Monthly Update

It is SO hard to believe that it's AUGUST 31!!  What happened to June and July?  What happened to 2012??  Time sure flies when you're having fun, as they say.  (Which seems really unfair, by the way.  Time ought to fly when life sucks...)

I realized that my 50th birthday post (was that a month ago?  Seriously??) didn't include any updates as far as progress and such were concerned, and I am sure that all five of you who read this regularly really missed those important stats.  So here they are for August:

• Weight as of January 1, 2013 -  226 pounds
• Weight as of August 31, 2014 - 191 pounds
• Net loss - 35 pounds
• Bike miles for August - about 275, including a couple MTB runs and one commute to work (the commute went unrecorded mileage-wise, but was around 15 miles)
• Bike miles for 2014 to date - 1664, which is only about 300 behind all of last year, which is pretty remarkable considering June and July - June was 38 and July was 138 due to my injury and recovery

I keep hovering around the 190 mark; sometimes as low as 188, occasionally up to 193.  I am happy with things right now, but definitely feel as if there's a long way to go.  In reality I would like to lose 20-30 more pounds.  My mid-section is still not where it needs to be.  The shirt stays on for a while longer, but it's definitely fitting better!!

In the coming weeks you should be able to read about my return to "the hill," which was actually planned for today but got canceled.  I've also lined up another student for you to read about - longboarding this time.  Hoping to line up a certain pro cyclist as well...

That's about it.  Unless you count that in two days I start my 28th year of teaching ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW???  and that I have two kids in college since we last talked.  It's all just a blur.  It's been fun, though.  Wish I could remember most of it...

Seriously, 1200 Pounds??

OK, I see how it is.  I can write about how it feels as I reach a milestone age and it gets maybe 50 views.  But when I write about a really awesome kid doing fun stuff, it gets about 200.  I get it.  That's fine.  From a marketing standpoint I need to pay attention to the wants of my customers, so if you really want to read about people that you think are more interesting than I am, well, I guess I have to oblige...

A couple weeks ago you got to meet Evan.  Evan weighs maybe 130 pounds after a heavy meal and is quite physically fit.  Today I'd like to introduce you to an athlete who weighs, well, a bit more.  Annie is strong and extremely fit and weighs about 1200 pounds.  Hard to believe, I know.  A 1200-pound fit athlete?  Yep.  Of course Annie is a horse, so that's a pretty healthy weight.

 Annie is part of a team - her partner is Dani (who weighs less...), another of my really awesome students, and recently I got to see the team in action at the Richland Park Horse Trials, a huge equestrian event near Kalamazoo.  I went to see them last year as well, getting to see the Dressage competition (very cool, but, well, not terribly exciting), so this year I attended on "Stadium" day, and got to see them in the stadium jumping over things.

Wow.  What I saw between the stadium where Dani and Annie competed and the cross country course (where they competed the next day -I got to watch other riders) completely amazed me.  Horse and rider act as one.  Lots of things for the horse to go over, around, through (sometimes over and through at the same time), and all the while the clock is ticking and judges are observing.  Nerve-wracking for the audience, especially if your kid is on said 1200-pound animal (ask her mom), which on the XC course can travel at speeds up to 25+ mph.  But the pressure on the rider?  I'll let you in on some of the things that Dani and her folks taught me.

First, though, let me ask this: when was the last time the piece of exercise equipment you were using had a mind of its own?  I'm not talking about how this bike has a different steering feel than that one, or your tennis racket is strung differently or you don't have your carbon fiber golf club so you can't hit as long.  I am talking about an actual breathing, thinking, reacting very large animal, maybe something that can squash you like a bug.  Yeah, I didn't think so.  

See, in the unlikely event that I go over some kind of obstacle/jump on the mountain bike, for instance (I was getting bolder before the crash...), I know how to sit the back of the bike down, I have control of the handlebars, and I theoretically know exactly how the inanimate piece of metal and rubber under my butt is going to react.  Now imagine the same idea of a jump or going off a ledge, only you're about five feet in the air in your seat (when your seat is on the ground), and the equipment under your butt is a half-ton being who maybe doesn't really feel like doing that jump right now, or gets a little spooked by the crowd, or for some other reason just decides it's not the right time for her to do what you want.  Oh, and you're holding two relatively thin strips of leather which don't really brace you against anything or allow you to physically steer in mid-air.  Now you're getting the idea...

As we wandered around the various events I noticed something that I thought was pretty significant.  As I watched the riders go past, I came to the realization that there weren't any, well, fat people there.  Now this may be due to some factor that I am unaware of, but I'm pretty sure it's mostly due indeed to the level of fitness and endurance required even though the horse is "doing all the work."

