One of my favorite craft breweries has finally started distributing to Ohio! I fell in love with New Belgium a few years ago, during a trip to Texas. Their Fat Tire and 1554 labels have been on my top-10 every day beers list since, but I’ve only been able to sample them when out of […]
Once upon a chilly Thanksgiving morning in Virginia Beach, I managed to squeeze in a pedal. It wasn’t much, but as they all are, it was better than no ride at all. My brother-in-law loaned me a pair of toe covers for the ride (very clutch), and I was suitably impressed. Despite temps in the […]
The swimming lessons continue. I’m getting more comfortable in the water, but only by small margins. Our instructor has me working on a few different drills now, including treading water and more work with the kick board. My major holdup right now is breathing. That’s sort of a big deal in the water, and suffice […]
I’m not the only athlete in the house getting in some winter training. Max seems to come (even more) alive when the weather starts to get cool. By the time it’s cold enough for snow, he’s almost giddy with excitement. He had a great romp at a local park this morning, including getting very close […]
I’ve been in need of a pair of cool-weather road gloves for awhile. When I was at Performance to get my new thermal tights, I spied these on the glove rack and thought they might be just the ticket. The good: the overall fit is excellent, the grippy overlays on the fingers and thumb are […]
This morning, we drove to Columbus, for the Ohio Air National Guard’s Outstanding Airman of the Year lunch. I was my base’s nominee for NCO of the year, which is itself an enormous honor. Before the lunch was a social hour, during which we stood around and schmoozed with Command Chiefs and Generals from State […]
I’ve long held a theory that I could maintain my overall strength for months after ceasing a weightlifting program, so long as I stayed active with other things. I’ve come and gone from the weight room enough times over the past several years to know that I can usually move close to the same amount […]
Winter fired its opening salvo overnight. Nothing punctuates the end of my season quite like the first serious snowfall. I woke up to it this morning, and while it’s pretty to look at, my heart sank anyway. My winter athlete friends will scoff, but for me, snow represents everything I don’t like about being outside. […]
The concept of the water doesn’t bother me. I like being on the water in a boat, or playing in the waves at the beach. Kayaking is a lot of fun. I’ve always thought that despite my inability to swim, I was entirely comfortable with the water. That theory took a blow tonight, as my […]
Today was my introduction to one of the traditional CrossFit workouts. While not one of the “named” WODs (Workout Of the Day) for which CrossFit is so famous, it remains a benchmark across the community. It goes a little something like this (the numbers are the men’s/women’s prescribed weights/height): 1 Min Wallballs 20 lb/10 lb to 10′ […]
The forecast for today called for mid 50s and breaking sunshine in the afternoon, so I threw my bike stuff in the car and brought it all to work, envisioning a glorious late afternoon ride. I could already see myself streaking along the road, soaking up a little warmth, and cheating the oncoming winter out […]
With an eye to the unseasonably cool conditions, I picked up these Pearl Izumi Elite thermal tights on the way to Virginia. While presented as a step up from the Select series tights I’ve been using since February, I would consider them to just have a different purpose. The Select tights have a built in […]