Chaos

I know that it seems I've suddenly neglected this blog after a flurry of near-daily posts last week. I just kind of got busy with other things.

Friday afternoon Beth's parents came over to fix our refridgerator. It took Dave less than half an hour to fix it and do a little preventive maintenance to keep our fridge deluge-free. They drove over four hours to get here and four hours home the next day. And insisted on treating us to dinner at Da' Pits. They're pretty swell folks.

On the way to Da' Pits we saw a large group of cyclists riding around the city (most with no helmets!) as part of the first ever Harrisburg Critical Mass Protest. I hadn't realized this until today, since they were pretty mellow for protestors. Cities like San Francisco (I know, shocking!) and Toronto have had problems with cyclists impeding traffic and generally creating a nuisance of themselves. Harrisburg had maybe 20 cyclists show up to Critical Mass, so I think it was safer for them to group together in a single traffic lane. In a way this is more effective. Instead of really ticking off a lot of motorists by impeding traffic, (which by the way, is a great way to make friends) they just made their presence felt by taking a single lane - something that is unfairly difficult for a single cyclist to do. While I disagree with Critical Mass' tactics, I think public awareness and education about cyclists will only become more important as we see gas prices steadily rise.

To the owner of the powder blue bike: Always lay your bike down with the drive train facing up! And the handlebars are a very bad place to lock it.

Now there's something we call all get behind...dinner at Neato Burrito!

Beth and I decided to spend Saturday together; getting haircuts, going shopping and just generally chilling out. We played a Skip-Bo and Uno Stack-O (which is basically just a modified version of Jenga) Saturday night, when Beth's dad called. Beth's grandpap had passed away Saturday afternoon, not long after Dave and Linda's visit.

Beth and I finished our weekend well, though. We had lunch with friends after church, I had a bit of a nap with NASCAR on TV and we went to the Youth pool party last night.

Today I took a half-day at work and Beth took the day off. (I do need to brag that I rode my bike to work again and set a new PR in commuting time- my first commute - round-trip in under an hour in travel time!) Tonight Beth and I are headed to Mount Pleasant, PA to visit her family that lives in the area and to attend the funeral tomorrow morning.

Just Call me "Fred"

For the first time ever last night, I crashed my mountain bike. Okay, maybe "crashed" is a little extreme, but it was definitely more than the "tipping over" I've done when I couldn't get my feet out of my pedals on my road bike.


I've done that twice. It's pretty embarassing. You come to a stop and just tip over likely a lodgepole pine cut at it's base. Timber!


I've also tipped over trying to turn around in too small an area, my handlebars turned sideways and bam!


But yesterday, Beth and I decided to ride our mountain bikes to church. Afterwards, Beth had to use the ladies' room, so I said I was going to ride around the parking lot a bit. I had intended to come out, practice a few bunny hops and maybe jump a curb or two. I went outside, hopped on my bike and headed to the gravel lot. I tried to do a wheelie (which I can't do, so it was more like I used my front suspension to bounce my front wheel off the ground a little bit) and then did a little bunny hop over a bit of a dip. Then I turned around and as I did so my back wheel slid out from under me and I hit the ground. And yes, there were people watching.


The carnage was brutal. I apologize if you've been eating:


I warned you. You can see like four spots of blood on my leg there. Disgusting.


So I'm forced to acknowledge that I'm a fred. For you non-cycling types out there, wikipedia defines a fred as "a derisive term used by cyclists to describe other cyclists, usually male, that appear amateurish and oblivious to cycling culture."


While I'm not necessarily "oblivious to cycling culture," there's a lot out there that I don't quite get. Like what is appropriate garb for riding your mountain bike on the road? Is it okay to ride your mountain bike on the road when you own a road bike? When should you wear spandex? When should you wear your baggie cycling shorts? When can you just wear street shoes? When are messenger knickers appropriate? Why are all messenger knickers priced at like $120?

But the fact of the matter is that if you're an adult that rides a bike, chances are you're a fred. And if you are not a fred, then you used to be a fred. Because all of us at some point wore our helmets improperly, got stuck in our pedals and tipped over, or had to call home because we couldn't fix a flat tire.


