Let's not forget

 Twenty four years ago I was up visiting my mom.  About this time she was making breakfast, and this was before the age of smartphones, so I wasn't doom scrolling social media, in fact we had no idea what was happening in NYC or DC.   The furnace guy said someone called him about "something in NY" and I turned on the news and that was that.   I think I watched the news all day.  

I loved the WTC, yes they were somewhat ugly buildings, but they defined NY and the city has never looked right to me subsequently.

Even in Vermont we noticed the lack of planes overhead and I'll never forget seeing the smoke plume from the city...

That said, I wish we could find some national unity today.  Love or hate him Bush at least tried to bring the country together in grim time, and that's a stark change from the address the President gave about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Listen Maga people, he wasn't JFK, RFK, MLK etc...   He wasn't a national hero, in fact he was no more OR less important than any other person who was killed yesterday.  There was yet another school shooting yesterday and I don't see your rage about that.

We don't know who killed him, or more importantly WHY, so let's stop blaming people.   Yes it was tragic.  Yes I feel for his family, I lost my dad recently so I particularly feel for his kids, who will grow up without a father.

Political violence has no place here, but having a large part of the country foaming at the mouth to blame people, with no evidence, simply because it's convenient and easy.   We need to work together as one nation to solve these problems, instead of dividing even further.

  

Life just rolls on...

It's weird, but life just keeps rolling on, no matter what goes on.   It's kind of surreal that my parents are all gone and yet everything just keeps going.   September is going to be an insane month for Merinda and I with travel to Ireland, Virginia, Ireland and home.  First she goes to get her mom tomorrow, then they fly to VA to meet Matteo, then I drive to VA to hopefully meet Matteo, then I fly her home, then I fly home and it's going to be October...  In between all that, I need to deal with Dad stuff, the house, work and everything else.  Ugh.

On top of all that, I'm still trying to stay focused and motivated for exercise.  I'm actually feeling motivated, but the hip pain I've been feeling since my trip to Cali has made it a challenge to do much of everything.  Then if we add in whatever happened to my knee the night Dad died, and it's become a horrorshow.  I'm hoping some rest and low impact time will let me heal up because otherwise I'm going to need some kind of surgery or something.

So, how was August?  In a word emotional.  I had the complete high of the trip to SF, the shows, the city and everything else.   Then the return home, the letdown after a great time and the pain...  Lots of pain.  My hip flexors are still shredded and some times I can barely lift my feet to put on clothing.  At least I can gently cycle to get some exercise and then the knee injury (probably meniscus tear) and Dad.  Add in some friends, who forgot what it means to be a friend, and my month imploded.   I lost a week up in VA where I only did stretching, meditation and some light walking so I fell pretty far behind on my monthly goal, missed another race and feel like I'm going backwards on my health journey.   Instead of talking about it all here, let's look at what happened.

August Goals:

• Get under 220
• Ride 400 miles
• Weather permitting ride outdoors every week
• Focus on distance and endurance to train for my ride in November
• August Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my August challenge
• Apple August Challenge
• Restart weight workouts.   Either through bootcamps or fitpass
• All the bonus points in #mc56
• Run the 5k here on the 23rd

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight:  223.2
• Ending Weight:  229.1

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides:  59
• Time on exercise:  18:18:59
• Distance on rides:  275.24
• Number of runs:  0
• Distance running:  0
• Number of walks:  6
• Time walking: 2:07:04
• Distance walking:  4.13
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Distance Rowing:  0
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts: 1

Let me be clear, even if I hadn't lost last week in VA I would have missed my mileage target again.  I lost almost a full week in SF and last week and with my hips/knees that doomed any chance of me making up the distance.   I also failed to ride outdoors, but the weather has been shitty, so that's ok.   I'm really more disappointed in my weight.  I felt like I was trending in the right direction early in the month, but once again, managed to fatten myself up by the end of the month.   I just can't seem to summon the willpower to keep myself from junk food.   I'll have to do better because I just will not get fat again.  I'm ok with missing goals because of Dad, or that I'm hurt, because those are out of my control.  It wasn't by choice that I missed the 5k on the 23rd.   My knee siezed up on Wednesday night and at that point I decided it wasn't worth it to run a 5k.  Add in some heavy rain and it was an easy, albeit disappointing choice.

