Tuesday,
May 22, 2018
I HAVE to stop taking these
breaks from writing! At least this time
I didn’t take a break from working out.
Quite the opposite, actually.
My riding became less frequent
as my time to hike in the Adirondacks drew nearer and the rains continued
unabated. I also got caught up in the
numbers game my Fitbit has created…counting steps. At one point, I did over 30,000 steps in
three consecutive days. My feet were
quite sore after that period and it was a good test of what it would be like to
walk multiple days of more than 20 miles, as I would be likely to do when
trekking whatever long course I hike. I
also did over 193,000 steps in one seven-day period, marking a new record by
far for a week. I am on my way to
crushing my one-month total, as well.
And I do get caught up in these
numbers and I don’t know why. I always
have gotten caught up in the numbers.
How many miles did I run in a week?
What was my fastest time on a particular course? How many miles did I ride for the day, week
or month? What was Carl Yastrzemski’s
batting average (he won the American League batting title in 1968 – the year of
the pitcher – with a .301 average. It was
the lowest average ever to win the league title before or since)? The very important numbers only.
I climbed Hopkins Mountain in
the Adirondacks last Friday on probably the best weather day I have ever
climbed. With a cloudless sky overhead
and temperature hovering in the mid-sixties, I did the ascent in two hours
using a casual, enjoy the serenity, pace.
Once on top, I marveled at the views and deep blue of the sky overhead
and found myself mesmerized and unable to leave for over an hour. That part was okay, but doing so without a
cover on my head was not. I burned my
dome to the point of blistering and by the end of the day Saturday must have
been suffering from some kind of sun poisoning.
That was colossally dumb.
And so now I find myself
without a specific, immediate goal. I am
heading for Augusta and Fort Gordon this weekend to spend some time with
Jack. It’s a struggle to get in good
hikes around that area as the roads are busy and there are no parks
nearby. I’m thinking of packing up my
bike and doing a morning ride while Jack sleeps in, which he normally does any
chance he gets away from an Army routine that has him up by 4 a.m.ish. When I return home, I think I will map out a
strategy for the summer to include several weekend trips of hiking and biking. That will keep my focus where it needs to be –
on the training and conditioning I need to maintain as I head into retirement.
Oh…and I did actually notify
the farm that I want to semi-retire at the end of this year. It was a watershed moment for me to actually
commit to it on paper and with the organization. When I think back over my life at the things
I never really thought about or thought would actually happen, this is surely
one of those moments. It scares me. It excites me. The unknown will do that to you…
Hike:
One hour and 20 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 90 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 475.
Bonus:
22,000 steps.
Wednesday,
May 9, 2018
“My back is pretty sore. I was doing ditches again today and the pain
is wicked. I may just skip riding and
take it easy tonight,” I said to my cousin Donnie as I drove home.
“Good thinking, Maddox Man (my
childhood nickname stemming from my love to dig holes and trenches with a mattock). Even superheroes need a rest now and again,”
he said.
But by the time I got home, the
guilt of not having ridden the night before and the thought of not riding for
two nights in a row was too much for my limited brain function. I suited up and headed down the road.
Everything was fine for several
miles, but then I felt it at the base of the spine. Nothing serious or I wouldn’t have ridden,
just that nagging fatigue that comes from doing too much lifting. I cut the ride a little short, doing only 25
miles and after walking around for the rest of the night doing mundane chores, I
have to say it was much better. I know
my body and sometimes it is actually preferable to work through the ache.
The Boston Celtics knocked off
the Philadelphia 76’ers, so the CAVS have their opponent for the championship
round of the NBA playoffs. If LeBron and
company can manage another upset, Boston was seeded second in the east, they
will head for the finals. If LeBron does
that, it will be the eighth consecutive trip – something never accomplished in
the history of the NBA. He may be the
best the game has ever seen. Sorry, Mr.
Jordan.
Bike
Ride: One hour and 45 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1,500.
Bonus: 26,000 steps.
Tuesday,
May 8, 2018
Last Saturday I made a
concession to the weight loss I’ve managed since going on the Paleo Diet and
dropping ten pounds. My belt has not
been doing its thing, which is to hold up my pants. I had it on the last available notch, so I
took matters into my own hands deciding it would be more economical to punch a
hole into a perfectly functioning belt than it would be to buy a new one. I used the end of 5 in 1 scraper and worked a
hole through the leather. I pushed the
hasp through the new notch and eureka – my pants stayed up and I saved like $10
on accessories.
The grass has been getting out
of control on the farm and the storm ditches along the front of the property
needed cutting badly. I took my hand
mower down and began the arduous task of cutting them. The angle is wicked it took a couple of hours
slipping, yanking, pushing and pulling to complete the task. My back ached the entire time, but it had to
be done and I’m the only one available.
Retirement keeps looking better and better.
I got out of the car slowly
after pulling in the driveway. I
thought, ‘this would be a perfect day to ride and tomorrow is going to be in
the eighties’ but decided that my back needed some rest. I already had 25,000 steps for the day from
all I’d done at the farm and so took a 2-mile hike with Dakota just to give her
some exercise and to push my total over 30,000 for the day. When we returned, I did another un-Paleo
thing and made Amish casserole for dinner.
It has turkey meat (good), canned cream of chicken soup (bad), noodles
and cheese (even worse) in it, but I needed something different that tasted
good. I made it, I ate it, I enjoyed
it. And then I felt guilty.
Hike:
40 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 90 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 275.
Bonus:
31,000 steps.
