Oaxaca Day 8

Oaxaca Day 8. 6.5 mile

Hexagram 45

Today’s I Ching reading was Darkening of the Light. “Without an ever present sense of death, life is insipid.”. It refers to efforts the ego makes in order to gain control when one fails to meet the demands of an adversity. The ego replays old doubts and subsequent fears from childhood patterns, which only reinforce the need to try harder or to kindle guilt. If a person is able to stand back and observe this monologue as a bystander he will recognize an action from the ego’s playbook and separate out the deception fostered by the ego and restore what belongs with the person. Meditation is one of the means of observing this separation, which might also present in dreams. Being caught in the logic of the ego, one imagines that things are only brought about by effort and striving, and propels one onward to more effort and striving. It is the ego that pulls the shade on the light, causing one’s eyes to miss seeing daily blessings like the wonderful birdsongs outside my window right now in Oaxaca.

Today I made phone calls of condolences to my two remaining sisters-in-law following the death of Marcia’s oldest sister Gail. Ongoing waves of sadness have tracked me down here in Mexico, where I have been able to grieve Marcia’ death more freely that I have been able to in the business of my life in Maine.

I brought my melodion here and have been able to spend time each day practicing Balkan music in preparation for an upcoming Ukrainian fundraiser in Maine. It’s a tiny keyboard that one activates by blowing through a flexible plastic tube. I enjoy the time to write, read, walk, talk with friends old and new and eat simple nourishing, fresh food.

Today I had the first pedicure of my life. I am able to get around the city on my own now and walked about a mile to work through the communication needed when neither person understands what the other is saying. The session lasted 45 minutes and was highly successful. I won’t post a before picture but at one point Astria made good use of a Dremel tool in abrading persistent callous from both heels from thousands of miles of backpacking over the last 15 years. Partially ingrown toenails were expertly freed up and the finished product resulted in my feet feeling lighter and better functioning than I hoped possible. Cost was $6.50 in US equivalent dollars.

Bye, bye callous

The finished product!

I also visited a tiny but most excellent art supply shop where I bought a new pocket notebook, a set of 24 colored pencils, and a 0.5 mm ink pencil. I have the need to draw from nature.

I have had a hard time figuring out how to get into the mountains and bike. I found a local outfitter that has a very attractive full day package deal.

Here’s the description of what’s planned for the day: “We meet at 8:00 AM in Macedonio Alcalá 802, Centro, Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, ring the bell ‘’A’’, between Bicibella and Café Punto Paz.

Oaxaca has quickly become Mexico’s Mecca for MTB Enduro riding. There is a current boom of the sport, but the trails are free of traffic for you to enjoy at your own pace. New trails are being built currently, so you can ride different trails every day.

We bring you this all-inclusive adventure, hassle-free for you to enjoy: 1 Full Enduro Day. Flow, speed, jumps, drops, rock gardens, technical sessions, this is MTB Enduro Paradise, honestly.

The adventure is not only special because of the magnificent riding in the mountains and forests. Oaxacan culture is present throughout all moments of the day. You will get a close-up look at some of the most interesting towns and communities. These towns are tucked-in between the mountains, and each with its own charisma will embrace you with the best hospitality and service, delicious food, and a comfortable and unique stay.

The beauty of Oaxaca is that it offers great outdoors, unparalleled culture, the best food in Mexico… for a truly authentic experience you will never forget!”

Riding Vermont’s Kingdom Trails

I’ve just returned from my second camping adventure of 2020 Spring/Summer,  influenced by the ongoing presence of Covid-19.

Last weekend I rejoined my mountain- bike Bubbas in the Woods to return to  Kingdom Trails, located in the northeast corner of Vermont, just across the New Hampshire border. It took 4 hours to drive there, some 200 miles, via Route 2 from my midcoast Maine home.

“The Kingdom Trail network has become a destination for mountain bikers from around the world. Evolving for more than 25 years, the trail system navigates the beautiful landscape highlighting views and destinations with shredding descents and enjoyable climbs! The majority of the trails are single-track with interconnecting double-track that joins all sections from the XC terrain to all -mountain to downhill and lift-accessed trails. You will find a mix of handbuilt rake-and-ride as well as excavated flow and old cart and logging roads.” -Kingdom Trails map

A full-time crew of 10 actively maintains the network to keep it fresh and inviting.

