James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Have you ever tried the nut butter ones? This is like gourmet shit.
I will try one. I was into the winter flavors for awhile but every one started to be incredibly sweet and dense. It is also relatively rare that I do rides that need a 250 calorie boost.
 

MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
🤷‍♀️
I like cliff bars. White chocolate macadamia nut bars FTW!
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
JManic bought us tickets to the Letterkenny show at MSG next February. I think Mad Dan is going as well as a 4th unknown guy who I apparently met at a wake once. True story. As the guy who doesn't drink, I'm probably the default designated driver. Lucky for you guys.
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jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Meh, try Kind bars Caramel Almond & Sea Salt, Maple Glazed Pecan & Sea Salt or Honey Roasted Nuts & Sea Salt...you're welcome!

not to derail too much but while they are good and I eat them often, they are not good fuel on the bike. Too much nuts and protein. You need some fast absorbing carbs to give any energy.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Derailed! Im into the Skratch rice crisp bars which are like 90% fast absorbing carbs.
Me too. They’re like rice crispy treats. But with weird little grains to get stuck in your teeth. lol.

I order a bunch of stuff from the feed and I find myself ordering a ton of individual bars, gels, chews, etc.

The Skratch rice bars were a good surprise.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Me too. They’re like rice crispy treats. But with weird little grains to get stuck in your teeth. lol.

I order a bunch of stuff from the feed and I find myself ordering a ton of individual bars, gels, chews, etc.

The Skratch rice bars were a good surpr
Conversely I have moved away from skratch gummies because they seem to melt in the bag.
honey stinger gummies FTW
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Conversely I have moved away from skratch gummies because they seem to melt in the bag.
honey stinger gummies FTW

haven’t had them yet. I’ll give ‘em a shot. I like their waffles.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

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...I woke up early and got a 35 mile ride in, then a shave & shower, then made coffee & breakfast, all before my first call of the day, at 9:00. Even though I rode last night I had no issue getting up & out, which was great. The weather was humid but also cool. Felt really good to be out at that time and part of me wishes I could do this every day, or at the very least more often. We've done it a few times, but it starts to add up. That said, the later day rides are also hard to maintain so no matter which way you go, something has to give.

D sent me a video of her dad which I watched this morning. It's of him walking with the walker and I gotta say he is really looking pretty strong. Some discussion today about moving him to the rehab center earlier than expected. Nothing firm but again, solid progress.

Finally got Zac's bike up on the stand to true up his rear wheel which somehow keeps having the spokes unwind. I guess I say "somehow" in the sense that the garbage truck "somehow" keeps trailing smelly juice in its wake. I also took the headset apart and greased it because a small creak was coming from there. I'll need to address more squeaks in the future but 2 things in a day is plenty.

Julia made chocolate chip cookies. Julia also made shrimp scampi for dinner. I dropped Zac off at basketball. I mowed law sector 8 to finish the job. Then I picked Zac up from basketball and now the day is over.

No pheasant tonight.

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rottin'

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
OK...so please educate me on the sectors of lawn mowing...I do not understand. If I were to break my lawn down into sectors, its back, side and front...so 3. and I can cut all 3 in 30min with standard size push mower. Is there something else I'm missing? Why is yours spread out over 3 days? I may need to revive "Ask Norm Next Tuesday" for this answer.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
OK...so please educate me on the sectors of lawn mowing...I do not understand. If I were to break my lawn down into sectors, its back, side and front...so 3. and I can cut all 3 in 30min with standard size push mower. Is there something else I'm missing? Why is yours spread out over 3 days? I may need to revive "Ask Norm Next Tuesday" for this answer.

I will give you a preview. It's kind of like this, but not:

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up again at 5am. I'm starting to get a little worried that I can't get enough sleep. I won't say I'm anxiety-laden but once I wake up after 5:00 it's pretty much over, because my brain goes in overdrive. I then start work early and exist in a total haze for a considerable part of the day. I bounce in & out of being a bit spaced out/lightheaded some days. Today was 1 of those days.

I returned the other DH helmet. Just wasn't going to work.

I had 9 meetings today.

I should start an Instagram account: Shit my EM Says. Today, she sends me this message DURING A MEETING THAT SHE IS HOSTING, "So I am getting my hair done....lol. Blow drying right now. But should be done by 4:30." I really don't know what to do with this kind of stuff anymore. It really casts an interesting light on paragraph #1 above.

I rode CR tonight again for 2 hours. I did all of red, blue, white, and the ballfields in both directions. This will be another of the So You Want to Ride loops that I throw together. I saw Dave out there, as well as the person I met at the KT gazebo again, as well as a NICA coach & son. Place was packed tonight. Lots of people. Converse to paragraph #1 I felt fantastic tonight. On the bike is the place I feel best these days.

