January Workouts

Treadmill: 22 miles
Cecelia: 44.4 miles
Ethel: 150.09 miles
Total: 216.13 miles
Weight +/-:0
February goal: 280 miles

Meet Molly

I picked her up at lunch today. She's a dark blue Raleigh Citation 10 speed. A friend of Dave's has had her sitting in his garage for a few years, she was given to him by a neighbour who moved to Ottawa. And the price was right, free. With a bit of a cleanup, some tuning and some more weight loss on my part she'll be my ride for the cycling club which I joined earlier in the month. Sorry about the picture the garage is getting a bit cramped! Gotta go, Ethel is waiting.

Monday Morning Weigh-In X-80

Again.

Slow But Steady

When the NHL wrapped up at 3pm I was already packed and ready to go, wearing my cycling shorts under track pants did feel sort of strange for 3 hours but... my butt thanked me later. I had already put in about 30 minutes before heading to the Gardens and at the end of 2 hours more riding I had put in 18.5 miles. I took a few tools with me so that I could tinker with the new bar setup, and that was a good thing as I had the angles all wrong and my wrists were sore. Once I changed things everything was as advertised, no numbness in the hands at all. I went to Mission Marsh, saw my 3 deer for the day and then wound through to Central Ave. and home. Being on the pavement was great but sidewalks are covered in wet sand which sticks to the frame and makes things a bit messy. Still better than sitting on Ethel and going nowhere.

Exercise for Those Over 50

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax. Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.

After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks. Then try 50-lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (I'M AT THIS LEVEL!)

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.

Thanks Sue

Just About Time

As I drove home at 5 today I noticed the sun was still high enough in the sky, the temp was only -8 and it was neither blowing or snowing. Cecelia and I made a few passes around the block. The parts I put on a week ago are solid. The new 'Mary' handlebars and stem are comfortable both in and out of the saddle. I can't wait to get out (maybe Sunday) for a good long ride. No offence Ethel.

Monday Morning Weigh-In X-80

I've made it back to 80 and hope that the next few weeks get me over this plateau. My daily workouts have become somewhat of a regular part of the day and I'm finding ways to make them go by. Racing the treadmill to beat a mile in less than 20 minutes or pedaling hard for a time then easy for the same length then hard for 30 seconds longer and so on. I've made it through the Lord of the Rings (yes again) movies and am now watching the 8 dvds of the making of the movie which are very interesting.

Sal collected $225 from teams at a bonspiel on Friday for the Ride and now that the article hit the paper I sent out emails to friends and sports contacts. A few people responded over the weekend. I'm up over 25% of the $5000 goal I set so I'm optimistic that by June I'll get there.

I threw a few of the parts destined for Eyowen onto Cecelia just to check the fit (so far everything I ordered works) and really wanted to take her out but -25 is a bit cold. I'll get some pix up later, she looks really great. I made a bike stand out of 1/2" black pipe from some plans on a site called 'Instructables' and it worked out pretty well and cost less than a third of a real stand. Makes putting on parts and adjustments much easier. At least I don't have my girls in the living room like the one in the picture! Not yet anyway.

A Good Day

It's been over a week and today was 'get the stitches out' day. That also meant having a real shower and putting in a real workout with sweat and everything. It all felt great, except for the stitches.
The girls all got new saddles, Bridget has a Brooks B17 leather (pic) which is supposed to take the shape of your butt and although not cushy (ask AJ) it will provide the best ride once broken in. Eyowen will get the hand-me-down WTB saddle. The pedals will be next as the Time Atac Z clipless are waiting for a 15mm wrench for installation on Bridget and then hers will go to Eyowen. If I could only find another saddle for Ethel, don't tell her or she'll do something real nasty to my butt!

Monday Morning Weigh-In X-78

With the surgery last Monday I forgot to jump on the scale, and when I did on Tuesday I had shot up to X-70! What the heck do they put in that intervenous bag? Must have been good stuff. Anyway I went back to basics and without heavy workouts managed to get back on track. The stitches come out Wednesday so I'll be back on the workouts by then.

The Little Barista

Hey Uncle Mike is he ready for Starbucks?