I am fred. My hairy legs alone qualifies me as a fred. But if I were to shave my legs and continue to pound out my 16-18 mph average speed, I would be a poseur. And between a poseur and a fred, I choose fred. Fred may crash his mountain bike in a church parking lot, but the poseur wears $200 spandex bib shorts when he does it - and people laugh a whole lot harder at the poseur.

I am NOT a Mountain Biker

That pretty much summarizes what I've learned today. I am a roadie. I have no problem zipping down off a mountain on a paved road at 45 mph, however I get squeamish rolling down a root-strewn trail at 10 mph.

I think it's generally a confidence issue. I didn't crash today, although twice I felt like I was about to. Okay, once wouldn't really have been a crash, I just would have tipped over because my chain popped off as I was climbing up a hill. But the other time I was on a narrow trail and a root jutted me sideways and nearly tipped me over as I blazed by at an amazing 9 miles per hour. (FYI - nine miles an hour would be embarassing on a road ride on anything but a steep hill.)

So here's a summary of my day:

10:30 AM: Left home and headed for my first stop: Red Land. I decided to skip the New Cumberland trail because it was too short and likely too difficult.

11:00 AM: Arrived at...Red Land High School. There were a lot of signs discouraging trespassers so I decided to turn around and head down to William Kain County Park.

11:45 AM: Arrived at William H. Kain County Park just South of York. After swinging by the restrooms I reattached my front wheel to my rig and headed to the trail.

12:00 PM: After walking up two hills, fearfully squeezing my breaks down another hill and dismounting my bike in a stream in a tunnel underneath I-83, I decided that these trails were just too technical for me. I can definitely see how they'd be loads of fun for someone more experience and more guts (and perhaps fewer brains) than me, but I was just too nervous and was too worried about crashing on those rocky trails to enjoy myself.

1:15 PM: Finally arrived at the bike trails at Codorus Creek State Park. I had to get a park map from the staff at the swimming pool, but I finally found my way there. I have to say, those trails are a little disappointing. I could see potential there, but most of them were large swaths of roughly cut grass--grass too high to really accomadate good cycling. But I did see a red fox, (a pretty big fox at that) so that was pretty cool. Also, I found the area that had been groomed for mountain biking in a small stretch of singletrack that was a little overgrown with thorns. I can see how an experienced mountain biker would find it fun, but I was squeezing my brakes the whole way down hill.

3:30 PM: Got back home and IMed my friend, Scott. We went to Liberty Forge and played golf. I shot a 91, he shot an 88. We both played pretty lousy.

I used my camera phone and took a couple pictures of my day. I took one of the rocky trail at Kain Park and one of the grass that had been caught up in my deraileur and rear wheel. However, I discovered that I had two issues with attempting to retrieve my pictures;

1. I don't know how to hook up my phone to my computer. I thought I could just hook it up by the USB port, but there is no such hook up on my phone.

2. Those pictures had disappeared from my phone. I simply couldn't find them.

So sadly this blog post is sans-pictures. I know ... that pretty much ruined my day too.

Summer has Officially Arrived!

...According to the calendar. Personally, I had thought Summer had arrived a couple weeks ago when I was hanging drywall in 95-degree heat in a non-air conditioned house in Philadelphia. But that's just me.

Also, coming with summer is the longest day of the year - the outdoor enthusiast's dream. 15 hours and two minutes of daylight...or about enough time for 240 miles of cycling. Which I won't be doing tomorrow.

Tonight we'll be busy, my mom is making her usual stopover on the way up to Keuka Lake and Beth will be making an excellent zuchinni-shrimp-pasta dinner. But tomorrow my mom will probably be leaving rather early and Beth will be meeting her best friend Jamie in Wilkes-Barre, so I will have most of the day to myself (unless anyone out there would care to go golfing).

With commuting on my Schwinn becoming a regular practice for me I'm beginning to feel that my other bikes have been neglected. My Scott S-20 Speedster hasn't been out for a ride in weeks. In fact, last month I bought insoles for my cycling shoes that go with the pedals on that bike and haven't even tried them out. But my most neglected bike would have to be my 2005 Gary Fisher Genesis Marlin. My hard-tail mountain bike. I haven't ridden it in ages. It may actually be close to two years since I've ridden it - on the road or the trail. In fact, it has only 100 miles on it even though I've owned it since the Spring of 2006.

