99to1

Zen toppled Loren this week probably broken ribs. She's having trouble coughing sneezing and getting around. She's learning to ask for help.

Bought a 49$ bass amp today, and a sexy red sheet music stand. I forsee an occaisional post practice jam , and some early morning practice pad sessions. I've gottten out my old books from when I took lessons from Roger... oh... 19 years ago or so. Back to the basics, and it feels good.

Zoned out this afternoon with the metronome and single stroke combinations. Even tried out my new drumsticks gifted by Colin, I think they're called Hornets. Artful product, very pretty, they've got a nice tip and feel pretty good. He got them in New York recently. I'll alternate between those and the Buddy Rich sticks my mother gave me one Christmas way back as my primary practice sticks...

No real word from Ronnie yet, perhaps this week...

Last Tuesday did a Lakeshore/Senneville ride with Glen, about an hour long and then a nice pork tenderloin bbq dinner with him and Heather. They Lent us Birth with Nicle Kidman, and Anne Hesh. They blew the opportunity to have the two of them kiss... boy was I dissapointed...

Just calculated that by year's end I'll have spent over 125 *in class* days. That's a brutal year as far as techinical training standards go. It's over half of the total days available in class. No wonder I'm a little worn down and have a hard time getting the mornings going if I'm not commited to being in class. Slim chance I'll get to go to Helsinki for a week early 08... we'll see...

Am currently wrestling a bit with ther HP 955c gifted by Doug... here's hoping that, amongst other things, the cartriges for a 935c and a 955c are identical...

Small gathering of GAS this week, Charels, Gilles, Siddhu and myself.
Siddhu made a very tasty dessert milk-based with vermicelli noodles and cashew nuts... too bad Charles couldn't hve any. Gille brought some shrimp dumpling from Chinatown (too bad Siddhu couldn't have any), bread and humus and olive tampinade by me... all very yummy. 1.5 hours travel home...way too long.

Same routine as last week. Was pretty goood at doing my 3 sunsals each night, except for Tuesday night... see below... Drove Siddhu over Mt Royal to show him the city at night.

Last night a little after 19:00 I saw a fox. Wasn't really bright red like other's I've seen, he was dusty grey/brownish red. I watched him trot along for about 150 meteres or so. When I saw him I spoke to him, as I was in earshot, I spoke as if he was a pet...
Hey, who's that handsome beautiful fox? Where are you off to?

My old coffee grinder broke. It was spewing grinds all over the counter. Went for a Black&Decker this time. I like it much better than the old Kennmore even though the old one did have a timer... Last night I hot-glued the old one in a last-chance effort to salvage it before ditching it. We'll see tonight if that worked.

Loren and I had a wonderful weekend. Very nice dinner Saturdaynight... she cooked us lamburgers... yummmmm!

Still no word from Andie... we'll see...

New pedals for the Trek and old ones on the Rocky Mountain... set for roller season. Oh yeah battery changed on the Polar, should soon be able to post including heart rate stats.

Loren's ribs are healing, she's much more comfortable now.

We stopped by an open house on Sunday to visit our friend June, she's a realtor. Turned out she wasn't there, another agent was showing the property. It's a block away from 295, it's a pile of junk build in 1923, and not very well maintained. It's listed at 419 000!!! What the hell is going on??

I am really thankful for this sweet little trail...
Gio and I did a very nice 30 kilometers on Sunday. My favorite weather... cool autumn. Got into a very nice swooping singletrack groove on the final 500m. Probably was managing about 26 km/hr on the trail. We need to bring a saw next ride to finish clearing a fallen tree which is blocking the trail at the far end... note to self...

Several Grey Heron sightings as usual, lots of fox sign, and many Flicker sightings!!

We've agreed to do coffee runs for all subsequent rides.

Stats
15.7 A
184 O
28.2 D
1.47 T
31.6 M

Last Thursday was a breath of fresh air...
Gilles was on Vacation, so we didn't exclude forward bends, a la catering to his hamstring issue. 3 and 3 and then followed along to DS calling primary, up to MarichiC. He sure calls'em fast... Then final 3 poses, in attendance was Charles, Colin and myself. My own hamstrings got a much deeper experience than they have in a very long while. Still feeling it today...

I think I may have turned Don off for good by not accepting to receive him (at the GAS) with his new girlfriend (of 2 weeks). I suggested that he come along for a while, solo, to get a bit more serious and familiar with the asanas, and then perhaps we'd see if it's appropriate to invite her. My guess is that I've subjected him to another familial rejection, one of his biggest issues.

