Ride the Ladies of Massachusetts

Are you losing any weight? I'm definately more fit but the tonnage hasn't dropped much at all.

I'm really hoping for a stretch of nice weather but it's spring in New England so you know how likely that is. Actually I just want it to stop raining. I'm soggy. This is for the birds. Ducks in particular.

My last weigh-in was following my last long ride, so I was down water weight. On that one I was down 23 pounds since Feb 1. I haven't wieghed myself since, and don't think I am down anymore. I will hop on the scale next week after I get some more milage done, as haven't done much lately and I don't want to see no progress. I want to get back to riding everyday, 'cause once I come back north, I don't expect to keep losing weight like I have been here. BTW, I told you my weight loss on Facebook chat, but I think you were pretty drunk... you said **** you to me.

I plan on an hour in the saddle in the morning. If I can get out of work by 7:30 I can be peddling by 8:15 and in bed by 10. I'm hoping that before too long I can be riding in to work, it's only 12.5 miles. I can bring a pair of scrubs in a backpack or leave a few pairs in my locker.

PTN

Done a bit of reading while I wait for my next pt to arrive from the ER.

Consider two extremes of cycling intensity. Contrast an old geezer who rides 20 miles a year, ambling along at 5 mph on a quiet bike path, versus a racer in a desperate final sprint to the line.

The geezer pedals no more than neccessary, coasting as much as possible, expending much less energy than a pedestrian. If such a cyclist is placed on a bike with low handlebars, the weight of the upper body will bear heavily and painfully on the wrists and hands, causing soreness and discomfort to the shoulders and neck as well. This discomfort will quite possibly lead to the abandonment of cycling altogether.

On the other hand, the sprinter's upper body is being held up by the pedaling force of the legs. Not only is no weight resting on the handlebars, the sprinter is actually pulling up on the bars to resist the downward pressure of the legs. The sprinter's upper body is perfectly comfortable with a very low relative handlebar position

Thus, the ideal handlebar height with relation to the saddle height is a function of the intensity with which the cyclist pedals. This will vary as the condition of the cyclist varies, for instance, it is often helpful to raise the bars a bit in the spring if the cyclist has been off of the bike for the winter months, then lower it back down a bit during the course of the season. The racer will usually want the bars lower than the touring or recreational cyclist. The cyclist who pedals all the time will be confortable with lower bars than the cyclist who coasts down hills.


While I'm a bit put out by finding myself in sympatico with the 'old geezer' it does explain a few things.

PTN

Maybe I'll raise my bars then... and you should start to ride to work you old geezer! 0 miles today had to have family (un)funtime. plan to get some in tomorrow after helping my great-aunt with some projects.

The 'riding to work' thing will happen before too long, but I'm not quite ready to walk thru the front door of the hospital wearing bike cleats, a helmet and bike shorts.


More to the point, the hospital's not ready for that.

PTN

Here is a VERY important bit of advise to all of you boys and girls.


Don't ever, and I mean EVER, eat a pepperoni omlet before going to bed!




I woke up around 2 this afternoon from the weirdest, most disturbing dream I've ever had. In my dream Joe, Hippie and myself are out riding the Ladies of Mass. We're bombing down a long, long hill. I'm in the lead, Joe in the middle and Hippie bringing up the rear. We are all in good form, back straight, legs pumping, pounding big gears at a hard tempo. Queens 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is the background music during my dream sequence.

You know what's coming next.

So did I, in my dream, but it one of those dreams where you know what is coming and are powerless to stop it.

We're at the top of the hill. Legs are churning.

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go

Joe and I start to pull away form Hippie cause in my dream he's riding the Wicked Witch of the West's bike.

Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let me go (Will not let you go)
Let me go (Will not let you go) (Never, never, never, never)

Joe and I are way out in front of Hippie now. In fact, we're down at the bottom of the hill and starting up the other side. I look back and Hippies got the Wayne and Garth head bob going. He looks like Nina Hartley in a helmet. His pony tail is flopping up and down. He's pumping his legs like a madman and Freddy Mercury is wailing.

(Oh mama mia, mama mia) Mama Mia, let me go
Beelzebub has the devil put aside for me, for me, for MEEEEEEEEE!

And Hip launches into the sky like a Saturn Rocket. I sat bolt upright in bed, wide awake. NEVER AGAIN. I'm swearing off pepperoni. Any substance that can bring Hippie, Freddy Mercury and The Wicked Witch of the West together into one dream isn't safe.

PTN

I have no response to this...

pepperoni made hippie look like nina hartley?

It was really spicy pepperoni. Really, really spicy. Or maybe it was the absinthe I washed it down with. All I know is I could have died a happy man if I'd never had that dream.

OK, back on track. Snowing here this morning. No roadwork today. Might try to hit the gym this afternoon.