So my plan for tomorrow is a day-long tour of local trails that I haven't ridden before. Which is pretty much everywhere except Gifford Pinchot State Park.

1. 12th Street in New Cumberland
I'm concerned that this short trail is either geared toward dirt-BMX riders and too technical for me or may not exist at all. I found it on MTBR.com and the most recent review of the trail is from June of 2000 so who knows if it's still there. Regardless, it's a short trail and I imagine I won't spend much more than an hour there.

2. Red Land/Etters
Another mysterious trail whose existence is in doubt. (Can you tell I don't have many cycling friends?) I found directions to it on MountainbikePA.com, but the last update on the post is dated 11/30/2000...and details are sketchy. Hopefully I'll be able to spend a couple hours there, but if I can't find it I'll just move on to my next stop...

3. William H. Kain County Park
This is a park in York County that has two man-made lakes that are supposedly great for fishing. I say "supposedly" because I've fished there, and didn't catch much. There are about 12 miles of trails that are available for cyclists, so I plan on staying a couple hours there.

My last twoI consider tentative based on weather (potential thunderstorms moving in) and time of day. But it will be the longest day of the year, so mostly based on weather. Or it may just be that I find Kain County Park too much fun to leave behind.

4. Codorus State Park
I will finally quit the I-83 corridor and head West for Codorus State Park in York County. There are about 6 1/2 miles of trails available to mountain bikers and I've seen hints that there might be some mountain-bike specific modifications to these trails...interesting...

5. Michaux State Forest
Finally returning to Cumberland County, Michaux State Forest has gobs of trails and seems to be the biggest hub of mountain biking activity in our area. There are some trails that are fairly technical, and some much easier...the trick will be figuring out which is which.

Then I will head home to wash off what will surely be no less than three inches of caked on-dirt on my legs and eat leftover shrimp-zucchini pasta...delicious!

New Components

Monday night I made a couple of improvements to to my 2004 Schwinn Fastback Sport road bike that I also happen to use as a commuter. This is only the first phase, so I hope you're not disappointed because you were expecting more.

First off, I replaced the chain and cassette (for the uninitiated, the cassette are the gears on the bikes rear wheel). With the age and number of miles on this bike, this shouldn't have been necessary. There are only about 4000 miles on it, and with that many miles, I should have only replaced the chain about three times. Unfortunately, I got some bad advice from a local bike shop that has otherwise treated me well. Although not as well as World Cup Ski and Cycle, which I consider to be the best bike shop around. When I brought this bike in for a tune up and asked them to change the chain while they were at it, they said "the chain and cassette should be replaced together and you can get like 10,000 miles on a cartridge. If you change the chain now it will just skip and make a lot of noise."

LIAR!

I have never read that in a cycling publication nor does my favorite shop, World Cup Ski and Cycle, ascribe to any such philosophy. In fact, to prevent premature wear on deraileurs (the deelies that change your gears) and the cassette you should change your chain every 1,000-1,500 miles. (Which reminds me that my S20 Speedster is due for a new chain - and probably Beth's Trek if she ever rides it again.)

I ordered an SRAM 8-speed cassette and chain from Nashbar.com. The 8-speed cassette came with the option between a 28-tooth large cog or a 32-tooth large cog. I knew the 32-tooth would be easier to climb with, but chose to go with the 28-tooth so I could have smoother shifting and I am able to climb just fine on my double chainring Speedster, so a smaller cog on my 3-chainring Schwinn should be no problem.

When I received the new cassette I realized something. The cassettes that Nashbar were selling were for mountain bikes. And the 8-speed road cassette made by SRAM has a 26-tooth large cog, just like the cassette that was already on my bike. The cassette fit perfectly on my hub, so "oh well, guess I'll just have to have an easier time going uphill". I managed to attached the cassette and chain with minimal problems (okay, the chain was a challenge because I didn't read the instructions carefully enough).

I've also learned that new cassette means re-configuring your rear derailleur. After not having the ability to use my new "super granny cog" on Slate Hill this afternoon I spent about half an hour playing with my derailleur until I finally got it shifting properly. It made me never want to have to replace my rear derailleur.

Then I added my commuting bonus: a $70 headlight/tail-light package that I got on chainlove.com for $32 (after shipping). Yep, at the current price of gas it will just take eight commutes and these babies are paid for!