Hydrating before the stadium event.

Dani's father, Dave, was explaining some of the training he has helped set her up with.  It includes some core exercises along with stretching and some fitness/weight training.  She's also doing things like jumping jacks, squats, and pushups as well as riding at least six days a week.  

 Dani explained the level of strength to me this way: "back and core muscles are a huge part for sure, along with all of the hip muscles - flexors (the ones in front) and stabilizers (on the sides) especially.  Quads play a bigger part when I'm in the jumping saddle (there's a jumping saddle?  I didn't ask that...), because my knees are bent further.  Hips and core are more important for dressage, but still important all the time.The arms should technically only have to hold themselves and the reins, which doesn't amount to much weight.  However if the horse gets 'strong' (puts more weight on the bit and therefore the reins), the rider has to be strong enough to keep herself in position while correcting the horse.  As far as the most fatigued muscles, it depends on what I've done that day.  Sitting trot will make the core tired, jumping makes the quads and calves tired, and galloping can be hard on the back.  Overall, it's a lot of fine motor control and stabilization."  Wow.  She must be pretty tough!

Dani also keeps fit by eating well.  She and the family are on a mostly gluten-free diet due to dad having Celiac disease, and she has learned much about a healthy human diet from that.  So, while the healthy lifestyle isn't totally because of her riding and training, she tells me she can definitely feel it when she isn't eating as well as she usually does.  (Somewhere in an earlier post I talked about this very thing - I am the same way as far as gluten is concerned.  It was a very interesting post; you should search for it.)

I'm standing here as a size reference (for height...)

On stadium day Dani was seated 7th in her class after Friday's dressage competition.  In that, as in golf, lower numbers are better, and she scored a 37.3 for the day.  In the stadium event, riders must complete the course, which includes a number of jumps in a circuit, within a certain time period.  During your event, should your horse knock down a rail or otherwise "miss" a jump (this can include a "refusal," which is just like it sounds), penalty points are added to your score.  There is also the clock for these events.  Each level of competition has a time limit for Stadium and XC.  Your score over the three events is combined, and basically the lowest score wins.

Dani and Annie finished their Stadium event with no penalty points and under the required time, so they earned a "Double Clear" and therefore held the 37.5 score.  And moved up to 4th place!  As I write the first draft of this, they are competing in the Cross Country event.  Here is the video of their Stadium performance (in two parts due to size restrictions...)

 I also learned about the preparations for these events.  As we watched the Cross Country event I saw several riders, all with their numbers strapped to their vests, walking along the course.  Most were pushing those little meter-wheel things, and occasionally would stop to write in a little notebook or look around.  They were doing a "walk through," in which the rider is allowed to literally walk through the course, measuring and marking time and distance, even planning out the number of steps their horse will take between things.  

Each class has a different time rate to average; for each minute Dani's classification must travel 470 meters over the 2550-meter course, for an optimum time of 5:26.  So the riders will take their measuring devices and mark off that much distance, and then make a mental or physical note of where they are on the course.  Dani and other riders wear watches with timers set for each minute.  When the watch beeps, they know where they should be on the course based on their walk-through.  (The horse, however, is running it for the first time, and therein lies a big part of the challenge.  Dani's mom told me of the time a couple years ago when Annie was spooked by an obstacle.  The jump was actually in the shape of a horse that was lying down, complete with eyes, etc.  Annie balked and wouldn't jump.)

But since some of the XC course is jumping and some is riding as fast as you can to the next part of the course, and the meters per minute are averaged, a rider needs to know when/where she needs to go faster to make up for the obstacle section, where she will be slower.  The XC course is about two miles in length at Richland Park, though the distance and obstacles differ from class to class; lower-level riders get shorter courses and easier and fewer obstacles.  Here is a very brief look at one of the Cross Country obstacles.  The horse and rider approach from the left, jump over a fence-like structure, land lower than when they started, climb out of the ditch, and immediately jump over the next fence.

Last year...

As you can see, this particular rider (horse...) missed the jump as his mount went between the obstacles instead of over one.  So he turned around and went back and did the sequence again, which cost him penalty points.  When there is a break in the action, course officials zip by on golf carts to grab the penalty sheets from the judges that were right nearby, and the scores are tallied and totaled for the day's final result.

This year...  Minus about 20 pounds (me, not the girls!)