Monday,
May 7, 2018
I never watch basketball. I find it rather boring, to be honest. The see-saw nature of the game drives me
crazy and it feels like it’s going to come down to the last couple of minutes
anyway, so why watch the other 46? In any
event, I went to bed whispering a silent prayer that LBJ and the CAVS would
take care of business and sweep Toronto out of the playoffs. As is often the case, I woke up around 1 a.m.
and decided to check my smart phone for the results of the game. CAVS:
128 Raptors: 93 flashed across my
screen. I mean wow…that was a royal ass-kicking
if there ever was one. I was surprised
that I hadn’t received a late-night notification from Jack about the sweep, but
he gets up at 4 a.m. so he probably missed it.
I texted him on my way to work,
typing one word – ‘Wow’. He wrote back,
‘the CAVS got out the broom’. And so
they did. Sweep of the number one seed
complete. Now let’s see if they can make
it to the finals for the fourth straight year.
It was a rugged day on the
farm. Mitch and I shoveled, pulled
fencing, cut grass, hung a heavy fan from a ladder, and other miscellaneous
things to the point that I was feeling soreness in my back by the end of the
day. I’d actually been experiencing some
discomfort since the previous week when I’d moved a couple tons of stone and
limestone screenings onto the service drives in an effort to repair holes
created over the winter.
I drove home thinking it was
the absolute perfect day for a long ride.
The temperature was in the low sixties and not a cloud in the
skies. I suited up with Dakota watching and
thinking she was going along. She never
has taken up bike riding and I’m not sure where the optimism comes from, but
that’s her. “I’ll take you for a walk
when I get back,” I said guiltily.
It was another of those rides
where I felt ready to rock for hours. My
legs weren’t feeling the previous day’s ride in the least, but as I got up out
of the saddle to ride up a short hill, I felt a twinge in my lower back. Odd.
This pattern continued
throughout the ride and I knew my back was messed up. Nothing serious, mind you; I know the
difference, but it was something that could use some rest. Yet I had lots of heavy lifting to do at work
and many miles to ride in the coming days.
Rest for a sore back is unlikely.
We will see…
Bike
Ride: Two hours.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1,500.
Bonus: 25,000 steps.
Sunday,
May 6, 2018
Thursday was the hottest, most
humid day yet. Hovering around 80
degrees, I took Dakota and headed out for our hike. She was not exactly thrilled and lagged consistently
behind me by about 50 yards…but she did keep moving. We did our long hike, climbing out of the
valley on Everett Road and she perked up as we made the half-way point and
turned for home. With another day of
more than 30,000 steps though, I was beginning to feel it and thinking about
doing this and more day after day with a pack on my back on the North Country
Trail. Ah well…I’ll be ready when the
time comes and if I’m not, I’ll die.
Friday was nicer and the hike
went more smoothly, but my right hip was hurting enough to keep me awake at
night. I worked on it all day Saturday
at Mimi’s, but decided against a hike afterwards and instead made some dinner
and watched the inspirational true story of Boston Marathon bombing victim,
Jeff Bauman, as he dealt with the physical and emotional pain of having lost
both his legs. Jake Gyllenhaal is
amazing in the role as Jeff Bauman, but when isn’t he amazing?
By Sunday, I was determined to
ride…and long. I was on the bike on a
somewhat chilly morning by 10 a.m. with the intention of going at least forty
miles. I picked a course I’ve been
riding with the intent of adding a couple of loops to make up the
difference. As I rode up and out of the
valley on Everett Road, I could tell I was going to have an excellent ride. I climbed in a harder gear with no real
effort and continued attacking hills throughout the course. I dropped back into the valley, but then
decided to climb up and out again near the end of the ride for the extra miles…and
punishment. But with the excellent
climbing gearing on ‘Locke’ and my conditioning and decreased weight, it went
easily. As I crested the hill for
another descent, I felt like I could keep doing this all day.
I arrived back home after two
and a half hours in the saddle feeling fantastic. Perfect way to end a ride, too. I still needed to get out with Dakota for a
hike, which didn’t concern me as the hip felt fine once again.
I’m holding my weight at 190
with some cheating. I went out Saturday
and scored a pint of Maple Nut ice cream, eating it all while watching the
movie. I had walked a record 188,000 steps for the week, crushing my old record of 168,000 easily and thought I deserved it.
Jack did call late Saturday
night to announce the outcome of game three between the CAVS and the Toronto
Raptors. When I saw who the call was
from, I knew they’d won. He’d never call
to discuss a loss.
“Did you see LeBron’s final
shot, dad?” he asked excitedly.
“Did he miss it?” I asked.
“He…what…no! He’s the most clutch player in the history of
playoff basketball!” he said.
Well…sure. He’s LBJ.
He was in The Land.
He coaxed me to get out of bed,
Google the last shot on YouTube and watch it with him on the phone. I did and it was amazing, but it’s LBJ and so
should we be too surprised?
Bike
Ride: Two hours and 30 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1,875.
Bonus: 188,000 steps in one week.
Wednesday,
May 2, 2018
“They’re gonna sweep, dad,”
Jack said, matter-of-factly.
I had just asked him how the
CAVS, having squeaked by the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the NBA
playoffs, would fare against the number one seed, the Toronto Raptors.
“They’re going to beat is four
straight?” I asked, innocently.
“NO DAD! We’re going to sweep THEM!” he said…as if I
didn’t know what he’d meant in the first place.
And so we went to Toronto for
game one and, in overtime, beat the Raptors by a single point. I hope you’re right, Jack.
I’d worked all day in a hot,
humid sun and was driving home thinking about abandoning my ride. I was exhausted. This happens when the weather changes
suddenly from winter to summer with no spring in-between. That it how it seems. Sunday morning, it was snowing in
Pennsylvania and now it’s in the eighties.
My body has not acclimatized and yes, that’s a real thing. Your body has to retool itself to dissipate
heat after spending five months trying to conserve it. It can take a week to ten days, less for a
highly conditioned person, but I’m not that right now.
I reached home and had
convinced myself I’d be a little girl if I didn’t get out on the bike, so I
suited up, filled up both water bottles – one with Gatorade – and headed out on
my 25-mile course. I struggled over the
last several miles, but was proud of myself when I rolled back in the driveway,
spent.
