Sugar Town

429.6; 16.7, and that puts me over 300 miles in this latest spate of pedaling.

Nancy Sinatra! I haven't thought of that song since 1966, probably, when it was on AM radio with some regularity. My friend and I thought it was funny, the "Shu shu shu" refrain... Listened to the sample on iTunes, boy, that's creepy. I'll probably have bought it by the end of the week. Oh, it's Friday, better buy it soon--but should I look up Nancy Sinatra albums, or just get the 99-cent single on iTunes? LOL

I'm told, to progress in the muscle-building and weight-losing, I need to cross-train. "Lunges" and "squats" and the like are proposed and are probably just the thing. I just have a really really hard time with "organized exercise," exercise-for-exercise's-sake, exercise without scenery passing by as I GET SOMEWHERE. Too, if I hope to regain the svelte figger of circa 1990, I would probably need to step eating dessert and pay more attention to what I eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Actually, I'm probably doing pretty well there:

• Two or three cups coffee with nonfat organic milk.


• Costco macadamia-cranberry crunch cereal with blueberries--lots--and a peach and a banana sometime later in the morning.


• Peanut (or some-nut) butter and jelly, usu. on whole grain, for lunch.


• Various excellent meals usually involving foods from our meat and/or veggie CSAs, which Terrie makes nightly (I hope I'm saying THANK YOU every night...).


• After that is when it all falls apart: third of a pint of Ben and Jerry's or similar, in front of the TV.

But I do feel healthier. And I question the value of denying one's self these pleasures. My friend is cutting out practically all foods that taste good, it seems, and is now checking his blood sugar more often than I do, even though he isn't (yet) diabetic. And my sense is that he's not even that close to being diabetic. Further, that your diet and exercise can control your blood sugar levels, but ultimately, diabetes is largely genetic and a large percentage of your chance of ending up with it is entirely out of your hands.

How unhealthy might it be to stress out that much about your health?!?

It's one of the things that make me uncomfortable to be around him now. There's an implicit accusation there, that *I'm* not doing everything *I* can to control my sugar...

One Goal Met

412.9; 27.3

And so, two 25-plus days this week. It seems three 25s are harder than five 20s, somehow, but today I actually seemed to gain momentum later in the ride. No pressure for tomorrow, but who knows. 284 miles since July 13, starting to seem like a real accomplishment... First 13 miles clocked in at 66 minutes--almost 13mph...

Last night, watched "Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans." If even SOME of this is true, the current United States "government" has absolutely no shame. Really scary, how totalitarian this looks, and how hopeless the average citizen's chances against it. This is, absolutely, ten times as bad as anything Nixon did. One could make an argument for calling it genocidal.

We need to start planning for what to do if the 2008 presidential election is hijacked like the last two. I have no doubt that McCain loses in a fair contest, and I have no doubt that these sleazy people WILL try to usher him in anyway. I don't think we're living in a democracy anymore. I would dearly love to be proven wrong (about the ushering). I think the greatest hope of avoiding that is an overwhelming turnout for Obama. If it looks anywhere near close, they will try to skew it.

Boomerang

385.6; 27.2.

This route is boomerang-shaped. Big sweep ENE, then a right angle to NNW, out to a point, and turn around and do the whole thing backward. Half of my goal is done: one 25+ day in the bag this week. I was definitely running out of steam by the end, even without pushing too hard. Hope to be more sprightly at the end of a similar ride Thursday.

Sunday Roll

358.4; 20.5.

Didn't really plan to ride or have any expectation of a number of miles to ride today, but ended up getting 20. And not a "normal" 20, but one that included the bike path to Forestville and back, a pretty big hill (Barlow Rd.) and some single-track (in Ragle Ranch Park). Most impressive, I made the Barlow hill in gear 3-4 (19 of 24) without stopping.

At the foot of Barlow, there's a mini Buddhist shrine for what appears to be a cyclist who died there. Not sure who he is, or what the story is, but I stop there sometimes and somewhat superstitiously pour some of my water out. Guess I see it as sharing one of the precious things a cyclist needs, one of the few concessions almost EVERY cyclist makes to carry as much weight as necessary; the most valuable thing I'm carrying. I guess I don't really think this guy is cycleing beyond the grave, and in need of astral hydration (!), but it's more in the way of a gesture at the memorial; i.e., for the living. And it's only two or three miles from home so I am okay with jettisonning the last of my water bottle. Now I think maybe I can make that little patch green and keep it that way through the summer.

I took a little ride on a Marin (Belvedere?) 29er (single-speed) bike yesterday. It has the pedals designed for special shoes, which I don't have but I guess I'll need. I like the concept of wheels three inches bigger than the standard (26-inch) wheels--more momentum, better and smoother rolling over obstacles, higher center for the bike, but lower overall center of gravity for the rider. That, coupled with higher gearing and a stiffer ride, I think will make for a better machine for the kind of riding I'm doing. I'm going to get the bike if it's available. Wonder if I can get them to leave off the branding decals?

Stiffer ride: I tightened my front fork this morning before my ride, and I think it did help in the uphill and in general--less "give" means more power transferred directly to the pavement.

My goal this week, I think, will be to get at least a couple of over-25 rides.