New study shows the right workout routine can help fight dementia – The Globe and Mail

It’s snowing like crazy this Thanksgiving morning here in Maine as I put together this blog post.  During the night, an inch of rain preceded the whiteout so I’m sure there will be some ice hidden under the new cover of snow.

The wind is howling, clouds of white are swirling, and the air temperature is exactly 32 degrees.  All of this adds up to me sitting beside the wood stove soaking up the heat before I fire up my heavily-studded-tire-equipped VW Golf and my wife Marcia and I creep out way down Route 1 to join two of her sisters and their families for a Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving morning of 2018 had no snow fall; however, the mercury in the thermometer that day bottomed out at a bone chilling 5℉.

My neighbor Andy and I ride our bikes year ’round and up to now, have embraced a Thanksgiving morning tradition of riding our bikes for an hour and a half or so, usually reaching Camden Hills State  Park.

Andy, setting the route

Camden is a vacation destination in all seasons, and sits in a protected harbor off Penobscot Bay.  It’s at sea level. Our houses face the ocean sited at some 450′ in elevation.  All of this geographic data equals bike rides that undulate up and down on the numerous hills and little mountains that stretch from inland to the coast.  It is a workout that invariably pushes our heart rates back and forth into the zone that is normally characterized by the upper reaches of an interval workout of moderate to more intense intensity.

This past Monday and Tuesday found me braving a drive of some 220 miles away to Pembroke, MA to visit with my 93 year old mother Isabel and bring her to a medical appointment. It’s a sad visit, only buffered by my appreciation that Isabel had experienced 90 good years of remarkably healthy life before she was diagnosed with late onset Alzheimer’s disease.

At my age, I worry if genes will overcome my efforts to remain cognitively intact as I age out.  My father, Chester died at age 72 of congestive heart failure, before any noticeable decline in his memory.  His own father died when Chester was a baby,  but my dad’s mother, Mary, died of old age and likely Alzheimer’s.  I was only little, but I do remember how strange it was for me to realize that in her later years, Mary was unable to recognize her own son.

The following Globe and Mail article came into my inbox a couple days a go.  Do check it out:

“In 2017, a team led by the lab’s director, Jennifer Heisz, published a five-year study of more than 1,600 adults older than 65 that concluded that genetics and exercise habits contribute roughly equally to the risk of eventually developing dementia. Only one of those two factors is under your control, so researchers around the world have been striving to pin down exactly what sort of workout routine will best nourish your neurons.”

Any and I might have missed our bike rides this morning, but we’ll probably both be back at it tomorrow, doing what we can to keep moving and remembering today all those that we treasure as we sit around the tables of bounty.

full article here –>via New study shows the right workout routine can help fight dementia – The Globe and Mail

Where To Play Outdoors in Midcoast Maine This Week

Yes!

What’s up for today?

The yearly ritual of turning back of clocks today came with the a clear turn toward Spring, which officially arrives this year at 6:45 pm March 20. The light is different now. It’s clearer, warmer as the longer days arrive, and still below freezing every single night.

It’s a banner year for cold, school storm days, and especially for snow accumulation. There is thee to four feet of snow on local trails, and even higher depths at elevation.

Bruce Bicknell storming up the Ridge Trail

While struggling up the steepest sections of Ridge Trail in Camden Hills State Park on Saturday, my extended Leki trekking poles went all the way up to the hand grips before the connected with solid ground.

I was able to do it all this week: snowshoe hikes, bike rides on the snow and ice, and even a run on a clear tar road where I didn’t have to fear a slip or fall on the ice, which had finally melted.

High Street toward Levensellar Mountain

Several places are really prime right now. For skiers and snowshoe fans, you can’t beat the conditions in Camden Hills State park.   Regular snowmobile grooming on the Multipurpose/ Ski Lodge trail has put a packed surface of deep snow down for foot ( and bike) traffic.

The sheer number of people out and about has also packed down several of the side trails.

On Saturday, Bruce and I were able to walk without snowshoes all the way up the Carriage and then Tableland Trails to the intersection of Jack Williams where we donned snowshoes to break the untraveled 1.7 miles of that route. A slight inconvenience that is not a problem in the summer is the nearly constant pushing aside of small branches from my face. it’s because there is so much snow on the trails that you are actually elevated three to four feet above into a canopy that’s normally overhead.

Here’s a Google map rendition of a sixteen mile winter mountain biking route that I took yesterday, with this graphic provided by John Anders, a local bike trail building force.

To orient, the blue line intersecting Route 173 is at the Stevens Corner parking lot.  Frohock Mountain is just to the left, Bald Rock Mountain is to the right, with the largest mass of Megunticook touching Penobscot Bay below.  The  blue line is all trail. Most of the traveling that we did in the foreground is impossible in any season but winter, unless you have a canoe, or an amphibious vehicle, as it is Swamp Thing country.

Pace line over Coleman Pond: Eric, Andre, and Buck

Maiden’s Cliff is packed down, especially the left turn route up to the Millerite Ledges.

Maiden’s Cliff overlooking Megunticook Lake

The road walk up to the top of 800′ Mount Battie from the Route 1 parking lot is plowed and the pavement is almost 100% clear right now.

Cameron Mountain is really easy to get to,  and serviced by many snowmobiles each day, packing that trail solid.

Descending Cameron Mtn.

Drive on up to Tanglewood 4- H camp and ski the Road in from the parking lot/kiosk.  it’s groomed and packed solid.  The Ducktrap River trail, starting at the suspension bridge, looks great for skiing.

 

If you decide to head out into the woods this week in Lincolnville, do remember that’s it’s still pretty wild out there. Bring a day pack that can keep you going ( food and water), keep you warm ( dry extra clothes), keep you on track ( map, compass, and GPS), and keep you alive if you run out of daylight (warm clothing, fire starting devices, bivy sack).

Check out what’s in my present winter day pack, if you need some ideas.

If you exhaust the possibilities in and around the Camden Hills, you can also head up to Acadia, which now has it’s own Guthook’s Hiking Guide app for the iPhone/iPad available within his New England Hiker app.

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