I took Dakota on a short walk,
acknowledging that she too needed to get used to the sudden heat wave. She moved slowly, but steadily for our 2-mile
hike and was glad to be back in the cooler house in the end. Though unwilling to concede it easily, I will
have to watch her closely this summer.
If that ‘dog years’ thing is accurate, she’ll be in her 90’s and maybe I
need to consider shorter hikes. She
looks fit, trim, and young and mostly acts that way, but it’s something to
watch for.
Thunderstorms are in the
forecast so the next couple of days may be tough for riding. With the Adirondacks only two weeks away, I feel
ready. My weight remains down and I’m
working out every day. It’s going to be
a good summer.
Bike
Ride: One hour and 30 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1,125.
Bonus:
26,000 steps.
Tuesday,
May 1, 2018
For the past three years, I
have been meeting regularly with two life-long friends, Don and John, for
spaghetti dinners and then watching something related to baseball. We’re all junkies. Don and I were in the fitness business
together beginning in the early eighties when we were Fitness Directors for the
Back Wall Athletic Clubs. We started our
own fitness testing/cholesterol screening business afterwards and stayed close
over the ensuing years. Recently, he
told John and I how he was juicing six pounds of carrots a day and drinking the
48 ounces he got from his efforts.
“You’re going to turn
orange. I read about Steve Jobs doing
that and he turned orange,” I said.
He was pretty sure he wouldn’t
since he’d been doing it for a couple of weeks and was still pale. We teased him anyways, but he kept
drinking. Yesterday, we went to Fisher’s
for ribs where he told us he had an interesting story to tell.
“I’ve had a non-aggressive form
of prostate cancer for two and a half years,” he said. He went on to describe how he had chosen to
just keep an eye on it with his Cleveland Clinic doctor because he wasn’t ready
for the alternative chemo or radiation.
“Eighty percent of my patients
opt for an aggressive approach because they are uncomfortable with cancer in
their bodies. You don’t need to do
anything if you’re comfortable with that approach, though. We will watch your PSA and do the exams we
need every three to four months,” he told Don.
And so it went – until his last
exam when his doctor told him he had a large mass and it was growing fast and
aggressive. “We need to take quick
action,” he told Don.
“I went home and did some
reading – like all people do who get this diagnosis – and I kept reading about
mega doses of carrot juice. I checked
with Bob (our good friend and incredibly thorough nutritionist) and he assured
me that there was not toxic buildup of vitamin A as long as it came from a
plant source. I told the doc’s office
what I was doing and put off the biopsy for a couple of weeks so I could give
it a chance to work. They told me there
was nothing to support what I was doing, but as a pharmaceutical rep, I know who
puts the money into medical research and it’s not them if there is no drug to
sell if it works,” he said.
For the next six weeks he
juiced and drank his concoction. He had
his biopsy three days ago – fourteen samples were taken – and the doctor had called
him with the results just before he joined us for dinner.
“The doc was kind of
emotional. He said he’d never seen
anything like it before, but my cancerous mass and any sign of cancer – was gone!”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know he’d had it and he was telling
me it was gone and of course I was extremely happy for him and dumbfounded by
how he’d accomplished it.
“In your reading, was the
carrot juice option limited to prostate cancer or would it help will all cancers?”
I asked.
“Any cancer,” he said.
It has me thinking about
getting a juicer and turning orange.
I managed a hard ride before
dinner, going 25 miles on a hot and sunny afternoon. I also hit 30,000 steps for the second consecutive
day, which is something I’ve never done before.
Today is should be a good riding day if the thunderstorms hold off until
evening.
Bike
Ride: One hour and 30 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1,125.
Bonus:
31,000 steps.
Monday,
April 30, 2018
I’m getting bored with hiking
as my only form of exercise, but even though it was perfect weather for a ride,
I opted for a hike with Dakota. You see,
I arrived at home with 21,000 steps already in the books from a hard day on the
farm. I knew my standard hike would put
another 9,000 on that total and I liked the sound of 30,000 for the day. Additionally, I would set a monthly record
for myself that would be hard to beat and I like having tough goals. So…out I went.
And I didn’t stop until I reached
almost 36,000 for the day and 649,000 for the month. Okay…that’s done. Today should reach almost 80 degrees and with
sun in the forecast, I’ll ride. The
Adirondacks are three weeks away and I really should find that missing bag of
salt, throw it in my backpack and head to the local track to do some
steps. How to you misplace a fifty-pound
bag of salt anyway? One of the issues of
my new house and no garage.
I continue to follow the Paleo
Diet though I took a weekend off to have some French toast and maple syrup
while camping. I began watching ‘The
Magic Pill’ on Netflix and although I am only half way through the 90-minute
documentary on sensible nutrition, I can already endorse it. Essentially, it is the Paleo diet, focusing
as the Paleo does on lean meats, fruits and vegetables. It does a nice job of explaining the Paleo
theory that our body’s DNA for eating, which for 100,000 generations (not years
– generations!) was all about food we ingested from our hunter/gatherer methods. Only over the last 10,000 years have our
bodies switched to highly processed, grain/legume, carbohydrate-based foods,
which is at the root of so many of today’s illnesses. Though I have not finished the program, I
hope that it will spend some time on activity levels as a large part of the
obesity issue throughout the world. As much
as diet, I suspect this leads in a large part to issues such as high blood
pressure, diabetes, heart disease and joint issues related to being
immobile. In any event, the emphasis on
the right kinds of fats and the elimination of boxed carbohydrates is fascinating.
Hike:
One hours and 30 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 90 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 525.
Bonus:
36,000 steps.
