Yoshitoshi's World

Last weekend I finally took my mtn bike for a ride or at least that was the thought! After getting some info from Jim about places to mtn bike I decided to just drive to Lickdale (lol lol what a name!) and ride in was what supposed to be some nice trails. Well as you might know I am directional challenged and I really never found the trails. However, I decided to park my car on a camping area and take off from there.

Saturday I did mostly what I call now “rural mtn biking” = ride your mtn bike on rural roads LOL. It was a different scene than the one I am used to… I went thru a lot of farms and saw plenty of dead animals on the side of the roads… making me think “Hmmm could I be the next one?” Then started to snow and got really windy… but I kept on going, I ended up doing over 2 hrs and some miles, I would have kept on going but it was getting dark and the snow was bad… I could see how bad I could be in a road bike meaning how fanatic I would be and maybe spend hrs and hrs riding… maybe it is not a good idea for me to get one!

Sunday I went again to Lickdale and this time I found some trails. The whole time while I was riding I saw a lot of signs “No Trespassing” but well I kept on going I thought “they are not going to shoot me, nahh..?” Also, while I was riding I kept on hearing thunder thinking that it was going to rain soon… well I was with all these thoughts and I came across a knocked tree over the trail… I thought “I can jump that little thing” oh yeah sure… Prazzzz I crashed LOL LOL I am not going into details… just lets put it this way it was a stupid fall and I ended up with a beat up and cut right leg. Great crash! Oh and remember the thunder I was hearing? Monday I told my co-workers about my adventure during the weekend and they told me that the area in Lickdale I was biking is used for testing bombing and the thunder I was hearing was actually bombs LOL LOL…

Today I am picking up the keys of my apt! Yay! I’ll be cleaning the place and moving some of my stuff this weekend… I need to finally buy furniture; I don’t even have a bed! =)

Finally, today I received couple emails for some up coming running races. I am seriously thinking about doing the “double dare” one half marathon in May at MD and another half marathon in Oct also in MD… I think I have time to get ready for the one in May and definitely will be ready for Oct. I told my dearest friend Karen that I am going to start running in the mornings (especially now thanks to the location of my apartment) and working out at the gym in the evenings after work, she thought I was nuts. We shall see…

Well, back to work… till then keep on going!

Yay! I finally found someone that is a true mtn biker… Thank Goodness!!! I thought I was alone in this world LOL… He works in the same company I work but in another division and building… but we have been emailing each other and talking ever since one person “hooked” us up. He is my type of guy because he even does rides at night!!! YAY! That is so cool… he was telling me about his ride on the snow… another trip to Utah… etc… he pretty much does the same things I used to and has done the rides I want to (like Utah and Colorado).

He gave me the Swatara State Park map with the mtn bike trails… If the weather is nice I am going this Saturday… you bet!!! I want to do some more training at the gym and some rides on my own and then join him and couple other guys that ride with him. I feel I am not in a good shape to even keep up with a grandma LOL and I have a little bit of pride when it comes to biking… so that’s why I want to train for a bit on my own.

Also, after hearing almost everyone telling me “get a road bike” I surrender! My new found mtn bike buddy, Jim, told me the same and he even does organized rides Saturdays and 2 times during the week… so there… I am getting a darn road bike. The good thing is that he told me he might be able to find me an used one… that is great! That’s the way to start in every sport… don’t go for the fancy expense brand new stuff, try the sport first with a used or ok bike and then as you progress and like it go for the upgrade… until you end up with a carbon frame super expensive bike =)

What else? Keep on gym training… 4 miles in 32 minutes (not bad)… doing free weights… trying to watch my diet (although I must say Harrisburg has the best French fries I’ve ever had in my life!!! The ones I’ve had are sooo crunchy and still soft inside… they are so good…ok ok enough… I need to stop eating fries!!!)… still searching for apartments… dealing with my relocation… getting headaches at work… etc, etc… pretty much same ole same ole…

Till then keep on snowing (pufffff)

Last night I had chicken wings in my mind… I am not a big wings eater or lover but my body was asking for really unhealthy food after going for couple weeks eating very healthy.

Well I made sure I hit the gym hard and did 3.7 miles in 30 min! Then, I did a light shoulders work-out…after that, I deserved the wings and a pint of beer right? I started to drive around and I ended in a little bar and grill called “Underdog.” It looked like one of those places locals go… and when I walked in I was correct. The funniest thing is that I felt the whole bar turned around and stared at me, I believe this was a reaction to perhaps me being out of the local scene or (the biggest probability) was me wearing a University of Florida – Gators t-shirt LOL…

The wings were pretty good, garlic-hot, beer was a Stela Artois, and they gave me like a pound of curly fries that was amazing… but they were pretty good too! Overall, I will go there again, the prices were great, the service was good… big screens-TVs, the only part that I didn’t like was that it was a little too smoky for my taste… they should do the same like in FL where all places that serve food are not allowed to have smoke area inside.

So I’ve been looking for apartments to rent. I’m going to see one tonight and couple tomorrow… I hope to find a place by the end of this month-beginning of next one…

The 2008 Blue Ridge Cup is here! (http://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/blueridgecup/BRC_Home.php) I am so excited! Another good excuse to get my butt out of the sofa and hit the gym-train hard! I am determinate to do a race every month… well at least the ones in VA-WVA because now it would be really hard to drive/travel all the way to NC-SC. I also want to finally run my first half marathon this year… maybe August in celebration of getting one year older (b-day).