KTAssociation riding is open, but with COVID-19 restrictions:
You are feeling healthy.
You are a resident of Vermont.
You are from a county across New England and New York that has less than 400 active cases of COVID-19 per one million residents(KTA provides maps of these eligible counties online.). Every one of us dozen+ riders met those requirements.

So we were able to go to the next stage, which was :
Read and abide by KTA’s COVID19 Opening Policy.
Purchase an Annual or Monthly KTA Membership online and in advance.
Agree to KTA Ambassadors checking in riders at all designated parking & pinch point locations.

An adult day pass to ride is $35, with an annual pass only $75, which is what I normally buy, because I try to ride/camp there at least 2-3 times a season. I was overjoyed to learn that my list of retirement perks now includes a free Annual Kngdom membership passes for life: “If you are over 70 you can receive a free Annual Membership by emailing us a copy of your ID and mailing address!”

I drove with Andre co-piloting. We masked up for the long car ride, where we made only one brief stop to snag a fresh sandwich from the Polish Princess Bakery in Lancaster, NH.

70 miles of trails were open, with dry and fast conditions for the whole weekend. The three-mile Flower Brook Trail is a brand new one, cutting out miles of travel either in a car or a bike on VT 114. Here’s a brief 2 minute clip featuring the new trail:

 

We rendezvoused with the rest of the gang at a new camping venue for us: Kingdom Farm and Vacation Rentals   We tented at the edge of the large mowed field. The amenities were very good. It is a biker friendly situation. I tented alone,  paying $60 for two nights, including (free clean showers), access to the main building’s common area, and use of the bike tools and a bike washing station. We liked the place so much that we scheduled a return for the last weekend in July. Here a slick gallery of pics from the venue.

The weekend went well for me. Although it was often humid and warm, the temps were not excessive and the nights were cool enough that tenting was comfortable.

I put in nearly 45 miles of riding over a 48 hour period, with half-day rides on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning with a full day of riding on Saturday.  Best of all, I snagged a double digit list of Personal Records (including 8 fastest times), according to Strava. I drove with my co-pilot Andre. We masked up for the long car ride, where we made only one brief stop to snag a fresh sandwich from the Polish Princess Bakery in Lancaster, NH.

Here are the routes for three days’ of KIngdom rides, along with elevation profiles.:

 

Friday Afternoon

Saturday’s Ride

Sunday Morning Ride

Armed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, two bike bottles full of electrolyte charged water, and my new magic cramp buster product (Pickle juice), I not only survived another exciting weekend of flow-riding, I even thrived!    My riding skills don’t always come to the front these days, but when they do, I’m doubly thrilled to ride the best in the East and actually master sections of trail that I used to fear.

Momentum helps and so does looking down the trail a bit.

photo by Derek Veilleux

 

 

Full Tang Maine Mountain Biking Weekend

Life is different during Covid-19.

Travel is restricted. The Appalachian Trail is still off-limits, especially group camping at shelter sites and use of outhouses. Travel bans, quarantine regulations, and the establishment of social distancing procedures have forced many of us who enjoy the freedom of the woods and waters to shift to local sites for our reprieve from the stress of doing things in a highly restricted manner.

I’ve leaned heavily on my copy of Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes  as I’ve been alternating walking and biking my mini-escapes around town.

For, example, I’m very close to finishing up my “Ride Every Road in Town” challenge, where I’ve paired up with my neighbor Andy Hazen to ride every one of the 76 miles of Lincolnville, Maine’s town roads. We’ve done seven rides so far, with two more to go. When I get home, I really enjoy coloring in our tracks on a custom topographic map that I ordered that has our town front and center on the page.

This past weekend I joined a small pack of my Bubbas in the Woods riding pals to bypass a long drive to Vermont’s Kingdom Trails in favor of a stick-to-Maine 36 hour off-road mountain biking extravaganza that included two riding locations that I never visited before on Saturday: Farmington’s Titcomb Mountain and Kingfield’s Freeman Ridge Bike Park.

Titcomb is roughly a six-mile loop that has been created by Farmington locals and Central Maine New England Mountain Biking Associaton.

4.5 mile Titcomb loop

The system was well-laid out with above-average consideration to setting up wide turns linked to long, gradual stretches of uphill switchback climbing to “summit and then plummet”. Riding is free during the summer.