Sunday,
April 29, 2018
I was heading for Pennsylvania
and a weekend of hiking and camping with one fitness goal in mind – piling up
steps on Fitbit. I was targeting my
record for consecutive days of more than 20,000 steps and my single-month grand
total of 605,000. If the weather
cooperated and I continued to hit my 20’s, I would easily shatter my previous
best.
Well…I had 14K by the time I
left work and headed for Pa., but it was raining when I arrived at my
site. Determined to hit 20K, Dakota and
I headed out and before we returned with her a muddy mess, I’d topped 23,000.
Saturday was more of the same,
weather-wise. I couldn’t let it stop me
though, and plowed off down an abandoned rail trail that had very little
maintenance done to it and was covered in briars. We were walking along the Allegheny River
when suddenly I heard the retort of a shotgun from a local gun club located
just across the river. I turned to see
Dakota’s reaction. She had already turned
for home at a rapid clip. I called to
her and encouraged her to come with me, but as the shooting continued, she
began climbing the extremely steep slope next to the trail to escape the
noise. I tried to lure her back to me,
but she was having none of it and so I turned around and headed for home, which
she approved of.
We managed another 24,000 steps
for the day, but when I returned and was cleaning the mud off her belly, I noticed
something crawling on her fur. I plucked
away the first tick I had ever found on her and over the next half-hour found
10 more on her and then three on me.
Apparently the Pennsylvania woods are loaded with the little blood
suckers.
We hiked Sunday morning before
getting in the car for the ride home, but I needed more steps and so headed out
for Hale Farm and Village upon my return.
Dakota had had enough and elected to stay home. I spotted a Loon on Indigo Lake as I hiked;
the first I have ever seen in Northeast Ohio.
By the end of the day, I’d
totaled 613,000 steps for the month so tomorrow – the last day of the month –
will be gravy. I suspect this record
will stand until after I retire and head onto one of the long trails I want to
hike. And my feet are sore…
Wednesday,
April 25, 2018
When it comes to rain and
cycling, I’m a confirmed, proud baby. I
don’t mind getting wet myself and if it starts to rain while I’m on a ride, no
big deal. But I WILL NOT start a ride
when the roads are wet or it’s raining for a couple of reasons. Brakes are not as good when wet, though I’ve
yet to really test this with the disc brakes that came on ‘Locke’. Wet tires do not grip the road as well, thus
making curves more hazardous. Vehicles
have poorer visibility, and finally crap gets all into my gears, chain and all
over the bike and I hate to clean that mess up.
A mist had been falling before
I arrived home yesterday, so I grabbed Dakota and headed out for a 6-mile
hike. When I reached Hale Farm, I noticed
the sheep and lambs were in the pasture close to the road and feeding peacefully. I couldn’t help but remember the
confrontation with the farm owner several days earlier when he essentially
accused Dakota of killing and eating his lambs and chickens. I’m still puzzled by his accusation and not
accepting my explanation that I was sure I’d have noticed her chowing down on
his livestock. In any event, I couldn’t
help but call out to the helpless animals.
“You guys are making me hungry,”
I said in a soothing, ‘come on over for dinner’ voice.
They looked at me…and then
Dakota who was paying absolutely not attention to them…and scurried to the far
corner of the pen.
I mean maybe they understand
English, but not well enough to get sarcasm? I felt a little bad, but not much
and continued on the hike. It never did
rain during the entire distance and a couple of cyclist rode by making me wish
I’d gotten out on ‘Locke’. Once I got
home, I spent the next hour cleaning out the traveling dump I drive in until
the insides of the Toyota were sparkling and smelling fresh. I called Miggie about dinner.
“How about I walk into
Peninsula and meet you at Fisher’s?” I asked, knowing that if I did so, I’d top
30,000 steps for the day.
She agreed and I started off
thinking how I needed only to average 20,000 a day for the rest of the month to
break my single-month record. This would
give me a good cushion should anything come up over the weekend of camping that
would make hiking problematic.
I made it to town in a little
over 70 minutes, but I will admit my legs and feet were getting tired. I have a lot of work to do for the coming
long, multi-day hikes with a backpack filled with what I’ll need to live for
that time on the trail, but that’s a worry for another day.
Hike:
Two hours and 30 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 90 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 875.
Bonus:
30,000 steps.
Tuesday,
April 24, 2018
The April rains are back and they
don’t look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon. As you know if you read this blog regularly, I
monitor my steps each day with a Fitbit.
Last November I decided I’d try to average 20,000 steps a day for the
entire month. For me, that’s about 12
miles of walking. Now…I get over 10,000
a day doing my job so it’s a lot easier to hit that goal than, say, most
Americans spending their working hours in an office. I reached that goal back then, accumulating 605,000
for the month.
April started with one of those
rain days that kept me from even thinking about going for a hike. By day’s end I’d walked only 4,000
steps. I’ve had one more of those types
of days this month so when I reached the halfway point and got it in my head to
try to break my single month record, I knew it would be an uphill
challenge. Since then, I’ve been
averaging 22,000 a day and if I can maintain that for the final six days of the
month, I should come in around 607,000. It’s
something to shoot for, at least.
John was due to come over and
head with me to Fisher’s for ribs. The rains
were still fall, but I HAD to get in my hike with Dakota. We managed a six miler and I pushed the step
total well over 20K for the day. John
however, was sick and never made it so I made pea soup, not really Paleo but a
pretty good meal, and stayed in for the rest of the evening.
I didn’t try to put the arrow
bars on ‘Locke’ just yet since I couldn’t ride.
I think I’ll be able to work them on without disrupting the handlebar
tape job…something once you start messing with you always wish you hadn’t. Rain due for Wednesday, so probably no biking
again. I really should get out my pack
and add some weight to my hikes by carrying it.
Maybe tonight…
Hike:
75 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 90 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 450.
Bonus:
23,000 steps.
