The Joy of Mountain Biking

MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
quick update:

like everyone else... still no races to report on or prepare for. i'm feeling very cooped up in the house but i am getting more used to this WFH thing. and i definitely do not miss the commute into hoboken. i bought a new desk for my "office" (i was working on the kitchen table) and the setup is much nicer now... plus i'm not heading into the kitchen every ten minutes for a snack. steve and i also have more space between us when we're both home so i don't have to listen to all his conference calls and he doesn't have to listen to my crappy music.

i have been doing some exercise stuff... outside rides when i can, zwift when i can't. also started running again and we've done some hikes... and lots and lots of walks around town.... i did change my privacy settings on strava tho. so to prove i'm actually doing stuff... i present this as evidence:

Strava.jpg


i think i'm a little behind on hours tho.

anyway, i've been eating a lot of PB&J sandwiches and drowning myself in a ton of tea... i ordered some favorites from the republic of tea: honey ginseng green tea and pomegranate green tea... as well as a british breakfast tea... i think i prefer the irish breakfast tea tho. did you really need to know that? meh, whatever. the teas are yummy if you need a coffee alternative.

not sure what else to say... i wish i had more exciting stuff to blog about but i don't. i'd say AMA but then you might actually ask me anything. ?‍♀️

hope everyone's staying safe and healthy and enjoying WFH and all that.
 
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MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
so this is totally random... but this popped up in my FB memories this week... still probably one of my favorite flyers i've ever done. and it's a very personal one... some photos of friends and their relatives are in here... and me too! can you spot me?


11148858_932228803465739_2207490333374896533_o.jpg
 

MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Is mountain biking a hobby?

I've mentioned elsewhere that my company has been doing WFH weekly contests. Stuff like "most cramped space" or "best WFH recipe" where people send in photos or little videos of that week's theme and a few people are chosen as winners and given Amazon gift cards. I entered a couple. I didn't win and still feel robbed for the pet themed challenge:

WFH2.jpg


And there's a few I didn't enter because, well, I don't have kids. Well, last week's challenge was your WFH workout. I didn't enter. I thought about it and I guess I could have sent in a pic of me on Zwift or something and I guess that qualifies as a workout. But I usually think of workouts as lifting weights and all that. But this week's theme is about your hobby.

noun
  1. an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.

And mountain biking feels more in line with that definition to me than a workout. But I never thought about it as a hobby either. I guess I always thought hobbies were stamp collecting or knitting... Not sports-related activities. But it's fun. And it's a great way to de-stress. So why wouldn't I consider it a hobby?

Anyway... Just random thoughts I guess. When I first saw the challenge, I was like great... I'm boring... I have no hobbies. But maybe I do after all. ?‍♀️
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Is mountain biking a hobby?

I've mentioned elsewhere that my company has been doing WFH weekly contests. Stuff like "most cramped space" or "best WFH recipe" where people send in photos or little videos of that week's theme and a few people are chosen as winners and given Amazon gift cards. I entered a couple. I didn't win and still feel robbed for the pet themed challenge:

View attachment 127856

And there's a few I didn't enter because, well, I don't have kids. Well, last week's challenge was your WFH workout. I didn't enter. I thought about it and I guess I could have sent in a pic of me on Zwift or something and I guess that qualifies as a workout. But I usually think of workouts as lifting weights and all that. But this week's theme is about your hobby.

noun
  1. an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.

And mountain biking feels more in line with that definition to me than a workout. But I never thought about it as a hobby either. I guess I always thought hobbies were stamp collecting or knitting... Not sports-related activities. But it's fun. And it's a great way to de-stress. So why wouldn't I consider it a hobby?

Anyway... Just random thoughts I guess. When I first saw the challenge, I was like great... I'm boring... I have no hobbies. But maybe I do after all. ?‍♀️

I thought that mountain biking was a joy...
 

MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
how's it going, everyone?!

so i guess it's about time for an update... plus i'm bored waiting for stuff to come in for work. lucky you.

still no races (obviously). just been riding to ride which has been quite nice. no pressure. no frustration. i've ridden wild cat and jungle a few times recently (in addition to the one thousand times i've gone to lewis morris) and i've been feeling pretty good riding. i love the tech at WC and jungle. and i've been adding some longer distances in at lew mo and patriot's path with one ride even hitting the 20 mile mark. we've also been doing some hikes. part to mix things up a little and part prep for a trip to the grand canyon in october. (fingers crossed!) steve was able to get a reservation at the phantom ranch. i, however, will not be able to go all the way down. them's the breaks. i'll go down half way with him and come back. and then the next day take a different trail and meet him part way and head back up together. i also have two weeks off in august but, frankly, i don't think we're going to be able to really do anything for that one.

i've paused my zwift subscription for two months. i'm not riding indoors. i also don't want to burn myself out. nothing to train for... so might as well put that on the back burner for now. i'm more concerned with working on skillz right now anyway.... rocks rocks and more rocks. also some progress on finally doing a wheelie. sometimes i feel soooooo close and i hold back. but i think this is my year. really, i just want to look cool in the parking lot. ;P

work... has been a little frustrating at times. and i hate microsoft teams. the new company is very corporate and i feel like i've signed a hundred documents already.... covid policies and restricted list policies and microsoft teams and email policies... their schedule also never seems to align properly with mine so i feel like they're always bugging me when it's least convenient. but at least i don't have to deal with NJ Transhit! the CEO has also basically said we're not returning to work before the end of august. the offices (the company has offices in newport beach, dallas, hoboken and london) may eventually open before then, but he basically said don't bother coming in if you don't have to. don't have to tell me twice! WFH suits me. plus i get more riding in.