 

Nelly coming off Titcomb descent

Freeman Ridge is a “.. private, professionally built, and family-run mountain bike trail network, located 1 mile outside of downtown Kingfield, ME. We offer machine and hand-built flow trails for riders of all abilities. We are just 15 miles south of Maine’s premier MTB destination, Carrabassett Valley Trails.”   An adult day pass is $7, money well spent in supporting this very satisfying private venture.

Freeman Ridge- 4.0 miles

Saturday night was spent with me back in a tiny tent along the South Branch of the Dead River in Eustis at a true Maine camp where we had no electricity, cell coverage, or running water.

One of the Bubs, Shawn, bought the gem of an antique camp in 2015 and has been using it as a base for winter fat biking, snowmobiling, and now mountain biking.  Shawn invited us for the weekend and it was a welcome respite from the blackflies and mosquitoes that are in force this time of year.

Impressive outhouse- note the indoor/outdoor carpet welcome mat

Sunday was a big riding day riding morning and afternoon sessions out of the Sugarloaf Outdoor Center.  In the morning we rode the south side of Route 27 on a long climb up to a high point that afforded us long stretches of exciting but reasonable downhill acceleration.

Sean and Andre at the summit before the plummet

7.6 miles – Sugarloaf south side

The afternoon put us across Route 27 where we headed east for about 5 miles on the Narrow Gauge Trail.

Long straight path ahead

Then we switched back to a long gradual climb of five miles up the Narrow Gauge Bypass to Crommett’s Connector.  One the way up, Ian demonstrated his technical expertise in getting over a massive obstacle and crafting an approach to a nasty stream crossing.

Then a whooperbasket of high-speed, flowing descent on Newton’s Revenge.

16.2 miles north of Rt. 27

Our local weekend was a success. I experienced fresh riding terrain, enjoyed the company of my riding pals, and had a grand stay at Shawn’s camp.

Bubbas are talking about finding fresh terrain to explore in Maine on an upcoming weekend.    Soon!

State Parks Closing? How to journey around your home.

Hard times for sure. I’ve been out of work since March 16, with no pay until October at best. At least I can hike, but not everywhere.  My local Camden Hills State Park is still open to the public, but there are too many folks walking there for me to be comfortable now. Last Sunday the Stevens Corner lot there was full, with cars parked on both sides of the road like no one has ever seen before. A few days later the same scene appeared on the Barnestown Road parking area for the Georges Highland Path, where signs are posted prohibiting overflow parking on both sides of the road.

I listened to a public radio call-in show this week about accessing the outdoors in this COVID-19 world. I learned that as of Friday, March 27, the following Midcoast and Southern Maine coastal State Parks and beaches are closed due to overcrowding until April 8: Reid State Park, Popham Beach State Park, Fort Popham, Fort Baldwin, Kettle Cove State Park, Two Lights State Park, Crescent Beach State Park, Scarborough Beach State Park, Ferry Beach State Park, and Mackworth Island. (Note that the closure could be extended depending on the spread of the potentially deadly virus.) Read Full Press Release

Where have all these folks come from? Part of the glut is due to gyms, health clubs, and yoga studios being closed. It’s understandable that when these supports in our community are not accessible, people who have been in the habit of regular indoor exercise think, “I’ll go out to public exercise areas”.

I’ve had a head start on dealing with no gym.  I was a faithful gym rat for at least 30 consecutive years until I came back from my 2013 Continental Divide thru-hike. While completing one of these half year-long total immersion in nature deals is thought of as a grand mindfulness vacation where past traumas are resolved, in reality many of us have found it difficult to embrace our old ways and for some foks even those we love. For me, one session back on the treadmill was all it took for me to walk away from the YMCA and never return. It didn’t feel right to load up a bag of gear, drive 10 miles, look for a parking space, and breathe the stuffy stale inside. I was perennially plagued by fears of athlete’s foot in the shower area.  Nature reeled me back.

Since September 2014 I’ve exercised outdoors, year round-on bikes or hikes. It’s been going well. I’ve also permanently dropped 15 pounds over my gym days.

After logging hundreds of hikes in Camden Hills State Park as well as many steps on the Georges Highland Path I offer a suggestion to those who are looking for ways to move your body outdoors.

Pick up this book: Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes by Alastair Humphries.

Microadventures

From the dustcover-“What’s a microadventure? It’s close to home, cheap, simple, short, and 100% guaranteed to refresh your life. A microadventure takes the spirit of a big adventure and squeezes it into a day or even a few hours.”

I’ll lay out just one of the 38 microadventures that Humphries offers the reader:   “A Journey Around Your Home”.

