James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I have nothing to say.

However, it's @pooriggy's birthday today, so I want to post up a happy birthday wish to our guy Iggy. As I've been finding my time spread thinner and thinner, Iggy is one of the guys that keeps the MTBNJ Mojo moving forward. There are other people who help, of course. But none of them celebrates a birthday today. Actually, let me check Facebook. BRB...

Ok no, just Iggy. One other vague Watchung Wheelmen kid has a birthday today but I will announce today as Iggy's day. Happy birthday friend. Hoping you have many more. Ok not too many. Nobody wants to live to be 439 years old. Maybe 50 more is a good number.

Anyway, like I said I don't have much to say but if I drank, I would tip one back for our boy Iggy.

70149768_10219186783436404_3122460263782023168_o.jpg
 

rottin'

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Happy Birthday @pooriggy I had a beer for you after knee PT TONIGHT. We need to start thinking about awards for our stuff...lmk!
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I have nothing to say.

However, it's @pooriggy's birthday today, so I want to post up a happy birthday wish to our guy Iggy. As I've been finding my time spread thinner and thinner, Iggy is one of the guys that keeps the MTBNJ Mojo moving forward. There are other people who help, of course. But none of them celebrates a birthday today. Actually, let me check Facebook. BRB...

Ok no, just Iggy. One other vague Watchung Wheelmen kid has a birthday today but I will announce today as Iggy's day. Happy birthday friend. Hoping you have many more. Ok not too many. Nobody wants to live to be 439 years old. Maybe 50 more is a good number.

Anyway, like I said I don't have much to say but if I drank, I would tip one back for our boy Iggy.

70149768_10219186783436404_3122460263782023168_o.jpg
Thanks Norm, I enjoy being a cog in the wheel and telling Utah what to do. Thanks for the birthday wishes, I'm like that dog that needs to be around people and get petted occasionally.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Wow, it's totally fucking bonkers out there, and we haven't even had day 1 of having the kids home from school. Friday was their last day until April 13th. So strap in. You think the last few days have been bad just wait until then. It'll make the coffee scene in Airplane 2 seem like a library.

At the beginning of the week I tossed out the idea of trying to find cheap flights to go away for 4 days because why not? But as the week moved forward it became obvious that it didn't make sense to do that. And even if the fares are super low now, what are you going to do when you get where you're going? It would be cool to fly to Bentonville or something but let's be real. It's a stupid idea and everything is closing anyway. Plus, it's irresponsible.

So we remained human this weekend, but responsible. We rode Jungle Saturday and Stewart today. Yesterday with @2Julianas and Mark, today with @seanrunnette and @Magic. Solid rides all around and it was good to get out. We didn't touch any of those 4 people in any way. And nobody sneezed. So that was good.

NICA was officially cancelled across the board tonight so that's off the table. But we'll be going forward with the Monday CR ride tomorrow. I think it's pretty important to keep some form of mental outlet and for those in this community, this is what we need. I am all-in with Zwift but not when it's nice out like this. It was actually an amazing weekend to ride. Good stuff this weekend.

Today was the pre-ride of the 20 mile Stewart race loop. As of now we plan to move forward with this but we're not getting insurance nor the permit, because we have plenty of time. More importantly, the state of NY isn't going to give anything for the time being. So we wait.

Otherwise, this week looks iffy in terms of the weather. The tall guy and I plan to podcast tomorrow. And I may bring back Tuesday questions.

 

Victor I

aka Ridgehog
Wow, it's totally fucking bonkers out there, and we haven't even had day 1 of having the kids home from school. Friday was their last day until April 13th. So strap in. You think the last few days have been bad just wait until then. It'll make the coffee scene in Airplane 2 seem like a library.

At the beginning of the week I tossed out the idea of trying to find cheap flights to go away for 4 days because why not? But as the week moved forward it became obvious that it didn't make sense to do that. And even if the fares are super low now, what are you going to do when you get where you're going? It would be cool to fly to Bentonville or something but let's be real. It's a stupid idea and everything is closing anyway. Plus, it's irresponsible.

So we remained human this weekend, but responsible. We rode Jungle Saturday and Stewart today. Yesterday with @2Julianas and Mark, today with @seanrunnette and @Magic. Solid rides all around and it was good to get out. We didn't touch any of those 4 people in any way. And nobody sneezed. So that was good.

