Last weekend a couple of friends and I drove up to Mount Washington for some mountain biking. I’d only been once before, and this was my first time on a hill with chair lifts.
I have to say, those lifts really make a difference. It was great to start out fresh on my first run. We went down about seven times throughout the day, and I had a blast. I find mountain biking a lot more daunting than most other sports I’ve tried, because it sucks to fall on rocks, but it’s such a great feeling when you’re flying down a path and around corners.
Here’s a video of me riding. I still suck, and I really messed up that first corner, and I have some really obnoxious sounding brakes that I was riding all day, but it’s still fun to see. One of the guys I went riding with has an HD camera we can bring up next time, so you’ll be able to see every detail of my slow, slow riding.
It’s a really expensive sport that I can’t really afford right now, but in the next couple of years I think I’d like to get more into it. It’s great fun, and good exercise too. Plus the body armour looks bad ass.
A friend is trying to get me into mountain biking, so I went to the hill with him last week. It turns out that in order to ride down the mountain, you must first ride up the mountain. Our two hour ascent (probably 45 minutes for someone in any shape at all) nearly killed me.
We took a double black diamond run back down, because my friend apparently hates me, but I took it slow and had a lot of fun. It’s definitely something I’ll look into pursuing, but I’ll need to get in much better shape for it. I haven’t really used my biking muscles (i.e., legs) in over ten years, so I find it exhausting. By the time I get to the top of the hill, I’m almost too tired to enjoy myself on the way down.
Halfway down the hill, someone behind us took a six foot drop and landed chest-first on his handlebars. He didn’t seem to have any broken bones, but he must have been fairly bruised the next day. This incident really didn’t help my mental well-being for the second half of the ride, but I made it all the way down without falling. I had a minor incident where my shorts somehow got caught on my handlebars and I ran into a tree, but nothing serious happened.
When we got to the bottom of the hill, I rode my bike onto a wooden platform about three feet in the air, fell off the side of it, and landed head-first on the gravel, scraping my shoulder up quite nicely. I made it all the way down the bloody hill, only to eat dirt in the parking lot. Figures.
It’s been a good week. I rode my bike to work three times, only missing a day because I had no way to carry my rock climbing stuff with me on Thursday.
The first day of riding nearly killed me, as my legs just weren’t used to it at all. After three days, the trip is already immensely easier, and I’m actually really enjoying myself. It’s nice to get a little bit of exercise before and after work, and I’ve had a lot more energy overall this week. With the traffic I have to go through while driving to and from work, it’s nearly as fast, if not faster at times, to ride a bike, so this is definitely something I’d like to keep up.
I bought a camera a couple of days ago, a Canon SD1100 IS. I haven’t had much of a chance to take it out yet, but I’m quite happy with what I’ve seen. This is the first camera I’ve had with image stabilization, and it seems to be worth the extra cost so far.
Thursday night, a friend and I went to see Wintersleep, an indie rock band from Halifax. It was a fantastic show, even worth standing in a crowd of drunk idiots to watch.
Unfortunately, their opening band, The Most Serene Republic, weren’t great. The lead singer looked like he was trying too hard to be quirky, and they sounded really messy most of the time. I just listened to a few of their studio recordings on their MySpace page, and they actually sound pretty good, so maybe they just have to get their live act together.
I’ve attached “Laser Beams” from Wintersleep’s Welcome To The Night Sky album for your listening pleasure.
The sun has starting to shine here on occasion, so I figure I should start getting active again.
The only real exercise I’ve had this winter has been spending a night in the climbing gym once a week and walking downtown for dinner and drinks, the latter being rather counter effective.
I have a gym membership. I haven’t been to the gym for months, but I’m still paying. I’m hoping the weight of my membership card, in combination with the weight of the guilt, might be having a subtle effect on my fitness. Every little bit helps, right?
I’d like to start biking to work. I live about 4.5km from the office, and I don’t have to hit too many high traffic streets to get there, so it should work well. Unfortunately, I’ve barely touched a bike during the last ten years of my life, so those muscles are embarrassingly underdeveloped.
Last week I decided I should start going for bike rides in the evening to build up some endurance, and then I’d start riding to work. I went out and bought a new helmet, a fancy riding jacket, dragged my bike outside, plugged in my earphones, and pushed off towards the horizon.
About ten minutes later I returned a sweaty wreck and slowly made my way back to the apartment, walking down the corridor like a newborn deer. I don’t remember this being so difficult. You’d think I spent the last ten years sitting in front of a…oh, right.
I’ve decided to just bite the bullet and try riding to work. I’ll just have to build up endurance as I go. So, tomorrow - today, technically - I’ll be riding to work for the first time. Wish me luck!
My parents and brother have been in town this week, so I haven’t been on the computer too much after work. It’s been fun having them here, but I may need to start exercising a little more next week, as I’ve eaten out every night since last Friday. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.
I did find enough time to go golfing last Saturday. I haven’t been going very often in the last few years, and I just suck now. I mean, really suck. I didn’t realize just how bad I was until I was out there on the course. It felt as though I was golfing for the first time. l left agitated and frustrated, so I went to a golf shop and bought a new set of clubs.
This is how my mind works.
I’m now determined to become a better golfer. My goal is to be Not Horrible, which I think is fairly realistic. During these years away from the course, my swing has gone to hell. I didn’t realize it until my friends pointed it out to me, but I now swing like an angry Cerebral Palsy patient.
In an attempt to correct this, I’ve been going to the driving range after work. I don’t know if anyone here golfs, but I found this video really useful and thought I’d share it. They also have a number of other interesting videos.
Mount Washington