So what's next? You can't see it in this picture, but my rear tire is flat. That is for two reasons.

1. There was a piece of metal sticking through the tire and into the tube.

2. These tires suck.

I actually bought these tires two years ago, actually about the same time I had the rear wheel built by Lee at World Cup. I didn't know it at the time, but they are about as durable as wrapping your inner tube in electrical tape and riding around on that. There are very non-resistant to punctures, which makes them terrible for commuting.

So next up is a new pair of tires (along with new chains for the Speedster and Beth's Trek). Since this is normal bicycle wear and tear, I won't charge this to my commuting account. Then, once I've saved up some I'll spring for some fenders and a rear-rack (attached at the seatpost, since I don't have the proper eyelets on the frame) with a trunk bag. I've priced these out at $98, so that's only ... 24 1/2 commutes. I might pull that off by this fall...

Running is Stupid

...at least in the summer time.

Yesterday I ran 20 miles. I had intended to run 23 miles, but my stomach was getting upset, so after about 18 miles I headed home. The thing is, I wasn't dehydrated. Well, I was but it had nothing to do with how much I was drinking. In fact, I drank more water than my digestive system could absorb. Let's just say it ended badly.

So I'm realizing now that I might not be able to do long-distance running when the weather is at a certain temperature and humidity. It's just not feasible - if my body can't absorb enough water to satisfy its needs then I'm flirting with disaster.

Now I'm reconsidering my training strategy and my general fitness calendar. At this point I still intend to do everything on my schedule, the Finger Lakes Fifties 25K, the Erie Marathon and the JFK 50 miler. I think what I may need to do is change my training strategy and how I increase mileage in preparation for certain races, especially JFK, where I feel I really need to do a 35 miler in training before attempting 50.

I think in future years I will plan on having a cycling-centered summer and a running-centered winter with transition periods in the spring and fall. Cycling in weather less than 40 degrees is miserable. Nearly as miserable as running in temperatures over 80 degrees. If I keep my runs between Memorial Day and Labor Day under 20 miles I should still be able to run longer-distance races beginning in October. In the meantime I will still be able to do long-distance cycling in the summer and maintain my endurance-fitness, while my running will be limited to short, fast races. This strategy may even give me speed that might carry-over into the longer winter races.

I'm just a little sick (both literally and figuratively) of running in the heat.

I don't need another bike...

The last few weeks I've contemplated purchasing yet another bike to add to my current stable of three. Actually if I were to get this new bike I would have likely sold my mountain bike, since it gets such little use. My idea was to buy an older bike and convert it into a singlespeed. This idea comes mostly - okay, entirely - from ideas I've gathered online. Basically a lot of people I don't know and have never met say it's a lot of fun.

This YouTube video is one such advocate:


Sounds like fun right?

That's what I thought. In fact I had spent time doing some shopping online (on craigslist) and picked out the perfect bike. A 1970-something Kalkhoff German touring bike. It had fat(tish) tires so it could handle some rough pavement or the occasional dirt path, but still had the general geometry and look of a road bike.

Of course, Beth talked me out of this. The one argument that I couldn't refute was "why would you want a singlespeed in Pennsylvania?" We have hills here. Big hills that require you to use tiny little gears and pedal furiously and make you feel like you're going to pass out. You can't take a singlespeed up a hill like that. (You may remember me mentioning that the enormous Slate Hill is on my commuting route.)

So the lesson is, it's good that I have the wife that I do. Because otherwise I would not be able to fit all my bikes, golf clubs, crash pads, softball bats, weight machines, bowling balls, frisbees, badminton rackets, racketball goggles and MMA gloves in my studio apartment.

What Happened to My Arm?

I know that in the Major Leagues Pitchers have good nights and bad nights and some of those nights they just don't have their "stuff". But slow-pitch softball?

The past two Tuesdays I had had great outings pitching, the first we lost big (no fault of my own), but I only gave up one or two walks and even struck one guy out! Then this Tuesday I pitched five great innings when we clobbered Daybreak in one of our best games of the year.

But tonight was a different story. It was like a re-run of my first outing; I just couldn't find the plate, the ball didn't feel right in my hand, coming out of my hand, and I couldn't find a steady motion. It was ugly.