Almost forgot to mention this. I have 4 teenage girls in the house tonight. Assume that trying to sleep tonight, and my day tomorrow, will be hell.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up after 8 glorious hours of sleep. Leo, I'm not sure what that article says you're supposed to do exactly. I did formerly have some breathing trick that worked rather well a few years ago. But I forget what it was and now I am back to not knowing how to go back to sleep. Here's what worked last night: go to bed at 11 in a completely & totally exhausted state. As mentioned previously, it was glorious.

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The teenage mutant hormone squad was gone by around noon. One can argue what day 4am is from a practical perspective, but I would call that "today" so I shall mention that they were all up until 4:00. Me, being fast asleep, did not wake up when they went to bed so I give them some kudos for not being total shit heads when they went upstairs. Either that or I was totally cooked.

Confirmed today that I will be in MA for 8/3 & 8/4. More details will trickle in on that. Big plans in the works.

Talked to another new person who's being added to the JORBA Development Committee - had to take a break from this to write the welcome email so the other cheeseburgers on the team know like 5 minutes before I post this. She is also going to drive the newsletter design as she is in marketing as a career. She has some awesome ideas and I'm super stoked at the potential here.

Hit the road for 2+ hours today, Holy shit it was amazing out. Felt great today.

Zac and I spent an hour adding more material to the last BATT (big ass table top). We were both too tired to finish.

Julia made mac & cheese for dinner.

Now I am watching the first 2 episodes of The Heist with the 2 older ones.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up too late to do the Jungle ride but that's ok, because I have 2 kids in the house and taking off for that long seems iffy in terms of parenting. So I stayed local and hit the road, sending the 2 kids a text when I left to let me know when they got up. Well, 2.5 hours and 45 miles later it's noon, with no texts. No big deal, it's not like they follow instructions. But it's just after 12 when I come home and both of their phones are still charging. Both are still sound asleep.

To be a teenager again.

Dropped Zac off at the fields with his friends then Julia and I went into Summit to spend the afternoon together, first stop to check out a (new to us) ramen place that Joy had told me about last week. I usually get the basic broth as a first try but I did the spicy miso this time and it was solid. The soft boiled egg was soft. The pork was soft. The broth was salty and flavorful. Definitely a win.

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At the end of the meal I sent Joy a text that we had eaten there and it was good. Now rewind a bit and I had almost sent her a message saying we were going there in the event that they wanted to join. But I knew they did the group ride today, and I'm sure they went out to eat after (they did). So I assumed it was a non-starter. Hey reply was to ask if we were there now. I said yes, and she replied that she & Steve were on the way to Summit to hang out and have coffee.

Ok well how about that?

Quick stop at the Trek store to pick up 2 mini pumps that Coyote showed us up at KT to put in our camelbacks, then we headed over to Boxwood coffee to meet up with them. I got the Ethiopian pour over and it was probably about as good as a pour over gets. It was really good. Not only did I have no idea this place existed, but it also vaults right up to the top of the list of places to go when I want to have a good cup of coffee locally. Closer than Black River, and obviously with more things to do in the area.

Super win-win-win trip to Summit. Ramen. Bike crap. Coffee. Seriously hard to see how that could be a better afternoon. Thanks to Steve & Joy for both suggestions. Wrapped up with a stop at Z Rolls ice cream for Julia then we drove home.

Rest of the day is nothing of note though I may finish up the Pheasant-Serpent tonight.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I felt better this morning, I think mostly due to the fact that I paid heavy attention to my fluid/electrolyte intake yesterday. Those of you who have ridden with me know that I sweat more than any human, like ever. So it should probably come as no surprise to anyone if it turns out that my hydration & electrolyte balance is hard to maintain. Been paying a little more attention to this recently and I felt the benefits of this when I woke up today.

Hit up CR this morning and after 1:45 I had enough. I was a little bored but also, I passed some of the hikers 3 times and said that was enough. Good lord this place is busy on the weekends. It's great that the park is getting use. I saw Cafe\Dave as well as Pat & W_B. The picture of Dave & his dog was blurry so you'll have to settle for these guys.

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Went home and tooled around a bit and woke up the sleeping giant at 12:30.

Did some work in the yard but eventually got drawn into the A Line and doing some trim work on it. Weed whack, raking, trimming, adding a little dirt here & there. Then added a few loads of rocks to the landing of the BATT (big ass table top) then added more dirt to groom it out. As some point Zac came out and we got a decent stretch cleaned up & ready today. The last table top still needs work, which we did but it's not reflected in the video below.

More stuff done:
  • Wrote up an old blog post I missed on the Stairway to Heaven hike we did in the spring
  • Got the wheels in motion to start the JORBA Q3 newsletter
  • Rolled out the So You Want to Ride PoC to the team
  • Booked a room outside Ascutney for this coming Friday
  • Booked a cabin on the pond for Saturday & Sunday in East Burke (note it has extra beds, feel free to come along)
  • Booked a hotel for a work trip in Waltham, MA Mon-Wed
  • Bought day passes for Fri/Sat to Flow State, the VMBA bike festival in Ascutney
Backyard state as seen below:

 
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