The flip side of my guess is that he's not really good at picking partners, and that this will be a short-lived relationship. Then I'd end up dealing with 2 people who have marginal interest in yoga trying to blend them with the group, and then there'd be the awkward group experience of dealing with him after they breakup. Do I sound like a prissy pessimist? Yeah I guess thats the case... in this case...

Got the heart rate monitor's battery replaced.
Strapped it on last night during evening asanas, which is still 1A and 2Bs with 8 breaths in ado-mukha...
The options were for a 36 year old male weighing 85KG (I didn't set for me before testing).

6.33 Time
1.15 In Zone 118-155
104 Average HR
Burnt 34 calories and 60% of those were fat.

I'm curious about the stats for a 108 session...

Well interesting indeed...
Wednesday night I did typical evening asanas, 1A/8 breaths DD and 2Bs/also 8 breaths DD. Here's the heart rate numbers (I adjusted it for my personal stats, height, weight, sex etc):

7.27 Time
.52 In Zone (118-155)
102 Average
40 Calories burnt
60% Of them were fat

GAS last night me Christine and Siddhu. Did 3As and 3Bs, fundies, and sitting up to MarichiA, followed by final 4 poses, and Christine wore the monitor (I adjusted it for her stats):

43.43 Time
122 In Zone (118-155)
90 Average
39 Calories burnt
60% Fat

Correct breathing accounts for a great difference in the cardiovascular effort required to do ashtanga asanas (Christine is a much more experienced ashtangi). Or likely so does physical size (Christine is a much smaller ashtangi). Or is there a really an unfair difference between the sexes? [gender is an important factor in how calorie burning is measured]

I swear I'm not obsessed with the HR monitor... just goofing around...

Perfect Coffee..
More snaps to come this evening...

Update:
no more pix yet...
OK... more pix...

Stats
1.38.47 Time
14.4 Ave. Speed
27.7 Max Speed
208 Odo
23.8 Distance

For having posted bike-coffee photo, before posting home-made ashtanga apple pie pix!!!

Excellnt ride with Doug Sunday. He's still not natural on the bike, so he suffered a bit on the single track [big bruise on his right shin]. Weather was wonderful... the last few rides with Gio I wore tights and long sleeves (perhaps prematurely) yesterday was shorts, and was very comfortable!

Was out on the hardtial after 140$ SID overhaul... it rode nicely... mainly in the big chaninring... would have been a very fast ride with Gio. Found that I was planning my lines better, without the cush in the back... was a bit more like the old-days.

Stats are hanging on the handlebars in the garage... along with those of the previous ride with Gio.

Gotta check some camping gear this week... for upcoming Coaticooke. And call Danny...

Update:

Stats
1.15.55 Time
14.7 Ave. Speed
41.5 Max Speed
33.2 Odo
18.70 Distance

Note: using 3 different cyclometers, one on each bike, odometer values not consistant

Last week was wonderful, Ravi joined us [Charles, Christine and me]. Colin was dinning with Hannah, and Gilles was doing a fairwell dinner with David. Don... it seems his plan is to join when his weight training partner, or gril friend cancels on him. Lynne still keeps hinting that she'll join us one of these days.

Poached Mahi-mahi, grilled chanterelles, some cheeses, papphad with authentic toppings by Ravi... and chocolate dipped strawberries from Christine. A feast for sure!

10 surya namaskaras following DS for Ravi's benefit, then closing.

Drew and I got up on the roof at 295 last night to clean the gutters...
I'd noticed little trees growing out of them recently. The contents were very dry as we've had little rain lately. Drew noted that the material just lifted out of the gutters in preformed flats with trees growing, like you get at the market.

We got the work done just in time, this morning it rained and it would have been much more difficult/messy/pain-in-the-ass to have cleared all that stuff away if it was wet.

Thanks Drew

Got a wonderful new sleeping bag yesterday. Old one is single season, rated to I think 8C, new one is good for zero. Basicly got it just to make sure upcoming week at Coaticooke will be warm enough sleeping. I opted for the zero bag, vs. the -7 bag. I like to sleep cool and though -7 would be overkill.

I'm 40 years old now and I deserve a pillow when I camp, so I picked up one of those as well.

And I got an exchange on my old storm-proof lighter... new one's wonderful. Got lots to do by week's end... Still haven't called Danny...

Magnific day, glorious indeed...

Mushrooms

On the Trail

Coffee

Our Fine City

Dirty Bikes

Post Ride

Clean Bikes

Stats

1.14.11 Time
16.0 Ave speed
29.7 Max speed
53.0 Odo
19.83 Distance