The first game Matt pitched and we played awesome. We were up against the notorious West Shore Red team and our defence was sharp and our hitting was even better. We clobbered them 17-7. I played catcher that game, and I was feeling it. I made one good play catching a fly ball and would have had a second if that pesky fence (and bench and spectators) hadn't been in my way. I was feeling sharp.

Then the second game I took the mound and it just wasn't there. I couldn't get the ball out of my hand, I couldn't keep the ball in my hand and I sure couldn't throw the ball over the plate. I somehow made it through the first inning with like three or four walks (I didn't count - that would have depressed me) giving up four runs and even taking part in a double play (more credit is certainly due to our shortstop, Josh for rescuing my sloppy throw to second). But in the second inning I walked a guy, then on the first pitch to the second batter I knew it was gone. I tried to reign it back in, but it was gone. Matt came in and finished the game.

I have a lot of theories banging around in my head of what might have gone wrong, but I don't think there's any point in trying to solve the issue of one bad outing. My stuff could come back just like I had it on Tuesday and I'll be fine, or maybe it will be a struggling bouncing back and forth between good pitching and hideously out of control pitching for a while until I get settled in. One thing's for sure, I almost always get better with practice...at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Oh, and our second game we lost 10-2, so even if you don't count the seven runs in the first two innings, we really lost that game.

Beat(en by) the Heat!

Many of you know that I am a frequent sufferer of migraines. Typically, this time of year they are few and far between. I find that regular exercise and being out in fresh air help immensely. They would probably never come back if I could stick to a healthy diet. Sometimes, however when the temperature spikes it messes with me and can contribute to a painful headache.

Such was the case Sunday night. We were headed to the Stines' house at 6:00 for an informal youth leaders meeting and a dip in their pool. The headache began about the time we got there (this is not a knock on the Stines, I'm sure it's a complete coincidence, since I've never had a headache at their house before). I thought, "no big deal, it's showing up at 6:00 it will probably fade with some water and snack." So we sat out on the back porch and talked about the web site, the bulletin and exchanged ideas for the small group format in the fall. Then we had some ice cream and brownies and a little after that we jumped in the pool.

We were passing a beach ball around with the kids and I could feel myself getting a little light headed. Eventually the kids had to go in and get ready for bed, so I relaxed in an innertube and watched bats fly overhead. By the time we were headed home at around 9:30 I was having a full-blast migraine, dizziness, upset stomache, yuck!

When we got home I threw up. Twice. I went straight to bed with the worse migraine I've had in years (and the only one I've had in maybe three or four months) and quickly fell asleep despite the terrible pain above my left eye. I never imagined a migraine could set in so quickly, usually they take hours to go full blown and I have plenty of time to knock them out with an Imitrex (perhaps the greatest medication known to mankind...at least that I use).

I've always had issues with heat - with two exceptions. My mission trips to Haiti and Jordan. There, while I sweated like crazy, I never once experienced a migraine those two summers. Now, that may be because of the healthy diet the Teen Missions, International staff fed us, but it may also be because I was able to acclimatize to that heat. I didn't spend most of the day and night in an air conditioned house. I slept in a tent and worked outdoors all day.

Acclimitization has been used by distance runners to prepare for hot races like the Badwater Ultramarathon, the Western States Endurance Run and even the Vermont 100. Runners would train in parkas to simulate the extreme heat present in these grueling races. While I have no intent to run in these races, I am reminded that the Finger Lakes Fifties and even the Erie Marathon could be run in warm, if not hot conditions. So while my long runs will continue to begin in the early morning, this summer I will have at least one short-to-mid distance (3-8 miles) run in the heat of the afternoon every week that I don't have two softball games. I of course will bring water with me (I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid) and will only do these runs on the road, near home, but I believe a little bit of heat can help me out in my summer races.

Another Wild Weekend

This weekend I spent another wild three days away from home. I used my vacation time on Thursday and Friday to go with three other men from my church to work on a new church plant in Philadelphia.

The Wissinoming Alliance Church had closed a few years ago and this year the Eastern Pennsylvania District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance decided to fund re-planting that church with new staff and renovations made to the parsonage.