And I found the instruction manual to my bike computer last night. It's a Polar S150.. After reading the manual I found it can do things I never knew. (It lacks the Nightmare Blocking Option, should have got the next better model.)
PTN
PTN

Paul, please never eat 'roni again. I've been in the ocean, tub and shower several times since reading your post the other day and yet still feel 'unclean'. You maybe shouldn't have mentioned the absinthe part, 'cause now I am picturing you as AbsintheMan or as the man on the street calls you The Green Fairy. Some flamboyantly fabulous pervert hero of the sexually repressed or 'confused'. I guess I should take comfort in that in your dream I was way off the pace instead of being just ahead and 'motivating' you to keep up...

As for work outs, friday was a 20 and yesterday was 42. Heavy rains & T-storms are puting a hold on today, but nice weather is back tomorrow.

Hippie said:

... The Green Fairy. Some flamboyantly fabulous pervert hero of the sexually repressed or 'confused'.

As for work outs, friday was a 20 and yesterday was 42. Heavy rains & T-storms are puting a hold on today, but nice weather is back tomorrow.

Click to expand...

...."help, help, I'm bein' rePRESSED!"

- - - -

2-3 inches of water in my basement. not near the grain mill yet, though.
mmmmm, maybe I'll save the water for brewing (NOT).

58.5 today... I got it in my head on the way home that I should be able to do a century soon, so that is the next goal. I plan to start pushing a little more milage each time I take a long ride. I thought about going back out after the Bruins game, but now after dinner and with 40 mins more of lactic buildup, maybe I won't try to make it a 75 mile day...

dangit you guys are doing great

I am feeling Kenyan, I did 26.3 miles in 2:02!

Well, you are having a much better week than I've had.

Tuesday was my day to stare the calender in the eye. I turned 51 a few weeks ago and my doctor (and so-called friend) scheduled me for a routine screening colonoscopy. It was scheduled for Tuesday at 8am. Monday starting at 3 I began my 'prep.' 'Prep' in this case means you drink something that makes you poop your brains out. Nothing happened until around 2am when I sat up suddenly in bed, certain that I wasn't going to make it across the hall. Fortunately I had planned ahead and left a Tom Clancy book bowlside. Nothing like an 800 page novel when you end up spending 5 straight hours on the bowl.
At 7 Al is knocking on the door, "We need to leave now if we're going to be on time."
"If we leave now we're going to have to buy a new car."
"I guess we're going to be late."

Fortunately, we passed 4 Dunkin Donuts on the way there.

The problem with working in a hospital for years is that you know everyone there. And it's so reassuring to know that while you are unconscious and your naked arse is having some unmentionable things done to it, your 'friends' will be there to record the entire event for you.

And, of course, it gets better. Tuesday night I get a call from the GI guy telling me that my 'prep' apparently wasn't quite adequate and he wasn't able to fully explore the depths of my large intestine.
"You're kidding, right? Cause I'm pretty sure that I 'prepped' out my aorta around 5 AM."
"Ya, we'll just have you come back in a year and we'll give you something else that will do a better job."


??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????


I'm glad you're feeling Kenyan, Hippie. I'm hoping my arse will feel up to climbing back on the saddle by the weekend.

PTN

wasn't that a Tom Lehrer song:

"I'd rather have a gastroenterologist behind me, than a basement full of sewer water in front of me"...

I hope you are feeling better soon, I feel like crap and I feel like bourbon at the same time!

You are a strange, twisted man, Monk. That's probably why I enjoy your company.

I'm actually feeling great today. I have an excavator coming this afternoon, I'll be pulling the stumps of all those trees I cut down last year out of the ground starting around 3. Big ass bonfire starts sometime tomorrow. I hope to get a ride in tomorrow.

Off to bed to get in a few hours sleep before the demolition begins. Yeee Haaa

PTN

I may actually go shopping for a new bike tomorrow. I'm cheap, though. There's a used-bike shop somewhere near the UMass campus, I think they may even run it as a nonprofit venture. We're probably going to head over there and just scout out what's available. Don't want to drop the coin on something new and shiny.

Monk, unfortunately I haven't listened to Lehrer in years, so I can neither confirm nor deny that particular lyric, but thanks for the reference, now I have snippets of his songs battling for top spot in my head!

Bird, good luck with the purchase, then start riding, you've got ground to make up and August isn't that far out.

Paul, Paul, Paul... give my sympathies to the poor souls that had to inspect your kiester et al. If you thought the Ass Clown T-shirts were something, just wait for the "personalized" coffee mug you get for Xmas from some other nurse that brought a camera to your proceedure!

Well, I am getting ready for another long ride, good day to all, and good luck with the excavating Paul, I hope it goes better than the intubating!

I was just going to say, "No, not intubating, intubating is when we...." but then I thought better of it.


Still waiting for the machine to show up. Can't ***** too much, I'm renting it for one day, tomorrow. It gets here on Friday afternoon and they pick it up n Monday and the guy said use it as much as you want. Oh here it is now.

hey ya old stump-ripper, how'd it go?

(ankle still sprained, basement still damp; hey what's a four-letter word for ripping out wet carpet by yourself?)

And, Hippie, I hope that you are never MY anaesthesiologist's assistant!!!!!

Intubating may not have been the proper wording for the proceedure, but it worked better for effect...

