Pedals and Bike Shoes

A close running friend, training for his first half-ironman, recently took the plunge to upgrade his bike with clip pedals and real bike shoes. This is a big improvement over the high-top basketball shoes he used to wear on the bike.
Here are ten things about the new pedals and shoes that will cause issues for MW:

1. Buster Brown stickers will get covered in chain grease, causing MW much distress.

2. MW will dress his dog Molly up like Tige and have her ride in a basket mounted on the front of the bike.

3. During transition MW will spend time polishing his shoes.

4. MW will change the streamers on his pedals coinciding with the months. March are shades of green, April spring flower colors…

5. MW will leave transition forgetting to put his running shoes on. He won’t realize the clip, clop, clip sound is from his bike shoes until Lou passes him on the run.

6. Molly will save the day as she runs 5 miles with MW’s running shoes in her mouth so he can change.

7. Molly will spend the rest of the race chewing holes in MW’s new bike shoes as revenge for having to run 5 miles out and back.

8. MW won’t care, since he won’t be being doing anymore ½ IM’s again.

9. …At least until Eileen tells him he is signed up for one in 2013.

10. After the race, while consuming a large pizza and 2 Scotches and wearing his chewed bike shoes, MW will tell us how he enjoyed the race and can’t wait to try it again.

And the Winner is...?

Amanda, who finished the virtual bike ride from Spencerport NY to Clanton, Alabama today. Less than eight weeks to ride indoors 800 miles. Amanda did this while training for a spring half-marathon in Pennsylvania and swimming as time/energy allowed. She completed the miles in less than 9 weeks.
The old man (me) made a good comeback, biking 50 miles Saturday and 15 this morning before work, but I couldn't close the gap and ended up with 745 miles. Jan finishes with 650 miles.
The contest did help me with creating a base line going into half-Ironman training in four more weeks.
$50 dollars and bragging rights to Amanda for winning!

Family Tradition?

Apparently my new predilection for the taste of Bourbon has roots going back a long way. Jan and I learned yesterday that my father and his brother, as young boys under the age of 10, had the after-school job of sitting in the basement of their North Greece Rd. home and watching the still my grandfather had built.
The boys had to fill bottles of whisky and somehow measure the alcohol content of each one to ensure its' quality. My father remembers two customers in particular, Mr. Howe, the Town of Greece Superintendent in the 1940's and Sheriff Al Skinner. Evidently my grandfather's whiskey was of high enough quality that even the "law" was willing to overlook a still operating in the basement!

Hank Williams Jr., Family Tradition

All of this means that it is normal and okay for me to exercise like a maniac, feel guilty for only running 10 miles in the morning and not biking, swimming or lifting weights too, and have a few sips of Bourbon around dinner time, after all, it's Family Tradition!









Virtual Bike Ride Update

The end is near. Amanda and I have reached the northern border of Alabama, near Huntsville. As of Thursday night I was at 680 miles, Amanda 660 and Jan 580. We reach the destination spot, Clanton Alabama, at 800 miles.
We will all be in fairly good bike shape no matter who wins. The competition has given me a good base for going into 70.3 mile IM training.

Walt Disney World Adventures!

Imagine working all year as a teacher. February recess is arriving soon and you plan a trip to see Mickey Mouse (and maybe your son, who works for Mickey). As much as you love your students and working in the classroom, it will be wonderful to get away for awhile to peace and quiet. The room is booked, in this case the Port Orleans French Quarter, a nice resort with swimming pools, a small river/canal in the back that is perfect for running along and a variety of new restaurants. Paradise found.

The morning after flying in to Orlando you go out for a run, commune with nature, enjoy the Florida sun and warmth over the upstate New York cold and snow. You are a stranger among strangers, a guest at a world class resort, free to do whatever you choose with the day. After running for a few miles you suddenly realize you have gotten lost in the maze that is Disney property. Thinking quickly on your feet you go to a bus stop hoping the next driver can give directions back to the hotel, actually a brilliant idea, something a man probably wouldn't do.
The bus comes to a stop and all you hear is, Mrs. K, Mrs. K., hey, Mrs K, from each window. The realization comes to you that the Spencerport girls cheerleading squads have arrived at Disney for a week long camp. Better yet, they are staying in the same Port Orleans hotel. Could life be any better than this? Maybe lounging in the hot tub with the third rum cocktail will have to wait for another day? No more anonymity and peace and quiet for you.

Pancakes

Light, fluffy, covered in real butter and syrup, now that is good eating! Pancakes are good for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They can be rolled with a sausage link in the middle, smothered in strawberries or blueberries, stuffed with chocolate chips and/or walnuts, flavored with vanilla and leftovers stored in the fridge to be quickly reheated later.