Speaking of the final result, Dani updated me on hers: she ended up with a second "double clear" in the Cross Country event, so she ended up adding zero points to her Friday score (that's the goal, remember), and ended up in THIRD PLACE in her class!  Great work!

Dani has done four events this year, and plans to do two more, which fits in her season average of between five and eight shows per year.  I am really excited to have seen this a couple of times, and learned a LOT.  Thanks, Dani!!

**2015 Update:**
Dani has a new horse named Dash, and yesterday I got to see them run the cross country portion of the event.  WOW.  That is all I can say.  Remarkable athleticism from horse and rider.  (Dash is very cool as well, though yesterday he was very focused and intense and wasn't as cute and cuddly as Annie always was to me.  Friendly horse, but you can definitely see the difference in personalities!)

New Jersey

No, not like New Jersey; rather new jersey...  From my sister, Brenda.  As a recreational cyclist with an employee discount at the bike shop, you may have guessed that I have a fair number of jerseys, and you would be correct.  You might also guess that, since it was my birthday, my middle sibling thought it would be a great idea to buy me a new jersey, and that would also be correct.

What you might not know, however, is the story behind the jersey (is that enough italics for a while? I thought so...).

As anyone can plainly see from this photo, the jersey in question is emblazoned with a silhouette of the US capitol building and "Washington DC" in lovely bold block lettering across the top, all done in patriotic red, white, and blue.  Looks GREAT.  I love it.

You might also notice that my sister, the giver of this gift and pictured with me, is quite obviously significantly older than I am (sorry for more italics...).  And therein lies the story.

Fifty years ago or so, as the summer of 1964 approached, my parents, "Doc" and Helen Walker, were planning to take their happy young family of six on a vacation road trip to Washington, DC to see our nation's capitol and all of the memorials and sites and excitement that it entails.  (Excitement, indeed...  A road trip ANYWHERE with Doc was an adventure in patience, since he didn't believe in starting said trips any time after 4 a.m. and never stopped to eat, which meant we didn't have to stop to pee, either.  Oh, the memories of driving my eldest sister to college in Minnesota...)  So the plan was for Mom, Dad, and the four Walker children (Pam, Kevin, Brenda, and Marcia) to go and see democracy in action that fateful summer fifty years gone.

Around about probably February or March, my parents gathered their happy clan for a family meeting.  These meetings were very infrequent, since Doc's rule was usually law, so any time there was a family meeting it was serious stuff.  Let me set the scene for you:

The four children gathered on the floor, looking up at their parents, no doubt expecting to hear about some of the wonderful excursions and sightseeing they would be doing in a few short months.  Mom and Dad, beaming proudly at their adoring offspring, smiling beatifically down from their perches on the couch.  Mom got the ball rolling.

"Well, kids, we have a question for you.  Would you rather fo to Washington this summer, or have a new baby brother or sister?"

"OOoooh, a new baby."  "Yes, awesome, a new baby would be great," and other such excited babble greeted them from their children.

All but one.

"Ummm, no, I want to go to Washington."  Brenda, ever one to have a plan, make a plan, and STICK TO IT, was firmly entrenched with the idea of a family trip to DC.  She was eight years old and was totally looking forward to it.  (And hey, she already had three siblings, so it's not like anyone was lonely.)

I'm still not sure exactly how the folks broke the news that it really wasn't a choice or a vote, and that indeed the great Washington Trip of the Summer of 1964 was indeed going to be canceled, but there it was.  Brenda did NOT get to go to see democracy in action, the Lincoln Memorial, or any other such national treasures that were in store for her.  Because of me :)

The story continues, however, because not only did she not get to go to DC, I also made her the middle child.  I am frequently reminded of both of these things.  "I could have gone to Washington," she sighed, exasperated, when I sent her a birthday card every day for a week the year she turned 30.  (I assure you that many were very creative and humorous.)  At some point she figured out the middle child thing, and all of her myriad psychological issues have since been placed on my shoulders as well.

Want to know the funniest thing, though?  I've actually been to DC three times.  Yep.  Took the ZHS Marching Band there for the National Independence Day Parade and the National Memorial Day Parade.  The latter, in 2009, saw me at my best: I purchased, well, let's say "several" DC postcards and passed them out to the band kids.  I instructed them to write Brenda a nice note so that she would be able to somehow take part in the joy and excitement that we were all a part of.  The over 100 post cards all arrived at about the same time at the Holland mailbox, and brother-in-law Mark had a bit of a time getting them all in his hands to carry up to the house.  

So now Brenda has plenty of pictures and notes about what it's like in the capitol of the free world, and I'm sure she enjoyed reading every last one of those cards.  After all, her little brother is very thoughtful!!

