Blog Roll Up (About TIME!)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

WAY overdue for a blog here...!

March was pretty awesome with opportunities for getting out on my bike and am up close to 300 miles so far this season. Here are some pics of my travels throughout our beautiful Southern Tier:

I tried to capture the Chenango River reflecting in the rising sun while cycling my way to work one morning:


Here is the Chenango River as I'm coming down the Cheri Lindsay trail with Clinton Street bridge and the office where I work on the other side of the river:


Some views of our local RiverWalk which extends through downtown Binghamton and Confluence Park where the Chenango and Susquehanna rivers join:






Atop Depot Hill Road (oof!) in Port Crane:


Dorchester Park in Whitney Point:


Sporting my new Light & Motion vis 360 on my bike helmet...can definitely notice motorists giving me more elbow room when I've got this lit up and blinking! Have learned to use my handy-dandy rear-view mirror (under $10!) perched on my glasses:




This was a particularly stunning day out on 17C around the Campville area. I know I'm biased, but it seems that when our skies are bright and sunny they have hues of blue that cannot be found ANYWHERE else!


Recently our Spinning class was moved, to my disappointment, from a room with tall glass windows overlooking our downtown RiverWalk and the view across the river, including lots of sky, sun, clouds to allow the imagination to roam.

Now? We're in an internal room with no outside windows and a row of MIRRORS in front of the class...UGH! Initially I was careful to position my Spinning bike in front of the line in between mirrors which mostly hid myself from self-scrutiny. Our Spinning instructor kindly turns the lighting on low, but we are still pretty visible in those dastardly mirrors!

Recently I decided to nudge myself and put my bike right in the front row in full view of a mirror. While I can't say I was totally kind & loving toward myself I can at least say that I was pretty impressed with my strong legs pumping me along during all the standing climbs and runs on the bike.

On a different note, I recently went to a concert in which Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary) performed locally. He's heading for 74 years old in May. What a human being! So warm & genuine! So vibrant and alive!...silly one moment and deeply profound the next. I didn't realize how much of an activist he's always been. He took turns with the audience: a request from THEM, followed by HIS choice...which was always a heartfelt, deep song with messages he was intent on conveying. He's been very active with the Occupy movement and performing at their various locales, sometimes his daughter or son joining in the fun. We recently discovered that he's returning to the Walton Theater in Walton, NY on April 28th and plan to catch him again. Peter is what I want to BE when I "grow up!" :-)

In other news...although I was less than certain about a cycling buddy being willing to join me on a tour up toward the 1,000 Islands later this summer, a few weeks ago he e-mailed me: "So how are the plans coming along for OUR trip this summer?"

This has revved me up BIGTIME! Stay tuned for more about plans for our summer cycling tour in July!

Don

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Rollin' On!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Picture perfect day! Rode 12 miles into town to catch up with 8 other bike club members and did the River Road loop which I've traveled many times. Then back into town through Otsiningo park which was JAMMED with people EVERYWHERE soaking up the sun under a cloudless blue sky! Not sure how warm it got (probably well over 60), but at quarter of 9 it's still 52 degrees! Shed the windbreaker after a while early on and back to my favorite way to travel: shorts & t-shirt!

On my way looping back home I ran into 3 more cycling friends who had just finished the River Road loop too. It's a good choice as it has a nice mix of downhill fun and uphill challenges. I was pleased to see I could still get over Kattelville hill near my home while staying at the bottom of my middle gear and not having to granny gear it.

Coming back OVER that hill I had one minor mishap coming back over the hill in that I was a bit zig-zaggy and went off into the gravel and had to stop the bike before it stopped me! Thing is: I have an absolutely HORRIBLE time starting up on my bike in the middle of an uphill ride. BUT: Standing Spin Class Climb to the rescue! Managed to hop right to it!

Racked up a sweet 44 miles today and am nervously pushing myself into commuting tomorrow even if the overnight lows are 36 BRRR degrees!

Trying to beat the effects of the time change by heading to bed early...night all! Make it a SPARKED week! :-)

Don

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Miles of Smiles!

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Most people think that 2012 began back on Jan. 1st.

But for me? Today being my 1st day back on the road with my bike? I can now truly say that I've kicked off 2012 with a BLAST! :-)

It just doesn't get any better than today: loads of sunshine, wispy clouds and a jaw-dropping 68-72 degrees on the various bank thermometers I saw!

I was so excited looking forward to hitting the roads this afternoon! I couldn't make up my mind where I wanted to GO! So many routes crossed my mind. My first thought was: okay, first ride of the season. I know I've checked my bike over real well. Pumped up the tires, holding air fine, lubed the chain, dusted it off. Everything LOOKS to be in working order. However I remember toward the end of the last riding season despite having a new chain on the bike there was still some slipping in some of the gears. So before I light out for some rural ride I'd better tool around town to be sure all is okay.

