Weigh-In Wednesday

253.8 lbs

41.3% Fat

I've been deciding on some goals for 2010. One of those goals, as it applies to weigh in Wednesday, is to get down to 225 lbs. My ultimate weight goal is 200 - 210 lbs, but I am a realist, and 225 lbs is realistic.

I have set other goals that will help me attain my the weight loss goal. I have set a goal of doing 5 triathlons next year (4 sprint and 1 Olympic).

In order to accomplish this without causing myself injury, I am joining the Atlanta Triathlon Club. They do a lot of group activities (rides, runs, and swims), and help you set up a training schedule that fits you.

I am exited about the prospect of 2010, fitness wise. Love life and work wise, not so much.

Fort Mountain State Park

It had been a while since I've been to Fort Mountain. In 2007 Buddy and I hiked the Lake trail, Tower trail and Big Rock trail (see October 2007 post). Later that year we did a group hike and only did the Lake and Big Rock trails. Most of the hikes Paws on the Path (my facebook hiking group) does are about 3 to 4 miles, and are easy hikes. that means I often will go further and harder when possible (not with the group, or scoping out a trail as a possible group hike).


Last week I asked my sister if she wanted to hike this past Saturday. She said yes, but she wanted to try somewhere new (that's why everything that follows is her fault). She originally wanted to try Mistletoe State Park, but because I had done it not that long ago, I suggested Fort Mountain (still her fault).

When we got there (2 hours from Atlanta) the road to the top was closed because the power company was fixing fallen power lines (this should have given us a clue as to what was in store for us, but it didn't) (slowness runs in my family). We decided to climb to the top of Fort Mountain on the Gahuti trail. We figured we could do the west side up and back (estimated 6 miles) and if we felt good we could do the Tower trail (estimated 1 mile). If we did the whole Gahuti trail it would be 8.8 miles.

It was to be a nice bright sunny day (it was), and the temperature was to be in the mid 40s (it wasn't). It was about 36 degrees when we left Atlanta, and about 34 degrees when we got to Fort Mountain (didn't take into account the effect of elevation on temperature) (once again my sister's fault, she went to college, she should know these things) (once again, slow). Luckily we brought winter jackets.

We started off on the Big Rock trail because the Gahuti trails intersects it. As I've said, it's been a while since I've been here, and the last time I was here the Big Rock trail followed a dry waterfall you could climb. It is not dry anymore.

Pat in front of the dry waterfall

Once on the Gahuti trail we started to climb tight sinlgetrack. I love hiking singletrack most of the time, but when you have steep drop offs, and a big clumsy Great Dane trying to pass you, it can be sketchy. Besides the drop off and the impatient Dane, it was icy, wet and leaf covered. Do you know what you get when you have this combo? Me sprawled out on the trail, twice (twice seems to becoming a theme of my discomfort).

This may have been bad enough, but it was to get worse. Christmas eve we had a storm blow through (and I mean blow). The trail was littered with debris, and had three impassable trees laying across it. You could not go over or under the trees, you had to go around them. Remember the steep drop offs? Yes, going around them meant off-roading down the drop off.

The Trail

After the second impassable tree, my sister decided we were not going back down the west side. She didn't care if we had to do the whole 8.8 miles. But, once we were at the top of the Mountain she started worrying about time. So I broke out the map and decided the best trail to take, that was not the trail we came up, was one of the Mountain Bike trails.

So we headed down the mountain on the 302 mountain bike trail. At this time a year the trail was empty of mountain bikers, and was a wide double track. the only problem I had with it was it was not as well marked as the Gahuti trail. This made it a little confusing as too which direction to go when the trail met the 301 and the 303 trail. We made it back to the car in about 3 and a half hours,tired and cold. I would tell you how far we went , but using the Garmin watch with gloves doesn't work too well (I accidentally stopped it around the 3 mile mark).

All in all I had a good time, even with the bloody knee from one of my falls. I would recommend the Gahuti trail, but not as a winter hike. I will go again sometime and do the east side of the trail.

Happy hiking.

P.S. I bought a great shirt at the park office. It says, "Hike faster, I hear banjos."

My New Phone Service

Works well at the coffee shop too.

