Greenbelt Jaunt

Earlier this week I wheeled and dealed with my boss to take a longer than normal lunch break. I needed to get in a 1.5 hour ez ride on the road. Since our office is so close to the Greenbelt, I decided to do the loop. My co-worker, Sam, joined me.

The Capital Area Greenbelt is a 20-mile (32 km) long green belt around urbanized portions of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, linking many city neighborhoods, parks and open spaces. For several miles, between Shipoke and Uptown, the Greenbelt follows the east bank of the Susquehanna River. It provides recreational opportunities such as hiking, biking, birding, walking, jogging, and cross-country skiing for area residents and visitors of all ages.

This is the highest I've seen the Susquehanna in a long time. There were trees stranded on the banks from when the river flooded last week. I didn't get pictures of that because we were running out of that wheeled-and-dealed time!

This was dinner my wonderful husband made for us---Shrimp Cakes with Spinach Slaw and Coconut Almond Dressing. Yum!

Did you know that an athlete needs 300-500 grams of carbohydrate per day??

I just learned that.

And I'm digging it.

Thanks for reading and now go get outside!

Rest Day!

I love rest days.

Sven, Cyndi Lopper Arms and Getting Wood

Sven the Bi-Curious Leprechaun

"I thought a bit of --swish-- was appropriate given the rancorous attempt at exclusion of gays from the NYC Saint Patrick's Day parade. --Andre"

Our neighbors love to dress our little wooden boy on our front porch for the appropriate holiday --he's actually a logger that our friend, Marcel, came down from Canada to carve for us out of a tree from our land. We get a kick out of driving home and seeing a new costume on him every couple of months. The beer bottles are never full though...

This was a hard first week of my official 12 week training for the Trans Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic. It started by coming off of a rest week, but I don't think I was as rested as I should have been. It took me until Tuesday to feel better and Wednesday's rest day was the icing on the cake! I was all ready to do my 2 hour mtb ride on Thursday. Then the rain came.

And people were building arks.

So what did I do? I went for a ride....outside! I figured it was warm enough and as long as I kept moving, I would be ok. The plan was to do a fireroad loop from the house. I donned my rain coat, pants, waterproof winter shoes and wore my Seattle Sombrero under my bike helmet (worked great!) and off I went. I was afraid of being too hot and I was, so I took off my rain pants and stuffed them in my pack. I figured my wool pants by Joneswares would keep me nice and warm even when wet. They did.

Dark, wet and windy was the name of the game. I was ok with all that, until it started to lightning. Then I got a little freaked out. I got to my 2 hour mark at "jump rock" (a place where those crazy enough try to ride over a really big rock) and the lightning flashed and thunder cracked almost instantaneously. Tried to call my bailout, but no signal. Keep riding. Chant to myself "Please let him come get me...please let him come get me." I get to near the end of Ridge Road at Shippensburg Road and I see the reflective stop sign in the distance and I know that I am almost to downhill the rest of the way. Headlights turn onto Ridge Road up at that stop sign--Cruiser headlights!! Jubilation! My hunny takes my home and I eat seared scallops with Salsa Verde. Yum--made my night.

Friday was the downfall to my weekend. I added squats into my core workout at lunch at the office. Never again for the next 11 weeks!

Saturday we had the first trailbuilding day in a long time--Mountain Bikers of Michaux (MBM) got the approval from DCNR to reroute the old Wildcat trail near Big Flat. We got 21 (!!) members to show up and help. I think the trail is almost 3/4 done!

After working for 2 hours trimming branches and bushes, I met Jim Myers for Bikeapalooza 2011 - he doesn't get out much to ride being a husband and dad, so when he has a free weekend he goes crazy! Got out on Abigail and wondered where my legs were. Rode Loon/Breast trail and bumped into everything. There was a lot of water on this trail---I never saw any on this trail before. Got to the end at Birch Run and knew I was done with singletrack. Told Jim to have a great time and I bailed up Birch Run. Ran into Cheryl, Selene and entourage on the way back up---they are training for something even more crazy than the TSE---the Cape Epic in Africa! You go girls!! Selene, aka Fit Chick, will also be at TSE---she won the women's field overall last year.

As I was nearing the parking lot I realized my car key was in the cruiser with Brett, so I rode the rest of the way home---only added 30 mins to my 2.5 hour ride and it was mostly downhill!

Sunday I woke up with Cyndi Lopper arms and wondered why we had to get up so early on a Sunday--the first Sunday after the time changes and we lose an hour. I was throwing scrapple and orange slices at my husband!

Helped load up firewood on the trailer that Brett and Andre had cut up on Saturday for an hour, then went to King's Gap State Park to do a 2 hour easy road ride.

Wheeww. I'm tired. Time to go EAT.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Oh yeah, check out Buttercup...she's doing the same crazy stuff i'm doing!

Observations

We suck at updating with anything worth reading.

My wife is good crazy. She rode 2.5 hours last night in the pouring rain and darkness. I did not. I stayed home and sauteed sea scallops by the stove side. She rides. I eat. Someone needs to sacrifice and I'm just the man for the job.

We're building new trail in Michaux. Sanctioned trail. That's awesome. First work day is tomorrow. Good times. I hope to see more of this in a closer future.

Sometime this year I should start riding my bikes. I keep waiting for unicorns and rainbows. Donna makes her own. I should follow her lead. But this month is more trail building and firewood than anything else.

And then...pottery. Yes, I'm saying it here. My goal is to start ceramicizing again this year. Hold me to it. Bug me. Ask me how it's going. I've been slacking too long. Putting together plans for a wedging table right now. Burly. Lots of wood. Lots of plaster. After that, installation of the clay trap my parents bought me a year+ ago. And then I have no excuse to start throwing.

Let's hear it for daylight savings time. Next week maybe we can consider an after work bike jaunt without luminaries. Go away, winter.

Yes, the Map DOES Say it All

Hope everyone got out and got some over the weekend! I know we did. Each of us pulled down three days of really nice February riding before the Monday night dump.

The Map Says It All

Looks like the Allegheny Front is on fire! Not really, just a whole lotta snow melt. Wonder what the next few weeks will bring? We can't be out of the woods yet with winter. But get it while the gettin's good. As the Original Big Ring says...and I quote...

Ride. Your. Bike. Dumbass.

Such poetry.

Trans-Sylvania MTB Epic 2011

Its official...

For those of you who don't already know, I plan on doing a 7 day mountain bike stage race, the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic(TSE) May 29-June 4.

Brett is the best husband/training partner and I'm looking forward to riding with him in the many hours I will spend training for the race.

This race is a goal I have set for myself for 2011 to stay healthy and in shape. Some people have gym memberships, I sign up for races---it keeps me focused. It also helps that one of my favorite teammates, Jill Wiest, AKA Chili, is doing it with me---it will be summer camp all over again!

If you would like to volunteer or just come up and camp, check out the website and register yourself!

If you'd like to put in some miles with me, I'd LOVE the company!