Monday,
April 23, 2018
I love ‘Locke’, my new
steel-framed Fuji bicycle. Designed for
the next phase of my life, retirement, when I hope to be riding rail/trails and
toting camping gear in panniers attached to its frame, it is comfortable,
versatile, and possessing a range of gears that will allow me to climb the
steepest inclines, if I’m in shape.
But it’s missing
something. Since my triathloning days,
which began in the early 80’s, all of my bikes have been equipped with profile
bars – addition to standard road bike drop bars that allow the rider to rest
his/her elbows on pads just above the handle bar and with hands forward and
outstretched. This brings the body lower
and bent over the frame and handlebars making the rider more aero-dynamic. It can be a little uncomfortable for extended
rides and although I’m no longer that interested in how fast I ride, which was
their point, they add a different position to put yourself in and on a long
ride switching positions regularly is very helpful to comfort.
I tried switching my old pair
of Scott profile bars from UB Express to Locke, but the clamping system would
not fit on Locke’s handlebars so I took the bike and bars to Performance to see
if they could figure a way to get them on.
“Man…I just don’t see how we’re
going to get these on,” Mosato, the clerk/mechanic who’d sold me the bike said.
I agreed and we went to look at
new ones that would fit. I took a look
at the stickers, around $150 for the top of the line and recoiled.
“Holy shit! I thought they’d be like fifty bucks!” I
said.
“Yeah…they’re a lot. These minimalist ones aren’t too bad though,”
he said, pointing to a pair that looked like it would fit better on a kid’s
tricycle.
I picked them up, rested my
arms where the elbow pads would be and considered. “Okay…I can always upgrade if they don’t
work,” I said. Deal concluded.
I headed for a hike at
Brandywine Falls. As is usually the case
at the falls, there were gobbs (a lot) of people hovering around the falls, but
very few back on the trails that drop with and from the falls down into the
Cuyahoga National Park valley. It was
warm and with many up and down trails, I broke a decent sweat over the next
hour and four-plus miles of hiking. I
certainly would have liked to put in a hard ride, but time and coming darkness
had conspired against me and so I made the best of it.
Mosato didn’t have time to put
on the handlebars, so I will give that a go one night this week. I hope to bring the bike along on my trip to
Pennsylvania this weekend where I will be doing some camping, maintenance on a
cabin, riding, and hiking with Dakota. It’ll
be a test weekend for the Adirondacks, but I think I’m ready already…
Hike:
60 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 90 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 350.
Bonus:
23,000 steps.
Sunday,
April 22, 2018
Sunday looked like it was going
to be the best day of what so far had not really been a spring at all. At nine, it was already in the low fifties,
sunny and promising another ten degrees of warmth. Miggie’s daughter was coming over and the two
of them wanted to ride on the towpath into Peninsula to get breakfast at Fisher’s.
“You’re coming with us – aren’t
you?” she asked as I was suiting up to ride.
It was the last thing I wanted
to do. I had time and the right
conditions to do a 40-mile ride and I had every intention of doing just
that. They would be riding on an
over-crowded towpath at gentle (for me) speeds – something that though fun
would be anything but a workout. I
wanted a workout.
“You guys go. I’ll ride the first part with you, but then I’m
going to do a long one,” I said.
Diana looked at me and asked, “how
long will you go?”
When I said forty miles and
about 2.5 hours, her eyes opened in disbelief.
“It’s really not such a big
deal when you’ve done it consistently your entire life. I would imagine I’m over 100,000 miles of
riding by now,” I said matter-of-factly.
I don’t know if that’s right,
but it must be close. I’ve been taking
long rides since I was 12 and that’s over fifty years now. I’ve had some summers where I’ve ridden 5,000
miles and other a thousand or less.
Average? I’d think 2,000+ which
would put me over 100K, so that’s the story I’m sticking to.
I did manage 40 miles and it
did get pretty warm. Sweat was streaming
into my eyes and making vision cloudy to the point that I had to stop and take
off my bandana, which seemed to be streaming it directly into my right
eye. The ride took two and a half hours
to complete and I was feeling it towards the end. Once cleaned up though, I loaded Dakota in
the car and headed for Jason’s to look for a biking helmet for Miggie. I had a plan to hike after completing that
mission.
We arrived at Horseshoe Pond
and found the trails extremely muddy, but neither of us complained too
much. With three miles under our belts,
we headed for home.
It was an excellent workout weekend. Monday should be warm again and after a trip
to Performance to see if he can install my profile bars, which do not seem to
want to fit on my new bike, I’ll go for another long ride – hopefully.
Hike:
60 minutes. Bike: Two hours and 30
minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 hiking and 130 bpm on the bike.
Calories
Burned: 350 hiking and 1,875 biking.
Bonus:
22,000 steps.
Saturday,
April 21, 2018
I arrived early Saturday
morning at Mimi’s to get more of her property under control. Mimi’ yard, which is probably a couple of
acres, collects sticks from her trees and others, like squirrels collect
acorns. I raked and picked and hauled
many loads of them off the grass and back into the woods, but like trying to
relocate naughty black bears in the Adirondacks, I’m pretty sure they’ll grow
legs and return to the yard this week. Once
they were removed, I spread fertilizer on the front and back yard. For the second week in a row, I picked up the
smell of a dead animal as I worked, which I again mentioned to Mimi.
“Are you sure it’s not me? You mention it every time I get close,” she
said.
“I’m sure it’s not you. I mention it when you’re close because I want
to know if you smell it, too,” I said.
She didn’t. Later, as I was finishing up and returning my
work gloves to the potting vase on the work bench, I noticed some brown fur in
amongst the gloves. It was a dead
chipmunk. I called Mimi out, showed her
the body and solved the mystery – kind of.
