Thirty Miles in 2:20

I ride a modest out and back loop of 30 miles for a recovery ride on the weekends. I took my cell phone out and shot the ride with some stills. Here they are, set to some music loops. For the Austin-aware, this is a Parmer Ln ride out from Riata to FM 2243. The start and finish are getting in and out of the neighborhood. From the start on Parmer, it's a little south of here and it ends at an intersection so new (FM 2243 and Ronald Reagan Blvd) that Google doesn't know about it.

You'll see I got in late, the moon is over the streetlight when I pulled in, and my headlight battery had crapped out. Very close thing.

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Feeding the beast. Technorati Profile

Back in the Air

One life goal later, I have recently received word back from the Flight Physician that I have taken care of my Diabetes, and am now eligible to not only fly again, but fly for hire, and instruct.

The Doctor was kind enough to point out that I was one of his only patients that actually did what I was told. Even then it took years of hard work to undo the insulin resistance, and even then I am not really cured, just doing a whole lot better.

Oh yeah, and even as I say this, I just heard that the Corn Refiners association is producing commercials lauding High Fructose Corn Syrup. WTF?!? The commercials depict housewives and others unable to come up with any reason why it's not bad for them. And by the way, they tell us, apparently HFCS has no artificial ingredients, "It's just corn" the commercial informs us.

No, it's not. Read this for a clinical view.

But read this for the real low down correlating obesity and promotion of super sized soft drinks.

And then this one to visualize what you do to your body when you drink a single coke. for starters, imagine 10 teaspoons of High Fructose Corn Syrup in every ... single ... can. And the only reason you don't immediately throw it up is because it's mixed with phosphoric acid.

P.S. For Helen, this is the beginning of the promised "Food Rant." More to come, have to get my thoughts organized with data.

Back on the bike

This is a pic from a 50 miler I am doing every week. After many fits and starts, I am now back on the bike more or less full time. Three weeks in a row of this 50 miler tells me I am ready to really start pushing again. But the bad news is now I am very sensitive in my neck area to positioning. But the good news is this leads me to question my ride for the first time with a pro mechanic. I was promptly told my top tube was too long, leading to my wrist and neck pain. Duh, see last post. So much for my bike frame.

So now I go bike hunting. Aw darn.

So this road is so new, flat and wonderfully smooth that Google doesn't have it in the database yet, so I must show you with crappy cell pics. But I'll get a GPS and upload the course one of these days. It goes from North Austin on Parmer Lane all the way to the North Fork of the San Gabriel River. Very nice. Here are some more pics. Temp was about 100 F that day.