<p>I’ve been loading up the car and prepping grill meals. Heading out car camping tomorrow. Three nights and a couple days of hiking. Should be spectacular weather. And, should be some fall foliage in the mountins. Sunny. Blue skies. Mid to upper 60s for daytime highs. Lows around 40, so I’ve got the fleece ready to go along with a couple of down sleeping bags. Dinners are andouille sausage and corn on the cob, ribeye steak/cole slaw, pork chop/cole slaws. Country ham and eggs for breakfasts! The andouille sausage was a last minute substitution. Market Basket had salmon filets, but no salmon steaks that work on the grill.</p>
<p>I’m scaling back the hiking a little bit, although I may hike one of the easier 4000 footers I did last summer.</p>
<p>I figured out why my last adventure did me in. Day Two was 4200 feet of descent, 1000 feet more than I had ever done (and the 3200 feet had done me in). I was focused on splitting the ascent into two days and never thought about that amount of descent.</p>
<p>Just finished my first tub of Generation UCAN Superstarch (after going thru two boxes of packets). Gotta order another tub from Holabird Sports when I get back. The stuff seems be working well as extended exercise fuel. One scoop or half a packet every two hours.</p>
<p>^^^^Have fun and be safe. Funny about the sausage; I have been craving stir fry cabbage, have no idea why. Had it today and threw in some nitrate free sausage and it made a nice lunch!</p>
<p>As it turns out, the fresh broccoli and romaine lettuce and celery I I eat all the time has a million times more nitrates than sausage or bacon. Nitrate-free is another one of those fake food health claims.</p>
<p>On a similar note, I always cringe when people say they have organic gardens that they liberally water with MiracleGro! The lettuces, cabbages, and tomatoes end up with so much nitrogen they can be used as explosive devices by terrorists!! :)</p>
<p>I don’t actually think that hot dogs and most commercially available sausage is particularly healthy eating, but it has nothing to do with the nitrites or nitrates. :)</p>
<p>I don’t do hot dogs because of the buns, but a dinner of smoked sausage every once in a while is a nice change of pace. All the Kielbasa in the store today had turkey in it, so I figured I’d try the premium brand Andouille.</p>
<p>OMG, it was, and the whole cabbage thing was so totally not me, lol, though I do LOVE veggies. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the last few years has made it clear to me that I really have to restrict simple carbs, so hot dogs with buns are out, but sometimes they just are so good. It’s probably more the atmosphere than the food, like a baseball game at Arlington Stadium (or whatever it’s called now), a college football game, etc. </p>
<p>I do like sweets, adore chocolate, but it’s so much easier for me to pass those by than a baked potato, rice, crackers with cheese, or a sandwich (it’s not that I’m a bread addict, but sorry, a burger or turkey whatever without the bread to hold it together just seems sadly lacking, sigh).</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional birthday wishes IDad and fireandrain. And tomorrow’s my wife’s birthday, same age but 1 day apart only because I was 2 months premature lol. I tell her she’s got to respect her elders and she tells me not to press my luck.</p>
<p>Absolutely nothing wrong with turkey. I love a turkey sandwich. Or Thanksgiving turkey. If I wanted turkey or chicken sausage, I would be more than happy to buy that and eat it.</p>
<p>To me, it’s just not aesthetically proper to put turkey in something like Kielbasa that is, historically, a pork sausage. I don’t think ground up turkey is one iota healthier than ground up pork so I don’t want to reward the implied fake health claim of saying that Polish sausage is made from turkey, beef, and pork. It’s just my stubborn purist streak. Plus, from a flavor standpoint, I’m with Emeril: It’s a pork fat thing…</p>
<p>That was the first thing I noticed on the RealRyder video. If you rode a real bike like that, you’d be in the ditch. After all my years of riding bicycles, I didn’t understand counter-steering until I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation courses and tried to do obstacle avoidance drills (fast aggressive emergency turns) through cones. To turn right, you push forward on the right handlebar. To turn left, you push forward on the left handlebar. The motorcycle immediately leans to that side and turns. The more aggressively you push forward, the more aggressive the turn. </p>
<p>I didn’t understand because it’s masked on a bicycle. You can sort of make a bike lean (which is what really initiates the turn) by leaning your body. But, a motorcycle at 60 mph has so much stability (resists leaning), that leaning the body does just about zilch. You have to countersteer to initiate the lean and the turn. It’s really quite amazing how well countersteering works on a motorcycle (and on a bicycle once you are conscious of it).</p>
<p>It would be very unnerving for me to do a RealRyder course on bikes that lean to the right by turning the handlebars to the right.</p>
<p>Yup, the movement of the RealRyder is not at all like an actual bike. It may move from side to side and “turn”, but not in the same manner as a bike on the road.</p>
<p>Well, at least my tootsies are going to be toasty in the tent. This will be the first camping trip for my down booties, although I wore them around the house some last winter. A down booty (strictly inside the tent) with a separate ripstop outer boot cover for walking outside the tent.</p>
<p>MnK, happy birthday to your better half. H and I are separated by one day…oh, and a few years. I don’t ever let him forget that. Glad he hasn’t caught on to the “respect your elders” trick! </p>
<p>Beautiful cool morning for a run today - upper 40’s at 5 am, got 5 miles in. I realized I needed to get my cooler weather gear organized but also that I need to buy some things. Ladies, any recommendations for lightweight jackets? </p>
<p>Thank you Sabaray! It’s been kind of humorous with the temperature change. When I rode on Sunday it started out in the low 60’s and I felt a bit chilly. In the Spring, when it hits the low 60’s, it’s like a a balmy day for bib shorts and short sleeve jerseys.</p>
<p>It’s not enough for super cold weather or heavy rain, but the first jacket I put on every time is an ultralight wind breaker. A number of companies make them. They weight practically nothing (around 5 ounces for the hoody version) and are light enough to not be a sauna when you are sweating. It’s what I put on climbing Franconia Ridge last week with temps around 50 and a stiff breeze. I’ve also worn them over a long-sleeve base layer in 20 degree weather. Water resistant enough for a little drizzle. These jackets all stuff into a zipper pocket and are small enough to carry just in case.</p>
<p>Sierra Trading Post has the Marmot version (Trail Wind) with or without hood for $50 or around $35 after the 35% discount codes that you get every week on their e-mail list:</p>
<p>Anyway, I’ve got “running jackets” and “hiking jackets” in several different weights. These get, by far the most use. I always have one in my backpack. I always have one in the car. </p>
<p>It was cool this morning in Texas (mid 70’s), so I went back to Katy Trail for another ride.</p>
<p>1)Since tomorrow is a rest, day, I pushed it a little and did 12.5 miles. Wore biking shorts for the first time. </p>
<p>2)Both coming and going up and down the trail, I saw a sweaty, shirtless Troy Aikman jogging. So what I have to say about that is…uh…well…yeah. </p>
<p>iDad, I thought you had already left on your expedition - didn’t mean to leave our shopping guru out! </p>
<p>I like that Patagonia Nine Trails jacket but unfortunately only sizes available are small and large - think I’d probably need a medium. Has a lot of nice features - particularly that back pocket! I might take a chance and order one, see how it fits. I still think of myself as godzilla sized and have a tendency to purchase items that are too large. See, I’m talking myself into it. </p>
</p>![http://featheredfriends.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/e/featheredfriends_blue_downbooties_1.jpg]Feathered](http://featheredfriends.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/e/featheredfriends_blue_downbooties_1.jpg%5DFeathered){kind=link}
