Tuesday’s ride was a 17 mile ride over some rolling hills and the gentle flatness of the B&A trail near my house.  Wednesday was a simple end of the trail and back kind of day, and yesterday was a 21 mile ride over rolling hills and the B&A trail again.  Today, I plan to get out after my last concall for work and hit the trial for a slower recovery ride spin.  That will probably tack on an additional 12-13 miles and put me around 63 or 64 for miles for the work week.

I am probably going to get up and join my local group ride tomorrow which will put another 26 on the odometer, but it is an early ride on a Saturday, so I may have to sleep in on that one.  We’ll see.

If there’s one thing I’m good at, its being hard on myself. There are a number of good reasons why I didn’t get a ride in on before Tuesday, not the least of which was spending both Saturday and Sunday with Mr. Grey. I’ve also got this pesky thing called a job. Monday I had to go up to Philadelphia for a meeting, which wiped out the entire day. In fact, today is the first day this week that I haven’t had a 2 hour drive in the morning. Tomorrow is a different story.

I’ve tried to do 30 day challenges and even 365 projects in the past, and I almost always end up failing for some reason or another. In the past I’ve been hard on myself about it. That’s counter-productive at best.

Maybe my life just isn’t set up for doing something every day. Or maybe I need to be less stringent on things like start and stop dates. Sure, starting 30 days of cycling on the first of the month makes it clean and tidy, but my life isn’t clean and tidy. There will certainly be at least one or two more trips to Philly in the next month, and that will effectively eliminate the possibility of getting a ride in, but even if I don’t hit all 30 days, at least I’ll be out there more than once a week.

Here’s hoping.

Yes, it kind of sucks to not have power, but with the advent of 3G (though AT&T seems to be having some serious issues with mobile backhaul in my area) and devices that hold a charge for several days, I’m really not nearly as cut off as I was in the past.

There have been three saviors in my world — gas appliances, ice, and my trusty coleman lantern. We had pancakes for breakfast. We had coffee when we needed it. We have cold drinks and haven’t lost any food (yet). And here I am at 10:00 PM and I’ve got light.

Yes, it’s kind of a pain in the ass. But at least Irene was followed by some cool weather and a nice high pressure system. So the fact that I don’t have the AC on is only a problem in that I’m listening to my neighbors generators.

Other than that, it could be a lot worse.

So, on Friday, I had a choice.  I could let the slight increase bring me down (interesting that an up is a down here) or I could reinvest in myself and make some positive changes over the weekend.  I knew I’d had a few more beers than I should have during the week, and I’d eaten a few extra snacks when I really didn’t need to, and I’d missed the mark on my fruit and veggie intake.  I also didn’t get to the gym.

I still didn’t get to the gym over the weekend, but I didn’t need to because I hit the road on my bike and logged 71.72 miles over two days.  I limited my beer intake and upped my fruit and veggie intake.  I got myself back on track.  And I broke a “rule” of weight loss this morning – I weighed myself outside of my designated weigh-in day.  Happily, I was down 2 10ths of a pound.

It was good to see that number on the scale.  I’m moving in the right direction and I feel great.  And that’s what this is all about.

As the alarm went off this morning I realized two things — this was the second time I’ve set an alarm since leaving Discovery and I really hate WYPR on a Saturday morning.  I hit the snooze button.  It was only natural.  

Eight minutes later, I something clicked.  I’d known that the reason for the alarm was to get up to ride, but to be honest, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to get out of bed and meet the peloton when the alarm first went off.  I could certainly ride on my own as I did a few weekends ago.  But something clicked, and I got myself out of bed and scrambled into a pair of bibs and a jersey.

Since, I’d stayed in bed for an extra eight minutes, I really didn’t have time to make coffee.  I grabbed an energy bar and a banana, filled the water bottles with Gatorade and headed to the shed.  Walking out the door, I looked at the thermometer.  58F.

Let me tell you now, I need a new thermometer.  Or at least a wind gauge.  As I rode out of the neighborhood I was hit with a wall of wind coming out of the northwest.  That meant that the ride into town would be nice, the ride home would be — well — sucky.