NICA was officially cancelled across the board tonight so that's off the table. But we'll be going forward with the Monday CR ride tomorrow. I think it's pretty important to keep some form of mental outlet and for those in this community, this is what we need. I am all-in with Zwift but not when it's nice out like this. It was actually an amazing weekend to ride. Good stuff this weekend.

Today was the pre-ride of the 20 mile Stewart race loop. As of now we plan to move forward with this but we're not getting insurance nor the permit, because we have plenty of time. More importantly, the state of NY isn't going to give anything for the time being. So we wait.

Otherwise, this week looks iffy in terms of the weather. The tall guy and I plan to podcast tomorrow. And I may bring back Tuesday questions.


Are you telling us absolutely everything?
9F6BBA29-E699-428D-B5D5-DC87B6F03AD2.png
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
First day of the end of the world and the following things happened:

1. I rode my mountain bike outside with my friends
2. I went to the store and bought milk
3. None of us died

I don't know how we're going to survive these conditions. Speaking of conditions, Chimney Rock was in great shape tonight. We didn't do the bad part of blue, but what we did was great. The trails are in fantastic shape coming out of the winter, so hopefully we can get some solid forward work in 2020. This assumes we're allowed to do anything. On that note, I felt a little bad bagging the open ride but I have to be honest that I don't want to have any chance to be any part of responsible. I think that is where we are all at right now.

We were supposed to podcast today which is a small effort to help keep our collective minds off this stuff. But due to technical difficulties, that didn't happen. We're targeting tomorrow but so many things happen on a daily basis that you never know. I do plan to bring back ANT, but it'll be as I get around to it. Work is work, even if I have made a vow to myself to dial it back for the time being.

So, here we are. 3rd day in a row I have ridden my mountain bike outside with my friends. So it's not all bad.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I went to the food store this morning, arriving at 7:00 am when it opened, and just like yesterday there was no chaos nor fire nor riots. I was both a little disappointed and relieved. While I wasn't expecting a riot, you really never know these days. As I went through the self-checkout, the woman made it a point to give me the cards for monopoly. And I thought it was a little strange that this woman, who was on the older side, would be ok inside the Cone of Danger for everyone who was there. At the same time, it's a good thing for people - her included - to keep some normalcy in this time of idiocy.

As it were.

My in-laws are here again, back on their way to Canada because every country in the world is calling their sheep home. I think this is a really curious idea, as we are introducing a whole slew of virus vectors into the equation. I understand healthcare and all, but this is a dumb idea. In any event, after being in Florida less than a week, they are back and will be back in Canada tomorrow.

I rode my bike in the basement today, and watched Letterkenny, which is goddamn good stuff. I will again tip my cap to @jmanic on this one, as he basically cock-punched me and made me watch it. This show, which is is made in Canada, combined with the fact that Nickelback is from Alberta, leads me to believe that he's secret admirer of the country. On that note, I shall toss it back and ask if you've ever watched Schitt's Creek. If not, do so.

I did a structured workout today which is the first since my injury, almost 6 weeks ago. My leg is better but not 100%, so this turned out to be one of those "yeah I really f'ed this up" deals. I've stopped the CBD oil because that shit is expensive, but it was good and I'm tempted to go back to using it until it's all healed up.

We were supposed to do the podcast tonight, but instead did a POC talk for 10 minutes which we need to prove out yet. If this goes well we should be recording tomorrow. Instead, I did a new ANT video which should be done uploading by the time I finish up this blog.

Tomorrow the kids come back to this side, for the first of 5 days of home-learning, which should be a blast & a half. Talked to Julia tonight and she said it is about 5 hours of work a day, which is legit. We were supposed to have a NICA ride tomorrow night but you know, Earth is cancelled. As the World Turns stopped turning.

Again, as it were.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I had planned on doing some form of content every day through this thing, but I end up being on the board most of every day trying to keep things moving in the right direction. As such, the end of the day rolls around and I don't have much mojo left to throw into this. I guess this weekend is a lower volume weekend, as we all just sort of ran out of words and we're patiently watching the scoreboard now.

We watched Tiger King this weekend. Here is how I recapped it for @UtahJoe. "It is a train wreck that crashes into an existing train that ran into a building, with a volcano on top that fell down and slaughtered a city of baby seals being ridden by innocent children." I posted in another thread that it also sort of makes you want to root for Coronavirus to win and eradicate humanity.

