What is today's date?

1-hour spin class with Margie at the J
Tomorrow, not today, is the day to sign up for ...

Not supposed to ride today

I wasn't supposed to ride today, but I did: 6 miles

It's cold, blustery and 31. I'm not going to pull on the spandex, but I am going to pull the black bike up from the basement and ride down the path to Marblehead Cycle. The ride is somewhat treacherous, but this time last year, there was four feet of snow on the path. In the shade, the ground is full of frozen bike ruts. In the sun, muddy bike ruts.

At the bike store, I find poor Johnny who has set up a new display of skateboards. These long boards look like works of art. I'm thinking of buying one and hanging it on the wall, because I can't ride a skateboard, I can only fall off one.
I'm there to pick up a few things, including a new heart rate monitor, using a gift certificate my brother, Dana, gave me. I have about $30 left over, so Johnny sells me an iPhone bag by Topeak. This bag, along with a free iPhone ap, Strava Cycling, will give me distance, average speed and time, and that should make it interesting this year, if I don't look down at my handlebars too much and crash.
Tomorrow is the day to sign up ...

Do I climb or do I not?

Tuesday, 5:40 a.m. spin class with Margie
Wednesday, 5:35 a.m. full TRX class with Maria
Thursday, 5:40 a.m. spin class with Andrew
Friday, off
Saturday, skiing at Shawnee Peak, 8 easy runs
Sunday, 8:15 a.m. spin class with Margie, 19.48 miles, 465 calories burned

There comes a time when you have to blog less and do more. This past week, I was able to stay active despite the snowless winter and cold. It's gotten so, I really miss the bike. A friend from MS Global, Larry Vuolo, who also grew up in Revere, rode a nice dry and tight 40 yesterday somewhere in Western Massachusetts. I'd like to say, "I'm jealous," but I'm finding it easier to wake up early and drop into spin class than going through the hassle of pulling on winter gear and toughing it out. Can you say, "wimp?" I knew you could.
Yesterday, a friend, Ron, his daughter and my oldest daughter headed up to Shawnee for a day of skiing. It was great to get out, in contrast today's cabin-fever session of huddling with the bills. Shawnee is in Mt. Washington Valley, and from the Pine lift, you can see the snow-covered mountain and its 22-percent grade on the final climb dominating the landscape, and my cycling imagination.
Tuesday is decision day, and I'm not getting any younger.
Do I climb or do I not?

A weekend of firsts

After two days off, spin class at the J with Fanny and Margie

About to change the front derailleur cable

I did two things I never thought I would do this weekend. On Saturday, with the snow making it impossible to drive, never mind ride, I fixed the front derailleur cable on my red Allez all by myself. The proof will be when I can finally take the thing for a ride, and I shift up into the big ring for the first time.

Today, I signed up for the Triathlon at the North Shore Jewish Community Center. It's a 250-yard swim, three loops of Marblehead Neck, and a 5K run. Oy vey. I don't do triathlons, but I guess I will be doing one now. It's May 14, which is Mother's Day. Sign ups for members are ongoing, and general registration opens up on Jan. 25. Cost is $75. Last year, I volunteered with my daughter and had a blast. This year, I'll be the one who gets blasted.

Another impossible task. Now I have two weeks to grow a mustache. Go Patriots!

PS I just read that one of those with MS who rode really strongly in Banff last summer has decided to drop out of this year's ride. I'm really sad Mary will not be with us. She's going through some life changing stuff, so hopefully she'll get things sorted out and be back in the saddle for MS Global 2013. God speed, Mary.

I'm Bushed

1 hour spin class with Andrew at the J

Photo courtesy of the apfn.net via Google in the public domain

Today was the third straight day of getting up at 5 a.m. to work out. At this point, it's not working out. I'm bushed. You're bushed. We're all Presidents 41 and 43. (Doesn't that picture make you long for the good old days of 2004?) I spun, but I felt like mush. Andrew taught a good class, though. I'm looking forward to an off day tomorrow and an extra hour of sleep.
My fear is Lake Tahoe, MS GLOBAL 2012, and the rest of the biking season is right around the corner! I'm feeling like I'm losing the wheel during spin class in January. How can that be?
If anyone has any ideas about how to break out of a plateau, I'm all ears.