Finally, I’ve been asking about mtn biking in PA and people just look at me like “oh poor thing”… everyone that I’ve talked to they tell me “you need to get a road bike”… I am not crazy at the idea of it, but it is looking like that might be a good probability plus other fellow mtn bikers have told me that road bike is a good cross training…

Well, going to the gym tonight again… I finally joined one and the way I see it (especially with my very crazy-busy personal life LOL – being sarcastic!-) I can go and work out almost everyday! Yay!

Till then keep on working out and eating a pound of fries! (nahh LOL).

I am finally in Harrisburg.

I left Asheville Saturday (it was such a beautiful day) around 6:30 pm and arrived to Harrisburg at 4:00 am Sunday. It was a long trip but I had fun!

Faust was a great little boy... although I had to stop every now and then to give him some love and pet him, making him feel that everything was ok...

Well, I went to sleep at 4:20 am and then woke-up around 9:15 am... when I looked outside the window there it was... snow... OMG! And not only that, the temperature was really low and super windy. When I was trying to move things out of my car I was feeling like the cold/wind were going thru my skin/muscles…

Anyways, so that has been pretty much the weather here... cold, windy, and snowy...

Today is the second day I've spent it at the hotel room because I caught the cold/flu that is going around... I am feeling sick, tired, beat-up... I am staying in, resting, drinking liquids and hopefully after hibernating this weekend I'll be all ready to go next week.

Mtn biking and running... well will need to wait until I am better. I'm looking for a gym around and for a mtn bike group (a friend I recently made that lives here in Harrisburg told me about a mtn bike group so she is going to send me the info)...

Till then keep on hopefully getting better and fight this darn flu!

I can’t believe how much crap I have now that I am packing and preparing to departure for good to Harrisburg.

This whole week I’ve been moving things, packing, sorting, and just trying to figure out how in the heck I ended up with more things that I thought I had. I can’t believe how many glasses I have, really!!! I have three sets of wine glasses, two of water glasses, one set just for cappuccino (like if I drink that many!), one for regular coffee, one for beer…

And Gosh I must have been in the mood for Thai food one day that I went shopping at the market LOL, I have like ten boxes of Thai noodles and sauces, beans… 10 cans of all kind of different beans plus couple bags of beans LOL LOL… And to my disbelieve I found out that I ate way too much take-out Chinese food when I counted the fortune cookies I have… I am not even going to write the number because I feel a little embarrassed LOL.

With all the moving you start to find places that maybe, without any initial harm, you might have created a little hole and now you would like to fix so hopefully you can get your full deposit back.

I consider myself a not at all handy person… not that I am lazy it is that it is not in my veins to pick up a hammer and fix stuff… I prefer to pay someone to do things and do them right the first time. I know if I try to do it I’ll spend more time and money! Still, I decided to “fix” a hole I made when I was trying to put a bar to hang clothes (one of the few “home improvement” projects I took on LOL). As you can see it is not the prettiest thing isn’t it? LOL I guess that really reaffirms that I am not into fixing things…

Where is my friend Karen (oh yeah in Mass LOL) or Caryn (oh yeah working some weird schedules) or Jeff (oh yeah wooing some ladies) when I need them LOL they are the ones who tell me they are into home improvement and can fix it all… Oh well… Keep on packing!

Soooooo… just like the title says I didn’t do the race. How come? I arrived really late or if you want to see it this way really early Saturday… I’ve got back to my place at 1ish am and finally went to bed at 2ish am…

I set up all the alarms I could so I would get up in time to go to the race… but I never heard them… I was supposed to be up at 9 am in order to be on time at the race but when I woke up it was 10:20 Ops!

I was not upset… I mean maybe I was pushing myself a little too much by trying to do a race the day after coming back from a hectic trip (let’s put it this way I will try to avoid as much as possible any flight connection to Charlotte’s airport!! And when I am carrying Faust –my cat- with me!).

Still, I went ahead with the plan of mtn biking. Got everything ready and left to Fontana… it was a 2 hrs drive (160 miles round trip) so I could bike Tsali’s trails… It was such a perfect day! The weather was perfect: 60ish, blue skies, not a lot of people around… I was sooo happy to be back mtn biking.

I did both loops – Mouse Branch first = 8.7 miles and then Thompson Loop = 7.3 miles. I haven’t been to Tsali in almost 7-8 months! Ahh it was really nice… and it was really especial to be back alone just to think about life, the way things are unraveling now with my career… and life… I think everything really happens for a reason and thus far for good reasons (at least in my case). I am very blessed!

At the end I did more miles than what I signed up for the race, race = 7-14 miles.

I’m planning on doing some mtn biking this week but it has been raining… I also want to do some trail running… I hope the weather gets better.

Till then keep on biking!!!

Pst: Not the best pic of Tsali but I forgot about taking a pic until the end... so it happened to be where there were not too many trees LOL duh LOL.

Since I've been at Harrisburg PA I haven't been doing much of training/working out... Well that has been changing since last week and since my race is in couple days I knew I needed to get to some "shape" once again.

Therefore, I've been going to the gym doing some good cardio and weights, mostly focusing on my legs. It really feels good to be back at the gym and working out... getting all out... the good and the bad, it just makes me feel better.

Tomorrow I'm leaving to go back to "Ashevegas"... I am looking forward it but at the same time I feel strange to leave Harrisburg... it feels like this is already home to me. Well I'll be back in a week or two it is strange how quickly I can get used to a new place.

Anyways, looking forward my race on Saturday and doing some mtn biking while I am at Asheville. I am also looking forward seeing people at church on Sunday, my "Unitarian Young Adults" they said they are waiting for me... that was nice to know!

I'll post pics from my race... also I am happy to know that some of my fellow Pisgah SORBA members are going to be there, YAYIE!