I was driving to the park for a
hike afterwards and continued to notice the smell. I held my hand to my nose and had the true
answer. It had curled up next to my
gloves, which I’d worn all over the property for the past two weeks and so
carried the smell wherever I went, but now I was just a little grossed out and
knew I needed to wash my hands before hiking, which I did at Performance Bike,
a stop I had planned to make before beginning.
“Where can I wash my hands?” I
asked Justin, the sales clerk, as I walked in the store. “I have dead animal smell on my hands and it’s
kind of gross.”
He didn’t question me further,
but pointed to the back of the bike repair area. I picked up what I needed and left with no
one offering to shake my hand.
After a 4-mile hike, I attended
my brother-in-law’s surprise 60th birthday party where I limited
myself to Paleo-type food rather effectively, though maybe too much
quantity. It brought back memories of my
own, three years earlier, and much discussion of ‘where did the time go?’ with
my brother, sister, and brother-in-law.
Where does it go? How well am I using it? Will I be happy with my choices ten years
from now? Well…it is anyone’s guess, but
I doubt for one minute that I will look back and wish I’d spent any extra time on
the job. Retirement – please hurry up.
Hike:
60 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 80 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 350.
Bonus:
25,000 steps.
Friday,
April 20, 2018
I drove home with the
temperature hovering near 50 and feeling bad for Dakota. I knew I would be hopping on the bike and
passing on our long hike, but a trip to the Adirondacks is only four weeks away
and I need the training.
Though I broke from the Paleo
Diet because of my birthday, eating some cookies and ice cream cake, I’ve
managed to get back to it and hold the weight where it was – down ten
pounds. I thought about that as I began
to climb Everett Road hill on the bike.
I’m using harder gearing and staying in the saddle, a sign that the
conditioning is kicking in, as well.
I pushed hard throughout the
ride trying to make it a fast one because my daughter had asked me to join her
for dinner as part of my birthday week celebration. I attacked every hill and rise and felt
comfortable doing it. I shortened the
ride to about 24 miles so I would have some time to take Dakota on a short hike
before leaving.
Heidi and I walked to Larry’s
Bar and Grill holding a warm, pear pie.
She has made it before and it is delicious and she figured the owner,
Alan, would appreciate a piece. We set
it in the middle of our table and I grabbed a fork and began eating from the
pie plate.
“Dad…they’ll bring plates if
you’ll wait and then if someone else wants a piece they won’t be grossed
out. It looks like a little rodent got
to it,” Heidi said.
“It’s my birthday pie and so I
really don’t care who doesn’t like it,” I said.
Two of Heidi’s friends had
joined us at the table and nodded agreement.
In short order, they both picked up forks and began eating from the
dish, as well.
“It’s how you protect your
immune system…by eating some germs,” I said.
“Makes it stronger for when some bad germs come along. I think mine is like Superman’s by now.”
My logic got them to thinking
and again they nodded agreement.
I ate a turkey Reuben, but
passed on the fries, which was a struggle.
Heidi’s plate, inches from my hand, held many, but I fought off the
urge. I left early and they all stayed
to watch the CAVS and have some drinks.
The weekend should be
productive. The forecast is calling for
riding and Mimi yard cleaning up weather.
I hope to do both.
Bike
Ride: One hour and 45 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1,250
Bonus:
22,000 steps.
Thursday,
April 19, 2018
So…with this posting I’ll have
exceeded the posts I wrote in 2017. I
feel good about that because the catharsis associated with the writing…and the
things I’m doing that make me want to write…tell me I’m back on track for who I
want to be. I’m eating sensibly
again. I’m exercising and looking forward
to it. I’ve set goals and I’m working
towards achieving them. I think I’ve got
better balance as a human being or I couldn’t be writing and feeling these
things. I intend to stay on track.
My sister asked me to stop over
so she could make me a birthday dinner and so I headed for Mentor from the
farm. My neighbor agreed to let Dakota
out and feed her, though I did have some guilt about not taking her on our
after-work hike. For me, I stopped in
the North Chagrin Reservation and put in the steps I would need to get to
20,000 for the day.
As I walked though, I considered
why I was doing it. It was overcast and
cold and there was no one else hiking. It
was a day to just say ‘what the hell’ or do something inside where the
conditions would be more favorable. And
yet I was walking in the woods, listening for the sounds that made it special
and looking around with each step hoping to site something living and
scampering. One black squirrel, perched
on a nearby downed, rotting tree watched me closely. And so I stopped and returned the stare…and
it was then that I concluded there was just something in my DNA that made the
woods special and the reason I’ve roamed them freely since I was seven years
old and growing up in Connecticut surrounded by them.
There is peace and solace in
these woods and I go and walk them to feel it.
I can’t say that I’m conscious of it every time and all the time, but it
is there for me and draws me back. It’s
definitely one of the reasons I brought my children and friends to the
Adirondacks. I think they’ll suddenly ‘feel’
it and want it all the time, too. Some
have. More will in the future because I’ll
continue to do that.
The forecast is semi-promising
for the weekend and I’m hoping for a couple of good rides. Adirondacks are four weeks away and I want to
be bounding effortlessly up some peak or over some challenging trail. Solace awaits…
Hike:
45 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 80 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 275
Bonus:
21,000 steps.
Wednesday,
April 18, 2018
Happy birthday to me…
Sixty-three. How our perspective on what is old changes as
we age. I thought of my grandpa as a
very old man when he was in his sixties, but not so my dad even though he
looked and acted every bit as old as my grandfather had. Now I’m there…and beyond…and thinking, ‘this
ain’t so old’.
