Category: Adventure

I don’t ski, and have no desire to do so, but this this is amazing (via swissmiss).

Had a nice chill 15 mile bike ride on Saturday. This trail is a rail to trail, so uphill for the first half, than downhill for the second half, but it’s easy and chill. I wanted something I could ride without much thought, and just enjoy scenery.

Then on Sunday I had my first run in three weeks, probably the longest time I’ve taken off since I started running in 2016. I tweaked my foot a few weeks back when running a little too fast downhill, and paid for it by needed to take some time off.

I ran a full mile, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. Felt good, felt like I could have ran more of it, but figured I’d take it easy, and will continue to do so for this week and next, probably.

Thought of how neither of these efforts was hard. Neither worked up much of a sweat, but neither were a waste of time. They probably didn’t help me achieve peak physical prowess, but it’s all foundational, one brick at a time.

I haven’t been to a show since 2019, but my friend Meem suggested we go see Turnstile in October, so we did just that.

Not even 30 seconds into their first song I was pushed from behind so hard that my glasses flew off my head. I was on the ground (it was pavement), scuffed my knee, looked for my glasses for a quick second, and then got the fuck out of there. My friend was punched in the face. Another woman near us ended up on the ground, too.

I mean, in our combined 50 or so years of show-going experience we thought things would be chill, but that wasn’t the case.

I couldn’t drive us home, as I’m blind as a bat without my glasses. My buddy had to drive me to center city Philadelphia to get me new glasses so I could drive back home that day. It was about $380 and I got my new glasses in a few hours. The photo above is from the nearby mall while waiting for the glasses.

Oh, and my friend got a parking ticket while we my glasses.

When it rains it pours, but at least we have another story to last us another 25 years.

I joined the ‘August Run Climbing Challenge‘ on Strava, which set a goal of running up 2000 meters in during the full month. This got me exploring some of the more hilly trails in the past few weeks.

On a Tuesday I set off for The Pinnacle, which starts very matter of factly as this yellow gate. In total it was 898′ of climbing, mostly power hiking because a lot of it is over 10% grade (it even hits 20% at one point). That was a 3.6 mile adventure in under an hour, and it even started raining at the end, which was very nice.

Then on Wedneday night my buddy Mimi hit me up, saying she’d be in town for a bit, so I went to crash with her and her family that night, so we could run up Mount Minsi the next morning. This was 1,171′ of climbing, and again it was steep, upwards of 20 and 30% grade in parts when you just sort of had to crawl up the mountainside. It was amazing. We did that, plus some extra miles to and from the trail head (because of this cool creek crossing) for a total of 6.15 miles, in just under two hours.

Then Friday night, I’m feeling good, an my friend’s still in town and leaving the next morning. She texts me saying we should run up the other side, Mount Tammany in NJ. So I got up at 6am on Saturday, drove up her way, and we set off for the trail (and parked much closer this time).

So we start that at about 7:30am, before it got too warm or crowded. This climbs up to about 1500′ in elevation in 1.5 miles, so pretty steep in places. Lots of rocks to climb over. It’s like going to fucking Mordor. But we made it, and you can see the other peak in the distance, which is what we climbed two days prior (Strava).

Afterwards we get some Dunkin Donuts, we’re hanging out, all is good, and I head back home. Then I get the idea to drive to Palmerton, PA and try running up that peak!

I stop at a grocery store and pick up some yogurt (for protein), some fruit (carbs), some iced oatmeal cookies to use as a spoon for the yogurt, a gallon of water, and a Gatorade. Turns out after eating this, then waiting about 30 minutes, I was able to give the trails in Palmerton a go.

Mercifully the trail to the summit was closed, I think, and I stayed on the Prairie Grass Trail which was grassy (duh), up and down, and led into some pretty neat sections of single track. So I ran that out a bit, then came back, for yet another 3.6 mile run.

In all that was 3,709′ of climbing, and almost 17 miles in five days time. Today is Sunday and I’m feeling pretty good overall, but definitely need a nap later today (and no running).

Learned of this bike ride on a Wednesday or so, signed up, and was on the road at 9am on a Saturday morning for a nice 25 mile ride around Kutztown.

I haven’t ridden with a group of people in forever… maybe even since the Five Boro Bike ride in NYC? That was YEARS ago.

From a recent trip down to West Virgina, this on the Baltimore National Pike. Views for miles, a fun place to get off the highway and stretch your legs.

I haven’t driven more than 2 or 3 hours in awhile, but this was a full, eight hour day from early morning to late afternoon.

Of course, after all that driving, you wind up at a place like Burger Carte, which served up burgers so good, we went there two nights in a row.

I posted one of those “I’m too tired from work to do my hobbies so when I get back to work I’m mad I didn’t do my hobbies” memes on Instagram, and meant it mostly for the music / creative side of things.

Which made me realize that biking and running have stopped being a “hobby,” and turned into who I am. I’ve been biking for 30+ years. This July I’ll have been running for six years.

I have so many running clothes, and bike tools, and fuck, I have three bikes again. A Zwift subscription. A gym membership. An Apple Watch. A Garmin for longer runs.

So those hobbies haven’t fallen off. And since January they’ve actually ramped up, as evidenced by my falling resting heart rate (hooray).

But getting in a five hour run takes more than the hour or so it takes me to run it. There’s stretching, cool down, fueling afterwards, getting to bed early to aid with recovery.

So with that, yeah, there’s not much time after a full day of work and an hour long run or bike ride for other stuff.

And right now that’s plenty okay.