Feeling the ache today; somewhere between 15-20 on bike and 11 hiking beach sand. I wish I had realized just how far it would be before I Forrest Gumped it... "When I got to the dune, I decided to walk to the point, when I hit water, I turned around..."

I am thinking of adding this to the routine though, maybe 1 time a week. I'll have to figure out about footwear, whether boots, sandals or barefoot (like yesterday, and least likely) would be best. I was carrying around a 10lb pack (which is around what I normally ride with), but may go to a heavy pack with water bags for weight. I will also add the thing I wished I had with me... my treking poles!

No great updates, sunday & monday rides in the low 20s no ride today...

I've been so crazy that I've hardly had time to do squat. A few short rides but nothing substantial in a while. I hope to change that tomorrow afternoon.

I did manage to dig up 10 stumps from the back yard this weekend. Some of those suckers are f'ing monsters, I've got no idea how I'm going to get them into a vehicle to get rid of them. (That's assuming that I find a place to send them. Anyone know where to send stumps in the greater Boston area?)

PTN

hey, P. what kind of trees are they? are any hardwoods?

Mostly all maples with a beech and an oak or two thrown in for good measure. You are welcome to any or all. Free to a good home.

PTN

ooooch!

hackmatack knees!!! (wheee) - I just wish I knew an amateur boat builder.

wait, I'll go ask me about us ... !


(I found out that me said we were interested)

paulthenurse said:

(That's assuming that I find a place to send them. Anyone know where to send stumps in the greater Boston area?)

PTN

Click to expand...

There's a huge dumpster sitting outside an empty plaza that I pass everyday on 138 that's full of stumps. Don't know anything about it but I'm just saying it's there...

And if you're looking to get rid of some trees I've got a couple of chainsaws and a buddy with a wood stove and always lookin' for some wood.*

*Get your mind out of the gutter, you know what I mean.

brewmonk said:

ooooch!

hackmatack knees!!! (wheee) - I just wish I knew an amateur boat builder.

wait, I'll go ask me about us ... !


(I found out that me said we were interested)

Click to expand...

Ya ,I thought about that myself but the miles on the faces of the ghosts of Bud MacIntyre and Nate Herreshoff don't equal the frown on the face of the lovely Alice that would appear if I told her I was going to keep the stumps. Especially for a boat that will someday get built in the barn that isn't built yet.

"But Al, I'm off to a good start, I cut down the trees and yanked out the stumps. Now I can let the stumps season in a big pile while I build the barn. Before you know it we'll be swinging caulking mauls. Ay few years. Five tops... Ok, I'll have Monk come get em."

PTN

DrinksWellWithOthers said:

And if you're looking to get rid of some trees I've got a couple of chainsaws and a buddy with a wood stove and always lookin' for some wood.*

Click to expand...

You know how to get to my place. You're welcome to whatever you want, just no taking the split stuff till the unsplit stuff is all gone. (Yes I cut and split about a cord of it for the exersize, I don't have a woodstove and Bertha doesn't need more than 15 - 20 pieces to cook a whole hog.)

PTN

Went down to Foxboro Bike today. Took a ride on a Trek Madrone. I'm in love all over again. Smooth like butta.

I'm thinking about sending a kid or three back to Russia with a note pinned on her jacket and getting my money back.

PTN

Hey Monk,

I went out and checked out the piles with a critical eye towards knees. There is some real potential there.

PTN

thats AWESOME!!!!! i'm getting my plans converted into cnc templates (for a 17 ft 'rowboat').

Wherry nice!

PTN

Stop, stop! You're keeling me!

Hey, does anyone know of a bike that I can cut up to use (the back half of it) on my trainer?

(Just like my grain mill, but I'm NOT going to cut the rear spokes off, leaving just the cartridge....)

Hate to thwart your plans but ...

Why? Why not just put your bike on the trainer?

And on that note, I'm off for a ride. I'd like to get 30 in this afternoon.

PTN

Could someone please explain to me how my f'ing POS iPhone shows that I rode 10.75 miles one way and it took me 11.23 miles to cover the exact same stretch of road home?

Oh well, I did somewhere around 22 miles in 88 minutes. A sort of respectable 15ish MPH. Not too bad for a fat guy.

PTN

paulthenurse said:

Oh well, I did somewhere around 22 miles in 88 minutes. A sort of respectable 15ish MPH. Not too bad for a fat guy.

PTN

Click to expand...

In retrospect, I need to get a bit of perspective.

If I had started at Hopkington this morning I would have come round the clubhouse turn on Comm Ave just slightly ahead of some skinny mother-f'er who was promised a Quarter Pounder with Cheese if he gave a good showing.

I have my parents for giving me these fat genes.

PTN

paulthenurse said:

Hate to thwart your plans but ...

Why? Why not just put your bike on the trainer?

And on that note, I'm off for a ride. I'd like to get 30 in this afternoon.

PTN

Click to expand...

'cause then I'd have to sit on top of a bike.

i left only the back triangle, and turned it upside down then put it in the trainer. now i can sit in my office chair and grind grain while watching a movie.