The microadventure takes an hour or two hours to a few days and leaves the method of transport up to you. You basically make a circular route around your home, the length only limited by the amount of time you’d like to spend out there and away from it all.

It is a brilliant idea of imposing concentric circles around my house on a paper map. Here are a couple of examples, using my own home in Lincolnville.

This features Map Adventures’ Camden Hills Maine Hiking and Biking map

Here’s the same data but from a differently scaled topo map

You need to look at your map’s scale which is usually on the bottom on the map, near the compass declination image:

Then you decide if you want a tiny microadventure or a more robust one. Humphries has done all the calculations for you and has a little chart to assist the reader, but it’s quite a simple equation for your specific map: 2πr+ 2r = circumference (the symbol is pi).
For example, for a radius 1 mile from your house, you do this: (2 x 3.14)1 + 2(1) = 8.28 miles. You scribe a circle with a radius of 2.25 inches on your map and can see close to where you would walk. In reality, you are not walking in a pure circle, but zigzagging a bit on gravel and/or paved roads, snowmobile trails, woods roads, hiking paths, and can even throw in a little bushwhacking! It works out that for every mile added to your radius, your circumference is increased by 8 miles, so a   two mile radius would give you a 16.57 mile circumference , which translates to  long day hike or a moderate 1-2 hour bike ride.

Give it a go.  Let me know who decides to try this, please.   I suspect that even with an 8 mile route encircling your place,  you may go past places you’ve never seen before, or have never been to on foot.

I’m heading out on another Humphrey-inspired microadventure in 10 minutes and it involves water, lots of it.  Stay tuned and consider subscribing to this blog, which is now in its 12th year.

 

Surgery #10 !

I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist yesterday. I hoped to wait until May to have it done but the numbness, burning, and overall discomfort was severe enough that I scheduled it sooner. I’ve never regretted any of my previous surgeries, as every one of them improved my functioning.

I’m advised to back off normal use of my right hand for at least two weeks when the stitches come out.  I consult the I-Ching more lately.  Today’s hexagram put my approach to surgery and healing into crystal clear perspective.  Here’s a copy from today’s notes about what I learned from today’s reading: it has to do with reacting to situations where “obstructions have been cleared out”, which would be an auspicious match for carpal tunnel surgery!

At least there isn’t much snow left to shovel, driveway and walkway ice to chip, firewood to bring in, or even biking in the woods right now due to increasingly bright sunlight, moderating of below-freezing temperatures, and deep oozy mud as the upper crust of frozen water and crystallized snow melts out.

Rigger in The Bog

I recorded one of the lowest of my daily Heart Rate Variability readings from the past four years this morning.  Anesthesia plus physical trauma calls for parasympathetic recovery mode in all of us.

I’m treating my wrist with 20 minute cyces of an ice pack on and off this morning, and occasionally elevating my wrist while laying on the couch while catching up with my reading.

On the agenda for this coming recovery week will be organizing and preparing tax records, and preparing for the two 30 minute workshops I’m giving at Maine Sport Outfitters in Rockport, Maine on Sat. March 16.

My first topic will be “ The Lure of Long-Distance Adventures” where I’ll present some biographical info on noteworthy endurance backpackers connected to Maine and introduce some of my favorite longer hikes in New England and the Maritimes.

Me and Billy Goat in the Milinocket Hannaford’s a couple years ago

I’ll also be exploding the current contents of my 17 pound backpack (without food or water) for all to see in “What’s In a Thru-Hiker’s Pack and Why”. It could just as easily be subtitled Or Why No Spare Underwear!

In the meantime, I can fire up Strava and add in several hikes after Daylight Savings time is adjusted once again tomorrow, as the clocks Spring Ahead an hour!

60 Years of Bicycling/Reading

When men live long enough, we’re drawn to acquire things and experiences that eluded us when we were younger forms of ourselves: cars, motorcycles, and in extreme cases younger women, a cluster of behaviors that might be filed under the “midlife crisis” drawer.

I’m an example of this.

