Weighty Letter Bombs Of Love From Canada

Today was nice in a relaxing sweat all over the place sort of way. Wifey and B-Man are still in PA, so today was a good day to catch up on some sleep, then catch up on XXC work by updating the ever growing, amazingly huge, super fantastic XXC Events page and sending out a t shirt or two.

After that I hit the gym for the first time in a week. Felt damn good to be there! Sort of normal at first with a 20 minute warm up, then my weight workout, which is custom designed to help me achieve that 11 year old boy/cyclist look that I am going for. Sadly at my age, with the wrinkles and all the sagging, the workout will have me looking more like a sickly 40 year old man in need of a tummy tuck and some skin tightening. After that it was back on the StairMaster for an hour. That hour hurt like hell and I looked much worse for wear at the end with a huge puddle of salty suck (AKA sweat) surround and covering the machine.

A word about my sub par gym stuff*: Some folks might wonder why I have been spending more time in the gym than on my bike. Why get cardio from a StairMaster and not the bike? Why lift at all? Here is my answer: Going to the gym gets me out of the house! Since I work at home, and don't have a real active social life, getting out to the gym when the roads are crap for riding can get me a killer workout PDQ and safe me the madness of the trainer, looking at the same walls 24/7 or driving to the XC ski trails. I will start riding more both inside and out in the coming month along with continuing to go to the gym. I like mixing up riding with these workouts. There is nothing like spending an hour plus in the gym to make you love spending 4+ hours on your bike even more!

I had poo pooed the gym the past few years, but then I was looking back at some of my racing and saw that one of my best mid pack seasons to date was the 2006 race season. And it just so happens that I went to the gym the winter of 05/06. Hmmmm... (rubbing chin quizzically). Lifting also seems to be helping my back (which is feeling 99% better of late, thanks in part to the weighted back extensions for sure!) and my shoulder which gives me grief every winter with some throbbing arthritis pain, that probably comes from a collar bone break when I was a kid.

*PLEASE NOTE: I am not an elite athlete or racer. If you don't know that by now, that is you fault. I'm just sayin' that this stuff seems to work for me. Results and giving a shit at all may vary by reader. Also I typed all this because as I mentioned before, I have realized how the Soiled Chamois blog Jumped The Shark to being just some random blog where a borderline nut case bitches and moans about life. If you want that I guess you will have to go check out some Fox News Blog or something. They seem to do a lot of bitching.

In prep for some trainer sessions that will no doubt be coming in the next two months, I went to Target and picked up as super cheap DVD player for the basement.

This will save me from dragging the bike into the living room (pissing Wifey off), and stinking up the living room carpet with gallons of sweat (pissing off anyone who then has to smell said sweat carpet). Not to mention I always worry that a band of Jehovah's or Girl Scouts are gonna come knocking on the door, and I would be forced to answer it in a sweaty stinky bike kit. (Shameless plug: Speaking of bike kits- go order an XXC kit before January 10th!)

My Canadian friend (The Original Big Ring) who may or may not be affiliated with Les Assassins en Fauteuils Roulants (A.F.R.), a Quebecois separatist group featured in the novel Infinite Jest, sent me a package over the holiday. Sort of of a pre-Valentines Day/Easter card from the looks of it.

Yep, I was sent a couple of his custom stickers that only pro level slackers that race bikes and have the willingness to pay out of pocket for "custom" stickers can get send. Thanks OBR! I must say I am way more uncomfortable knowing that OBR has my home address, than I am with his overt love for me, or his use of religious imagery in stickers. LOL! BTW, before you tell me how inappropriate you think this sticker is or anything like that, read his post about the sticker. Or just hate him not me. All in good fun... all in good fun...

Time to chill, and undo all the hard work I did at the gym by drinking a couple beers and playing Fifa '11. Hey, that is what makes me some good at being mediocre.

Later.