No Hunting

During my recent sojourn to Alabama on the Silver Comet trail, I came across a No Hunting sign along the side of the trail. This got me wondering, is there a problem with cyclist riding around with rifles and shotguns strapped to their backs. And, if there is, how do you tie down a deer to a Schwinn. The other thing I started to think was what if the sign was trying to tell hunters not to shoot cyclists. The trail does run through rural Georgia, so you could get hunted down for wearing spandex.

A piece of advice, if you are going to ride in the rural south, invest in a Dale Earnhardt Sr cycling jersey. It will minimize the amount of empty beer cans that are thrown at you. This philosophy will work in the inner-city also (but not with a Earnhardt jersey). Invest in a Michael Jordan cycling jersey, and it will minimize the amount of empty malt liquor cans are thrown at you.

Happy cycling, and be safe out there.

The Story of Simon

Recently I’ve been in touch with friends from my Coast Guard days (Facebook). Because of this, I’ve been called a name I haven’t heard in a while, Simon. When I was in the coast Guard I went by Simon. Simon is not my first or middle name. It was my nickname.

I got the nickname when I was stationed in New York. A bunch of friends and I were sitting around drinking. We started going around say who each other look like. When it came to me, they said I looked like Simon LeBon and/or Simon the chipmunk (round glasses and all). They started calling me Simon, and as new people joined us they thought my name was Simon. My friends thought it was funny and kept calling me Simon. Thus I became Simon.

For the four years I was in the Coast Guard I was call Simon. Even my family called me Simon. I didn’t go back to my real name till I returned to civilian life.

I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas to you and yours.

I Rode Kennesaw Mountain - Twice

I rode up Kennesaw Mountain twice yesterday, and almost puked both times. It has been a while since I've done any hill work. I really haven't ridden hard for a while. Even the 30 mile Silver Comet ride from Graves Rd to Alabama and back was not hard (it sucked, but was not hard).

It started out the same as it always does, within 200 yards of starting I was in the smallest gear; and huffing and puffing. My Heart Rate (HR) was in the mid 160 range (that is above 90% of my Max HR). I was tired and nauseous when I got to the top.

Going down is a blast. The only problem is that their is a 25 MPH speed limit. This means you have to ride the brakes. The minute you let them go, you are over 30 mph. Even with the speed limit it was still fun.

You would think that after being so tired and nauseous I would not try it again, but I have the attention span of a gnat. The old saying "Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome." applies here. Once again HR above 90% max, tired, and nauseous.

Even though I have not enjoyed climbing Kennesaw Mountain, nor have I ever enjoyed it, I have made it a 2010 goal to be able to climb it 4 times. Like it says, "Stupid".

Pull

This is the sign that the aquatic center uses to tell people that you have to pull the door. I think it is great that they have a sense of humor. I am amazed that nobody has raised bloody hell about it (especially with special ed swimming classes being held there). I guess the people in my county also have a sense of humor.

Weigh-In Wednesday

I am OK with this. At last Sunday's GRRA Christmas party they made me take home a apple pie and half a cheese cake. I brought the pie into work, but scarfed down the cheese cake. Had I known I would have been bringing home the cheese cake, I would have asked a couple women out. I'm not saying that because women love cheese cake (they do), but because after I got shot down I would have an excuse to eat a half of a cheese cake (at least a better excuse than it is in the house).

Silver Comet - Graves Rd to Alabama

The ride from hell, or at least purgatory. One of my goals for 2009 was to ride all of the Silver Comet trail. I had been breaking it up in 15 mile sections (this gave me 30 miles per trip). Last month when I was off from work I was going to finish it up the last two trips, but it rained most of the second week and I only got one trip in. So I had the last 15 miles to complete my goal. This past Sunday I completed it, and it sucked.

I like the silver Comet trail; it is a fast flat trail, or so I thought. Did anyone know it had hills (seriously, anyone). I'm not talking about the 3% grade I've been use to, it started out with a 200 foot climb in about a 1/8 of a mile. That is steep, Kennesaw Mountain steep. The rest of the ride was rollers (rolling hills). All in all, about 2000 feet of elevation gain.

Normally there is an upside to climbs (no pun intended), downhills. On downhills you can catch your breath, and build up enough momentum to carry you part way up the next hill. Not today. The trail was trashed. Water washed over the trail like little streams (you don't want to get wet in 30 degree weather, cold and wet is not a good combination), and debris from recent rains left the trail littered with branches, sticks, pine cones, and other crap ( you don't want to fly through debris because that is a real easy way to meet the pavement). So it was slow going in the beginning.

