New Technology for California Bike Trip

Last summer on our Vermont Bike Trip we relied almost solely on the turn by turn directions of the Adventure Cycling Association map for navigation. Jesse brought his Tom-tom but luckily we only had to use it twice the entire trip. This summer in California we are upgrading our navigation techniques by using GPX waypoints in addition to the ACA map. The waypoints provided by ACA are pretty cool...they provide turn by turn directions and also list the services (gas stations, restaurants, motels) in each town along the route. Check out the waypoints for our trip on a Google Map:
Part 1
Part 2

American Gladiators Tryouts

Much to my excitement the classic 80s show American Gladiators has been revived by NBC. I'm a little disappointed with the reincarnated version with Hulk Hogan (Hulkamania Brother!) overall but I like some of the new twists like the water beneath many of the event obstacles. Tryouts for season 2 are February 9th in New York City. I knew it was a good idea to stay in shape broken thumb and all! I'm going to find a way to make mention of our bike trip in the ridiculously long application. I'm hoping to fulfill item # 5 on my list of top 10 things to do before I die by becoming a contestant on American Gladiators.

The Shipment has Arrived

Finally got my order in from Bikenash Bar which took almost 2 weeks to get here, apparently their policy is they won't look into the order delay until after 14 business days. I think that policy is pretty ridiculous, but my order arrived so no worries. I finally got my floor pump, hand-held bike pump, and speed lever, all of which I used this morning. My tires were flat and I wasn't able to ride at all this winter, although probably wouldn't have done much riding cause its so damn cold. I pumped up the tires this morning and mistook the presta valve for the schrader valve on the hand-held pump and ended up tearing the valve and had to use my last tube. The speed lever was great for taking the tire off and putting it back on, and the floor pump got me fully inflated. I also got some great chain grease all over my hands which brought me back to Vermont and got me excited for California. Time to watch football. Let's Go GIANTS!!

Schwimmer has Super Human Healing Bones

Well, its official, Mike is back to being stronger than me again. It was only a matter of time before the cast came off, but I was hoping I'd have a little more time. 

In preparation for the trip, I have been making an effort to eat healthier and have been living up to my New Years resolution laying off the pork product which, as we know isn't the easiest thing in the world for a pork product lover such as myself to do.  

On another note my brain got huge (probably from law school)!!!

Training Update

Mitch and I are getting in shape for our bike trip. Brett and Anna (pictured below after Brett finished the Nike Half Marathon in NYC last August) are getting in shape for wedding season. The four of us are going to run the Long Branch Half-Marathon on May 4th. Brett, Mitch and I are shooting to finish under two hours. I've been running a decent amount since that's about all I could do with a broken thumb. I ran 6 miles and felt pretty good last weekend. Brett and Mitch have been running 4 milers although Brett ran the NY marathon in November so he'll be fine. Anna has been staying in shape with her Sunday night tennis lessons and she already has a marathon under her belt; she ran the Marine Corps marathon in Virginia in 2002.

Will all this running help prepare us for the bike trip? Probably not but the race will be a lot of fun. We're looking to recruit a few more people to run with us so stay tuned.

Cast comes off early!

I went to the doctor today to have my cast changed because it was beginning to smell and the layer of soft padding was gone causing the hard fiberglass cast to irritate my hand. Just as I deep down hoped would happen the doctor took x-rays and determined I was healed a week and 1/2 ahead of schedule! My right forearm is a bit scrawny but I'm feeling much better after being freed from that horrible cast! After a few physical therapy sessions I'll be ready to get back on my bike and start training with the newly installed aero-bars. In case you're wondering if I had any assistance in healing faster than predicted, the only injections I took were insulin injections which were prescribed to me by a doctor for a pre-existing condition haha. No HGH here!

I'm here! (so simmer down now)

Happy new year all! After taking a bit of flak from the other guys (due to my laziness) I've finally decided to write my first Cali Blog. I am sitting in my room in Albany and have just gotten back from the gym (2nd day in a row!) and am working on this while virtually everybody else I know is at work (heh heh). I plan on spending the rest of the day writing cover letters and taking the VITA test to prepare taxes for low income families in the Spring. 

Yesterday I found out that I didn't fail any classes and will be back in school for the 2nd semester (WOO HOO!). Not that there was any doubt, but this stuff is hard as Mitch would tell you. So I will be in Albany for the Spring trying to get into some semblance of shape for the trip. Weighed myself yesterday and tipped the scales at around 220, so I'll need to do some work to remedy that.  I really would like to be better prepared for this trip as I know that in California there are many bull dogs and pit bulls that could theoretically chase me up a mountain and I'll need to be able to outrun them.

J. Lubes out fo now. 

Some numbers

Jesse is protesting blogging for the time being for some reason so Mitch and I will keep plugging away...Something about lots of reading and writing papers for law school..I'll try my best to keep you entertained.
Here's an interesting contrast in pictures from our trip last summer. The top picture is right before we started our ride at the King Street Bike Path in Burlington, VT. The bottom picture is on the ferry back to Burlington after we completed our ride. Look how grizzly and emaciated we are.

Here's some interesting numbers for you to ponder at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon:
-140 days until we leave for Santa Barbara
-101 days until I turn 27 (Can I still call that mid-twenties?)
-78 Wii tennis matches I've played in the past 5 days
-0 human opponents who have beaten me
-18 days 17 hours 58 minutes 23 seconds until this damn cast on my right arm comes off!!!!

That's all I got for now. Over and out.

New Year...Time to get working

Happy New Year!! Now that New Year's has come and gone, I am attempting to stick to my goals of better preparing myself for the Long Branch Half-Marathon on May 3rd and Bike California on May 23rd. I forced myself out of bed this morning and hit the gym early for my 4 mile workout. After having not run in a couple weeks, it actually didn't feel too bad. I tipped the scales at 201 and I'm going to be working my hardest to shave upwards of 15 pounds off by the time May gets here. This blog is going to give me extra motivation as I'll be doing monthly weigh-ins until May gets here. Hopefully everything works out and I hit my goal by the time the Half-Marathon comes.