I met up with the peloton at the appointed place and we were treated to a lesson in philosophy.  I’d passed the man on the trail on the way to the Rusty Bridge, but hadn’t taken notice of him.  Now that he had an audience he was revved up.  He kept talking about our “blinky-blinks” (lights) and that it cost money to do what we were doing and that we were doing this for ourselves and that was good.  Then he noticed the lone female cyclist among us (who also had never ridden with us) and said something to the effect that we all owed here a debt of gratitude because without her, none of us would be here. I’m sure it made sense in our philosopher’s reality. Ann took it in stride.

Now, we usually don’t start bang on at 7:30, but today we did.  We needed to get rolling to get away from Mr. Kierkegaard and his rants before he got into the whole Fear and Trembling bit.  The ride down was brisk but pleasant.  Twenty-four of us took were headed down the trail, but we lost one rider to a broken derailuer and were down to 23 at the end of the trail.

I had some good conversations with a few of the riders that I knew from previous rides on the way into town.  One rider, I’d run into in my professional life earlier this week, and Chris and I talked about how it really is a small world.  Another, I’d not seen in several months and we got a chance to catch up a bit.  In short, it was nice to see the group.

At breakfast, I ended up sharing a table with Ann, and we got to talking about her writing.  Ann is living at least one of the dreams that I’ve had for some time.  To be a writer and make money at it.  She was totally willing to share here story and give me some background on how she got started.  This kind of information is invaluable and I was grateful to get a chance to pick her brain on the subject.  We ended up riding back to Severna Park together and had a great conversation the whole way.

In the end, I logged 38.73 miles in just under 3 hours of riding time and felt great about it.  If I’d rolled back into bed, I probably would have gone that distance today, but I would have missed out on so much more.  I’d have missed the opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie of cycling.

Still, when I got into town yesterday in record time, I was completely oblivious to the fact that I’d been riding with the wind the whole way down from Severna Park to Annapolis. Sure the wind was fierce on the Naval Academy Bridge, but it is March. Even so, I felt great about how quickly I crested the bridge and that I never dropped down to my small chain ring in the front. This should have been a sign.

Take your pick, windy or rainy, that’s what you get in March in Maryland.

As you might have guessed by now, I had a strong headwind to contend with on the way home. The weather was nice enough, in the high fifties or low sixties depending on what source I consulted, but the wind, well it cut through on the way home. I’d opted not to wear my shoe covers when I left, and by the time I got home, I was sorry.

Even with the wind, yesterday’s ride was a success. In fact the weekend was a weekend of great riding. I joined the SPP ride on Saturday at 7:30. It was clear to me that my months of hibernation in the winter had taken a toll on my abilities, when I found myself alone going through Round Bay (not dropped, just slow). But it was great to be out on the ride with the group again.

The tally for the weekend is about 45 miles, which isn’t too shabby considering I’ve been off my bike effectively since November.

• Loose about 30 pounds. Yes, 30.
• Choose three cycling events for the year. At least one must be a century.
• Take Mr. Grey to a park once a week and spend an hour playing with him.

I’m happy to report that I’ve managed to choose three cycling events for the year, and one is a century. I’ll be riding on May 7th at the Six Pillars Century on the Eastern Shore. I will not be doing the century however, just the 56 mile ride. I also plan to ride in the MS ride in Gettysburg, PA in July (another 60 miler) and the Seagull Century on the eastern shore in October.

I have not managed to take Mr. Grey to a park once a week, but I have managed to spend quality time with him on a weekly basis, which is really what that goal was all about.

Where I’ve fallen down is on the weight goal. I haven’t done anything to move forward on that goal, until this past weekend.

As I was cycling on Saturday (the first time since my first ride of the year in January) I made the decision that I would indeed dedicate myself to losing weight and getting fit. I was thinking primarily about re-dedicating myself to hitting the gym. I was thinking about making time to go to the gym and maybe even looking into a personal trainer. I really wasn’t thinking about losing weight as much as thinking about getting fit.

Then, I had one of those epiphany type moments later that day in REI.

I had gone to REI to try on some cycling jackets. In particular, I was looking for something that was a bit more Hi-Viz than what I have today. There has been a Gore brand jacket I’ve been lusting over for some time that conveniently converts into a vest and has all the pockets in all the right places.