Moving forward while turning around

The TRX class that wasn't
I arrived on time to my first TRX class this morning and went downstairs to the "gym" where I thought it would be taught. A woman, who turned out to be a Zumba and spinning instructor, also showed up in the same place so I thought this must be the place. Only, there were no TRX straps hanging from the wall.
We bullshat for a half hour. Turns out she rode the JCC triathalon last year, which Aveen and I voluteered for, and she rode the same 50-mile MS tune up ride with Bill Hamilton last year that I did. Then, this instructor realized the TRX class was going on in the upstairs in the gym.
So we headed upstairs and finished out the class.

Things I learned off the bike.
• TRX is really hard. I don't know why I'm doing this except I want to do something different from spinning.
• If you really want to feel stupid, show up for your TRX course, get lost in the building where you are taking the course, sit around for a half an hour, then go to the course
• If you want to do the JCC Triathalon, the sign up is Sunday and it sells out in five hours. The woman I was bullshitting with did it for the first time last year and came in just 22 minutes off the leader, which is impressive.
• If you want to do a triathalon, practice swimming. So much for TRX

Steven P. Augart

Commonwealth School Class of '83

I want to take a moment to remember Steven Augart, Commonwealth School Class of 1983. He was in the class just ahead of me in high school. His death from a brain tumor this past week really shook me. His funeral is ongoing as I write this. We were not close in high school, but I remember him as a caring, passionate, zealous guy, someone who really stood out. One of his classmates responded to a Facebook appeal and pretty much summed up, with great elegance, the way I feel, except he was in the class above me and I never rode the bus with him.

Despite sharing a very small class, I didn't know Steven that well. I knew him intimately in a way-- the way that you can recognize somebody by glimpsing a lock of hair or the attitude of a chin or a hand through a crowd-- but I don't remember doing too much with him. I remember his lunch announcements, of course. We rode the bus together occasionally.

If you look at his yearbook picture, you notice two things. One, I did not have him sign it. That was stupid. Secondly, he's fixing a bike. I can't remember if we rode together up to Hancock, the headmaster's farm about 80 miles north of Commonwealth Avenue, 60 miles north of Lexington where we would ride to the twice-yearly all-school retreat.  I did it twice, and on my first long ride, and I cramped up pretty bad. I'm sure he rode once when I did. The shame of it, I only realized after he's gone that we shared a love of cycling at a young age. I know it seems trite, but I'll never share a ride with him.

Eight runs, then spin class

Skied Shawnee Peak on Monday, Tuesday, spin class, 20.29 miles, 459 calories burned

Still moving

Ride to the bike shop on Saturday, 1-hour spin class on Sunday.

Sometimes, no matter how cold it is or late in the afternoon it is getting, you just have to get on your bike and ride down the path to the bike shop, where you bullshit for 10 minutes with a guy named George who can't decide whether he wants to buy a road bike or simply new pedals so he can ride clipless. There, he'll tell you all about the time he lent his green beater to a friend while riding on Martha's Vineyard, and his friend ran it into a tree and bent the fork. Then, he will ride off, his seat a notch to high to make his pedal stroke effective, not that my pedal stroke leaves much to be desired

Then, since you must buy something, you will buy a new front derailleur cable for your steel beater bike because it is getting frayed. The odds of your having time to actually make the repair by yourself are slim to none.

Which begs the question, why write about riding when you can ride

Shall we climb?

1-hour spin class at the JCC with Andrew, 21.46 miles, 489 calories burned

Happy Birthday, Vito

I don't want to bore you with discriptions of spin class, so suffice it to say that Andrew's ride today, infused with 1960's music, did its job.

I spoke with Vito of Rockland today on his birthday. I met Vito on the MS Global 2011 ride in Banff this past summer. Suffice it to say, Vito rides like a bullet train. Despite his being sick on his birthday today, Vito sounded upbeat about dropping weight and working with a nutritionist. We spoke about signing up for the Mt. Washington Auto Road race. I've been wondering if I should sign up for this, so talking to him gave me a better understanding about how difficult but also how rewarding it might be to climb it.

Speaking of MS Global 2012, I'm going to make a shameless plug for you to support cutting edge MS research. Be the first to give to my ride in Lake Tahoe. I will be eternally grateful!

1-hour spin class at the JCC with Margie

5 a.m. came too soon after I went to bed too late. It's amazing how I kept dreaming, fooling myself that I was somewhere else, only to wake up at 4:48 a.m. and think, 12 more minutes of sleep.

