It snowed today. Oct. 29, 2011. Actually, it's snowing right now... to beat the band. Several inches predicted here, maybe over a foot in the mountains south and east.
As originally planned, and not because of but inspire of, the snow, Mrs. MTBMan1 and I went to Butternut to pick up my ski rental gear for the season. I have skis but I decided to rent this year because I wanted to try something different and I didn't have money for new skis. I thought this was a good way to try something new without committing to them for several years.
My old skis are Salomon XFree 8s which I picked up used a few years ago. They are 174cm long and don't have much of a side cut. Also they are only 62mm under foot. I wanted to try something with a shorter turning radius so I picked up a pair of 160s (Rossi Bandits) with a more extreme shape and 75mm in the middle. The whole package including boots and poles was $150.
The guys at Play It Again Sports showed me the Line Prophet 98 which is a wide ski, 98mm underfoot, which we loved and the price is good for a new ski but still too much for me. I think it was 4 or 5 hundred flat (without bindings).
While at Butternut, we checked out the goggles in the shop. Mrs. MTBMan1 has been on the quest for the perfect goggle for a few years now and we may have found it. They had the Electric EG2 which is a spherical and has the widest field of vision in any goggle we have checked out yet. But we didn't bring her helmet and the sales guy kindly suggested we try them with the helmet because they were so big.
After we got home we did some research and found that Play It Again Sports carried that very model.
So after a fabulous steak supper done up on the grill (as the nor'easter really got under way) we trekked out to the store.
They had it, Mrs. loved (I loved it too) and we got them. Also dropped off Mrs. skis for tuning and her boots for a recal,  Play It Again is great by the way. The staff is real friendly and helpful and i've learned a lot just from asking them questions. They seem to know their stuff.
I picked up a cable lock for my new skis. I wasn't too worried about anyone making off with my old ones but since these are rentals and all the rentals at butternut look the same, I thought it was a good idea to lock them up so no one would pick them up by mistake.
So it was a pretty exciting day, more so with the snow swirling about us.
If we get enough snow I'm seriously considering heading down to the town park in the afternoon and taking a few runs down the hill on my new skis.

It was snowing today (HOORAY!!!) so i went to the gym for the first time in 1 million years. Mrs. MTBman1 and I went together.
I did a moderately tough cardio workout for 1/2 hour on a stationary bike (what else). My bike was in front of a mirror. First time I've ever watched myself "riding" a bike from the front. I was shocked at how skinny my legs looked. I always thought they were pretty chunky from all that riding, big calves and all that.
Funny how our mental image of ourselves doesn't always mesh with the reality.
I also noticed that my leg strokes were not perfectly in-line vertically. There was some wobble and sideways motion.
It was helpful to see that and try to correct it. I'm assuming it's more efficient to pedal perfectly straight up and down. Also I would think you could possible develop some injury by doing it wrong (like painful knees, harrumph, *cough*).
Went to weight watchers after to weigh-in. Thursday is our day. Lost exactly 1lb. (wearing shorts and super light weight tech tee) ;-)
So my total weight loss to date is ..... (drum roll) .....

*25lbs*

ba-dah!

My BMI is finally in the "OK" range. (24.8)

I have tried to keep this blog focused. The content is about cycling, skiing and fitness in general for us older folk over 50.
However, that is not my only interest in life and often I have thoughts about things other than fun and fitness over 50. Often those thoughts are about spiritual things and music (as a musician). I don't think it likely that most people are going to be intensely interested in that combination (although some may) and I don't think i'm that good of a writer that folks are going to read my posts on that basis alone.
So, in the interest of focus and scratching my other itches, I have started 2 more blogs dedicated to the aforementioned topics. (2 more you say? He can't even keep up with one!)
They are: "Hey Mr. Bassman" at http://runbyidiots.wordpress.com and "Non Compos Spiritus Mentis" at http://halbedel.typepad.com/blog.
I am also using this opportunity to investigate 2 different blogging platforms, wordpress and typepad as you may have noticed from the urls.
I'll eventually put links and maybe updates on all the sites but otherwise I'm not going to mention it again (maybe).
And I'll offer email subscriptions also once i get around to it.
Ciao.

I love the fall. Always have. The nights are cooler, so sleep is better. I sleep better with tons of covers on top of me and of course it's too hot to do that in the summer even with the AC running.

Fall means winter's coming and that means skiing.

And it's the best time for bike riding. Comfortable temps, beautiful colored leaves on the trees, a certain kind of light and that certain something in the air.

Today was such a day.

I almost did not go for a ride because I was feeling like i might be coming down with a cold again or perhaps my cold of 2 weeks ago was trying for a comeback.

But it was just too gorgeous and there is rain threatened for other days this week. So out I went.

i'm glad i did. It was well worth it. In addition, I decided to take a different route for a change. I think the change of scenery was just the ticket.

Everything was working great; the electronics, the bike and me!