And it was! Smooth as silk! Up through Cheri Lindsay Park along the Riverwalk and then back downtown via State & Water St. Along the way I had settled on my decision:

Let's break for the border! The New York / Pennsylvania border, that is! Off I went, heading for Hallstead via Conklin Road / Route 7. Bumped into a few bike club members who were doing their solo rides out today too. Quick break in Hallstead and then back up into NY looping up Route 11. It was the strangest thing, the excitement that overtook me. Over the winter I'd forgotten what it was about cycling that lights me up. Even began wondering to myself: What the heck do you see in this stuff anyway? And you know I can't find the words. Can't pin it down...I just get in the bike and move and am overtaken by this overflowing feeling of good will, that everything is right with my world!

This was the perfect route. Just enough miles to challenge me (33 miles), to begin breaking in my butt (have to restore those buns of STEEL...lol!) and relatively flat so I could just savor the ride, soak up gorgeous outdoors and cruise along.

I had my "radio" tuned into this smooth Larry Carlton tune:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH8TJVwF1Yg

www.last.fm/music/Larry+Carlton/_/Sm
iles+and+Smiles+To+Go

No flats, no falls...just Miles of Smiles!

Don

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Sunday @ the SparkHaven!

Monday, March 05, 2012

Since getting my stereo up & running in my workout room upstairs (what I like to refer to as my SparkHaven!) I've SO enjoyed my music while on my treadmill. Sundays seem to be my treadmill days lately as I want to save gas by not going back & forth to the fitness center.

Yesterday the snow was coming down in such huge flakes it was mesmerizing during my 'millwork to watch them blowing and swirling about.

Toward the end of my 60 minutes on the treadmill one of my favorite "pump me up" songs came on: La Fiesta! by Chick Corea & Return to Forever:

www.amazon.com/Return-Forever-Chick-
Corea/dp/B0000262QW/

Here's another spirited rendition of La Fiesta offered by flamenco guitarist Tomatito in a duet with Dominican Republic pianist Michel Camilo:

www.amazon.com/Spain-Again-Michel-Ca
milo-Tomatito/dp/B000F8ZN7W/

It's a marathon 23 minutes long. After fast-forwarding through the noodling beginning things start to ramp up so I challenged myself. These days my treadmill pace has been 4-4.5 mph with an occasional few minutes at 5 mph for a short song. I decided I would wrap up my 'millwork with 18 minutes of sustained 5 mph...great push and a soggy, smiling mess when I finished! :-)

Is everyone in the northern lats getting excited? Especially those of us such as myself eagerly awaiting the arrival of daylight savings time next weekend?

After our cold blast of 12 degrees last night and tonight with highs in the 20's we are rocketing up to 50+ degrees this Weds. / Thurs.! I have a half day of comp time I'm hoping to parlay into some joyous outdoor cycling time perhaps on Thurs.? We'll see if the stars align properly...!

Off to strength training and Spinning class after work today. I'm hoping that these Spinning classes will put me a step ahead of re-acclimating myself to my bike again. Each spring I go through some niggling self-doubts about my cycling abilities as a few months off the bike leaves me feeling a bit of a stranger to my own bike! Shortly it will be time to blow through it and hit the road!

Have a great week everyone!

Don

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Moving Forward While Cutting Back

Sunday, February 26, 2012

With gas prices rising so I've been cutting back a bit by passing up on the fitness center occasionally...especially on Sundays when I'd have to drive both ways. During the week the fitness center is less than a mile from where I work.

So...that means I've been reacquainting myself with my treadmill again. Dusting it off, getting a new stereo to replace my old receiver which blew a fuse ($85 just to bring the old one into the repair shop!) and clearing out more of the clutter which had gathered in my workout room. It's a struggle to "rehabilitate" what used to be strictly a "stuff" room!

It's been great to get those 4 speakers cookin' in each corner of the room!

My usual cardio at the fitness center is 30 mins. each on the elliptical and stationary bike...at least that's my usual when I'm not Spinning! My old treadmill was my first and long-standing cardio outlet. And I was able to really crank it up to some long sessions. I believe my longest was over 80 mins. with the incline at "10" and going between 4.5-5 mph.

I was surprised to find myself "feeling it" more on my old treadmill than my elliptical workouts at the fitness center! Back in my first times on the elliptical I remember THAT being harder than the treadmill. I guess it's getting used to another type of movement. Mixing it up!

Which is why even though I am not a fan of running / jogging, I DO like ramping up this time of year so that I'm ready to return to our local Binghamton Bridge Run in May:

www.binghamtonbridgerun.org/

We had a nice contingent of fellow local Sparkers running last year and I'm hoping we'll be pulling together again for more fun this year!

Today I managed to hold a 4.5 mph pace for 60 mins. which felt good. Makes me wonder about the difference in cardio benefit when one pours it on for 2 thirty min. sessions vs. one sixty min. session. I'm hoping to keep kicking it up a notch. Soon when the weather warms up enough I'll be commuting by bike to work (20 mile round trip) and stopping off on my way home to jog a 5K at Otsiningo Park as the treadmill is NO comparison to getting out there on the trails!

Getting back to the treadmill is sorta like getting back to my roots and what got me rolling back around the beginning of my journey toward living a Sparked life! It's been a little nostalgic and WAY cool to listen to my tunes LIVE, not on the headphones! :-)

Hope you all have had a super weekend and enjoy a great week ahead everybody!

Don

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