In the 1990s I purchased not one but two brand new BMW motorcycles. I had a decent job, paid off the loans, and enjoyed years of long distance motorcycle travel. In 1996 I squeezed all my gear on a spanking new white R1100GS and proceeded to spend six glorious (mostly) weeks spanning some 13,500 miles of adventure/camping, traveling from Maine to Alaska where my motorcycling mentor Alan and I explored every possible road, gravel or paved that we could find in that spectacular state. In 2007 my motorcycle infatuation phase faded after I completed my first thru-hike, of the Appalachian Trail. Simply put, I no longer experienced any satisfaction in putting in weeks of exploration while sitting atop an engine, even one as powerful and well suited for adventure as those BMWs. Eventually, my fleet of motorcycles dwindled from an all time high of 5 down to just one-a nearly antique Kawasaki KLR 650 that still has less than 13,000 miles on it, with most of those miles coming from tours of Labrador, where in 1993 Alan and I were the first motorcyclists to ride the “ Labrador Highway” from Churchill Falls to Goose Bay.
As far cars, I’ve never spent much on them, other than buying a new Dodge Caravan when they first came out in the 1980s. After the head gasket failed on the engine after the car passed out of warrantee, I’ve moved to used, practical vehicles, mostly high mileage diesel VW’s. I now run a 2005 VW Golf turbodiesel(224,000 miles). I mostly drive a 2006 Honda Element that I bought with 180,000 miles on the odometer that is now up to 227,000 and doing just fine.

Luckily, I had the fortune of marrying the right woman. Marcia and I had our 47th anniversary his past May. She still has my heart, and is also my best friend. I’m not about to trade her in for a newer model.

A couple of days ago, I hopped on my 1986 Diamondback Apex bicycle and rode the 20 miles back and forth to the Camden Library where I picked up a book that I requested through inter-library loan.

1986 bike fine for 2019. Library transport.

After I read the book I added it to my list of books read in 2019. So far, I’ve read 33 books toward my goal of 40 for the calendar year. And then it hit me that this behavior of mine- riding my bike to the library, and recording my reads has been one that I’ve engaged in for more than 60 years !
The house that I grew up in was a mile from the Somerset Village Library. My mom let me ride my bike there and back from the time I was 7 years old. Early one June morning in 1958 I spotted the Summer Reading program announced on the wall near the main desk. It was a pasteboard that had names of kids aligned on the left side and then little boxes for dates under a line of digits that went from 1 to 20 books running across the top of the page. I was thrilled to be invited by the librarian to join the program, and slowly the blocks next to my name began to fill, mostly with Hardy Boys mysteries and books about dinosaurs. As a young boy it was immensely satisfying to me to plug into his program, one that has become a a lifelong habit.

My reading lists are now virtual, thanks to Goodreads,  where books I want to read, books that I am reading, and books that I have already read are listed.

After 60 years, I’m still pumped to ride my bike to the library, check out books, and enter data about books I read or plan to read.

Don’t need no new motorcycles, cars, or women- no, no, no !

Uncle Tom’s Adventures in 2019: Part 1

Welcome to 2019!
Here’s an update on my plans and goals for the year.

I’ve reluctantly suspended commercial guided backpacking trips in 2019. I learned my lesson in 2017 when I had to cancel and refund cash money for two fully booked 5 and 10 day backpacking trips. At that time, issues with serious medical conditions involving two of my family members demanded that I stay home and address the care of my loved ones. While those issues continue to be managed in the best manner possible, there now exists a real possibility that I will not be able to be in the wilderness if and when the health of my family takes a nosedive.
Nevertheless, I have made alternate plans to get out and schedule few things that allow me to be outdoors, sleeping on the ground, hanging out around campfires, and enjoying what I can in the forest.

I consider myself blessed.
Everyday life offers me engagement in the outdoors on a daily basis, in all seasons.

A very slow, but steady mile. (photo by Auntie Mame)

I live in a sort of “park” in midcoast Maine, where several of my neighbors hold large 100+ and even 1,000+ acre undeveloped properties. Long stretches along High Street, where I live at 430 feet of elevation on the southern side of Moody Mountain, not only don’t have any buildings, there aren’t even any utility poles or wires. What’s there instead is a canopy of towering oaks and other hardwoods that tower over the narrow roadway. This past couple months I’ve observed several mature bald eagles who have remained for the winter perched on a rooftops and trees, and even watched them glide over the bare open fields are they scan for their meager, but apparently adequate sources of sustenance.

I’ve stopped caring that the deer are still feeding on my shrubs, and fruit trees. That’s all that’s left for them and the flocks of 30 plus wild turkey after they ate the remains of my vegetable garden down to the ground after harvest.
I am blessed that many of my neighbors continue to allow me to hike and mountain bike right out my door, through the fields, abandoned roads, and trails that I’ve traveled over the past forty years that I’ve lived in this hand-made house. May all this continue as long as it goes.