Finally got to do Crit City in Zwift yesterday. Joined @seanrunnette and @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST around lunch for an absolutely insane race. We did the C race on the suggestion of Sean and HO LEE SHIT it was hard. Awesome stuff. Sean and I both made the selection and lasted until the end, which was maybe 10-12 people of the 171 that started. We picked up 7th & 8th at the finish line. Both brutal and awesome. Super quick so it's almost like an FTP test. I checked Strava and this was my highest 20 minute power in the last 3 years. That's something else.

So we've been in this thing for 2 weeks now and I've ridden 10 hours each of the last 2 weeks. I do better with 10 hours, every week, week after week, no exceptions. This needs to be my baseline at a minimum then as the weather gets nicer I need to sprinkle in some 12 or 15 hour weeks depending. Been managing to land that, but I'm 20 hours below my pace for the year. Hoping the next 2 months of not being able to do much allows me to keep at that and chip away at the 20.

For the most part, things haven't changed too much for me. Sure the kids are here more than usual but whatever. I've been trying to get out to CR every day they're here. Sometimes it's by myself, sometimes with Julia, sometimes me & the 3 kids, and sometimes all 5 of us. I'll usually bring a tool, most often an axe, and we'll trim up the trails a little here and there. This whole thing is going to be an overall benefit to the park when all is said and done.

On that note, I'm now a TrailForks admin and have been fixing up the GPS tracks in the park, adjusting existing trails and adding some that are not there. The data is/was pretty bad and I've been fixing it slowly. I use the site so much it's only fair that I make my local park better. Maybe one day I'll get to RV but really, it's sort of hard to get lost there.

The boys have taken to the whole trail work thing and they reopened the trails on the side of the house and have doubled the total in a few days. Now we're all more vested in making them interesting and I have to say they're both busting ass to clear up the lot. Hoping that in a few weeks this will be a really fun distraction for us. I'll get more to that later, plenty of time to work & play left.

I've also initiated a screen time block on my phone because it's too easy to blow too much time on it. Between 10pm and 7am, I've locked out most apps. And I've set a 1 hour limit on the screen time for Two Dots, a stupid game I play by default when I'm laying on the couch.

Weather looks good tomorrow. Hoping to get out on the road for some miles. Join us if you want.

Ok, enough words. Time to go stare at graphs some more.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
I had planned on doing some form of content every day through this thing, but I end up being on the board most of every day trying to keep things moving in the right direction. As such, the end of the day rolls around and I don't have much mojo left to throw into this. I guess this weekend is a lower volume weekend, as we all just sort of ran out of words and we're patiently watching the scoreboard now.

We watched Tiger King this weekend. Here is how I recapped it for @UtahJoe. "It is a train wreck that crashes into an existing train that ran into a building, with a volcano on top that fell down and slaughtered a city of baby seals being ridden by innocent children." I posted in another thread that it also sort of makes you want to root for Coronavirus to win and eradicate humanity.

Finally got to do Crit City in Zwift yesterday. Joined @seanrunnette and @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST around lunch for an absolutely insane race. We did the C race on the suggestion of Sean and HO LEE SHIT it was hard. Awesome stuff. Sean and I both made the selection and lasted until the end, which was maybe 10-12 people of the 171 that started. We picked up 7th & 8th at the finish line. Both brutal and awesome. Super quick so it's almost like an FTP test. I checked Strava and this was my highest 20 minute power in the last 3 years. That's something else.

So we've been in this thing for 2 weeks now and I've ridden 10 hours each of the last 2 weeks. I do better with 10 hours, every week, week after week, no exceptions. This needs to be my baseline at a minimum then as the weather gets nicer I need to sprinkle in some 12 or 15 hour weeks depending. Been managing to land that, but I'm 20 hours below my pace for the year. Hoping the next 2 months of not being able to do much allows me to keep at that and chip away at the 20.

For the most part, things haven't changed too much for me. Sure the kids are here more than usual but whatever. I've been trying to get out to CR every day they're here. Sometimes it's by myself, sometimes with Julia, sometimes me & the 3 kids, and sometimes all 5 of us. I'll usually bring a tool, most often an axe, and we'll trim up the trails a little here and there. This whole thing is going to be an overall benefit to the park when all is said and done.