I dreamed I was in a bike race, and Geoff Hamilton was there. We were racing through what seemed like the Sumner Tunnel. We were all going really fast. It was my first race.

Everyone in the spin class was kvetching and kvelling about the fact that now there were 25 new spin bikes crammed into the room, instead of the usual 18 to 20. Instead of setting us up in two neat rows, there were three rows, and the rows were curved around the room. This, in a place a wee bit obsessive-compulsive, where I've seen people get off their bikes to make sure they were lined up with the lines in the wood floor.

Then, everyone spent time fiddling with their bikes. Now, everything on the new Spinner Pro bike is adjustable, and figuring out how to raise and lower the seat stem, adjust the saddle, and slide the handlebars made for, well, a lot of kvetching and kvelling.

Hey, it turned out to be a great class. Margie played River Dance and John and I tapped our way to the finish. There was only one empty bike in the room. Not bad for a 5:40 a.m. exercise class.

Cross training

Skiing at Shawnee Peak, 1-hour master spin instructor class at the NSJCC
It was inevitable that I would run out of steam, both on this blog and my ability to train. Friday, nothing was happening, and work at the paper crushed me. Saturday night, I took the girls and one of my daughter's friends skiing at Shawnee Peak. My youngest wasn't feeling well, so I took the teenagers up the hill after a late breakfast.

We took a total of 5 runs, which at $177 for three lift tickets, does not sound so economical. But after four runs from the top, and a run from the Pine lift down Main slope, we were wiped. The teens had had had enough, so we packed up and came home. I want to keep skiing in life, but I don't want to overdo it. Like many skiers my age, I'm a confirmed intermediate.

One thing that was sad was there were not a lot of skiers or riders at the mountain, and not a lot of people at Ricky's Diner in downtown Bridgton, Maine.

At Shawnee, four of the five lifts were running, thanks to the resort's ability to make snow like crazy. The conditions were pretty good, though there was some slippery conditions on the back side of the mountain. The Sunnyside Triple was closed, but much of the terrain off the top was open. The easy trail from the top, Sunset Boulevard, had great snow.

On Sunday, I rode 24 miles during the more than 1-hour master spin class taught by master spinning instructor Michael Ferrante of Gloucester. There were 40 people in class, and I got to ride one of the new Spinning bikes at last.

The bike I rode, No. 8, had a left pedal that was iffy and a seat angle that was off, but helmets off to the J! These Spinning bikes are great, and the Spinner Pro, and a great model. There is even a readout for cadence, miles, calories and, if you own a strap by Polar, you can get your heart rate. You can micro adjust the seat and the handlebar stem. Height adjustment requires you to unscrew a knob at the back of the stem and pull out the handle, but there are plenty of notches on the seat stem to get the height just right.

Ferrante took us through a good work out, slowly building in intensity and then pushing us at the end. I was spent, but I was also fearful about overdoing it. To top it off, I won a spinning towel. Now, if I can only keep this level of activity up for the next three months.

One good thing about people not heading north with the lack of snow here: no lift lines. The bad thing, crowded spin classes.

Spin class with Andrew

1-hour spin class at the JCC
One of many spin classes I hope to take with spin instructor Andrew and his house music this year. He took us on a magical, singletrack ride into the hills of North Carolina this morning. While he climbed the hills, I dragged my butt up them. Behind me, Jeff Brand, a long-time PMCer, pedaled with a smooth, fast cadence I could not match. I was tired. I could not work up a sweat at first.  I dragged my way through the ride and through the day. All day at work, I had a headache. I even bought some CVS-band acetaminophen to take care of it, only to realize I had mistakenly bought two bottles of PM pain reliever, which I could not take for fear I would nod off at my desk.
Andrew apologized after class for essentially doing a workout for the bike, instead of a typical spin workout. One of the people in the class came up to me and said the workout was so good, she was thinking of getting on a bike.
That's always been my philosophy on spin class. Spinning for spinning's sake get you nowhere, literally. But if you spin with a goal of making yourself a better cyclist, the class becomes challenging and rewarding. I'm finding I'm turning up the dial more, the thinking being that a tough indoor workout will make me better on the climbs. Andrew was also able to simulate a downhill chase, which he noted was the hardest thing to do on a bike, get fast legs after a tough climb. Kudos to him.
Sunday's 9:30 a.m. class will mark the long-awaited roll out of the new spin bikes. I can't wait. The bike I rode today had a seat that pitched me forward, shaky handlebars, a squeaky ride and iffy pedals.
Not even melting these bikes into molten steel can fix them.

