James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Really your best and only bets for any decent riding through the I95 grid is Virginia once your past that you might as well put your blinders on and the pedal to the floor.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The world turns. As it does, things happen.

The goal of 2020 was to see 200 and I saw that. After that, I decided I'd go for 190 in 2021 which would equate to a pound a month, roughly. This past weekend I saw 197 so I'm ahead of that goal. I haven't turned anything up, or down, as it were. Things are just going. This is what I remember from way back when. When you really get the machine in motion it just goes.

I will say this not eating after 9:00 pm still sucks. But it's working. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

I did a Zwift race (several, more below) and it told me my estimated FTP went from 300 to 307. This tells me my w/kg is 3.44. What that means is anyone's guess. At my strongest, historically speaking, it was over 4 so I have a ways to go if I want to get there. I really don't want anything. I'm just going.

I finally got out of the house and rode DM on Sunday. It was with the NICA team and the conditions were great. Last week I had hiked CR and it was beyond bad - just a total and complete mud pit. Then yesterday I went to Allaire and rode with @rottin' and @Frank. That's 2 parks in 2 days so you may not see me outside again for like another 2 months. In between we managed to see some of the team around a fire. We also had a team Zoom call and we are putting the pieces together for the 2021 year.

Topic shift. Rewind a bit and you may remember my approach per month:

October: miles
November: Zwift climbs
December: miles
January: I have decided to "train" in as much as that means anything now. What that equates to specifically is my unstructured WAG at what I feel constitutes training these days.

I have done 3 Zwift races this year, tonight being the 3rd. My placement according to ZwiftPower goes 12 to 10 to 6th tonight - all in the B category. I am racing flat races so I am not being exposed by my weight.

I am watching Expanse when I ride the trainer - I am on season 3 I think, or maybe 2
D and I are watching Ozark - started season 2 last night
I am listening to The Martian on audiobook and it is fantastic
Kindle read is Children of Time which I am forcing my way through - almost done
Physical book is Shalimar the Clown by Rushdie. He is so thick that you really need to be on your A game for him.
I may pick up a second physical book just to lighten up, Francis.

I am considering going to CR on Thursday morning early. Like 8:00 or so. It should be frozen by then. If you want to go, feel free to let me know.

Animal:

138539870_10223692366313160_2205517962658760816_o.jpg
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Do you know what makes walking in the park doing a little trail work or rock moving a lot easier to justify? Having a dog. Walk off trail by yourself? You're causing trouble. Walk with a dog and you're just walking the dog. Move a stick by yourself? Trouble. With a dog? It's play. We've been going to CR now & again in the morning. And moving a few rocks here & there, or maybe a well-placed stick (or unplaced, as it were), has been something we do when we're out there. And having the dog makes it all more natural. Or something.

It also gives me someone to talk to when I go out by myself. I realize now that when I get old I'll be talking to whatever animal I have. Or the lamp. I talk to him on & off all day as if he understands me. He responds to everything I say. I mean with his eyes. He always says the same thing though, which is, "Do you have any more food?"

We got the DNA test back last weekend. Take a good look at the image above. Make a guess. Then click away to see how wrong you were.

  • 22% Chow Chow
  • 19% American Staffordshire Terrier
  • 16% Labrador Retriever
  • 10% Chinese Shar-Pei
  • 10% Boerboel
  • 10% Basset Fauve de Bretagne
  • Plus 13% across 8 other dogs including Coonhounds, Foxhound, and Bulldog.
In other words, 100% mutt cocktail.

I'm usually too tired to write at night so I lay down and read, or play sudoko. I hear that prevents people from going crazy or something. It'll need to counter all the talking I do with the dog.

I finished Children of Time and I would not recommend it to anyone.
The latest Bobiverse came out and that is the next Kindle book.
Less than 2 hours left on the Martian - still GD good.
I have pretty much conceded that Rushdie is too much for me right now. Hard to follow him when you mostly read when exhausted.
Picked up Beartown by Backman. Pretty slow start but coming into the 40-50% mark and it's picking up.

January is almost over and I'm going to revert to max miles for February. The "training" is a good shakeup but it's taxing me right now and too much up & down.

Actually rode my mountain bike 4 times at 3 parks so far this year - DM, Allaire, and CR twice.

I think I have my final list of things I want to do in 2021 done. Maybe on 2/1 I'll share that. Or I'll forget to do it because I'm too tired. I wanted to add something about MTBNJ in there but I do not know how to quantify this in any way. I also don't want to call this a list of goals, so much as an assortment of things I want to aim for. The MTBNJ aspect is the hardest really. I may need to leave that vague.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I have finally come to terms of how I would like to see my 2021 go. This is the closest I will come to calling anything a resolution. It is more a set of things I want to try to do. Some of them are attainments. Goals can be used. But there are so many that it's not really possible to hit them all.

