Wednesday, January 6, 2010

East Coast Powder? Yeah it exists....VERY occaisionally.

via: http://www.theadventurelife.org/2010/01/eastern-powder-is-not-a-myth/

Classic Vermont from Nathan Steinbauer on Vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/8545651

I enjoyed some (very limited) pow pow on Monday night (1/4/2010) at http://www.labradormtn.com/ but their grooming before hand left little to be desired. Not only that but by the time I arrived after work on Monday much of it had been skied off.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Diet - Grain Free month of January

 So due to a combination of health factors (difficulty with weight loss, digestion, questionable cholesterol levels) I have decided to take the month of January away from grains. Primarily I avoiding any foods containing gluten and corn syrup. The corn syrup has been a long time quest to avoid, the gluten free approach is new. So whole, unprocessed fruits and vegetables are my primary diet these days. With the occasional egg, meat, or dairy product thrown in. Who am I kidding, cheese is my downfall, I absolutely love cheese. Here is the book my wife bought me yesterday to help me along my journey this month:














The Eat Clean Diet: Fast Fat Loss That Lasts Forever

I'll let you know how it goes as the month goes on. The first few day's haven't been too bad. The only real trouble was last night I had some hot coco after skiing with my daughter. Corn syrup. Not going to beat myself up about it, just going to remember to avoid the cheap coco in the future.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Saturday night break down

So I open the box earlier this week but didn't have time to unpack it.

So tonight I had some time and this is how it began:












The bike arrived well packed (by an IBD it appears.)

So I set about removing everything from the box. The wheels were first out so I went ahead and removed the tubes and tires. Then I removed the axels and bearings. After removing the grease, thoroughly cleaning the hub/bearings/races/axel I repacked them with fresh white lithium grease.

Both front wheels seem to be smoother than the rears, oh well. Used parts cheap are cheap used parts....

Then I set about breaking down and cleaning the rest of the bike:











The chain, headset bearings and rear derailleur pulleys are soaking in citrus solvent over night (in the white bucket with the brush.) The only things not in the photo are the cables/housings and the seat/seatpost. They are just outside the frame (and the wheels of course are hanging up separately.)

I sure do love taking things apart. I just hope there is nothing left over when I put it all back together!

Friday, January 1, 2010

SPS Trifecta testing

Here is the breakdown of Day 1 (my testing day)

Sit-ups - 42 (my wife beat me here, no surprise!)
Squats - 150 (Had to stop when my low back began to tweak, this shouldn't be hard to reach 200)
Push-ups - a miserable 16 :(  my abs still hurt from the squats and sit-ups (Do this one first next time!)
(my least favorite exercise of the three and most worrisome)

Now I am heading out to cross-country ski at Bear Swamp State with CNYMike (http://tech.michaelerb.net). He is also doing the challenge, boy are we gluttons for punishment!

***I just realized that the Trifecta was for 100 squats, so I found a 200 squat website and added it to the challenge!***