Makin' Up for the Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

For a treat that's a lot better for you than the bacon cinnamon rolls from the other day, try this. It's a half-ass attempt of the Thai apple salad I get at the restaurant (Lamai's Thai Kitchen) down the street.

Mix,
the juice from 2 limes
about a table spoon of sesame oil
around a table spoon of peanut butter
a couple teaspoons of sugar
and a teaspoon or so of soy sauce

I don't measure things. Anyway mix those up you might want to microwave it for 15 minutes to get the peanut butter to mix.

Then Julienne 2 or 3 Granny Smith apples, 3 or 4 celery stalks, a quarter of a red onion. Chop a cup or so of cilantro and smash a palm full of peanuts. Combine all these in a bowl and dump the dressing over it. It tastes good right away but if you let it sit for a couple hours (and your celery was jullienned into thin pieces) the celery will absorb the dressing making it even better.

This is where I would post a picture of the dish if it could've lasted long enough for a picture.

It's great as a snack, I like it for breakfast but it's probably at it's best following a spicy Thai meal.

It's Started

Last night, during the Red Wings intermission, I dusted off the Bowflex and got started. They say the first step is always the hardest. I'm pretty sure "they" lied. The second step, the one that got me out of bed this morning was much harder. My arms, chest, back, stomach, etc, etc are in some pain. I enjoy strength training but it's not something I usually do during the riding season. That's probably going to have to change from now on. I lost too much stength since last winter. It was truly pathetic. Oh well, I'm in pain but it's a good pain. Right?

This morning we took the dogs to the park. It's not really much of a workot but at least it was outside.









Hopefully, I'll have the wheel back soon and I can get some trainer hours in.

It's Been Awhile

I'm not sure I've actually ridden a bike since my last post. Not exactly sure why. I've got my road wheel in to Spin Street Cycles to get fixed. Once it's back, I'm on the trainer. Last year I used the cyclocross bike on the trainer and didn't really seem to get as good a workout. Hopefully, having the road bike back will see an increase in intensity. If anyone is still looking to get me a Christmas present, I wouldn't mind getting Spinervals Competition 26.0 The Hardcore 100. 300+ minutes of training love.

Since I haven't been on the bike and the weight training machine is gathering dust, I had to let my nutrition go to hell, as well. I'm targeting 30 pounds that need to shed by mid-June. But before we get started with that, I'd like to share this interesting recipe I found. It's bacon cinnamon rolls. YUM!



http://bacontoday.com/bacon-cinnamon-rolls-o/

I'll be back with the positive news of my lost weight and increased fitness shortly. First I got to get some bacon.

Blog Refresh

I haven't been up to a whole lot lately. I thought if I didn't have anything interesting to add, a least I could make the look interesting.

I'm just starting to get over a bad case of gout flare-up. Time to cut out the high fructose corn syrup. We've been Up North a few times since the last post. We had a nice time on the river and had some new visitors and guests. I've got a new project at work. I'm setting up a Microsoft Sharepoint Server pilot project. That should keep things interesting at work for awhile. I switched my schedule to 10 hour days Mon-Thu. It's been a little tough to adjust but the three day weekends rock.

That's it for now, I'll try and be better at this.

I Set the Goal ...

... and accomplished it! Even though it was arbitrary, I thought it was reasonable. When I set it, based on the results from last year's results, I thought if I accomplished it I would land a podium spot. It didn't work out that way. But the goal was tough and I'm proud I got 'er done.

Comfortable, Funcional and On Sale!

We had to stop by Playmakers to pick-up some nutritional items for tomorrow's race. Luckily, they were having a "sidewalk" sale. I found the best flip-flops (yes, better than John Kerry's) evah.


The little circular brown thingy is a cap. Each flip-flops sole has a flask. Portable tequila, yep, that's how I roll.

Speaking of comfortable, functional and on sale (does Art Vans ever not have a sale?) the new furniture was delivered today. Electric recliner, yep, that's how I roll, err, relax.



The 6 hours of Chris' recliner sounds more fun than the 6 Hours of Ithaca. But we'll be there rain or shine.

Bad Blogger

I know it’s been awhile, so I’ll try and catch you up. The new training plan is going pretty well. I had a small hiccup over the 4^th of July weekend. It seemed more convenient to hang-out and drink beer than train. It’s OK, we had a good time. We got the kayaks out for the first time in along time. The weekend of the 4^th isn’t the most ideal time to paddle down the AuSable but it was nice getting out on the water.

I’ve had a few bike problems along the way. On a longer training ride I broke the release lever on the Rocky Mountain’s rear shifter. I was just riding along, I swear. With a broken release lever you can only shift into an easier gear, which was OK because it was suppose to be an easy ride. I figured I’d just single speed it for the rest of the training. Unfortunately, I kept fiddling with it and the gear became way too easy. So I started switching between the big and small ring up front. I ended up with such a bad chainline I got chainsuck so bad I had to break the chain to fix it. I gave-up and called it a day. While that was in the shop, I rode the Santa Cruz. Somewhere along the line something’s happened to the mechanics that bind the seat to the seatpost. No matter how hard I tighten it down, it still comes loose on while on the trail. It gets quite frustrating. One of these nights, when I have the energy, I plan on switching it with another post.

The Rocky is fixed, I had new shifter put on, I’ll warranty the others and have a spare set. It’s ready just in time for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Ithaca race. I have it as a C priority race. It’s more of a curiosity, than a priority. I set an arbitrary goal of 50 miles for the race. I’m not sure if it’s a reasonable goal because I haven’t ridden a bike for more than 6 hours in a long time, I’ve never raced a bike for that long and I haven’t been to Ithaca in years. Like I said it’s a curiosity. Being in Ithaca it’s a cheap way to see if I’d enjoy it. If I do, the 6 Hours of Drummond Island is on. It will also prove that training for next year’s Lumberjack 100 would be worthwhile.

Speaking of the Lumberjack, Andrea and I went up there this year to help out. I blogged it earlier. When we were up, we had the late shift at the aid station. So during the morning I got out and snapped some pictures. Michigan Sports and Fitness decided to use three of my shots for their July issue, one being the cover shot.

After this weekend’s race we have a TT coming-up the following weekend and then a trip Up North the weekend after that for some relaxation. Assuming I can arrange a relaxing weekend on the training plan.

Speaking of relaxing, we spent Friday afternoon shopping for furniture. That wasn’t relaxing but the electro-glide reclining couch and reclining chaise lounge will. It’s suppose to be delivered on Friday. I can’t wait, I’ve never had new furniture.

Well, I’m out. Hopefully it won’t take so long for the next update.