In charge of the church re-plant is Pastor Jim Rudd. He's a young pastor, but has a passion to reach out to the people in the Wissinoming neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia. The district will be paying his salary and the salary of his associate pastor and the interns working with him. They will be starting from absolute scratch with nothing but the church building, the parsonage and funding from the district to get them started. There is no church body for them to work with, noone from other churches to assist with the plant, just six people reaching out to the city of Philadelphia with the Gospel.

In charge of the parsonage renovations is Immanuel Alliance's own Associate Pastor, Chet Musser. Chet was a contractor for over 20 years before he was called into full time pastoral ministry. He his now retired, but works for our church part-time, heading up the small group ministry and many adult programs.

The parsonage is a 100-year old building with three living units. Actually, before myself and one of our youth drywalled the upstairs closet this morning it was two units. Our team, and the work teams before us had torn out walls, built new walls, installed new plumbing and electric (done by professionals) to create two units out of the parsonage unit that Jim and his wife Kendra are currently not living in. The two new units will house the associate pastor and two interns.

Unfortunately, the original unit had only one (cockroach infested) bathroom and one kitchen. So a second kitchen and second bathroom was added to the unit so it could be split. I spent Thursday, Friday and today drywalling, the new bathroom, the kitchen ceiling, the old bathroom and the new hall closets that were once the upstairs hall that connected the two units. I did this with the help of Adam, a high school senior who took his final exams early to come with us, and Matt, an eighth grader who came with his dad Friday night. They both did an excellent job.

Others on our team replaced three windows, re-laid the flooring in the upstairs bathroom, hung the kitchen cabinets and set up many of the kitchen appliances and taped and spackeled the drywall. All-in-all it was a very productive 72 hours in Philadelphia.

Bugs, Mud and Squirrels

I had tried to blog about this on Sunday, but I was so sleep deprived that I had trouble making a cohesive thought, let alone an entire blog post. So Beth ended up beating me to the punch, blogging about last weekend's Immanuel Youth camping trip.

We arrived at the campground a little after 7:00 on Friday night. We then sat under a canopy (erected by our Youth Director, Duane and his dad, Gus) to receive instructions for the weekend. While this was happening mosquitoes ate us alive.

So after a liberal application of "Off Skintastic" we were able to enjoy a bible lesson and plenty of s'mores and mountain pies the rest of the evening. Lights out was at 11:00, so naturally the guys in my tent (in which I was the only adult) talked until nearly midnight. I'm pretty sure that if I didn't interrupt them every 12 seconds with a "quiet!" or "shut it!" they would have been up much later. Shortly before lights out, Duane offered me a air matress and I declined. That was a decision I quickly regretted.

I can't imagine a surface other than rock or concrete being harder than the ground that night (and the next). It actually hurt to sleep on my side because only a small part of my hip would bear my weight (instead of sinking into a comfy bed).

After a delicious french toast breakfast the next morning, it rained. Thundered and lighteninged (is 'lighteninged" a word?), actually. The 10:00 nature walk was postponed and instead we watched the movie October Sky, which was a pretty good flick. By lunchtime the rain had cleared up and we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs cooked over the fire.

We managed our nature walk (which I foolishly did wearing flip-flops) and upon returning to the campsite, Beth and I had to leave for the wedding of one of the graduates of our Youth program, Heidi. The ceremony was outdoors, and the weather cooperated nicely. We left shortly after the cutting of the cake, but the party was obviously only getting started at it was after 10:00.

After another night on the hard (and I mean really hard) ground, we packed up and headed home Sunday morning. I needed a nap bad. Once we got home and got some laundry started, I napped on the couch. It wasn't enough, I was still in fog the rest of the day.

Last night was a wonderful night's sleep for me.

In other news, I pitched my first complete game of the softball season. We lost 14-0. Unlike my first outing (2 1/3 innings and like 7 walks) I walked only three batters. But they kept hitting the ball, and hitting it well. Plus we gave them a few. And frankly, they would have won if they had only scored one run, because we didn't score any, and had only one hit our first time throught the batting order. (I bat late in the order, so I only got one at-bat that game.)

Our second game was a different story. We were still a little weak with the sticks, but we played better defense and managed to win with some big hits in the 7th (and final) inning. So it was a typical Immanuel night. Mr. Hyde one game and Dr. Jeckyl the next. (Or vice-versa...)