No biking today

First off day of 2012 many more to come

Working at night and then getting up early in the morning to ride the trainer sounded like a plan, but it's a plan that never materialized. The 11-degree temperature did not help. So, I headed to Bagel World in Salem, which the girls love but my diet does not. My workout consisted of a short jog on frigid Phillips Beach with my dog trying to nip me.

I am signed up for spin class tomorrow, so at least I have a goal for the week. I'm trying to keep from melting into the couch through the winter.

I do have this photo to share of Mike Murphy on a foldy. Mike used to work at Marblehead Cycle in the 1990s when he was 15. Now he's out in Orange County, Calif. A strong mountain bike rider, he took six years off the bike, mechanic John Raymond tells me. When Murphy got back on the bike, a model made by Giant, he was able to beat a club full of mountain bikers during one of his first rides back. Now, he's come full circle and test riding a Raleigh foldy back in Marblehead. Don't tell anyone.

MS Global particpant Matt I. is not feeling well and Karen Crumback, the development director for the Accelerated Cure Project, wants us to keep him in our thoughts and prayers. I met him at ACP's annual dinner in December and he's a really swell guy. I hope he can ride with the group this summer. ACP is the recipient of the money raised by MS Global each year, and its cutting edge research into the cause of MS is really something to support.
Thank you to Nate who shared some suggestions about various century rides this summer when I posted my goals. I would like to ride Climb to the Clouds, but only the metric century. I think a climb like that followed by many more miles would do this body in.

First spin class of 2012

To legs, the new spin bikes are coming!

5:40 a.m. 1-hour spin class at the North Shore Jewish Community Center
The first spin class of the year was nearly full, but it was a surprise that there were even two open bikes, given the class is usually packed with New Year Resolutioners. All the usual 5:40 a.m. spandex suspects were there led by Margie, the jovial spin class student turned jovial spin class instructor. Margie serves as our mother hen and DJ, making sure we have water and cranking out a surprisingly good mix, including Taylor Swift, the "50 First Dates" remake of Spandau Ballet's "This Much is True," Van Morrison's "Dark Side of the Road," plus some funky Stevie Wonder: "Someone Who Needs Me!" They are upbeat songs you can do-woop to if you want. While it's not the kind of class a really serious roadie might sanction, Margie gives us a really good workout, and keeps it light while we crank up the dial. I usual sweat profusely and zone out, pretending I'm climbing the auto road of Mt. Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park in Canada last summer. I imagine Geoff Hamilton dragging me up the climb, while I complain to him about how difficult it was to have an Insinkerator garbage disposal installed in my kitchen sink. (That's another story best left unsaid.)
Margie was also riding one of the 25 new spin bikes the JCC has been promising it would buy for the class for about as long as Moses wandered the desert. The present bikes we ride on are well past their useful life, with shaky handlebars, brakes that do not work and broken water bottle cages. Some squeak. Some knock. Some have resistance that goes from nothing to Mt. Edith Cavell in a quarter turn. I've had my foot come out of the pedal on more than one occasion. While I love to complain about the old bikes, I give thanks that the higher authority has finally seen it fit to bestow upon us the proper spin equipment at last. Amen. The new bikes can tell speed, cadence, and work with Polar heart rate monitor straps. Nice.
After class and getting the girls to school, I headed down to Phillips Beach to walk the dog, Masha, where a friendly acquaintance gave me a New Year's present, a rare Mows and Blows T-shirt for a lawn mower repair business started by her young nephew. I wonder if the boy could fix my mower next spring? I wonder if he could fix those old spin bikes at the J? Probably not.