On the sort of health front, as I said I want to see 190 with a stretch of 185. Some of these have "stretch" which is this nonsensical expression of "stretch goals." When I think of the word stretch, I think of Stretch Armstrong. I also want to ride 500 hours, plus hike/walk 180 which isn't too hard with the daily dog walks happening now. I have some other health things like stretch 300 times, which would have been simple until we got a dog. Now the morning stretch is a battle to say the least. I am also trying to focus on getting 7+ hours of sleep on average. I guess focus & sleep in the same sentence is strange.

Notable bike activities would be riding 2 different DH parks, riding a new-to-me MTB park, doing a century ride, doing 100 rides on the MTB (last year was like 104), and hitting 48 different parks. The 48 is the one that will be the hardest. But with travel happening mostly by car (if at all) this year, I think it's possible.

I want to read 52 books, including a reread of the whole Foundation Universe series of books by Asimov. I finished I, Robot last night which is just a collection of short stories. I also want to write 150 things, be it posts here or on the travel blog. I didn't mention it but D got me a MasterClass subscription for Xmas. I want to do 18 of these. I have finished 2 so far. I'll talk about them more in another blog but there's 1 that's worth the subscription alone, with Chris Hadfield.

I also want to get 2-3 certifications for work.

The COVID-based normalcies would be a bunch of what I listed before, such as Canada, Broadway, eggs Benedict, the Vermont trip, riding Vietnam in Mass, ramen, skiing this season as well as next, NYC, Boston, getting the vaccine. and seeing another country. Plus Rhode Island & Maine (which would really be more work-related).

There are some MTBNJ ones I have listed but they will be a little COVID-dependent. Holding a race if possible, the summer trip, 12 team rides, and a team gathering at the end of the year when this is presumably over. I want to put more focus into the team this year, because I think as we open up, people will be really itching to get outside and be a part of the community. Hoping to be able to help that along.

So far, I have done none of this. But we may be able to check 1 off this weekend. We'll see.
 

ekuhn

Well-Known Member
I have finally come to terms of how I would like to see my 2021 go. This is the closest I will come to calling anything a resolution. It is more a set of things I want to try to do. Some of them are attainments. Goals can be used. But there are so many that it's not really possible to hit them all.

On the sort of health front, as I said I want to see 190 with a stretch of 185. Some of these have "stretch" which is this nonsensical expression of "stretch goals." When I think of the word stretch, I think of Stretch Armstrong. I also want to ride 500 hours, plus hike/walk 180 which isn't too hard with the daily dog walks happening now. I have some other health things like stretch 300 times, which would have been simple until we got a dog. Now the morning stretch is a battle to say the least. I am also trying to focus on getting 7+ hours of sleep on average. I guess focus & sleep in the same sentence is strange.

Notable bike activities would be riding 2 different DH parks, riding a new-to-me MTB park, doing a century ride, doing 100 rides on the MTB (last year was like 104), and hitting 48 different parks. The 48 is the one that will be the hardest. But with travel happening mostly by car (if at all) this year, I think it's possible.

I want to read 52 books, including a reread of the whole Foundation Universe series of books by Asimov. I finished I, Robot last night which is just a collection of short stories. I also want to write 150 things, be it posts here or on the travel blog. I didn't mention it but D got me a MasterClass subscription for Xmas. I want to do 18 of these. I have finished 2 so far. I'll talk about them more in another blog but there's 1 that's worth the subscription alone, with Chris Hadfield.

I also want to get 2-3 certifications for work.

The COVID-based normalcies would be a bunch of what I listed before, such as Canada, Broadway, eggs Benedict, the Vermont trip, riding Vietnam in Mass, ramen, skiing this season as well as next, NYC, Boston, getting the vaccine. and seeing another country. Plus Rhode Island & Maine (which would really be more work-related).

There are some MTBNJ ones I have listed but they will be a little COVID-dependent. Holding a race if possible, the summer trip, 12 team rides, and a team gathering at the end of the year when this is presumably over. I want to put more focus into the team this year, because I think as we open up, people will be really itching to get outside and be a part of the community. Hoping to be able to help that along.

