Feeling Better

After three and a half months, my racquetball injury has finally cleared up. The injury was back, groin, hip, hamstring affecting and took forever to get everything back in working order. Till now, about all I could do was bike ride. Lots of rainy days really put the kibosh on that. Now however, everything is hunky dory and I am able to begin a regular exercise routine to compliment the riding.
I have been watching with envy a fellow blogger really racking up the miles and having a blast. The envy is because she rides in many of the same places I like to bike.




After work I got ole blue ready and took a 20 mile spin in Fairhaven, Acushnet, Rochester and Mattapoisett. All in Massachusetts. The southeast coast if your looking at a map. The ride provided a really good cardio workout which is something I haven't done in a while. I don't usually ride that hard, but it's been so long since I got a good workout, I couldn't resist pushing the envelope a little.












See you around

The Night Sky

The last few days the night sky has been phenominal. My neighbor and I have been walking the dogs on the MUP. While the moon is still low, it is easy to find the little dipper, orion, and especially the comet, 17P/Holmes.

Comet Holmes lies in Perseus the Hero and is visible all night from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It is about 35° high - one-third of the way up from the horizon - at 6 P.M. local time. By 11 P.M. the comet climbs directly overhead and to the naked eye it appears as a modestly bright, small round cloud of about 3rd magnitude.

No one knows how long the outburst will last. Comet Holmes could remain a naked eye object for several weeks, and may even undergo a second outburst. At any rate, the comet is worth watching!

I was very tempted to get the bike out last night, but my legs were very sore from kickboxing class. The class really pushes legs to their limits. I had to stop a few times because my legs were toasted.


The class has really improved my racquetball game. The leg strength, lateral movements and cardio work has given me quite an edge over my playing partners. Getting to the ball quicker also makes it much easier to choose shots as opposed to just returning the ball. My win percentage is creeping up.

On those cold crips nights, take a walk, or ride, and take the time to look at the sky. You may get hooked.

A fun beginners site to get acquainted with the constallations is >The Night Sky.

A video link of tonights sky is shown at Amazing Space.


Google Earth also has a pretty good video link for kids, but adults can also get lots from the video and it's links.

Transiton Time

I am one of those fortunate people who have more time than things to do. Biking is a major activity in the warmer weather, but late fall, early winter is transition time to racquetball.

One of my racquetball friends recently began taking the kickboxing class at the Y. People I asked said it wasn't that tough, but if I found it so, just stop and take a break. Simple enough for sure and that's exactly what happened on Tuesday. The biggest problem was coordination. I had to start slowly, paying close attention to the footwork of the experienced people in the class. I got the rhythm soon enough, except when I looked at Mark, my racquetball partner. It was like trying to sing a duet with a tone deaf partner. He was so out of step that he looked like he had cerebral palsy.

Realizing that some of the muscles being used had not been challenged like this in years, there was going to be a heavy price to pay the next day. Wednesday saw not much in the way of soreness but a nasty cold was developing. Thursday was a full fledged cold and a body wracked with lactic acid.

Things are slowly returning to normal and a weekend of working a cushy desk job should complete the recovery in time for kickboxing 2 on Tuesday.

One of the attractions of kickboxing is the fun. But there are other reasons.

The last day of vacation was spent in Plymouth Ma. Lunch at the Radison Hotel and some shopping in the town center. Put lots of miles on the bike in the last 11 days. The heat and humidity is still around but was noticeably absent on the waterfront of Plymouth.






Racquetball was brutal splitting the match two games a piece. Neither one of us had enough left to play the deciding match and left it at that. The five mile bike ride home started out tough but actually ended up being a nice cool down and stretch.

Racquetball

The day after racquetball is not a biking day. The legs are very, very sore, from heel to quads. A friend needed a ride which put me on the road between the bike and car commute usual times. This is where I saw the "new guy" on a bike. He was obviously comfortable riding, wearing a shoulder bag and riding a faux mountain bike.



What struck me was his lack of awareness of his surrounding. His comfort was not from commuting. The best guess is a bmx rider in his younger days. On the commute, there is one section, between a quarter and half mile that if there is going to be an incident, it would be here. The three foot fog line fades to the edge of the road. Here the vehicles cruise at around 40-45MPH. It's the most likely place a biker would get squeezed. This 20 something commuter was without a helmet, which is neither here nor there. It was the headphones.

As stated, he seemed not to have a care in the world, but also he was really enjoying whatever he was listening to. Sitting back in the saddle, one hand on the handlebar, and was weaving just so slightly, to the music, and was oblivious to his impending predicament.

The no helmet and the headphones are his choices and if he is willing to do that fine. However, there are times when it is very very foolish, and riding adjustments need to be made. Then again, maybe he did realize the spot he now found himself and adjusted to his new surrounding. Lets hope so.