Walk yourself well in 10 minutes x 3

    The Olympics are on TV again. Looking at all those hard bodies gets Americans back out into the sweat pants and exercising again, but for a brief time, when most of us quit.

Today’s New York Times Health section backs up treatment of high blood pressure, one of the primary risk factors for heart disease and stroke, with just three 10 minute walking sessions a day.

There is now a small but compelling body of science suggesting that short, cumulative exercise sessions are remarkably beneficial. A study published last year in PLoS One, for instance, found that in children and teenagers, repeated bouts of running or other physical activity lasting as little as five minutes at a time reduced the youngsters’ risks of poor cholesterol profiles, wide waistlines and above-average blood pressure readings as much as longer exercise sessions did.

I’ve been reading The First 20 Minutes, by Gretchen Reynolds, which treads this same territory.  It’s refreshing to know that you don’t need to knock yourself out to stay fit. Reynold’s theory is that 80 % of the positive effects of exercise occur within the first 20 minutes of working out, with incremental gains resulting from hammering into the extended time put into working out.

There has to be some reasonable way to avoid falling into the category where 80% of us American seniors are on prescription medications, with an average of $85- $100 a month out-of-pocket expenses, even after health insurance.  The majority of medications prescribed are for cholesterol and diabetes, which are well known to be  lifestyle-choice results of poor health habits.

Makes sense to me.

Stand tall, walk and walk often.

Walking in Washington

Treasures learned while lost in woods

Kristof and his daughter

Worthwhile read from backpacking NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof.

It’s almost August–if you want to have some real experiences that will reset your spiritual GPS, don’t put it off any longer.  Excellent motivation to reserve an upcoming weekend to get out, backpack, and get real.

Day 3 Kingdom Trails

We finished our camping weekend with a two and a half hour ride of 11.5 miles.
We had a great breakfast of perked coffee, eggs, sausage, English Muffins, and deer tenderloin provided by Rick.
At one point , we were close to possible disciplinary action due to a raging grease fire in Chris’s well-used gas grill.

We ended up riding three days in a row, covering about 45 miles of terrain. My three day pass cost me $45. A full season pass is only $75.

We were definitely humbled to meet up with Big Alan, from Team Bikeman, who did 52 miles on Saturday.

The route was Up Toll Road to Parr’s Yard, Pinkham Road, Magill Fields, Moose Alley, white School, Swan Dive , White School along corn field, up Darling Road to Sugarhouse Run , Beat Bog, Vast to Sugarhouse Run, Leatherwood, Vast, Riverwood back to Vast, the out lower Herb’s.
Coming out, I was moving too fast for a corner, and was thrown to the ground after my shoulder grazed a tree. when I got back on the bike, I realized that the front rim was bent, but the bike could still operate, although I had to slow down the action a bit. I didn’t want the wheel to completely taco on me. When I went down on the ground, I must have lost the clear glasses that I found yesterday. Here’s a shot of my bruised thigh and the glasses.

going to be a technicolor tattoo forming in the area over the next couple of days.
I lost the glasses, gained a couple decent bruises, and took in the “can do” spirit of the Bubbas, who are experts at the “having’ fun while getting’ her done” approach to riding bikes in the woods. Coming back for sure.

Day 2 Kingdom Trails

The day started with the big Bubba breakfast sandwich, enabling us to crank out 20.8 miles that took 6 hours for us to complete.  The moving time was just over three hours, so we rest and snack— frequently— and often.
Again, the 60% chance of rain never materialized, but at the end of the day we cut trail time back by shooting up Darling Hill Road to stay ahead of the black storm clouds and thunder.

Today’s path covered  Jester, Burnham Down, Church Path to town, up Darling Hill to Loop, Bemis to Troll Stroll, up River Walk->;Loop to Bemis, back down Tap and Die, up River Walk etc. this time to Tody’s Tour, Eager Beaver , Dry Feet, West Branch, Hog Back, Old Web’s to stop at Chapel. Storm coming at us so Chapel down to Darling Hill Road to Wildflower Inn, to Bill Magill to Heaven’s Bench, ridge to Rim, East Branch to Vast, Leatherwood, Vast, Sugarhouse Run, Kitchell , and lastly lower Herb’s out to the truck.  The ride is tracked on Strava:
Here’s a shot of the Bubs on Heaven’s Bench:

Chris, Rigger, Rick, and Chickenhawk in fields of green

Banged myself up falling off a narrow elevated section of boardwalk on Burnham Down; bruised up my thigh and arm. Found a pair of riding glasses with clear lenses on the side of the road, wore them, liked them.
Downing a Five Hour Energy appeared to keep me from bonking and cramping up today.
Feasted on burgers, grilled sausage, and all the fixings. We thought we were responsible campers, but management had paid us a brief visit to remind us that quiet hours are in effect at 10:45 PM.  Employing the “time-out ” technique with one of our unmentioned members on Saturday night ( it wasn’t me!)  ensured our continual welcome at the Campground next time.