Ok, so what am I going to do this month?  That's a good question and let's dive into it.

• Get under 225/220
• Ride 200 miles
• Weather permitting ride outdoors
• Focus on distance and endurance to train for my ride in November
• September Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my September challenge
• Apple August Challenge
• Restart weight workouts.   Either through bootcamps or fitpass

With being away for half the month I've cut my mileage target to 200.  Yes it's silly low, but a week in VA, and a week in Ireland and travel time and I won't be cycling much.   I'd rather exceed it, than see red again for a month.  I'd like to see my weight get below 225 consistently.  Merinda is going away, so I'll eat lighter (hopefully) and I can maybe get my weight down.  I feel like it's more of an appetite issue right now.  If the rest look like last month it's because they are.   I've pared it down a bit to try and make it fit with my knees/hips and hopefully that's not going to be a problem.  

That's enough rambling for today.  Still dealing with a lot so this was a nice break.  Hope to talk soon!

RIP Dad...

My dad died today...   He's been suffering from dementia for a while now, so from my point of view he's been gone for a while, but this is different.  I don't feel the overwhelming grief I felt when mom died, but her death was unexpected.

Feeling lonely today...  Love you dad and hope you're finally at peace...

I'm trying to get back on track

It's been quite a month already...   Sorry that I'm late with this, but I expected to be a little late due to going to GD60, and that's a great place to start.

Cali was, in a word, awesome.   I love San Francisco.   Look, I'm a NY guy, have been for 50 years.  I grew up in NY and was a city kid, but sadly that city is just a memory.   NY has changed, and not necessarily for the better but SF reminds me of the place I grew up in.   A city that had neighborhoods, and local shops etc...   SF just has a "vibe" that is unique and I think that in a different life I would have loved to grow up there.   Maybe if we win the lottery I'll buy a place there.   Lots of cool houses which would be a great summer home for this Florida man :)   The concerts were fantastic.   D&C had a kind of rough start on Friday, but they turned it around in no time and the whole weekend wend by in a blur of music, colors and great food.   I would do the entire trip again in a second.

With that, there was one pretty substantial downer from the trip.   I don't know what it was, maybe the ~30 miles of hiking up and down Nob Hill, but I really tweaked my hips while I was there.   I got home and walking was difficult.   I'm in pretty good shape, and have been running even if I was taking a break, but didn't expect to be THAT sore.   The good news is a week of rest, low impact yoga, sports cream and my massage gun, and I'm finally feeling more normal.  I guess I just wasn't really in shape for that afterall, but it's made August get off to a slow start.

That's enough about that, so let's talk about July.   As always, here were my goals:

• Get closer to 215 again
• Ride 400 miles
• Ride the TDE!  
• Live as often as possible
• Stay current
• July Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my July challenge
• Apple July Challenge
• Continue weekly weight workouts
• All the bonus points in #mc55
• Beat last years time in the 4 on the 4th

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight:  226.10
• Ending Weight:  226.60

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides:  83
• Time on exercise:  32:25:01
• Distance on rides:  527.06
• Number of runs:  0
• Distance running:  0
• Number of walks:  3
• Time walking: 1:23:12
• Distance walking:  2.69mi
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Distance Rowing:  0
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts: 0

 This was kind of a transition month.  I'd like to focus on what went well, rather than where I failed.   I crushed the TDE.   Yes, I have one stage left to do and I didn't do it live because I was in California when it went live, but other than that, I stayed current and did as many live classes as I could.   Big thanks to Echelon for loading the OD classes quickly so I could typically do them OD.  That made a huge difference.  I set two PB's, both on hills classes, and think I would have done more if I had been able to take more classes live, and fini.   With the exception of one Endurance ride, I finished in the top 20 and frequently in the top 10 for live classes.   For the record, I'll do the final ride on Saturday so I get my finisher badge and pin.   I also got a gold in my challenge etc....   Typical stuff but important for accountability and I finally beat my mileage target for a month.   Felt good to get that off my back again!

