16

Our 'lil guy' (6ft 1" and mounting) wakes up to his 16th birthday today! Boxed cheesecake (his choice) tonite that was preceded with Reeses Peanut Butter cup for breakfast and his choice out at a local eatery. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!

50 @ 48

Forty-eight years old and 215 pounds later, I decided to hop on my Diamondback Wildwood 21 speed Sunday morning and challenge myself to do something I had never done on 2 wheels-- ride for fifty miles! Temps at my 740 a.m. launch were in the mid-50s and winds were calm, perfect for the ride. I packed a couple of snack bars and 32 ounces of ice water, tune my radio to K-LOVE to pipe in the worship tunes, adjust my padded shorts to the padded seat, and head out.

Needless to say, when you live in a metropolitan area, there is no simple 'out and back' route, so you just have to create your own path. I headed west 9 miles on a gradual, but definite incline as it has always provided some interesting scenery. Most recently it was road kill---a rattle snake and a mule deer buck. Today, nothing interesting. Forty minutes to reach the first turn around point, but the beauty is only eighteen minutes to get back--like I said, definite uphill outbound trek. At the 20 mile mark, a quick pit stop under a shade tree for some water and a snack bar.

Off to the east for about 5 miles, then return back another 5 and now 60% of the journey is complete.The next 10 miles is on a northwest track, mostly downhill which means the final 10 will be the undesirable uphill final. At the 40 mile mark, I find a bench along side a cool pond and check in with Teri to let her know I still have a pulse and now begin the final 1/5 of the challenge.

The first part of the final segment is the gradual stuff - tolerable. But, at the 45 mile point, 'the hill' stares me down. With this verse recycling itself in my head as my groin was in a tug of war with my hamstrings, we set the gears to 1/1 and head on up--accomplished. The second rise awaits me one mile later and is even more difficult, but I stare straight down at the sidewalk and reach the pinnacle to find another cycling couple parked under a shade tree recovering and drinking a beverage, so I join them. I point the bike West and head home with one, long gradual hill to climb, but at this point, it feels like Mt. Everest---mission accomplished.

I arrive home four hours and three minutes of life behind me and stare down at the bike-o-meter to see an extra six-tenths of a mile--oh what I wouldn't have given to have had those pedal revolutions back! Using this tool, this aging body expelled 3,159 calories on this Sunday morning adventure, just 7% less than my completed marathon back in 2004, without near the physical consequences-- hallelujah! The joy of replacing those calories is always the most enjoyable part of these exercise challenges.

While the cycling world calls this accomplishment a 'half-century', I personally call it a 'prostate exam'... Til next time.....

RUNNIN....

Cross training for Austin begins tonight...talking about paying the price, forecasted temperature for his first team gathering at 6pm is 96 degrees. Certainly, one of the more unique things about Denver is afternoon highs peak in the early evening rather than mid-afternoon, which makes it really tough to cool down before our bed time. I believe I have officially handed him the running baton as my body's preference is cycling. Twenty-five miles accomplished this morning is easier on me than a 5 mile run. Good luck to the Ralston Valley High School cross-country team!

DAWG DAYS...

Officially, I believe one day of rain in the past 30 days. Temps cooling down this week to the low 90s, only 7 degrees above normal :).

Yes, I envy the headline in the Austin Statesman yesterday "coolest July in Austin's history".

5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 80005

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
97° F | 67° F 36° C | 19° C	92° F | 59° F 33° C | 15° C	91° F | 61° F 33° C | 16° C	92° F | 61° F 33° C | 16° C	91° F | 61° F 33° C | 16° C
Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy
Detail	Detail	Detail	Detail	Detail
Today is forecast to be nearly the same temperature as yesterday.

SPEED....

The CAT (erpillar) dragster takes Top Fuel honors at the Mile Hi Nationals with the fastest speed of the day just a hair under 313 mph! The owner of the dragster and the driver's mom then headed out to Rocky Mountain Metro Airport where their Citation Jet awaited them and were fueled up by Cameron working at Steven's Aviation. Needless to say, Cam indicated they were quite ecstatic over their victory!

SAN DIEGO KID

Well, our San Diego kid has safely returned from his So-Cal adventure! They hit the ground running in San Diego and didnt stop for 4 days. The four of them visited (and safely escaped from) Tijuana, Mexico and traveled then down the Mexican coast to Rosarito Beach, home of the filming of the movie Titanic. The following days had them visiting the San Diego Zoo, the local Airmen's Museum, and, of course, the beach.

It goes without saying, they went airborne (faster than driving Ca. highways) in their RV-10 aircraft and had a sunset flight to the infamous, at least amongst aviators, Van Nuys Airport where one of their more memorable events took place. When asked if they had a courtesy, loaner car available, the employee tossed Cameron the keys. Around the corner and awaiting them was a lovely, stellar, green Jaguar--yes, complimentary. It appears very little poverty in this neck of the woods.

ADVENTURER!

Cam started upon one of his most adventurous journeys ever as he and a "co-worker/great friend/airplane owner" boarded a single-engine aircraft at 5AM along with 2 other passengers from his local airport airport enroute to spend five days in San Diego, CA! He was sharing 'pilot-in-command' time with the plane owner so is getting to log this into his pilot log book. The track has their route south from Denver over Albuquerque, NM where they were able to bank to the west and start their descent into St. Johns, AZ for their only refuel stop. His assigned altitude was 12,000 feet and cruising speed was about 200 mph. They arrived into San Diego shortly before noon and he was ecstatic about having to use his 'instrument rating' as they had to fly through some clouds as they descended into southern California. He has the camera, so more photos to come......

CAPTURED!

You never know who might arrive into a quiet, Denver suburban town of 134,000. Lo and behold, this nasty dude was arrested by our police department last night as he tried to victimize yet another young girl. Wanted out of Texas on a million dollar bond, no one had revealed any knowledge he may turn up in Colorado. One more of many success stories of America's Most Wanted and a great job by an 11 year old victim who positively identified the predator after he engaged himself in a brief foot chase with our officers!

Dual post at Blogonize!

SWITCH-HITTING

Well, I have been asked to beta test a new blog hosting site whose goal is to battle with the 'big guys', for the same price (free), but easier to use (old people friendly like me) with as many, if not more, options--so I am here now at Blogonize , which should be open to the world-wilde blogging public in the Fall 2007. Please bookmark me in your favorite places at Peeved. If for some reason, you can't find me here, there may be some maintenance and updating taking place, so you might want to check both here and at my old site on Blogger as I might 'dual-post' for awhile.

I know for sure one thing, Blogonize has a sweet look to it, sweet logo, so it's off to a great start!

IN GOD WE TRUST

Take a good look at photo number one and notice what appears to be the routine accident, all be it hopping a guard rail and a drainage pipe, as the accident takes place from right side of photo to left (make sure to click on photo to enlarge)....


and now as the camera pans away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!