I thought my barrier to entry with this jacket would be the price. I was wrong.

The XL doesn’t fit. I’m too fat.

So, I started to re-evaluate why I was thinking about getting more fit. I looked back at my goals. I joined Weight Watchers again.

I’m pretty excited about the prospect of Weight Watchers. They have re-vamped the program with a stronger emphasis on carbs rather than calories and fat. I get a ton more “points” per week than the last time I did this and I was able to eat pretty much all the things that I wanted to over the weekend. I haven’t found any crazy substitutions in recipes (like black beans as an ingredient to brownies – YUCK). I even had a few beers and didn’t have to sacrifice and make them “light” beers.

In addition, they have made online and mobile tools available to members who go to meetings. This makes tracking my food intake a breeze. No more carrying around a crazy slide rule and little book filled with points values of foods I don’t eat.

I can already feel a difference after just two days – not necessarily in weight but in attitude and mood. I’m uplifted. I woke this morning at 6:38 when Mr. Grey threw his pig at me and actually felt good. I can’t remember the last time I felt good in the morning.

Or, is it?

I spent the morning laboring with a pitchfork and lawn and leaf bags. The work was physical, somewhat onerous, repetitive, slow and methodical. I was picking up leaves from the gutter that have been sitting there since October. Despite the fact that I’d been lazy about getting around to the task, I was very alive. The crisp, damp air reminded me of my physicality. The sharp pain in my lower back reminded me that I was not young and limber. The earthy smell of the decaying leaves reminded me that I would someday become dirt. I was alive and keenly in touch with my primordial existence.

This afternoon I presented on a network access solution to a well-known university in Washington, DC. The work was mental, somewhat onerous, somewhat repetitive, fast paced and far from methodical. I was peppered with questions. I was thinking on my feet. I was very alive and yet it didn’t feel like work. It wasn’t physical, I wasn’t aware of the temperature of the room, nothing hurt.

Was this really work?

Of course it was work. I was not presenting on the solution out of a genuine love of the customer — indeed, I’d never met the customer before. I was presenting because it was the task at hand. I was going to get paid for it.

Does getting paid for performing a task make it work? Or, more directly, if you don’t get paid is it still work?

The answer to both questions is maybe. Sometimes, getting paid for performing a task constitutes work, other times, I believe, we get paid for things that really, when it comes down to it, are not worthy of cash.

So, what is real work?

At the end of the day, defining work is difficult. What I did this afternoon, was certainly work, but it was far from strenuous even though it was rewarding. What I did this morning was certainly work, it was strenuous, rewarding in some respects, but I certainly won’t get paid for clearing the gutters.

Though, I’m pretty sure the neighbors will appreciate it.

There are a lot of Joints in the Baltimore area.  Duda’s in Fells Point, Davis Pub in Annapolis, and my personal favorite Attman’s Deli on Lombard Street.  Recently, I had the opportunity to take some friends to Attmans and share a real Baltimore experience with them.

I’ve been going to Attmans since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  There are only two things on the menu that I’ve ever ordered — hot dogs and corned beef on rye with mustard.  That’s it, why try anything else, when these two items are perfection?  (Oh, there are about 200 options on the menu for those who don’t like my choice.)

The kibbitz room is basically the same as it was when I was a boy.  Not quite clean, but not dirty, and walls filled with picture frames.  Although, some of the more — ahem — questionable material is no longer on the walls.  Somehow it feels like coming home every time I go in.

And that is the definition of a Joint — a place that is unpretentious where you feel like you’re at home.

After going to his room, I stumble down the hall after him bleery eyed.  I get him a cup of milk and I start my coffee ritual.  I’m always mildly annoyed that his morning drink of choice takes 45 seconds to make and mine takes minutes, but that’s not his fault.  Then we chill out and watch Curious George together.  After that, we have a little breakfast.

This routine developed rather quickly after I left my last job and I’ve got to say, I really do love it.  At the last gig, I was up and out of the house by 6:00 AM.  The only mornings Mr. Grey and I had were on the weekends.

I know our little routine will fade away at some point, as he gets bigger, but for now I won’t trade it for anything — not even a few more minutes of sleep on those days when he wakes before the sun is up.