Heading home, sinking..

At this point, I refer the reader to this article from Self magazine: The 2 Things That Will Help Motivate You to Be More Active

The article builds on data compiled between October 1, 2017, and September 30, 2018, from all 36 million people who use Strava that was aggregated and de-identified to respect athlete privacy.
Two factors lead to increased activity and help athletes stay active longer: goal setting and working out with someone.
My increasing engagement in walking and biking outdoors has been greatly enhance by both these practices.

I plan to continue writing about my 2019 plans in subsequent posts.

For 2019,  please consider joining the 919 other people who are subscribed to future pots from this blog.

Disclaimer: I paid for my Strava Summit ( formerly Premium) yearly membership

Slogging out Maine Miles in November

November is a tough month to ride a mountain bike in Maine.

Connector from Norton Pond to Megunticook Lake

I enjoy exiting my garage to ride single track, active as well as discontinued snowmobile trails, along the edges of fields, and up and over some ancient stone walls. What makes all of this tougher right now is deer hunting season, where Mainers deck themselves out in blaze orange, and hunt from dawn to dusk in the hopes of shooting a sizable deer, which can go a long way in filling up the freezer, mostly for venison stew. This year, rifle season runs from October 29 to November 24. Two more days are left. I stay out of the woods throughout November except for Sundays when there is no hunting allowed.

We had two  half foot snowfalls here this past week, making for good hunting conditions, due to the ability to track deer activity through the snow cover. The first soft snows are not so good for biking in the woods. The ground is barely frozen, and some  hunters get around in the woods on all terrain vehicles, heading in and out to their camps and tree stands on land they own or have permission to use and they rut up the back woods.

Rigger grinding through muck

With all the rain we’ve had this past month, riding off-road is mostly weaving in and out of ruts, seeking out solid sections of ground, and dodging black pools of questionable depths of icy water that has not yet frozen solid enough to ride over.

This calendar year, Stevie, one of the members of our loosely-knit mountain biking group dubbed The Bubbas, has been in hot pursuit of a major offload goal for any off-road rider- amassing 2,500 non-pavement miles in 2018. Stevie lives on the edge of The Rockland/Thomaston Bog and can, on any given day, crank out a 12 mile out and back route to put toward his lofty mileage goal. It’s also nice country in there, when it is not churned up  like it was today.

My Ice Cream Truck will follow Rigger left of this mess

Ten Bubbas, including two women, met at Stevie’s this past Suday morning, to stitch together a route, with Stevie’s first tracks as a guide all the way out to our eventual turn around point at Split Rock. With ten riders’ fat-tire tracks running back and forth within a foot wide width of trail, we were build up a packed track for some future rides.

I ride with clipped pedals in spring, summer, and fall, and switch to flat pedals and regular winter boots for the winter. They are a full size larger than I need, which allows me to insert chemical heat packs when it is below freezing out. After about a half hour of riding today, my left pedal broke apart, so I was forced to complete the ride on the slippery metal axle. It worked out, and I was repeatedly thankful that the axle held, and that I didn’t have to hike a bike miles back to the car.

Even with being careful in getting through the wetter sections, I did get one boot under water, and had a cold foot for the rest of the morning. I had good energy today, which was consistent with the results of  thoday’s  heart rate variability reading right after I woke up this morning. My mountain biking mileage goals are more moderate that Steve’s,  with just 1,000 for my year.

My Garmin eTrex30 GPS flubbed today so I copied  Rigger’s Strava feed to record those miles. I’m up to 919 miles of biking with just 81 more miles left to complete before New Year’s.  Those miles are much harder to snag in November !

Rigger on ice in The Bog (2014)

How Heart Rate Variability Training Fits Into my Fitness Plan

For the past four years I’ve been in the daily practice of measuring my heart rate variability (HRV). It takes me four minutes at best, after sitting up in bed, at the end of the first of my twice daily thirty 30 minute mediation sessions.

(I have maintained a continuous 48 year practice of Transcendental Meditation, which I consider it to be the core technique of my health practices. Yes, I have accumulated over 10,000 hours of meditation practice. Malcom Gladwell put forth the statement that 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” are needed to become world-class in any field.)