The next section was through Cedertown. This part of the trail is joined together piecemeal by the local streets. This means a lot of stop and go through town. This wouldn't be to bad if it was a nice town like Rockmart, but it's not. It is a run down town that the graffiti on the side of someones house announced "Ceadertown is the new gangland" (great, just were I wanted to ride a $4000 dollar bike through).

After Cedertown it opened up to a relatively flat and debris free area. But, it was windy, and I got blown all over the place (not as much fun as it sounds). SIDE NOTE: I hope there is a special place in hell for weathermen. The weathermen said the clouds would burn off by noon, they didn't. They said the temperature would climb to the mid 40s, it didn't. They said the wind would subside, it didn't. What other job can you be wrong all the time, and not be fired. Still slow going.

After the relatively flat and debris free area I entered the tree lined uber debris area. For a couple of miles the debris was so thick you couldn't see the trail. The trail had sections with the debris 2 inch thick. It felt like I was mountain biking or doing cyclecross. What made it feel even more like this is that it had it's own log crossing (if you could call it that). The log, that extended into the muddy forest both ways, was up to my arm pits. If I wasn't only a couple of miles away from completing my goal, I would have turned around. Instead I climbed over the log with my bike. If you don't cycle, you probably don't know about cycling shoes. Cycling shoes have slick plastic soles that a cleat (the part that attaches to the pedal) is screwed into. Climbing over a log in these shoes is probably like climbing over the log in high heels shoes that have had the heal broken off. SIDE NOTE: If you are a dude and you don't cycle, but you knowingly said "Uh huh" to the last statement, you need to turn off the Oprah and turn on some sports center.

Debris and Log

Two miles after the log I was in Alabama. I had made it, and now I had to go through the the whole trail of suck in reverse order (Yah!). It took me 2:30 to do 30 miles. That is slow. I usually do the Smyrna to Hiram trip (it is 30 miles) in 1:45 to 2 hours (depending on how hard I want to push).

Chief Ladiga

Alabama/Georgia State Line

Insurmountable

This sounds like a conversation I've had with my friend at work.

My Truck

My truck is always a mess. There is a few things that are almost always in it. I almost always have a bike or two and the things that accompany the bike, i.e. helmets, cycling shoes, pump, etc... I usually have a gym bag with me. In it is both cycling clothes and running clothes. In the winter I have a jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt; or all of the above (in case it gets cold), and in the Summer I will have a change of t-shirts (in case I get to sweaty). I keep my bag of swimming gear in the car (fins, kick board, pull buoy, goggles, and assorted workout sheets). It doesn't make to much sense to keep taking it out , if I'm just going to go swimming again in a day or two.

As you read above you may be thinking that all I do is work out, but on closer examination you would find some non workout stuff. I will always have something to read whether a magazine (I subscribe to bicycling, mountain biking, and runners world) or a book. I eat out alone a lot (ahhh!), and it's good to have something to keep yourself occupied so you don't notice people staring at you (you are eating alone you loser). I also have dog stuff in the truck. You can almost always find dog biscuits (you never know when you need to make friends with a dog, and they're good to carry on rides and runs because of this). I also developed the habit of keeping the dog's leash in the truck. They use to jump in the truck to go somewhere any chance they could. I still keep the leash in there, even though Buddy is gone and Allie is too old to do anything. Habit I guess. Last but not least, I have a mess of fliers and junk mail. Because my garage is not attached to my house, I tend to leave the mail in the truck were it collects (and many times overflows). In case you have just started reading this blog I will fill you in on something the people that have been reading it know, I'm a bit of a slob (let the sisterly heckling begin).

8 Days Till Christmas

It's only 8 days till Christmas, and I feeling pretty good. But, that could be the pain relievers.

Weigh-in Wednesday

248.4 lbs

41.8% Fat

As an award for breaking the 250 mark, and for having to put another hole in my belt, I bought myself a wetsuit. It was 50% off, and I want to get started on the whole triathlon thing.