despite eating what i feel like is a hundred snacks a day, i've lost a little weight... 6 lbs-ish... i don't think i look skinnier, just feel less bloated... which means i'm eating way better at home. i hope i can keep the better eating habits up when we do eventually get back to the office.

anyway... i guess that's it for now. looks like some work finally came in. hopefully i'll see you all soon on the trails! :)
 

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
i've paused my zwift subscription for two months. i'm not riding indoors. i also don't want to burn myself out. nothing to train for... so might as well put that on the back burner for now. i'm more concerned with working on skillz right now anyway.... rocks rocks and more rocks. also some progress on finally doing a wheelie. sometimes i feel soooooo close and i hold back. but i think this is my year. really, i just want to look cool in the parking lot. ;P
Good stuff.

This is pretty much my situation right now as well. While I want to be fit, I'm really focusing more attention on improving my driving.

The one thing you're doing, that I need to do, is ride the rocks more. I need some motivation to get to places like Jungle and Wildcat, given the drives they involve from Monmouth County.
 

MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Went to Jungle today.

Totally fucking cleared Otter Slide.

Not a foot tap. Not a pause. Not a single break. Just pedal-the-fuck-up-it.

Thank you. That is all.

????‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️
 

MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
i hop you're ready for some nonsensical ramblings! i'm going to split things up into different spoiler buttons just so it's easier to read and digest.

so i've mentioned it before, but my company was bought out back at the end of february. the office closed like 2 weeks later because of a certain pandemic and we've all been working from home since then. (the company said they'll reevaluate going back into the office at the end of august but i don't think we're going back any time soon.) there's some awesome perks to working from home: cat cuddles, all the food i can eat whenever i want, bike rides right after work, i can wear yoga pants every day (i'm not tho), not dealing with commuting, etc etc... but then there's the very annoying teams meetings which i hate and annoy me to no end, having to deal with people i have never met and who don't seem to get the east coast/west coast time issue, people who manage to set up meetings for the most inconvenient fucking times ever and my inability to actually get away from my "office"... i'm sure everyone who's working from home has some version of these same complaints. i could go into a lot of specifics but, really, it's just whiny and boring corporate bullshit stuff. i'm here. i'm trying to deal with it. and eventually i'll move out of NJ and become a barista* somewhere with awesome mountain biking.
*maybe not barista because i'm not a morning person and wouldn't be able to deal with people ordering half caf, no foam, splash of cinnamon $10 grande lattes in their oh-so-original blue pinstripe suits but you get the picture.

so all this working from home? down 8 lbs now. officially. i had a doctor's visit yesterday and that's what the official doctor's office scale says. man... i must have been eating a shit ton of crap at work. also, i might be biking a little more. also, no starbucks stops (although, i did mostly give it up before covid but, you know, sometimes you need caffeine.) but the big thing which i've sort of hinted at is that i've had some health issues and i think they're finally getting under control (ish). i won't go too deep into it, but i have high blood pressure issues. and yes, it's weird for someone my age, gender, size and overall good health to have blood pressure problems... like super fucking weird... and have it bad enough to be on medication. it's hard to say how much the changes in medication and dosages and all that affected my body and how i felt racing or if it was all just coincidental and i was just at a normal plateau with biking, but i did feel like shit a lot. and now it's a lot less. it is frustrating, tho, trying to find information about high blood pressure when you literally are the complete opposite of all the things articles say.

so i've been out riding... really enjoying the techy stuff even if it beats me up sometimes. been riding a lot of patriot's path and lewis morris because it's super convenient. lew mo always gets an eyeroll from bikers but i don't mind it actually. yeah... it needs a lot of work, but it's close and i always run into people i know and i just have a good time riding there. i also signed up for a drop clinic with DRRT at ringwood. unfortunately, it was postponed a few weeks because of weather and schedule conflicts. i'll let you know how that all goes later. i'm itching to get to mountain creek. still waiting on the new new full faced helmet to come in tho. the first one was too large which is impressive because i have a bobble head. i have no races to do this year... soooo glad i got my racing license :rolleyes:

If you read Norm's blog, then you know we went up to NH with them for a weekend getaway... a much needed get the fuck out of NJ getaway. the only other trip we have planned is for grand canyon in october... but steve's second reservation for the phantom ranch has been cancelled now. i still want to go out there but the trip will have to be modified. and who knows what's happening with covid. it'll have to be last minute planning or rescheduling of that trip. my two weeks at the end of august are wide open so i may be looking for people to ride with and go to creek with. if more opens up in NH/vermont, i'd like to go back there too. because it's just so fucking pretty up there.

well... looks like a bunch of stuff FINALLY came in for work... so that's the end of my ramblings for today. i'll try to be more exciting next time.
 
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