The Weekend Plan

A bit of flying this AM and hopefull a bike ride this afternoon. Here's the rest:

• Cub Scout Christmas bonfire with my son this evening
• Train Show tomorrow morning at Richmond Fairgrounds
• Last leaf clean-up in the afternoon
• Finish a few Christmas things
• Work on 3 wisemen for outdoor nativity scene
• Ice Skating with the family on Sunday
• Dinner out with the mrs. on Sunday eve: I'll be one year older
• Of course bike rides in there too....

Wreaths Across America Day

Today's is the "Wreaths Across America" day for Veterans cemeteries across the country. As part of a Civil Air Patrol program, I'm hosting a wreath laying ceremony at 12Noon today to honor our veterans at 1 of 2 VA Veterans Cemeteries (Amelia). Arlington of course is the big event where Worcester Wreaths will be laid at each veteran headstone. It's beautiful. At the rest of the cemeteries, we will be laying 6 wreaths, 1 for each branch of service and 1 for MIA's.

This happens at 12 Noon EST all across the country. Even if you can't get to one, will you join us at 12 Noon EST sharp for 60 seconds of silence wherever you're at?

Here's a link to the website for Wreaths Across America. There's a nice video there of the Arlington ceremony.



http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.com/

Rain Today

It looks like no rides today because of the rain. So I'll chug my Sumatra and ......

One of my first posts spoke of cycling to lose weight. Well, I'm getting there and have 10 lbs left to get to my goal weight. I've been where I am now around this time last year. Then Christmas and cold weather and the bike stayed inside while the trainer gathered dust. I can't let that happen this year.

So here's my declaration (not a resolution): I will weigh 180 lbs by January 31st, 2007.

I don't know if that's the end state weight or not. I want to get there and see how it feels. My goals beyond that for cycling are a little less clear. I would like to do some competition and I'm not sure if that will be in the direction of a century or some type of racing. Perhaps this winter will help with some of those revelations.

-----------

UNTIL ONE IS COMMITTED THERE IS HESITANCY,
THE CHANCE TO DRAW BACK, ALWAYS INEFFECTIVENESS,
CONCERNING ALL ACTS OF CREATION AND INITIATIVE,
THERE IS ONE ELEMENTARY TRUTH,
THE IGNORANCE OF WHICH KILLS COUNTLESS IDEAS AND
SPLENDID PLANS:
THAT THE MOMENT ONE DEFINITELY COMMITS ONESELF,
THEN PROVIDENCE MOVES TOO.
ALL SORTS OF THINGS OCCUR TO HELP ONE THAT
WOULD NEVER OTHERWISE HAVE OCCURRED. A WHOLE STREAM OF EVENTS ISSUES FROM THE COMMITMENT,
RAISING IN ONES FAVOR ALL MANNER OF UNFORESEEN
INCIDENTS AND MEETINGS AND MATERIAL ASSISTANCE, WHICH
NO MAN COULD HAVE DREAMT WOULD HAVE COME HIS WAY.
I HAVE LEARNED A DEEP RESPECT FOR ONE OF GOTHE’S
COUPLETS -
‘WHATEVER YOU CAN DO, OR DREAM YOU CAN, BEGIN IT. BOLDNESS HAS GREAT GENIUS, POWER AND MAGIC IN IT.”

W.H. MURRAY

Nice Rides Tues and Wed

Back to the 60's here in VA these past few days. Very unusual and you take it. During the week I can't often afford more than a 1 hour ride and that's the MO yesterday and today. These are Endurance rides with HR just underneath 144 (What CTS says I should do given my fitness trials - more on that for a later post). I want to fly on this bike so keeping under 144 is not easy, i.e. need some discipline yet. Realistically EM rides should be more than an hour, well......

So the important answer: Yeah, I like coffee and need my 2-3 cups pretty religiously every morning. That's "ground every day" and pretty strong: no fussy womens coffee for me. Noon time the coffee pot goes off or I'll be up all night. Not sure about you but my doctor says the cafeine can stay in your system up to 8 hours, hence the noon cut-off. No I don't go to bet by 8pm. ................but I could.............