I am no longer waffling on competing at the Tupper Lake Tinman half-ironman on June 30th. Jan and I mailed in our entries Sunday. For the privilege of registering online we could have paid another $6.50 each, which I declined to do. Really, a $6.50 service charge, are you kidding me? I'm doing the race organization a favor, reducing paperwork and handling and I get charged, especially that much? Ridiculous.

Okay, that's the vent. Now the training begins. The super-secret 14 week training plan starts the end of March, but biking, running and swimming are happening now. Rumors are that Lou and Mike have sent in entries and Eileen is doing the Olympic distance. It should be fun!

Waffles

Have you purchased and eaten a frozen waffle recently? Suddenly waffles are half the size of what they used to be.

Sure, Aunt Jemima says 60% more, but believe me, she isn't talking about the size of the waffle! They are about as thick as a piece of toast. The fine print actually says, "than Eggo's 10 count". Well, there may be more waffles in the package, but they are still ultra-thin. In order to get what used to be a normal sized waffle you have to buy the Belgian variety, or make your own.

Most people don't think about the word "waffle" having many meanings. Here are three popular ones:

Waffling.

The act of throwing waffles on an ice surface.

The term waffling orginated from the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club and their losing ways. When the team would start losing badly, fans would litter the ice with waffles. Maybe we could do this with the Buffalo Bills?

Waffling

The inability to decide on something(s). Breakfast waffles have grooves that go up and down, like some people's opinions.

Waffling
Indecisive; unable to make up one's mind; playing the safe middle ground due to one's own lack of conviction or sense of morality.

Today I am number three, indecisive, unable to make up my mind and commit to training and racing in the Tupper Lake Half-Ironman (June, 30). Someday I have to finish a half-ironman distance race to make up for my dnf at the Florida half three years ago. But should it be now? Financially I am waffling. The entry fee is $140 (cheap compared to the $225-$275 official, trademarked IM races), but still a lot of money. Then there is the motel for two nights, food, gas, etc.

Ability wise I am also waffling. Maybe I am just a short distance specialist, since I always have hydration issues in longer races and warm/humid weather? Can I do the distance? 1.2 miles of swimming isn't short, but at least at Tupper I can wear a wetsuit. Florida IM wetsuits weren't allowed. Biking 56 miles in the Adirondacks will be a challenge. I am not a fast biker. Running 13.1 miles after swimming and biking-not always loads of fun and at 6.5 miles is where I was carted off the Disney course after embarrassing myself screaming in pain from horrible cramps. I don't want a repeat of that!

And so I am a waffler. Go ahead and throw a waffle at me if you wish, it won't hurt much anyhow.

Learn'n is Hard

Ten things I learned this week, mostly from the sports world.

1. When a man misses a tough catch that may have led to his team winning, it's okay to rip him apart, even though the team never would have been in the Super Bowl without him. (Wes Welker, NE Patriots).
2. A quarterback can win two Super Bowls and still not be thought of very highly (Eli Manning). Please, send him to Buffalo if you no longer want him in NY.
3. If you are going to claim bad steak made you test positive for performance enhancing drugs during the Tour de France, chances are the case will be lost. Especially when everyone on the team ate the same meal and you, Alberto Contador, were the only one that tested positive.
4. Now that the millions of wasted tax payers dollars have been spent and the case against Lance Armstrong was dropped, can we just stop on whether he did or didn't? (dope, that is). Probably only a dozen or so people really know the truth, I mean really know it, and the rest of us can only conjecture about what he may have done.
5. I wonder if pro wrestlers or bodybuilders ever doped, or golfers, tennis, hmmm. Nah. Well, at least we don't care if they do. Americans only care if some of our football, baseball, track & field or bicyclists do or are rumored to have.
6. A secretary of JFK came out this week saying she had an ongoing affair with him. This guy must have had sex with every female he came near. Amazing.
7. I may never do an ocean swim triathlon if this is what is living in the water! (whale shark)

8. If you are on the television reality show Biggest Loser and only lose 2 or 3 pounds in a week, and you are 5'8" or so and weigh in at 350+, please don't act surprised and tell us how hard you worked all week. Please.

Okay, I only learned eight things this week, but it's only Tuesday and like I said, "Learn'n is Hard".

Virtual Alabama Ride

The competition for the ride from Spencerport, NY to Clanton, Alabama is heating up. Amanda is in the lead with 500 miles (as of February 5), but the old man (me) has closed the gap and is at 484 miles. Jan is hanging tough at 440 miles. With the finish line at 800 miles, it looks to be anyone's race.