April continues to act like
late February to early March. It was
below freezing when I took Dakota out to do her thing first thing in the
morning. I had the day off and planned
to do both a hike with Dakota and a bike ride before heading north to have
dinner with my kids. Hiking wouldn’t be
a problem and the forecast (those lying sacks of …) was for temperatures in the
fifties, so I maintained my hope that I would ride, as well. After breakfast at Molly Brown’s, which was a
Paleo turkey and spinach omelet with an un-Paleo order of rye toast, we went
for a 90-minute hike that included the beaver marsh, trekking along the
railroad tracks, and siting numerous creatures of the wild such as painted
turtles (about 20), a great blue heron, a Canada Goose standing guard on one
leg over a momma on her nest, a red-tailed hawk, a pair of wood ducks, and the
skeleton of something – likely a rabbit – on the of the trail. The sun was out and although it was chilly, I
found myself beginning to sweat and getting anxious to get home and hop on the
bike.
We finished the hike around
1:30, which would only leave me around 90 minutes to ride since I had to fit in
picking up a Dutch Apple pie from Patterson’s before heading to Jason’s for my
birthday dinner (that’s right – non-Paleo and with ice cream, would be the
highpoint of the day). I put on a
long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of socks, pushed gloves and a hat into the
pockets of my riding jersey, and rode out of Indian Springs my 2 p.m.
I hadn’t been able to ride
because of the weather since having ridden consecutive and exhausting days the
previous Friday and Saturday. I wanted
to cover my 24-mile course and knew I’d have to push it to have the time I
needed to get the pie, and so I began by attacking all rises and climbs from
the start. I realized early on that this
was going to be a good ride – the result of weight loss, hard training, and
several days off – early on. I pushed up
the Everett Road hill and cranked in a hard gear over the flats and small rises
over the next ten miles. There is such exhilaration
in riding hard and knowing that you’re not going to tire and this was one of
those rides. I cruised hard for the
ninety minutes I had to ride and arrived back at my place feeling like I could
have easily gone another hour.
Sadly, I did not have time to
ride 63 miles, but I know I’m ready to.
I bought some new hiking shoes which I’m beginning to break in for
climbing in the Adirondacks – weather permitting – towards the end of May. If the weather cooperates here in Northeast
Ohio and I can get in 4-5 rides per week, I have plenty of time to be close to
peak form. My 64th year is
going to be a good one.
Hike:
90 minutes. Bike: 90 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 hiking and 130 bpm on the bike.
Calories
Burned: 525 hiking and 1.125 biking.
Bonus:
19,000 steps.
Monday,
April 16, 2018
Weather. I sure love to whine about it. And that’s good because it’s so productive
and works wonders making it better and more to my liking. I say it’s been a weird winter, but that
would assume there is something that would be considered normal. There isn’t, so quit bitching.
Sooooo…Friday, it was 80 and
Saturday, it hit the high sixties, but began to rain. And when I woke up Monday morning, it was
still raining and my roof was leaking.
Oh…and it had dropped into the thirties.
All day Sunday I waited for it to let up because I’d walked over 20K
steps on six consecutive days and wanted to continue the streak. I thought with some rain gear and an
umbrella, Dakota and I could get in a good one.
But it never even pretended to let up and so I resigned myself to an
easy day. I did manage another Paleo
eating day, though I broke down and had toast with my omelet for
breakfast. I’m down ten pounds and I
wanted toast.
Yesterday dried up after the
early morning drizzles, but flooding was occurring throughout the Cuyahoga and
Chagrin River valleys – including road closures near my home. I stopped to check out the put-in point for
my kayaking at Russell Park and found the road was gone and the river twenty
feet up the drive.
Dakota didn’t care about the
wet, muddy conditions and so once I arrived home, we suited up and headed out
for a long hike. I stayed off the
trails, which would be ankle deep in mud, and put some extra steps in climbing
the closed section of Everett Road. My
step total was high, but my heart rate never got much above 80 and I longed for
a hard ride.
The forecast continues to look
bleak for riding. Snow is again in the
forecast and I’ve left the plow blade on the truck at work. That’s right…April is two-thirds over and I’m
still thinking about plowing. Well…when
winter leaves for good I’m sure I will put myself in the best condition of my
life. I’m charged up to ride hard, climb
bleachers with a pack and tackle some big goals this fall. Weather…I’ll show it…in June?
Hike:
90 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 80 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 525
Bonus:
24,000 steps.
Saturday,
April 14, 2018
I try to plan my weekends based
on the Weather Channel forecasts I review the day before, but in Cleveland
weather forecasts are simply suggestions.
In any event, the prediction was unequivocal. Rain all day.
100%. No doubt about it. With this information, I gave up any notion
of going to Mimi’s for yard work or of doing another bike ride. I figured I’d use the day to at least visit
with Mimi and my granddaughter in between running chores.
Then I walked outside Saturday
morning to temperatures in the sixties and overcast skies, but no rain. Dakota, out for her morning poop, looked up
at me as if to say ‘let’s hike while we can’.
Maybe we could make it…
We started on our 5-mile loop,
me carrying an umbrella and doubts about staying dry. We completed it in a little over an hour with
hints that the sun might poke out. I
called Mimi and told her I’d be over later and put off my visiting plans while
pulling on my riding gear. In less than
five minutes I was on the road.
I followed the course I’d done
the day before without making the mistake of going down the very steep slope to
Bath Road. My legs were far from fresh
following the previous day’s effort, though.
And the wind was still pushing in my face as I pushed my exhausted legs
over the final part of the ride. As I
coasted up the driveway to a stop, I knew I was spent, but that a ride of 63
miles on Wednesday was not out of the question, should the weather cooperate.
I went to Mimi’s and did some yard
work for a couple of hours and watched the steps on my Fitbit climb towards
25,000. I was anxious to return home,
shower again and climb on the scale. All
this effort was undoubtedly going to mean something.
And it did. I was down another half-pound and loving it. I celebrated by eating a burger that night,
though I passed on the cheese. My pants
were hanging loosely again and my belt had no more notches to use. I may need a new one because I’m not stopping
until I’m down another five at least.
Bike
Ride: One hour and 45 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1,250
Bonus:
25,000 steps.
