Alaskan Pack Fodder

In about 20 minutes, the clock will tick over and I'll be 43.   It's not much of a milestone, as birthdays go, and one I really haven't thought too much about. Another date on a calendar designed at first to make you feel like you're growing up, then at a certain point it shifts to make you feel like you're growing old.   That said, I feel better than I did when I was 33. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm just shy of 60lbs lighter, and I live a semi-active lifestyle. I say semi-active because the fitter I get, the more I notice the people that are just way more in shape than I will ever be. I'm doing alright, at least compared to many of my contemporaries and those that came after me. A quick trip to Walmart to check out the strange forms humans can mutate into is all I need to put things into perspective. It's like "Honey Boo Boo Theatre" sometimes, which is a show that thankfully I haven't seen past the opening credits. T...

As of today, I have to lose 10 pounds to get my BMI below 25, which would put my weight as "normal".   That's "normal" according to the BMI scale, not "normal" according to what I see riding scooters around the local Walmart and in most of the schools. Those are two entirely different standards. As easy (and fun) as it would be to go for the Walmart standard, I know that the BMI standard will allow me to live longer and healthier, as well as help me to reach my ultimate goal of crushing souls on the bike. People tell me that I look skinny, but I know they're just applying the Walmart standard.   Since the New Year, I've been counting calories with an online program, to try to reset my concept of a portion size. I've been playing around with different foods to see what will keep me "full" for the longest while keeping me interested in eating. I've been scouring the aisles at the local grocery stores looking for low-cal baco...

Well, it's raining... in January.    My friends with fatbikes are all watching in disgust as the snow melts away into snot-slick ice and large puddles, which is miserable to ride in when the temperature is hovering around 36F. The bike stores sold out of fatbike studded tires long ago, and a lot of the fatbike races are in jeopardy of being dominated by relatively skinny 29ers on studs. It's not pretty out there. The dirt is beginning to show through the snow, making a depressing season even darker.   I've already cancelled the first race in my intramural alpine skiing league, because it's not even cold enough to make snow. I spent last Saturday coaching in the rain, which actually was pretty fun because the kids all had pretty good attitudes about it. I don't know if we're going to have such good luck next week.   It's karma, I guess. Last year was a record-breaker in terms of snow fall. We had no major melt-downs, so the snow stayed great all season ...

I sensed it coming before it hit me.   I was in my garage, grinding away on the trainer doing a set of "Over/Unders", when suddenly my legs fell off. I couldn't turn the pedals anymore. The harder I tried, the higher my heart rate up, but my power level kept sliding down. I backed off, tried to recover, but it was no use. I was done and I knew something was wrong.   The first thing I noticed was that my nose was running. My nose always runs when I'm on the trainer, which explains the jumbo box o' tissues on the bike repair stand, but my nose kept running hours after I finished and would not stop. After a couple days of wearing off all of my nose skin trying to stem the constant flow, I finally gave in to Sudafed so I could get some sleep. I hate taking drugs, because they usually leave me like one of the title characters from The Walking Dead , but I was tired of waking up constantly with a runny nose. Four hours after taking the little red pills, I was awake ...