Friday, December 28, 2007

A 13 year olds view on Christmas

Exercise: I put a swim and ride together on Monday…..it was tough but I went okay (bad news is the ass cheek is sore again…) otherwise not a lot! I have decided to rest, get the cheek right and really go hard in Jan

I am not an overly religious, Jewish raised, balding, 30 year old wanna be tri-athlete. As you can understand Christmas did not play a large part in my life until I meet my wife 13 years ago. I like to think of myself as being 13 years old this Christmas (as I have only celebrated it 13 times) going through that tough teenage view of Christmas

My experiences of Christmas lead me to believe that it is almost like every Jewish festival – you get together with family and eat too much food. All that said my family / friends have been exceptionally generous this year. Here is a list of some of the things I was given………..see if you can you spot a theme

Bell for my bike
Bike seat
New pair of swimmers (some more lycra) that are also bike pants
Bike light
Tri Mags


One question I have to ask is

Why does the date of Easter move every year but Christmas stays the same?

Cheers (and Merry Merry)

Greg

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Once, Twice, Three Times an Uncle

Does eating bad food and drinking count as exercise? (I did do some weights, swiming and a bike ride or two)

Last week I became an Uncle for the third time. I know I am biased but I have the most perfect nieces / nephew. The only problem with having such awesome kids in the family is that it puts a lot of pressure on J and I to produce a good un…here’s hoping if we have a baby it look’s like J!

While I did not exercise on the weekend I did go shopping for some more gear. My current helmet is old, borrowed and sits on my head like a top hat. I found a couple of helmets in my price range and decided to try them on. The geniuses at Rebel (I know what am I doing going to Rebel for bike gear…I was just looking okay…) had no mirrors in the helmet section

Have you ever tried to try on new helmets without a mirror?

Being a resourceful lad I decided to take a photo of myself with my phone. I lined up the angles and pressed the button just at the same time as one of the perky young assistants came up to help me.

The look on his face as my phone made the “camera noise” was one of fear and amazement

Once again I looked like a freak….

Cheers

Greg

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck…….

Exercise: Weekend lots of wine tasting and some poor dancing at the Lionel Ritchie concert, Monday Boxing, Tuesday Nuthin, Today Swim and Boxing

If you own a home (or in my case a 2 bedroom unit) in Sydney you have to be on a budget. It goes without saying that when you are on a budget you need to make certain choices on how you spend money.

I was presented with one of those choices last weekend. I was heading up to the Hunter Valley to watch Lionel Ritchie and was faced with the dilemma

Spend money on accommodation or on wine?

Then again I do not think it is much of a dilemma wine V accommodation (wine will always win out)

As a result we were staying just outside of Cessnock. Now Cessnock is famous for a couple of things

Entry Point to the Hunter Valley Wine Country
Cessnock Correctional Facility i.e. Jail

After an especially indulgent Friday I thought it would be a good idea to go for a slow jog. As I settled into my slow Cliff Young shuffle I was asked not once, not twice but three times where the Cessnock Jail was. So I either I

Look like a local (and if you have hung out in Cessnock you will understand why this is an insult – then again I was a touch hung over so would fit right in)

Or I

Look like I have been in Jail

I think I need to rethink my exercise apparel as I must look like a Bogan who has just been released from jail…..

Cheers

Greg

PS Yes that was a picture of my ass last week

Thursday, December 6, 2007

A Picture says a 1,000 words....

Exercise: Monday Swim, Tuesday Weights, Wednesday Swim, Today ride…farce…..

They say you never forget how to ride a bike. Well let’s just say my memory was a bit hazy this morning. I woke up at 5am this morning, threw on some lycra, strapped on my helmet and got on the new(ish) bike

I had better stop for a second talk a little about the bike pants.

They have padding.

Down there. Between my legs.
Having trouble visualising this?
Here you go....
It looks like I have had a accident in my pants.

If you add up the Speedo’s and padded lycra shorts there goes what dignity I had left. To finish it i just need to start shaving my legs

So I get on my bike this morning and start to ride. In the past I have always ridden mountain bikes with big thick hummer style tires. Now I was on a road bike with very thin tyres. After a few shaky moments I was off and peddling.
My fairly easy 30 minute circuit and was going okay until I had a man moment. In this man moment I decided to go into the highest gear (i.e. hardest) possible

I got all the way up to the hardest gear and thrashed at it for a minute or two then decide to turn back home and lower the gear. Here’s the thing the gears did not move and I had to ride back home on the highest gear

Hello sore ass cheek.

On a side note I am not training this weekend - off to the hunter valley to Lionel Ritchie…..


Cheers

Greg
PS Yes that photo will haunt you for years......