Last week was a busy week. No cycling past Tuesday. 4 hours of flying on Wednesday (to VA Tech and back, then down in Atlanta from Thursday through the weekend to visit my brother.

Back to it today. No excuses as we're expecting temps in the 60's here in VA.

Cold weather layering

I have all the gear now to cycle through most of the winter. Since this is a first for me a lot of experimentation is in order. Here's my MO so far:

• Above 60 - choose between long or short sleeve depending on temp.
• 50 - 60 - long sleeve jersey, leg warmers, synthetic undershirt w/temps on low-end
• 40-50 - Craft undershirt, long sleeve jersey, polartec or Windstopper jacket (the latter on the low-end of the temps and if raining); booties for low-end (i hate cold feet), therma-fleece tights, beanie, fleece gloves under riding gloves
• 30's - haven't been here yet, but I will. Most of the above will work, perhaps with all

I need to experiment more in the 40-50 range. The Windstopper jacket (Gore) got me sweating pretty good. In similar conditions, swapping with the Polartec the next day felt better. The Windstopper might be better left for light rain and sub 40 weather. Will the tights be enough for sub-40? We'll see.

Cold for VA

First "cold" ride yesterday. Cold is 42 degrees and 3 layers. First time for that and trying out new booties. I now believe in booties as I hate cold feet. It appears that I now have at least one set of cold weather gear. The problem now is that I have no more excuses. Even my VA 42 degrees is nothing for the Wisconsin folks out on early 10 degree rides. No excuses....

My usual ride is at least an hour with a good HR, staying in the aerobic and endurance levels.

A bit warmer today (50) and will hit it shortly for a post lunch ride.

What am I doing?

I just started my very own blog. So hello for cryin' out loud. Outside of marriage and fatherhood I fly, I ride, I build stuff and then coach ball games. I think you'll see a bit of all of that here from time to time.

My most active pursuit right now is cycling. While the bug started back in High School, it took a hiatus for a few decades. I found it again when my son started riding and wanted me with him. So after renovating my old bike and performing some new age updates (computer, clipless pedals), I started riding again. The leverage point became a desire for weight loss and, lo and behold, I've been on a bike on average 4-5 days per week ever since, a little over 2 years now.

During that time I have connected with an old buddy and it turns out he's become quite an accomplished competitive Mountain Biker. The enthusiast screw tightens and I read a few Carmichael books. Bike rides turn into training rides. The computer and HR monitor enter and now cycling has taken on a life of it's own for me. It's been fun learning all of the changes in cycling over 25 years. I enjoy the technical side of training methods and combining cadence and HR to optimize training and efficiency. The weight is coming off and I have a bit more to go.

The changes in the cycling world have been drastic, akin to me being that Rumpel stilkin (sp?) guy and falling asleep for 25 years. Carbon, clipless, computers, STI....wow. I was afraid to ride a new bike because then I would want one. Well I did ride one and, yup, I wanted one and finally bought one 2 months ago. Remember the old buddy I mentioned? He and I started talking about the riding I have been doing, goals, etc. I wanted a road bike, with some speed and some dampening. Carbon was it and and I did some test rides. After wandering from the possibility of building a bike, we settled on a Specialized Tarmac. The Tarmac gave me some upside for other future goals, perhaps including some competition.

So when and where to buy? I've been a fan of e-bay and started browsing what was available. After consulting with my friend again, I found the right bike and was very fortunate to get it at the right price.

So now I ride a Specialized Tarmac Expert, pretty much Manfacturer's stock, with Ultegra groupo and Mavic Ksyrium Equipes. My add-ons are Cat-eye Astrale 8 (w/cadence) and Shimano SPD clipless pedals. By the way, I now believe in heated floors, clipless pedals and STI. It's a sweet ride and has more to give than I can take right now, and working on it. Pictures to come.

It's getting colder and the cold weather gear has been handy so that the holidays don't add the weight that's taken 9 months to get off.

That'll do for now