So far, I have done none of this. But we may be able to check 1 off this weekend. We'll see.
Life is quite the numbers game. Keep it up!
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Numerology

@ekuhn

While the above post does look pretty numbers-based I would posit that the vast majority of people also follow some form of numerical system. If I were to ask most people to sit and think it out, and to give a response to the question, "What is your aim in life?" I feel like it would have to break down to the following for most people, at least in some form:

1. To feel good or great
2. To live really long

If you don't care about either of those items then I cede that numbers mean nothing. But for myself I think it breaks down specifically to:

Live 100 years
Feel great the whole way

The first is an objective measure while the second seems to be subjective. That said, the subjective can also be expressed in terms of numbers. Your Great/Good/OK/Poor/Bad can also be 1-5 stars. In that respect you can say that both measures are objective. Though the 1-5 stars is a self-assessed subjective measure either way.

This is what drives me at this point. I want to live a real long time and feel good doing it. I don't need to feel great but I want to feel good. I intentionally ignore the quality of life aspect in a sense, because that's a hard one, and probably falls into how one feels anyway. Really that's a wide spectrum.

It's obvious that I break down this 1-5 system into different components. And to be sure, I don't even list everything that I keep an eye on. A while ago I read (actually D did) that people who live longest have a set of common things in their lives. Funny enough, getting the flu shot is 1 of those things. But that's a binary act - you do or don't. A few of the others were somewhat subjective but not entirely. Spending time with friends & family, then a strong sense of community. These are some of the things that those with longer lifespans end up having in common. From that, I tend to keep track of what we do, people we see. I've found that as the time stretches between social engagements, I get crankier. This is a lot harder to maintain these days, to be sure.

As one would imagine I'm also someone who easily gets drawn into tangents and obsessively so at times. So it's good for me to keep direction in this way.

Maybe some people track nothing at all. But as a collection of people who use Strava, at the very least we all do that. Stepping on the scale. Things like that. Does anyone track nothing at all these days? I am a data guy - not just in this but in a lot of things. I am curious how many people track absolutely nothing in their lives.

In summary, what do you get when you multiply six by nine?

Of course, the answer is 42.
 

ekuhn

Well-Known Member
@Norm

Metrics keep everything balanced and act as a grade system. As an engineer I can't escape them.

Do you feel you performed - at, below, or out performed your expectations in 2020? Is that the driver for the 2021 metrics?

Numbers are great. Just like Bear's 4 paws and 55378008.
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
While the above post does look pretty numbers-based I would posit that the vast majority of people also follow some form of numerical system. If I were to ask most people to sit and think it out, and to give a response to the question, "What is your aim in life?" I feel like it would have to break down to the following for most people, at least in some form:

1. To feel good or great
2. To live really long

If you don't care about either of those items then I cede that numbers mean nothing. But for myself I think it breaks down specifically to:

Live 100 years
Feel great the whole way
Peter Attia says he wants to compete and win the Centenarian olympics as his life goal. Your writing made me think of that goal.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@ekuhn

I admit that I do not go into a year with a set of expectations, per se. At the end of the day, how much I ride is 1 of the few things that I can set a pass/fail grade on. The past few years it has been 500 hours and in that regard, I passed. Another firm number is what the scale says. I did not set this as a "thing" until October, so it's hard to say that I met a goal since it was late in the game. Much of the other numbers are really guides. Even the 500 is a guide. If I hit 480 is that the end of the world? Hardly.

It is easy to say I both fell short and exceeded 2020 expectations. As of Jan 1 the year 2020 was just another proverbial oyster to crack open. Mid March, the oyster was a bank vault that nobody could crack. Compared to what I saw on Jan 1, we all fell short. Compared to March 16th, it was a win. It's a bit of a copout answer but how else can you approach it? IDK.

But then when you look at it subjectively, which is all we really have when we wake up, you have to ask if you had a good time of it. The stresses were new & different. But I think it was a good year. If you told me I would go to Vermont 4 times in 2020, but you said it on Jan 2, I would have said something inane, like, "Cool." If you had told me this end of March, I would have called you an idiot. We did manage to do things, albeit not as many.

We built a lot of trail stuff in the yard. I guess that was a pretty unexpected plus. Got a dog, which changes things but also makes us all a little happier, assuming he's not shitting on the floor. The kids are not the same. Not gonna lie, none of them are as happy with us 24/7 as they are with a proper mix of friends & events. My daughter has taken it the hardest, as she struggles through this. Since we have opened up the dialog about travel, her overall mindset is far better than it was. But she still misses a lot of social interaction as she is full virtual.

Ups & downs - just like life.

196 - saw a new low this past weekend. The downward momentum continues but it's slower, to be sure. But it's still going in the right direction.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
And we are back.
For now.

I haven't really been trying in March as much as I had been since October. I probably rode less due to the skiing. Then it warmed up, and now when I ride inside I just crank out an hour of harder work to burn max calories and keep it fresh. I know that March is usually the suck, and I think I adjusted for it a bit this year. So it came as a surprise this morning when I saw 195 on the scale, which is a new low. I'd been sitting around 197 with a 196 now and again - more or less comfortably in that 196-199 ballpark with the usual ups & downs.