Back in the Saddle..sort of

I felt 100% better this morning. Sleep is still a chore as I have to really make the mask uncomfortable to make it tight enough to maintain pressure. I road 6 very easy km and walked a very slow 1/2 mile. Trying not to break a sweat so that my stitches don't get messed up seems sort of a waste but I needed to do something. I got an appointment to have the stitches out next Wednesday so as long as everything holds together I'll get back to a regular daily workout.

Project Eyowen

She finally got her first coat of primer last week. I'm hoping to heat up the shop on Saturday and add a few more coats of grey and then start layering on the glossy orange. I have a few new parts ordered for her and she'll get a few castoffs that Bridget won't be needing soon. I found some Giant decals on e-bay and may order them as well. the fun is just beginning.

And Then Some...

Until today I had only heard about our new hospital. It started for me on Friday when I went for pre-admission and ran into a lovely woman who argued about whether I really wanted a semi-private room or not. I finally told her I have the coverage I want the room, I believed I was going for day surgery so it was moot anyway. On to the next room where they informed me I had to be at admission for 6am on Monday and that I would be staying over night. Oh boy! I made my arrangements at work and basically got no sleep last night as my mask decided to be difficult and by 1:30 I thought even if I do fall asleep I'll be up in a few hours anyway, and I can sleep the rest of the day.
So we get to the hospital, check in and go to the surgery ward where no one is on duty. The lights weren't even on. Another fellow had been told to be there for 5:15am! Precisely at 6:10 the nurse strolled and we all got moved to the pre-op staging area. As the other 4 in our group were taken away one by one I found out my surgery had been re-scheduled for 9am from 7:45. Why am I here at 6am again?
Then the announcement "We are in gridlock, please begin gridlock protocols" came over the intercomm system. Since we're not in downtown Toronto traffic you are probably wondering what gridlock means in med-speak. It means there's no bed for Ron to sleep the day away in. So as I'm thinking Now What? in comes my doctor to check with me, discover the lack of beds and ask about my apnea. The only reason I was to stay overnight in the first place was that when the need for surgery was first determined in October of 2006 I hadn't even been to the sleep clinic and apnea can cause problems with the meds and being put out. Once he knew I was on the CPAP I was okay for day surgery.
The surgery went well as far as I can tell. I didn't know I would have an incision above my right ear and only found out when I checked the mirror when I first got out of bed. Damn ugly stiches and whitewall where I got partially shaved. I'm not to get it wet. It will be tough to shower and I guess I can't sweat for 10 days or so, just great.
The last nurse that I saw before leaving at about noon actually went to a book and gave me some dos and don'ts for ear surgery. All in all the nurses and staff are very thorough (the same questions at least 4x) and other than whispering amongst themselves which puts the imagination into overdrive, they were great.
Instead of all the architect's Christmas bonuses paid for the design, why not just put in enough beds so that 'gridlock' stays in downtown Toronto where it belongs?

Did Someone Say Dim Sum?

Sal invited me to go for lunch today, as long as we went for Dim Sum. I've avoided these meals for almost 30 years but lately I've been trying some new things so I thought, what the heck. We went to the Canton on Arthur St. and I have to admit that other than a the texture of the rice noodle, I really did enjoy the meal. It's pretty healthy as everything is steamed. Har gau (shrimp dumplings), cheong fun (rice noodle rolls with shrimp and bbq pork), lo bak go (turnip cakes), shaomai (steamed dumplings with shrimp and pork, I tried and finished them all. Like Dad always said about blood sausage, she'll be sorry she got me started on it.

Cecelia Rides Again

With the temp at 0 today I just couldn't resist taking another ride. Cecelia and I headed over the bridge and ended up at Mission Marsh. Once I tackled the soft snow on the way up the East End bridge the rest of the way was wet pavement. Pedalling through soft snow is tough and she gets very unstable. Going up the bridge was tricky. If you hit it too hard the back wheel slips and too slow and you bog. The bridge to the island was clear and I was able to get in some out of the saddle pounding which felt really good. Turn your head sideways and check out my first Youtube video, shot with my SonyEricsson phone on a tether around my neck. It jumps while I'm pedalling but smoothes out a bit on the way down the bridge. Hear those tires hummin'..?