draft

Lucy and I will attempt to climb Lyon Mountain on Monday. That will be our third Adirondack peak in two summers. All three of the mountains have fire towers on the top. If we complete our quest I will commemorate it with a t-shirt with something like this for a design.

My talented kin

Latest from Marly in L.A.

see more at yourgirlfriend.org

My far-flung friends

Young Mike Casey gets the troops in line in Iraq

I think Youpi is in this

No one has time for this

I am going to do it anyway.
Which version of this song do you prefer?

biking and running

I biked 60 miles over the weekend and this morning I did a walk/run of three miles. I averaged 15 mph on the bike and 5.29 mph on foot. The gash on my knee came from falling off my bike. Something I do more often than Lucy - as she keeps reminding me.

Another Endo

One of the things you worry about whenever you step up the intensity of exercise is injury. Whether you are just starting out or you have been at it for a while and are moving to a new level, injury can slow you down. I learned that the hard way in the spring when I added running to my regimen. I immediately overdid it, injured my knee and had to slow down for several weeks before I could start progressing again. I was a little worried this past weekend when I did two successive 35-mile rides. I gave myself two days off from the bike and started riding again yesterday. I felt great - better than ever - after completing 15 miles in 56 minutes. This morning I decided I would do 18 miles and ride as hard as I could. I always feel safe riding in the pre-dawn hours. There is hardly any traffic and what traffic there is, is easy to spot because of their headlights. I always make sure I am well illuminated as well. This morning, going hard, I failed to notice a car, hit my brakes and pulled an endo. That is I catapulted myself over the top of my bike. My left wrist is sore, my right shoulder is bruised and I have a couple of good scrapes on my right knee. I crashed, of course, in the first 200 yards of my ride. Being the stupid boy that I am I completed my planned 18-mile route (average speed: 14.21 mph) and went home to nurse my wounds. Everything looks fine, although I am a bit concerned about yoga tonight with my sore wrist. I might have to modify my downward facing dog. I have learned that injury does not have to put a halt to exercise, but it is so much easier and so much more effective if you can remain injury free. It was 59 degrees when I started riding today. The first song on the MP3 player was “The Judgement” by Elvis Costello.

Corlei's birthday

another 35

I rode another 35 miles this morning. I picked up the pace and finished in 2 hours and 17 minutes. That's an average speed of 15.32 mph.
Over the weekend I have gone 70 miles at an average speed of 15.16 mph. My legs are feeling a bit wobbly right now.

From my friend Dirk

Translation:
"And with this plan you can really call for free??"

"Yes, you must only pay for the time you don't speak."

Here is Dirk's site: BSEPlus
It is funnier if you know that Dirk sells mobile phone services in Germany.

Iron and Diamonds

It is important for me to listen to something I really like before I go out on a bike ride. The last song I hear is going to be stuck in my head the entire ride. Fortunately I listened to this Gibson Brothers' gem before I hit the road this morning

Eric Gibson said of the song: "The 'Iron' in the title concerns the mines, (on Lyon Mountain) while the 'Diamonds' is a baseball image. Leigh and I played for the Lyon Mountain Miners of the Champlain Valley Baseball League in the late 80s, early 90s. They were sons and grandsons of real Miners, but those guys all had that same us-against-the world attitude that I imagine their ancestors had."

Saturday morning ride

I rode 35 miles today in 2 hours and 20 minutes. That is an average speed of 15 mph. I was quite surprised with my result. I really expected to be at about 12 mph. I stopped in Prospect, Richwood, Essex, and Green Camp for sips of water and I hit a few red lights in Marion. I did not see the Richwood Opera House. Nor did I see gas for $2.19

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Mileage update

I just rode six miles to get my total bike riding mileage this week to 101 miles!

Finally, my calves of steel are paying off!

Cartoon in progress

I have some work to do on this.