Slow

Boy am I slow. In more ways than one. The other day I was chatting with my niece, and it came up that she ran a 5K the past weekend. I asked her how she did, and she said she was slow. She said she did it in 38 minuets, but she was dressed up as a Christmas present.

Here is were we get the first example of me being slow. I ran 5 miles yesterday after work, and it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes. Just to tell you how slow that is, my sister mocked me. My sister!

 

The second example of my being slow happened last night and today. Last night while I was in my garage I noticed my old helmet. I’ve been meaning to put it in the truck so I can wear it when I also need to wear my beanie (it is a loser fitting helmet than my current one). My hands were full, and I had locked the truck and put the keys in my pocket. Instead of digging the keys out and putting the helmet in the truck, I put it on the roof (the roof is eye level, I will see it). This morning as I left for work I did not see it (probably because it is 5 o’clock in the morning, and pitch black in the garage). I got to work and went in side, not seeing or thinking about a helmet. The only reason I am thinking about it for this blog is that as I got in my truck to go home (actually go to the coffee shop) i saw my helmet wedged in my roof rack. It survived a 30 mile drive on the interstate at 70 mph (I know that's not very slow driving).

I guess that not only am I slow, but I’m lucky. Well you know what they say, “Un-lucky in love, lucky in not losing your back-up helmet.”

Things I Found Amusing

Thank God!

I love that it is quoting the Book of Revolutions (not Revelations).

The real reason I’ve lost weight since Buddy passed.

Besides getting a check from him for being out of work, this would make me vote for Obama.

Some signs just get it right.

Who knew Canadians have a sense of humor.

I just thought this was funny. It might be funnier in July, around the Tour.

Maybe I need to take the winter off.

Pay Day

I got paid last Thursday. It was a whopping $86.75. That is because I had to take a week of un-paid furlough. Luckily I prepared for it (sold vacation back to the company, and socket it away), and yesterday I received 3 checks. My refund from the cancelled triathlon, $355.00 from unemployment (did you know you could get unemployment for one week furlough), and $25 from President Obama for being out of work (no wonder people love him, he is like that Uncle that gives you money every time you see them).

I'm Not Letting the Winter Get Me Down (Yet)

I signed up for a winter swim class. It is Adult Stroke Development Advanced. It runs for 6 weeks on Saturday. I will miss 1 class due to work, but that will be OK. I will get the workout from the coach and do it at the hotel pool.

I've done some hiking, cycling, swimming and running lately. I find that if I am having trouble motivating myself, I can buy something to help me focus. Examples Hiking - new socks - hiked Mistletoe State Park, Cycling - new helmet - riding Silver Comet and BMHM Lunch Loop, Swimming - goggles and class - swimming laps, & Running - new winter jersey - trail ran the Bell Bomber Loop and A.L. Burress trails.

I had been thinking about buying a treadmill, but the other day I used my sisters, and I couldn't wait to get off it. It sucked so bad, I would rather be cold and wet.

So my plan for the winter is to swim alot ( the pool is heated) and wear layers when outside.

With Friends Like Mine

Today I got insulted. I was talking to a friend of mine as we were heading out to lunch. As we passed my truck, the conversation went something like this...

John - Your lucky you don't have a silver Xterra.

Me - Why?

John - You know the woman that was abducted down in McDonough. The one that was taken along a highway while she was on her cell phone.

Me - Yea.

John - They are looking for a creepy guy in a silver Xterra in conjunction with the abduction.

Me - Oh.






Me - Hey!

My friend smiled and chuckled. With friends like mine, who needs enemies.

Weigh-In Wednesday

My weight fluctuates 5 lbs from week to week. So you would think a 2 lbs difference from 2 weeks ago would not be a big deal. But, when I looked down I didn't see the scale saying 252.6 lbs. I saw it saying...

... so I did. I ran 2.5 miles after work at A.L. Burress park.

Back at Work

I am back at work today. It wasn't too bad of a day. Most of my time was consumed by e-mails (over 300 e-mails). It took me till noon to go through them (most were junk and a waste of time).

At lunch I needed to get out of the office, so I went for a ride. Today's ride (the same lunch time loop I always do) was both great and sucked at the same time. It was great because it had been over a week and a half since I was in the saddle, and it sucked because it was cold. One of the bad things about this cold was that I am going to have to go to North Dakota in January, and I know today wasn't really cold. They have a name for this type of cold in North Dakota, it's called Spring.