Meanwhile, the bike park opened up yesterday:

161672091_10224193623964288_8667021484749124221_o.jpg


The IG and FB crew saw the videos which I am too lazy to link here. Day 1, some good stuff and some big plans. I think we've figured out where the wall ride is going to go...

You may recall that 1 of my 2021 goals was to read the Galactic Empire books by Asimov, which cover the Robots, Empire, and Foundation books. I recently finished up the Robot series and while it's ok, this set does not stand the test of time for me. These are easy enough reads and they are not bad. But not as good as I remember from years ago. I seem to remember the Foundation ones being better but that's a few steps in the future. I have the Empire trilogy coming which I've never read before, and honestly didn't know existed. I wasn't even aware all these books were supposed to be tied together in any sense.

On the note of goals, I did knock one out, which was to go skiing in the 20-21 season. In fact, we hit 2 new ski hills this year - Blue Mountain & Windham. We did Blue twice and Camelback on Saturday evenings and while it was fine, the lines have been nuts. Camelback was the worst of the 2. Of the parks I think I prefer Blue anyway. We hit Windham on a Tuesday and it was awesome. I blew off work to go ski, which my boss totally endorsed. So I guess WIndham is the only hill I have both skied and biked. Well at least via lift. I've done both on Tremblant but had to ride up myself.

We're also planning to hit Gore at the end of spring break, which starts for me & Julia next Thursday as we drive to Asheville. I'm looking to hook up with a board member who moved down there to show me around on the bike. Julia is going to be spending time with an old school friend while I will do some biking. We're also going to hit the Biltmore on Monday before we drive part of the way home. Maybe to Harrisonburg, then home next Tuesday. End the week by hitting up Gore for 2 days then wrap up the weekend with an Easter dinner with my parents.

Last weekend we hit Allaire, then did a team gravel ride, and had 2 sets of vaccinated friends over for dinner. It was awesome and I am done with this shit. I'm so looking forward to the warm weather, and doing things again. I've been really solid in living by the rules but I sure am ready to get back to normal in a lot of ways.
 

BCurry

Well-Known Member
195 ish has been a sticking point for me for some time now. I’ve been thinking that if i am ever to get back in the 180s, I need to go back to doing longer rides; since I’ve really been spending most winters riding on trainer it doesn’t seem to move the needle on the scale.

Lake Lure/ chimney rock is a cool side trip in the Asheville area.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today I.

Today I decided to jump back in here with the "today I" concept, in which I start the post with the words "today I" then proceed to say what I did. This only applies to days I actually do something of note, that people here would be interested in. I won't bother posting if the best I can say about my day is that I rode Zwift, unless I ride 50 or 100 miles there. In that case, I may start with, "Today I am ashamed to say..."

Today I also considered making it, "Today Eye." But I decided it was kinda lame.

Today I did a second thing, actually this was the first thing of note I did. That would be to finish the lead-in ramp to the bike park:

182600117_10224611577292860_4248904085079379404_n.jpg


Today I rode Stephens for the first time this year. We have very, very few days without the kids these days and this evening was 1 of them. We decided late to cruise up to Stephens and just wing it. It turned out ok. We've ridden here a bunch of times but we always follow people. We decided it would be good to try and learn the trails.

We had a good ride. We learned some trails. Fun was had.

This is a new double to me, up by that big rock. It rolled pretty well. But anyone who watches Pinkbike knows, anything that mortal humans do looks lame now. This felt bigger than the 4" of air I seem to have gotten here.

jtNrt2b.jpg
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today I

...rode Chimney Rock. The plan was to go to Sal's which is really called Walking Purchase Park. One wonders why the park is called this. Perhaps one day some dude was walking and he decided to purchase a park? So why is it called Sal's? Maybe the guy that bought the park was named Sal.

I suppose the real reason is that the word 'purchase' has some archaic meaning like 'horse with lower left testicle,' so the park was named after some horse with a low hanging left nut. That walked. In the park.

CR was CR. Surprisingly more moist than I expected. But it's fine. I am a little disappointed that all the trail work that was done the previous 2 weekends is getting beat up already.

pziantx.jpg


Today I also went to PA to hang out with my mom for a pre-Mother's Day meal with D & Julia. We took a 3.5 mile walk on the canal. On the way out we saw an 18 wheeler that was loaded with fresh fruit that had flipped over. On the way home we saw the carcass of a car that had caught fire. 78 was a war zone today. You can see both videos on my IG account.
 
Top Bottom