Get your own graph at skinnyr

Today is weigh in day for week 35. The scale is on the light side of 220, which is a 1.5 pound decrease from last week. My body fat percentage is at 29.8, which is up from last week’s 29.7, which was up from the week before that. I am not sure what is going on there. My BMI is down to 31.6. Last week my BMI was 31.8. I am going to rate this week as a good one. It’s the first good one I have had in a while. I had a great week on the bike. I rode 15 miles this morning to make my total since last Saturday 95 miles. If I had figured that out before just now I might have tacked on another 5 miles this morning. At yoga last night towards the end of the class we went into a Downward Facing Dog position and my heels were flat on my mat. It was a moment of pure delight and amazement for me. It gives me hope that one day I will be able to sit cross-legged comfortably. I have a big bike ride planned for the weekend and have a good feeling about next week. It was 66 degrees when I hit the streets this morning. The first song on the MP3 player was “WSM 650" by Chatham County Line.

I have lived on both ends of Route 23 and driven it's length on a number of occasions. These guys have it pegged.

Fun Slide - 100 Percent Fun! Another 95 percent Duct Tape

This is the amusement park ride that Lucy designed at Camp Invention. The Fun Slide, according to the literature Lucy produced, is 100 percent fun. Can't beat that!

Newton's First Law

I think I had a fairly productive weekend, exercise-wise. I rode for about 6 miles Friday night. I had to stop because I was getting bombarded by beetles. Saturday, after working for about 3 hours at the office in the pre-dawn hours, I rode the 25 miles to Prospect and back. On Sunday I rode 15 miles on my little neighborhood criterion route. Today I did my walk/run workout. Saturday, I had my first bike crash in a long time. I was unhurt and my bike was not damaged and I found a little silver lining. Lucy and I have not be on our bikes together for more than week. She had been busy at a science-oriented day-camp. When we do ride I am constantly cautioning her about her braking habits. She has both coaster brakes and a hand brake on her front wheel. She likes to use the hand brake exclusively. ... My accident occurred because I was trying to come to an emergency stop and I used only my front brake while on a slight downhill. The front wheel stopped but the rest of the bicycle and I kept right on going. ... I described the accident to her as a cautionary tale. “I know why that happened,” she said. I was ready for her to repeat one of my admonitions of front brake overuse when she said, “That’s Newton’s First Law of Motion.” Science camp paid off almost immediately! Later she kept poking small gash I tore in my knee. Poke. “Does that hurt?” “Yes.”Poke. “Does that hurt?” “Yes.”Poke. “Does that hurt?” “Yes.”Poke. “Does that hurt?” “Yes.”Poke. “Does that hurt?” “Yes.”Poke. “Does that hurt?” “Yes.” I am obsessed with the song, “Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)” by Peter Sarstedt.

adendum to poll

What about Lyon Mountain?

wacky clothes day at Camp Invention

Lucy channeled Junie B. Jones for Wacky Clothes Day at Camp Invention.

what should we do?

one more camping photo

yeah, we're cooking hot dogs.

backyard camping

Lucy and I camped out for two nights in the backyard this weekend. We ate lot's of turkey dogs. I don't have any pictures of the s'mores we ate... You need two hands for s'mores.

crazy weight since vacation

Get your own graph at skinnyr

With the see-saw week I have had on the scale I am happy with this result. My weight came in this morning at 221.5 pounds - same as last week. My body fat percentage went up to 29.6 percent, that’s a .3 percent increase. My BMI remains at 31.8. I don’t expect anything unusual over the holiday weekend. We are planning a little backyard campout which could result in s’mores consumption, but that’s about it. Hopefully, I will get a lot of bike riding in. This morning I am going to the dedication ceremony at Veterans Park. Maybe I will see you there.

before and after

When I snapped the shot above I didn't even notice the power poles. I didn't do a great job of erasing them, but it still looks better below. This is scene from the east side of Chateaugay, Mary's hometown.