Friday,
April 13, 2018
The forecast said temperatures
in the 70’s and no rain. As I went
through the day at work, I kept going over where I’d be riding my bike. With the weight falling off from the combination
of the Paleo Diet and increased activity, I was starting to think about a
birthday ride on the coming Wednesday of 63 miles. It’s been a very long time since I’ve gone
that far…the summer of 2014 during Tour Ohio, but my conditioning is coming
together. Now if only that weather
holds…
I was on the bike at 3:30
p.m. Dakota watched forlornly from the
screen door, wondering why she wasn’t heading out for a hike. “I’ll take you when I get back, Dakota, but I
just HAVE to ride,” I said. She nodded
in agreement.
I figured I had a couple of
hours and could do 35 miles. I started
out on the towpath to avoid parts of Riverview Road that was so full of holes,
it appeared to have been part of a war zone…or anywhere in Cleveland. With hikers and runners out in abundance, the
decision was not such a good one, though.
I reached the bottom of the
closed section of Everett Road in ten minutes and was already sucking on my
water bottle. It was hot! I did the climb staying in the saddle and
working the quads hard. With a trip to
the Adirondacks only four weeks away, I want to get in some decent climbing
shape and working a hill on a bike while seated works those same uphill
muscles.
With the gearing on Locke, the
climb is actually very little problem. I
had four easier gears that I didn’t need, which is saying something about both
the gearing (fabulous for steep climbs) and my conditioning. Once out of the valley, I rode south along
Revere Road, a new route for me. It is
lightly traveled, which is my first criteria in rating roads, but my second, a
decent shoulder, was pretty much non-existent.
I knew it would dump onto Bath Road, which I would take back to
Brecksville Road for a long stretch of the ride. As I got closer to Bath though, I saw the
sign at the top warning of a steep grade.
As I rode down, I was thankful I wasn’t riding up – it was that
steep. Then I reached the bottom and looking
west on Bath Road, noticed it was just as steep and with its winding nature,
heavy traffic and a lack of a shoulder, quickly concluded that I’d be turning
around and climbing back the way I’d just come down. Shit.
I dropped into my third lowest gear
and slowly, but steadily, climbed back up.
My heart beat hit about 170 and my thighs were burning from the
combination of this effort and the ride up Everett Road fifteen minutes
earlier. Mid-summer and maybe a thousand
miles of training under my belt, this wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but
we were a long way from there. I reached
the top with that burning in my quads that warns of a heavy lactic acid
build-up, which normally says ‘you’re about to be done’. Well…I wasn’t about to be done. And did I mention the winds were blowing
about 20 mph and gusting over 30? I made
my way north as my legs began to recover.
That strong wind was at my back for the time being…
For the next half hour, I rode
the rolling hills on Brecksville Road and sucked down a full bottle of
water. I headed east and dropped back
into the valley on Akron-Peninsula Road near the ski slopes, which still had
some dirty snow pack on them. Now I
turned my bike back into the full force of the wind and was riding on legs that
begged for a break. I would not come for
another eight miles.
I limped into my development 45
minutes later a beaten cyclist. Dakota
greeted me with that happy ‘I can’t wait to hike’ look and bounce, which I did accommodate
after changing. It was a short one,
though. The remainder of the night was
one of recovery. Still, it was a good conditioning
ride and the bathroom scale had a very encouraging report – down ten pounds in
a little over three weeks. It’s all
working…
Bike
Ride: Two hours.
Training
Heart Rate: 120-135 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 1500
Bonus:
23,000 steps.
Thursday,
April 12, 2018
Did spring arrive? I was dressing for my hike, which would
follow a trip to Appalachian Outfitters to look over camping gear. I need a couple of things and have two trips
planned – one for the end of April and another mid-May – and know that a day
pack is amongst my future purchases. A
bed roll that doesn’t leak air would be nice, too. Anyway, it was in the low 70’s and I realized
jeans were not the answer. I dug through
my dresser and finally dug out a pair of shorts. I put them on, walked outside and declared to
Dakota, “my legs sure are white!”
I bought my last backpack over
15 years ago and, like with so many products, there have been some major
improvements. My pack weighs six pounds
empty – too heavy – because it is too big.
I thought that made sense at the time, bigger is always better, but in
reality I just try to fill it up, which weighs me down. I could pick something up now that would
weigh 1 to 1.5 pounds less and that’s significant when you’re walking all day,
which I plan to be doing in retirement.
They also make them with compartments to hold water bladders, with the
hose feeding through and opening near the shoulder for easy access. But the feature I like most is a mesh bracing
that lifts the pack away from your back, creating air space of about an
inch. I sweat profusely without a pack,
but when carrying it directly against my back, the soaking sweat becomes even
more uncomfortable. This single feature
would be reason enough for me to make a purchase. I’m holding for now, but it is $250 I know I’ll
need to invest.
I reached the trailhead at the
Everett Road Bridge around three and hike a rugged trail for the next two
hours. I broke a sweat hiking for the
first time since last fall, which felt good.
On a hike of six miles, I never saw another hiker. Unlike the North Chagrin Reservation, the
trails in Peninsula are farther from population centers and thus less
convenient to reach. That, and the one I
was on was actually steep and difficult, meaning I will continue to have fewer
hikers with which to share. Okay with
me, though.
I finished the night at the
Courtyard Café in Brecksville where I enjoyed a burger with an old friend. It wasn’t Paleo entirely since I ate the bun,
but I did say ‘no’ to the fries he offered to share. I’m down over seven pounds now and my belt is
already out of loops. I’ll drop another
ten by summer’s end and should be lean and ready for the 150-mile hike of the
Northville/Placid trail and the four peaks I want to climb in September.
Hike:
Two hours.
Training
Heart Rate: 70 - 90 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 700
Bonus:
23,000 steps.
