http://www.Amazon.com/books This is an entertaining book by Helen Summer about some of the most difficult ultramarathons in the world. It is a combination of jaw-dropping descriptions of the courses and first-person accounts by people who have run them. Most of the events are ultra-running, but there are some other adventures like kayaking and triathlons thrown … Continue reading Mental – The Toughest, Bloodiest And Hardest Challenges In The World →

By last Tuesday my sciatica symptoms were feeling a lot better so I got a bit too confident. I went for a 90 minute ride, and for about 50 minutes I rode my upright instead of recumbent, including a good amount of standing pedalling. It all felt great. Then when I got home my sciatica … Continue reading Setback! →

After my recent flareup of sciatica, I took a week off from riding or other exercise. It was painful to walk for a few days, then I tried using a walker that I had laying around from a previous injury and that helps a lot. Conventional walkers don't work as well outside, even though I … Continue reading Fighting My Way Back →

On Sunday I started having pretty severe sciatica on the left side. I think this might be a delayed reaction to my back injury from September 18. This is the opposite side of where I've had piriformis syndrome and an injured SI joint in the past. I was having trouble walking much more than a … Continue reading Out Of Commission Again →

I have always been a fan of breaking glass ceilings, whether based on ethnicity or gender. I think it started because I was raised by a single mom. She struggled to make ends meet working as a secretary, but gave us a good life. Back then it was very hard for a woman to rise … Continue reading Breaking Glass Ceilings →

I took it easy with my riding on Sunday and Monday and my back continued to improve, so yesterday I was able to go on a longer group ride. Sunday I did an out and back to Gilroy on the backroads through San Martin on the east side of our valley, for a pleasant 80 … Continue reading Group Riding Again →

The back problem I reported on Wednesday has gotten a lot better, I think it was just a muscle strain. Wednesday I was able to do my hard ride with intervals without disturbing my back. Then Thursday I was able to do my upper body workout. I did modify it to leave out the exercise … Continue reading Back on Track →

On Monday I did my upper body workout. Everything went fine except during the horizontal pull with resistance bands, the strap attaching the bands to the handle snapped while under a lot of tension. This sent a twinge through my lower back. It felt fine at the time so I finished the workout, and went … Continue reading Setback For My Back →

Tuesday I rode with my group to the Southeast of Morgan Hill. I had really bad luck with flats. I fixed a rear flat but could not find the reason. Then the replacement tube went flat after a couple of miles. This is on a Schwalbe marathon plus tire, which has almost 12 mm of … Continue reading Riding and Shooting →

It has been pretty hot this last week, a lot of days in the high 90s and even one over 100. Fortunately it's been better earlier in the morning so hasn't been too bad if I get out soon enough. On Tuesday we moved our group ride, which normally starts at 10:00 AM., to 9:30. … Continue reading Beating The Heat By Riding Early →