I learned about HRV from a demonstration that I observed in a psychology workshop with Larry Starr, Ed D. Dr. Starr has included neurofeedback in his psychology practice, where he utilizes HRV to reduce client symptoms of ADHD and anxiety.

“Simply put, HRV is a measure of the time gap  between individual heart beats while your body is at rest. The heart, in fact, speeds up when you inhale, and slows down when you exhale. This difference is known as HRV. A healthy, well-rested body will produce a larger gap, and higher variability”. – Dr. Phil Maffetone

HRV technology had been around for over 50 years but has only been recently available for home use. Long used in hospitals in treating heart patients, HRV has only recently been applied to endurance training.

I have been totally satisfied with the Sweetbeat HRV App for the iPhone, which pairs via Bluetooth with my Yahoo Ticker chest strap.

Here is a screenshot of two years of data, indicating a positive trend:

From the App Store: “SweetBeat HRV, the newest iOS application by SweetWater Health, provides real-time monitoring using state-of-the-art sensor technology and data correlation algorithms. Patent-pending correlation algorithms provide insight from other health and fitness devices. SweetBeat HRV also integrates and correlates data with popular fitness platforms like MapMyFitness, Fitbit and Withings. The next big thing in body-hacking is to understand the information presented in the data users track every day. SweetBeat HRV correlates metrics like HRV, stress, heart rate, weight, steps, calories, and so much more. SweetBeat HRV utilizes the popular food sensitivity testing and HRV-for-training features in the original SweetBeat app.”

I use the App for two purposes:
1) Primary is in determining whether my body is in a stressed state from over-training. In general, my daily 75-90 minute hike or bike ride results in a higher (better) HRV reading, but if my reading dips, the program prompts me to take an easy training day or even a day off in order to bring my body back into balance.
2) HRV readings also correlate with the occurrence of a cold. I’m generally a healthy guy, succumbing to normal bodily aches,  pains, and even tendonitis only when I have tripped on a hike or crashed on my mountain bike. In fact, over the past three years I have not had the flu (I do get the flu vaccine.) and I have only had a single brief cold that lasted for 5 days. My HRV reading dropped significantly one day a couple of years ago, where I was prompted to take it easy and rest up. The next day I experienced a sore throat and two days later my head swelled up with the full-blown symptoms of a bad cold.  My initial low HRV reading had been in response to my body beginning to muster antibodies to address the cold, a situation of which I was totally unaware.

HRV literature also reports being able to detect food sensitivities through the use of HRV readings, although I have not attempted to employ this aspect of the technlogy.  I’m sort of an I -can-eat-anything-person.

For further reading on HRV, I’ll refer you to this blog post by Phil Maffetone:

Heart Rate Variability: What It Is and How It Helps With Training
By Dr. Phil Maffetone  (April 29, 2015)

Humbling Heart Rate ?

I’m concerned that I’m pushing my heart rate too high on the bike. I’m 68 years old. Two weeks ago I rode my typical Sunday ride up and around Ragged Mountain, where I averaged 155 beats per minute for over two hours with a maximum reading of 173.  For a full 30 minutes of the ride my heart pushed  out 161-171  beats per minute.  My normal resting pulse ranges from 47-55 bpm .   I record data wearing  a Garmin chest strap that is linked to my Garmin eTrex 30 GPS unit.  From there I send it to Strava for saving o my profile.

Here’s a Veloviewer 3D elevation rendering of the ups, downs and all-arounds of the same 8 miles ride that I took this past Sunday:

Here’s the traditional view of the ride.  It ain’t easy! These  two images are not aligned correctly, but I bet you can rotate them  in your mind’s eye.

I talked to my doctor about it last week while he was trimming away at a plugged sweat gland that was causing me pain on the side of my foot.  He thought my heart/arteries were OK, but also said that he had at least a handful of apparently healthy patients who were athletes in their early 70’s that dropped dead from unexpected heart attacks.

So he’s getting me a referral for a consultation with an electro-cardiologist who has a exercise specialty.  That’s all I want, a chance to talk to someone who has knowledge and background to address concerns.  My own father died at 72 of heart disease, and my paternal grandfather died from what might have been heart disease when my father was a baby.

In the meantime, I’ll keep pushing it on the bike, rest up adequately between my two-wheeled adventures, keep up the meditation, and start ramping up the relatively short summer/fall veggie consumption season.

Here was my lunch today:

Spring onions, fiddlehead ferns, my own kimchi, tempeh, rice noodle oup.