Back Better – I’m Back

Wow.  Too many weeks (about four) have really cut into training time and effort. But finally, last Sunday I was able to ride, and this past Thursday, I was able to do a (for a person my age) 20 miles with no ill effects the next day.  So on the Labor Day weekend, I’m hoping for big hard rides on Sunday and Monday, which “should” put me in good shape for Waves to Wine, which seems like it will be harder (75 miles in a single day and coming up fast) then five days (with Shabbes in the middle, good move, Big Guy!) of 60 miles a day in November.

I’ve made my goal in fund raising for Waves to Wine, so now I have to get back on the fund-raising horse for the Hazon ride.

Training Log – July 20

Can hitting golf balls at the driving range be considered training?  No matter. After that I got in a good hour on the stairmaster, including 30 minutes of aerobic program at level nine.  (Fascinating, huh).  On the other hand, I traded checks for causes with a member of the shul – Tasha Poslaniec.  

More significantly, for the Waves to Wine ride, I’ll be dedicating it to Elsa McCoy, a member of the shul, who has had more than her fair share of tzuris, if there is such a thing.  There will be a post or page on Elsa, and a brief description on my Waves to Wine post as well.

Training Log – July 16

The wedding is over. We’re back in town.  Today I met Yeshaya Ballon down in Palo Alto for a training ride. Turns out we already knew each other from my startup days when he was on the project we sold in the construction industry. So we reconnected in a completely different, and much more spiritual, context.  Small world story #1.

 We rode about 22 miles on the Palo Alto “loop”. Including up some hills.  For me, going down hill is  bigger challenge.  Have to get used to staying relaxed and not freaking out going over 25 mph on the downhill glide.

Then Nigel Savage, executive director of Hazon, and Judith Belasco (no guarantees on the spelling) who runs the food related programs, arrived.  I was able to confirm that Avigail Hurvitz-Prinz, Hazon coordinator of Outdoor Jewish Adventures, is in fact the daughter of Deborah Prinz and Mark Hurvitz, who I attended HUC and was ordained with.  Small World Story#2.

Yeshaya and I agreed we would form a bay area team.  We have to think of a name, and once we see if a couple of interested riders join the team, I will contact the “J” and see if we can get a story done, and all share in whatever funds that raises.

Yeshaya had recently returned from a week of intensive Jewish study where one of his teachers was Elliot Ginsburg.  Elliot and I know each other from USY, and overlapped in attending University of Illinois.  Smal World Story#3

Training Log – July 10, 2008

So we got to Austin and had an amazing experience with a completely uncooperative agent at Dollar Rental Car.  Long story short I walked over to Hertz (after 20-25 minutes of waiting for our; it’s being washed and will be here soon Dollar rental car) and rented a full-size car for $45.00 less than Dollar. What does this have to do with cycling training, you ask, nothing.

But after a lovely dinner at South Congress Cafe (highly recommended) and lazing about in the motel room, I went down to the La  Quinta fitness room and found a stair climber, elliptical trainer and a universal weight machine, and got in an hour of stair climbing and a bit of weight lifting.  The room was as hot inside as it was outside; it must have been 90 degrees (but no humidity).  I kept telling myself; self, this is what it will feel like bicycling across the Negev!

Training Log – July 9, 2008

Its nice to have goals, it would be even nicer to make them.  I had hoped to ride forty miles today.  I had to settle for about twenty four.  Legs are in good shape, lungs are in good shape.  Not so willing; where the seat meats the seat.  A bunch of psychic energy also went in to sending emails to solicit donations.

Thanks to my good friend Chauncey Bell for turning me on to Acoustic Alchemy, very nice listening while riding. They describe themselves as “smooth music”. I think of it as hard-driving rock but with acoustic (you figured this out) instruments.

You Have to Ask

So today I started fund-raising in earnest for both Waves to Wine and the Israel Hazon ride.  We often find ourselves living at the intersection of two conflicting ideas or emotions.  On the one hand, who enjoys asking people for money, even when for a good cause.  On the other hand, soliciting for a good cause provides people the opportunity to do a mitzvah, and to act on their altruistic impulses.  Somewhere, I think this is high up on Maimonides’s ladder of charity. Here’s how the ladder looks from one Muslim’s point of view.

Training Log – July 8, 2008

I’ve been derelict in training.  I had great ambitions of starting at the beginning of the year and being super-consistent.  Oh well.  At least I’ve trained some of the time.  But there have been too many days when the golf course beckoned.  However, I did ten miles on Sunday and twenty or so yesterday.  I had ambitions of doing forty miles today and got right out this morning after breakfast.  I had a nice new (old) Grateful Dead concert to listen to downloaded from Archive.org.  I suppose I should have been listening to a concert from Grateful Dead concerts – this day in history.  July 8 and July 9 (or maybe it was July 7 and 8?) where the last two GD concerts ever, and I was there.

Anyway, after about 2 1/2 miles my ipod froze up, so I turned around and went home to fix it.  After lunch I got in a good 22 miles. So here’s hoping for forty miles tomorrow.  Then it’s off to Austin for Miriam and Walter’s wedding, and five days of no training.

Why I’m Riding

I’ve decided to blog my bicycle riding efforts for raising money.  The last two years I’ve ridden in the San Francisco North Bay Waves to Wine event.  Waves to Wine raises money to find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. This year will be my third year in Waves to Wine.

The big event this year is not Waves to Wine, its a five day bike ride in Israel to help raise money for the environment.  That will take place in November. Its a ride from Jerusalem to Eilat over the course of the five days.  Good thing the Jewish people decided to event Shabbat, so we all get a break for a day.