On that note, I'm now a TrailForks admin and have been fixing up the GPS tracks in the park, adjusting existing trails and adding some that are not there. The data is/was pretty bad and I've been fixing it slowly. I use the site so much it's only fair that I make my local park better. Maybe one day I'll get to RV but really, it's sort of hard to get lost there.

The boys have taken to the whole trail work thing and they reopened the trails on the side of the house and have doubled the total in a few days. Now we're all more vested in making them interesting and I have to say they're both busting ass to clear up the lot. Hoping that in a few weeks this will be a really fun distraction for us. I'll get more to that later, plenty of time to work & play left.

I've also initiated a screen time block on my phone because it's too easy to blow too much time on it. Between 10pm and 7am, I've locked out most apps. And I've set a 1 hour limit on the screen time for Two Dots, a stupid game I play by default when I'm laying on the couch.

Weather looks good tomorrow. Hoping to get out on the road for some miles. Join us if you want.

Ok, enough words. Time to go stare at graphs some more.

Tom didn't give us delete, but we can fix a ton of stuff!
I'll get the RV stuff next week. i have a bunch of "finish it" things going, but i really want to get in there and play!
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today is the first day of our spring break. It was supposed to kick off today, after yesterday's first NICA race of the year. We should be wrapping up our first day in the Dominican Republic right now. How things change. I decided to keep my week of vacation, mostly because I need a week of vacation. Here's how my day went.

Spring Break: Day 1

I wake up and do my normal routine, where nothing much has changed. Pushups & crunches, glass of water with my vitamins & allergy meds, espresso. This is how I start every day, and today is another in the long line of days that start the same way. I make some oatmeal and read Collapse, by Jared Diamond, while I eat. Many of you might know him from Guns, Germs, and Steel, which is a brilliant book. I'm slow-rolling this book, so I can't really say if this is good or not. I'm also reading The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, which I'm also mostly just starting. I just finished Recursion which was really entertaining. That was a Kindle book while the previous 2 are physical books. Current audiobook is Zendegi. I have no idea where that recommendation came from. I need a new Kindle book like now. Anyway, maybe right now is not the best time to read a book called Collapse.

After breakfast I go outside and build a fire on the patio and do some bike maintenance, which means lubing both Simon & my chains, repacking D's bottom bracket, and putting a new chain on her bike. Zac has a new creak on his but I run out of steam after the first 3 and don't feel like biting off another one. As you can imagine, the amount of work needed at any given time is never 0. Tomorrow is another day.

I briefly go inside before I'm outside again, but this time doing some yard work and mowing the lawn. The first thing I notice is that the right front wheel of the mower seems to be gummed up which probably means I need to pull some wound up grass out of it. This is one of those self-propelling mowers which I generally don't use, save for the hills on the side of the yard, or if I'm at an odd angle, or whatever, on the side of that hill - specifically the field for the septic tank. Strike 2 on the session comes when the cable breaks and the self-propulsion mechanism is no longer available. No big deal, as I can just push the damn thing. 3rd and final strike comes when I run over some animal bones that were in the back of the yard that seems to throw the blade into a lurch. I call it a day and will deal with this another time.

We then eat lunch.

After lunch we head to Six Mile where we meet @UtahJoe and Bob at the Canal lot. Even though it is the middle of the afternoon, the lot has a decent amount of cars. Simon and & join Utah & Bob and we do the short loop while D & Zac do the full loop. The day is amazing out and the trails are absolutely perfect out there. Jay has done a ton of work in the last year and it shows. It's really an endless series of fun things, mile after mile. Solid day, really beautiful out there.

When we get home we sat on the porch for a while, waiting for the boys' dad to come pick them up. We drink some tea and enjoy the day. Again, it's just about perfect outside. Around 5:30 I head to the farmer's market and pick up some fruits & veggies, then back home where D makes us a shrimp salad dinner that we have often and I really enjoy. We watch ZeroZeroZero while eating, which seems good but as we are on 5 of 8 episodes, I can't say if you should watch or not. So far, sure.

The last piece of the day is a podcast with @seanrunnette which you'll need to wait to hear. I think this one was a good one but as we all know, humans suck at self-evaluation so take that assessment for what it's worth.
 
Top Bottom