Aerobic Hill Workout and… a New Back Wheel

Route: Up Lincoln to Mt. Tabor and then… my back hub blew up. Ball
bearings everywhere. The cassette rattling around like crazy. My
freewheel turned into a fixie, except nothing moved. Damn. The Black
Bomber has been shot down.

HR: Stayed below 170 except for when I figured out what had happened.
And I became very angry. Actually, when I realized it, you know what was
weird? My HR dropped really low. Like into the 60s. Which, considering
I’d just climbed Tabor, struck me as odd.

I dunno. Maybe it’s a good thing. My legs were pretty dead. And tonight,
I need to stretch.

First, a few links:

Adventure Brew ideas at BS Brewing

mmm. Pork. I can’t wait for the Super Bowl.

Bad bike lane idea. My comment on the matter.

On to the ride:
Aerobic + Flat Fixing Practice

Route: Rode out by the Bluffs, then out on some N. Columbia Blvd. that took us out by Terminal 4. Lawrence flatted once, then twice. Bummer. Stupid rocks. Some jackass actually laughed out his window at us. Nice. Came home through St. John’s and back along the Bluffs.

It wasn’t a hard ride, but I was starving by the time I got back. I hate that, because I feel like I’m in a hole the rest of the day when that happens.

Time: 1:30 (not including flat changes)

HR: Below 155 most of the time — I’m using the ceiling feature on my HRM. Finally. It’s annoying. I have to ratchet waaaaay back on climbs.

My back is really sore today from the core stuff I did yesterday. I set up a massage appointment for Monday. My bum is pretty sore from the lunges and step-ups I did yesterday, too. *grumble*grumble* I hate getting old.

Spins and Weights

Aerobic spins through SE.
A quick hour. I was having trouble not bouncing on my seat at about 120 RPM, which is weird. But more importantly, having ridden the Black Bomber more consistently than the Serrotta, I think the fit on the Serrotta’s a little off. Seat’s too low and tilted too far up, and the handlebars are too high. Annoying.

Weights
Lots and lots of sit-ups and lower back exercises. 20 minutes worth. Oof.

Circuit of lifting
2 x 12 Reach-up lunges w/ 20 lbs.
2 x 12 Reach-down lunges w/ 10 lbs.
2 x 15 Step-ups w/ 30 lbs.
1 x 15 dead lifts w/ 20 lbs.

Aerobic Ride

Went with Lawrence out on Williams/Vancouver — which I’ve decided I hate b/c the timing of the lights there is The Suck — out to St. Johns, then back on 30 and Yeon to Montgomery Park. Back on 19th-Everett-Broadway.

Time: 1:15

HR: 130-155. Jammed up a little hill by Montgomery Park and went up to 172.

Speed: ?? Probably not too fast — the St. John’s Bridge always slows me down because it’s scary. And, frankly, I just wasn’t hustling too much.

Tomorrow’s the last ride before the wedding weekend. *sigh*

I can’t wait to have more money to spend on food. We’re broke, and we have no good food to bring to work. I ate like crap today because of it — yesterday too — and I feel blech. Garbage in, garbage out.

Blurg. Gloob. Sploot.

This post from Cleverchimp about a local farm near Portland getting the heave-ho to make room for a parking lot, dog run and ball field (astro turf, no less) in Lake Oswego makes me so angry I could barf.

“After all, the soccer moms and dog-walker lobbies are important
constituencies in suburban Lake Oswego.”

That said, no. We haven’t begun to support a local CSA. Because we’re utterly broke at the moment. But give us a month or two, and we’re on it.

Seriously. Grrr.

Or is it Taoism? Whatever. Anyway, learning the lessons of Iraq and other insurgencies, the Army and Marines have a new military doctrine (NYT, subscription req’d).

Some choice quotes, thanks to the New York Times:

“The more force used, the less effective it is.”

“The more you protect your force, the less secure you are.”

Apparently, our military will now make love, not war. Sweet.

Stomps

Good hard warm up for 25 minutes. Got the HR up to 160s, 170s a couple of times. A couple of semi-stomps.

6 x 15 revolution stomps

5 minute recoveries.

Time: 1:20

Route: Eh. Out and about in NE. Kinda on Vancouver. Somehow out by PIR. Eventually out on the Bluffs. Just wandering.

Took me a while to get those stomps down. I definitely need to work on my form. I don’t think I feel very confident doing that. I THINK that I could be more powerful than I’m allowing myself to be, but I feel really weird cranking that hard on my bike. Especially the Black Bomber with it’s f***’d up back wheel. Stupid wheel. Anyway, I’m glad I warmed up hard. And I’m very glad I’ve been working on my hamstrings. Definitely felt those.

I should’ve stretched. I’m gonna wish I’d stretched tomorrow. But I had a meeting I couldn’t be late to, then tonight we went to some art thing and then went to Dave’s house to bottle the newest beer. I’m a very busy man. And tomorrow, I’ll probably be a very sore man. Maybe I’ll be able to ride in early and stretch before work some. Or something like that. Dumb.

Huh. Interesting article from AdAge about a well-connected Dem leading the image makeover for Wal-Mart. The question everyone seems to be asking is “do you believe?”

However, I think the underlying question with Wal-Mart is still one of power: With so much selling power, do suppliers make unsustainable business decisions? And who pays for those decisions, ultimately? (A little background, including some bits about Hillary being on the board of Wal-Mart just prior to Bill’s run for presidency.)

Hedge funds (read: rich, white, connected republicans) drove the price
of oil up by buying like crazy. And now, just in time for the election,
they’re bringing it down to a kinder, gentler price. A price that
unites, rather than divides. (from BusinessWeek)

A guy in the locker room was telling this story about riding along the bike path and, randomly, looking over his shoulder. And there was a guy back there drafting off him. Said “ya coulda knocked me over with a feather.”

And another guy joked, “You know, one benefit of getting older is that it takes me a lot longer to react. And when I get startled, instead of panicking and crashing, I find the danger has usually already passed.”

Somehow the conversation then moved to “I want to grow old enough to…” There were a couple of good jokes but the best one was from a guy who’s “older,” but in such great shape that I seriously think he could whip me if he wanted. Anyway, he said he wants to get so old he has to think twice about buying green bananas.

That’s pretty damn funny.