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Anyone who knows me well knows that I haven't lost significant weight in the past year. Initially, I started bike commuting out of necessity, then I kept doing it because I was losing weight (and lost about 60 pounds at my best), and somewhere I just quit caring about the health benefits. I bike and bus all over the place. I get more exercise than many people in America's Fat Belt, but I've succumbed to complacency.

This has left me with muscular legs, a heart that's stronger than it's ever been before, above-average lung function, and yet I still don't have a lot of core strength. My weak, useless arms and flabby belly remain from my decade of lethargy. I haven't GAINED any weight in the last year, but I haven't actually improved my fitness, either. To that end, hammering more miles won't get me where I want. Sure, a refined diet and more calories burned would eventually start melting away my excess weight but it wouldn't do much for my upper body.

So, the goal is simple. Last night, I started the 100 Pushups program. It was my initial assessment, and I was able to execute 10 well-formed consecutive pushups. Weak, but you have to start somewhere. The goal is this: in 6 weeks, be able to do 100 in a row.

After doing just ten measly pushups for the initial test last night, I'm already feeling it this morning: abs, pecs, arms -- all of them are letting me know they're accounted for.

Has anyone tried this program before? Any luck?

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I've broken "Prime Directive 2009".

Not because I'm lazy (I am, kind of) or because it's cold (it is), or because we've already put a thousand miles on our vehicles since new years (we have done no such thing!), but I've just lost track of my miles, completely.

I haven't even bothered trying to figure out how many I've ridden this week. It hasn't been a ton, but I've run a bunch of errands both downtown and near home. I've taken some strange routes, too. I don't have a computer on The Goat. Back in the summer time when The Goat was a purely trail-use machine, I removed it and gave it to a co-worker who was getting into cycling. And you know what? I don't miss it.

Playing the numbers game was one way to keep myself motivated. Maybe I'll give it a shot next year, or maybe when I'm back to the Road Bike full time and actually have an odometer with me, I'll see if I can hold my own against the automobile miles.

For the time being, though, I really like not feeling pressured to fire up the spreadsheet and enter my miles, while on top of it trying to remember where I rode and guess how many miles each trip was.

I'll probably just stick to enjoying the ride.

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This is our Focus' Odometer. Everyone wave. It's friendly.


This is our Explorer's Odometer. It's easier to photograph. Kinda.


I'm going to try to top whatever miles that my wife and I accumulate on these two vehicles combined. I'll post periodic updates. And I suppose I need to update my spreadsheet to track month-to-month how much driving we've managed to do.

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Also, I did it. 5,001.7 miles. I thought this moment would come with a lot more fanfare from me. Quite frankly, I feel like poo, and I probably shouldn't even be at work. I've got too much going on, though.

With that aside, here were the most popular photos of 2008 according to my Flickr Stats. I modified it to show only the ones I've posted here. Some are popular that I never posted here (and don't really belong here).

I need to go through and come up with my 10 personal favorites, because I have some favorites I took that weren't terribly popular on Flickr.

Not An Agent


Raglan Road in Kansas City


I Hit a GOOSE!


Epic Fail


Lego Bicycle


Homebrew Velomobile


Cassette Bottle Opener


Vegas Bike Cops (Taken at DefCon 16)


Zoom (Taken at DefCon 16)

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Saturday morning, we were woken up to this: Crazy winds, thunderstorms and madness.


Temperatures fell rapidly. Wind gusts around here were about 50 MPH. There were some places where it was closer to 80!


It was snowing lightly last night, and I decided to take my new coat out for a whirl and picked up some groceries. My parents got me some new cold weather gear for Christmas. This is just the outer layer, but it's significantly thicker than the ski coat shell I was using.


I left early to ride to church, which was being held at our fellowship facility since a lot of people are out of town. It's about a 12 mile ride. This stretch of road near Old Town Lenexa hadn't been plowed or salted yet.


After church, Pastor Kev invited us to Minsky's, one of my favorite pizza shops. I rode there, too. It was a bit out of the way, but worth it. We ordered one ginormous pizza for everyone (and a medium cheese pizza for the kids)


The Goat was getting awfully grimy after the past few days in the snow and slush. I hosed it down before bringing it in.


All told, I put on almost 30 miles this weekend. That means I've got 52 left to go.

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It's been a heck of a month. I had November penciled in for 250 miles when I went arbitrarily throwing miles into months to come up with my 5,000 mile goal. I sqeaked by with just a few more than that, entering November at a deficit of 276 miles and exiting with 267.

That means I have to log 384 miles this month. Assuming I'm man enough to really do the 200k permanent with c'Dude on December 6th, I will be home free, barring any major unforseen incidents. If I don't make that ride or find a lot of evening recreation rides to go on, I could be doomed.

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I always get a little more room on the road when I wear it.


I definitely needed it this morning, too.

Went on the Monday Night Ride yesterday, and my wife actually came and hung out with us afterwards. Her medical issues have kept her off the bike this year, but getting out and socializing is something she doesn't do nearly enough. Social Anxiety Disorder isn't just "all in your head" or excessive shyness, so this is a pretty big deal, and I'm proud of her.

It sounds like next week's Monday Night Ride will be a halloween-themed ride. No, we won't all dress up, but we'll do the traditional ride to Sauer Castle like we did last year.

On my way to work this morning, I surpassed last year's mileage total (4,236) so I've got about 760 miles to go to make my goal of 5,000 miles for the 2008. Things are starting to get blustery, and the threat of precipitation is looming. Will I make it?

Random Tunage:
Plumb - In My Arms
Orbital - Know Where To Run

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