I am hoping I can accomplish something during the rest of the week, but I'm not holding my breath. I already have 2 four hour meetings scheduled.

GRRA Adoption

I just got back from the GRRA adoption. I handled Skip (his foster couldn't make it). Skip was a owner turn in; they could no longer financially take care of him. He came to us with a thyroid problem and missing 80% of his hair. With medication and time he is doing much better (see picture below).

Skip

Today may have been Skip's day. Three families want to adopt him. Congratulations Skip.

Trizophrenia

I just finished reading Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete. It is a very funny and relatable book (even if I'm not a triathlete yet). The only thing I didn't like about the book was the footnotes. Although they were often laugh out load (LOL) funny, they where distracting because you had to go to the bottom of the page, and then back up to where you left off (which I would often loose the spot). I much prefer the use of parenthesis (incase you didn't notice).

Weigh-in Wednesday

I know I'm back over 250, but you have to admit 1.2 lbs is not bad considering I had a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving, another on Sunday, and Monday leftovers.

Mistletoe State Park

Trail Map

Mistletoe State Park is located about 2 hours east of Atlanta, located on 72,000-acre Clarks Hill Lake near Augusta.

The Cliatt Creek Nature Trail Loop starts across the street from the park office and parking lot. It is a wide (easy to walk with a dog) trail, and because it is manly a new growth pine forest the trail is bright. This may not be great during the summer, but it made for a very comfortable hike this fall. The trail is about 3.75 miles long and would make for a good group hike. It is well marked with white blazes.

Cliatt Creek Nature Trail

About a quarter of the way through the Cliatt Creek Nature Trail you will come to a intersection for the Rock Dam Trail. This is a longer harder trail (6.25 miles). Because I was alone and without a dog, I decided to take this trail.

The trail starts off with a creek crossing. I was glad to have waterproof boots on, because the creek was too wide to jump. I went up and down the creek till I found a good place to cross (only one boot got wet, and it didn’t go too high on it). On the map I received from the office, it listed some points of interests (see map above): a rock outcropping that is part of Stone Mountain, his and her oaks, a rock dam (where the trail gets its name), split rock, sitting tree, the Devil’s Gorge, and a Vista. Because the points of interest weren’t marked, it made me look for them.

Creek Crossing

The first item was easy to find. The trail crossed the rock outcropping. It amazed me that this was part of Stone Mountain, because it is so far away.

Rock Outcropping

The second item was harder to find. I actually went past it, and had to back track. The his and her oaks were two huge oak trees surrounded by pines.

His and Her Oak Trees

The third item was the rock dam. At first I thought it was a bunch of boulders at the end of a dry creek bed that you hike through. It wasn’t. The rock dam was a large piece of granite across a creek. This creek was another crossing, and you can use the dam as a bridge (be careful, the water makes it slippery).

Rock Dam

The only thing that made finding the forth item difficult was that there is a lot of boulders around. I would stop and look for what could be considered a split. When I didn’t find one I would continue on. The split rock was actually right on the trail, and easy to see why it was called split rock (even with all the leaves covering it).

Split Rock

I had a little difficulty with what the fifth item was. I thought I had found it when I saw a tree surrounded by rocks, but when I walked past the real sitting tree, a little further up the trail, I knew immediately.

Sitting Tree

You would think that the sixth item, the devil’s gorge, would be easy to find (it actually was), but I was not sure what they meant by gorge. This area was clear cut in the late 19th early 20th century, and used for farming. Because of this, the land is scared with cracks and crevices, but the minute you come up to the devil’s gorge you know it.

Devil's Gorge

The last item was the vista that wasn’t much of a vista.

Vista

Even with no more items of interest on the rock dam trail, it was a nice hike with a section going by the lake.

The rock dam trail ended with another creek crossing back to the Cliatt Creek Nature Trail . Instead of getting my feet wet again (this hike had numerous creek crossings), I crossed the creek by using a fallen tree as a bridge.

Fallen Tree (Bridge)

Once back on the Cliatt Creek Nature Trail a took it back to the park office and my car. All in all, a very fun, not too strenuous, long hike. I would recommend it to anyone looking to do a 3 to 4 hour hike, but remember they wear waterproof boot.