Day 1 Kingdom Trails

We dodged all weather predictions for showers and thunderstorms here on out first day of Bubbas-hit-the-best -trail-system-in-the-northeast in Vermont.
Check out Kingdom Trails website to understand just how glorious the riding experience is here.
Parrs Yard, Magill Fields, Moose Alley, White School, Swan Dive, lower Pond Loop, Vast, RiverWood, Leatherwood, Beat Bog, Sugarhouse Run, and Herb’s back to the Welcome Center where we piled the bikes into the back of Rigger’s truck and up the hill to the campground.

My Strava program logged 12.2 miles of riding. Really fun. I rode well and kept up with the fly boys fairly well.

The boasts grew big around the campfire last night while we were woofing down multiple plates of Chris’ beyond tasty spaghetti. Chris and Stevie were talking trash challenges to each other about riding Moose Alley uphill today. Both were distortingly fueled by multiple rum-drinks called Wimpies. Crazy bike talk.
This Saturday morning Chris and Steve each have very different weather reports on their smart phones. They ate at each other again. Shut up Steve, we don’t want to hear about 80% chance of rain for day 2.
25 miles today ? We’ll see…,

Baxter State Park- 3 nights in October !

Russell Pond Trail

Auntie Mame and I just snagged 2 nights’ Bunkhouse space at Russell Pond, the most remote campground in Baxter and one of two backcountry campgrounds in the Park. Russell Pond provides access to Wassataquoik Stream, Wassataquoik Lake and several popular backcountry sites.

We’ll backpack into Russell Pond Saturday morning 7.2  miles in early October, after spending Friday night at the Roaring Brook bunkhouse.

It’s easy to see where there are camping openings on the Baxter State Park website now, by using a computer to check open spots for any campground on any day.  Just go to Campsite Availability, where you enter the dates and campsite and see what there is.

We’re hoping that some of our backpacking friends will  join us on this trip. Act now, due to limited  bunkhouse, lean-to’s and tent sites.  If you are interested, contact us for the exact dates, so you can experience no bugs, cool temps, and the Fall foliage show in Maine’s premier State park.

Getting Ready for a Long Hike

This is the middle of our living room.

Lots of reading, back and forth going on. Daily practice with using Garmin eTrex30 GPS. Does anyone else think Garmin’s documentation/ directions for using their product is woefully lacking? Anyone know of decent tutorials? Finding the steps to lay down a track isn’t even listed in the product manual!

Hiking: They’re seeing the light | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Practical reasons for lightening your back packing load. Resposting article on Guthook, AKA Ryan Linn, which appeared in Sunday’s Maine Sunday Telegram.

 

Hiking: They’re seeing the light | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram. <<—click

Epic Ride Montana Style!

L-Train Station: Mile to Sheep Creek: Epic Ride Montana Style! <<–

Reposting a truly incredible report of mountain biking achievement on world class terrain.  On the same day that I received this blog post, I also read a post from The Minimalists, shouting the praises of Western Montana, and these two guys have been everywhere:

“We have borne witness to what is perhaps the most visually astonishing place on earth: Western Montana [my emphasis], driving past its flannel plains and evergreen mountains and skylines of a cowboy cliché, and past its cobalt rivers overhung with century-old pines and flecklets of sunlight through them on the water bending downriver, to the place beyond its sprawling canyons, where fields divided by train cars simmer in the afternoon heat.”

I’ve been accumulating  maps and guidebooks of the Continental Divide Trail route and the ride that Lincoln posted can be found on Map 22 in the Montana Atlas and Gazatteer (Delorme). Upfront topographic closeups of the route around Targhee Peak where it goes up over 10,000′ in elevation are in the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail  Map Book: Montana.  Along Montana & Idaho’s Continental Divide Trail also has a narrative of this section of the CDT ( Targhee pass to Interstate 15), which is the highest section of the Montana Idaho CDT that hikers ( and bikers) can easily access and also overlook the Lee Metcalf Wilderness to the north.

I will post a pic of the books and maps that adorn the coffee table that I am studying in prep for my CDT thru hike attempt in 2013.

BushBuddy Stove Tweaks @ Backpacking Light

Good article, with exhaustive ( no pun intended) details on the concept of a wood stove gassifier system–>> BushBuddy Stove Tweaks @ Backpacking Light.

The diagram of how the air flows through these systems is particularly good.

 

I have posted instructions for a home-made version of the unit, primarily made from a 1 quart and 1 pint paint cans. I have just recently updated the construction ( July 2012)  to improve efficiency.
Due to repeated inquiries from people about how to make their own stoves, I will be conducting a workshop in Camden, ME at 6 PM on October 16, 2012 through Five Towns Adult Education where I will assist participants in constructing their own gassifer stoves. All components will be provided for $10 materials charge. We will have time to practice building wood fires in them as well.

Here’s the July 2012 model, that boiled up a pint of water in 5 minutes.