So where did I fall short?   Well, I missed the 4 on the 4th race.   Too much fun at Stick Figure, plus some shitty weather killed my desire to get up at the ass crack of dawn and drive to St. Pete.   There's always next year.  I did sign up for a 5k in 2 weeks here in Dunedin, and I'm grateful that I'm able to walk somewhat normally again.  I also missed the bonus points in #mc55.   Some of those just didn't jive with TDE, but I'd made a decision to only ride the TDE classes.   It was hard enough to keep up with that without adding in additional workouts.   No reason to kill myself, and with that, my weight held constant.   No excuses on that.  I am already doing better (had my first sub 220 weigh in in a while today).

However, I am pretty pleased with July.  I wish I'd done the race, but c'est la vie, and otherwise it wasn't that bad.

• So...  Where do I go from here?   Glad you asked:
• Get under 220
• Ride 400 miles
• Weather permitting ride outdoors every week
• Focus on distance and endurance to train for my ride in November
• August Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my August challenge
• Apple August Challenge
• Restart weight workouts.   Either through bootcamps or fitpass
• All the bonus points in #mc56
• Run the 5k here on the 23rd

I think these are all pretty reasonable and attainable.  I might have a tough time with the distance because I lost a week or so due to travel and injury, but I'll do the best I can.   The rest should be ok.  I need to rewrap the bar tape on my bike so maybe this will push me to get that done.   I've already started some weight work and can tell it's been a while due to how fucking sore I am...

On a final note, Monday was my Dad's birthday.  If you didn't know he has dementia and is pretty far gone.  We called him but he wasn't talking on Monday so I never got to speak to him which was hard.  Dementia/Alzheimers are cruel diseases and I feel like my Dad died a few years ago.  Yes, I know he's still "alive" but it's just his body, his mind is long gone.   I miss you Dad.   Hell, I miss both of my parents...

With that it's time to get back to work.  Til next time!

GD60

Much wow!   I would do it again exactly the same tomorrow if I could, well maybe I would make a few minor changes :)

Shows were great.   Love visiting SF, it's arguably my favorite city although NY will always have a special place in my heart.   The only thing I didn't like in hindsight was all the walking.  I walked ~30 miles over the long weekend and my hips are still feeling every step of them.   They're getting better but slowly.   I just didn't expect to feel this crushed, especially since I felt pretty good going out there.  More rest is clearly whats on tap.

Regardless, it was one of the best experiences I've had in a very long time.   Until next time SF and D&C...

The Tour de Echelon

I suppose this is the third year I've attempted the TDE, I didn't finish the first year because I snapped the crank on my bike, but I completed it last year, and I even got the t-shirt...  So, it was a given I was going to do it again this year.

I finished the majority of the event yesterday to coincide with the end of the actual TDF.   We still have the TDF ride on saturday, yes I'll make it up OD unless they have a bike in the hotel which I doubt, after I get back from #gd60.  I'm a little disappointed I won't be able saturdays class live because I set my PB on it last year, but shit happens.

Anyway, it was a very rewarding experience this year and Echelon made it a lot easier by posting the rides OD very quickly (so I could do them after work if they were in UK time or during the day).  Staying current was important because, to be honest, it gets depressing when you have 3-4 long rides to make up like I did last year.  Aside from that, I set two PB's during the event.   Both on hills.   I finished in the top 10 seven times on live classes, and only missed the top 20 once.  It was stage 8 and I clearly was suffering.   I don't really care about the OD placement, because those don't factor in the live riders and I know I don't work as hard.  I took 14 of the 22 rides live which was I am pretty excited about and as of today rode 344.90 miles (I'll update with TDF after I ride it).

So what would I like to improve for next year?  I'd like to get a minimum of a top 20 every live ride, and I would prefer a top 10 in each live ride.   Yes, that will be hard.   It's hard to push yourself every day for ~22 straight days, tough titty.  I'd also like to maintain the cadence of riding it every day.   While I missed *some* of my regular workouts, it was a nice break, and focusing on the TDE only kept me from getting too worn out.

Pin earned, and on to getting ready for my charity ride this fall.   I do have a little detour out in SF first :)  Talk soon...

TDF

Not gonna lie, the fitness of the TDF riders is insane...   I thought I was in "good" shape but after watching those guys I can't imagine what it takes to get to that level...

#teambordel