Shedding some baggage

Two miles to Starbucks in Vinnin Square on the Specialized Globe

I got a "HNY" text message from a friend I used to bike with a lot a few years ago. He used to kill me on the hills and flats. His life kind of took him down a few different paths and he hasn't been on a bike since the 2010 Pan Mass. Challenge, when a bunch of us rides took the party boat back from Provincetown.
He now lives in the next town over, and he asked to ride this blustry morning. We arranged to meet at my house at 10:30 a.m. It took me a half hour to dress for the cold: warm-weather cycling tights, four layers on top, winter gloves, two pairs of socks, a dickey around the neck.
He arrives a few minutes late, no helmet or cold-weather tights, riding an ancient green Raleigh with an Amherst Bicycle Shop sticker on the downtube.
Turns out, I had met this bicycle when it came in for service at Marblehead Cycle a few weeks ago. The shop's wrench, Johnny R. and I had several discussions about it, how to get the rust off the handlebars with Never Dull, and whether it was worth it to bring it back to life.
Strange that my old friend would show up on that bike, which is now 50 years old and was actually built in England, unlike today when they don't make them like they used to.
Instead of riding my steel frame Red Allez road bike, which is no speedster, I hopped on my black Specialized Globe, a bike that looks more at home on the streets of Amsterdam than those of the North Shore of Boston. It also blended better with my friend's Raleigh. My bike features an 8-speed internal hub, a self-powered light with a generator in the front hub and, best of all, a bell that goes "ding." We swung by his new house, I said "hello" to his wife and new puppy, and we booked it to Starbucks. I wound up riding the wrong way down Tedesco Street trying to cross it.
So, while I did not work off the winter weight today, I did catch up with an old friend, and shed much of that uncomfortable baggage you acquire when you don't call someone for a while.

Reasons To Ride In 2012

The first ride of 2012

Jan 1, 2012

15 miles in 1 hour around Marblehead Neck, Peaches Point and Swampscott with my vet
It wasn't the fabled climb up the Alpe d'Huez ski area as part of the Tour de France, but the first ride of 2012 went down to, of all places, my daughter's friends house about a mile away. Her friend demanded Aveen bring her bike for the play date. As we set out, Aveen wanted to ride another way, but I insisted on riding down the potholed road that is Humphrey Street. "Can you ride faster?" she demanded. I never know how fast to ride when my kids are behind me. When we arrived at our destination, I didn't even get so much as a fist bump.
So begins the chronicle of riding in 2012. I don't think I'll be able to ride every day, in "Jules and Julia" style, so the idea that this will be an everyday thing may not last. But this year is going to be a challenging year on the bike. I'm turning 46, getting a year slower and I'm that much fatter. I've already battled two colds, and lost the connection to last season's fitness, which allowed me to ride 300 miles in six days in Banff and Jasper, Canada, as part of MS Global 2011, a charity ride that supports MS research.

Goals this year include, beside the insanely obvious "ride more" New Year's resolution:

In April, I plan to sign up with Tyler Hamilton Training so that Tyler can whip me into shape at last. MS Global's plans of cycling in Lucca, Italy have been derailed due to the freaky Italian economy, so the rolling moveable feast plans to head to Lake Tahoe out west. Given that this will be a hilly ride, I need a mountain goat as a trainer. This ride takes place in the last week of September and early October. I need to be in shape by then.

The Pan Mass. Challenge in the first week of August. This year, I again plan to volunteer parking bikes on Saturday, then ride back to Wellesley with Dr. Arthur Freedman, my pets' vet, on Sunday. The 68 miles we rode in the rain last year was a big character building, as we also encountered rain on the first day of MS Global as we rode from Banff to the tourquoise, colored Lake Louise.

Ride the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bike Race. OK. I won't be racing. Don't let the other racers know that. I just want to climb it. Why? Because it's there, it's a challenge, and I'm not getting any younger.

The Sea Coast Century. Why? Because I want the T-shirt. Also, for $35, you get a fully supported century, thanks to the Granite State Wheelmen. And you can ride either Saturday or Sunday, or both days. It will be a great way to get in shape for Lake Tahoe. My goal is to ride the century and not get lost. Then, come back to Hampton Beach the next day for the metric century, if I can still ride.

As well as ride with the North Shore Cyclopaths, join the local CCB bike club for midweek rides and some Saturday rides. My friend, Mark Lorenz, rides with them and I don't get to crank with him otherwise. 

The Sea Glass Ride Once again the Sue de Vries Cancer Foundation plans to host a charity bike ride, and I again plan to direct it for the seventh year in a row. Our small bike-a-thon raises money for free wellness programs at the Mass General/North Shore Cancer Center in Danvers, Mass. Details of the ride will be posted on these pages in the coming months. With such an ambitious program, let's hope I make it to spin class on Tuesday. Happy New Year.