So the choice between a trip or a sibling was settled, I came along and made the family so much more exciting and fun, and Brenda will probably some day get to DC.  I hope.  Once in a while I do feel a little bad about it...

Love you, big sister!!!  XOXOXO

Meet Evan

In my quest to keep my vast readership entertained I have enjoyed working with other people to bring you the very best stories.  You got to read about rock climbing, various group ride adventures, and the success of one student on his journey to health in addition to pretty regular updates about yours truly.

Well, I have found another subject so you don't have to read about me all the time.  This young man is an incredible musician in addition to being a great academic student.  He is a percussionist in the band and plays guitar and piano in the jazz band.  He does all manner of unique exercise, and - probably most unusual for a 16-year-old - he avoids junk food, fast food, and in general maintains a healthy diet.

Evan relaxing on the slackline as we chat about different things he's working on.

 Evan will tell you that his exercise isn't even exercise; he just has fun.  From slacklining to unicycling to hacky sack ("they're really called 'footbags' now..."), he is pretty constantly active and enjoys the outdoors.  Evan's dad Paul is a frequent riding partner of mine, and he and I have talked about kids and exercise and all of that stuff.  Paul teaches elementary school (as does Evan's mom, Lauri), and physical activity for kids is on their list of priorities.  So, based on my observations of kids and their habits the past few decades, I asked if they'd all be willing for me to use Evan as a subject of this post.  I wanted people to see how easy it is to not only stay in shape, but sometimes do it just because it's fun.

"You must use a lot of core doing that," I asked as I watched him slide deftly across his 80-foot slackline.  

"I guess?  I don't know, I don't really think about it much."  This seemed to be a recurring theme throughout the afternoon, and I think it's important:  Evan isn't doing these things for "exercise;" he's doing them because they're fun.  The fact that he is indeed building a very strong core, physical coordination, and all of that stuff is a benefit that he's not even thinking about.  When was the last time you did something like that?

The trunk gets wrapped with a towel
to protect tree and slackline.

So what is slacklining?  It's very cool.  It's the same concept as a tightrope, only, well, it's not tight; there's plenty of spring to it.  It's a long nylon line that is strung between two trees or posts, and the activities range from simply walking across it to tricks that are similar to trampoline and gymnastics.  There are slackline competitions and tournaments, as well as plenty of links on the interweb on what kinds of tricks can be done and how to do them.  Evan is working on a few, including one in which you spring from a seated/kneeling position into a standing one.

Checking the tension.  It can be
adjusted for various applications
and/or skill levels.

I know you are dying to know if I tried it.  Yep.  Popped right up there, zipped down and back, and...  riiighht...  I did actually manage, with the assistance of Evan's shoulder and a well-placed PVC pipe as a crutch, to stand on the line for several seconds.  Fortunately my common sense prevailed, and I got right back down - I could feel that my shoulder would strain far too much if I continued holding on to the pipe.  And if I didn't continue to hold it, the potential resulting fall could be devastating as well!  So I got down.

Foot alignment is pretty important - "it seems like
you would want to keep your feet sideways, but
that causes the line to rock back and forth.  You
have to line your feet up with the line."

But here you have an exercise that combines balance, core strength, and a strong mental challenge in addition to allowing all levels of skill to participate.  Sounds like the complete package.  I told Evan that come next spring, when I am definitely completely healed (my PT is more concerned about tendons and muscles than the broken bones), I am learning to slackline!

BUT...  Do I learn to slackline before I learn to...  UNICYCLE??  That's a good question.  Because, as you all know by now, I am certainly good at pedaling things.  Well, with maybe the one notable exception.  And the physics and fun look of the unicycle have intrigued me since I was a youngster and one of the neighbor kids had one.  Can't even really imagine how they work!  How do

Starting with the pedal at the back of
the wheel is the first huge difference
between riding one and two wheels.

you balance on one wheel?  How do you not simply fall on your face (or your Fat@$$) when you start pedaling?  Evan set out to show me how.

"It's probably easiest, when you start, to just sit by something and hang on and just rock back and forth for an hour and it makes the rest much easier."  Sounds like a plan.  We'll start there.

I have to admit that it gets at least mildly frustrating to watch people do something seemingly without effort.  Evan grabbed the unicycle, slid the pedal to the bottom rear of the wheel, stepped up and took off.  I watched with the same fascination I had when I was a kid, still wondering just exactly how this all works.  Forward, backward, quick pauses, all relatively smooth and easy.  Surely anyone can do this...

Forward

Backward...

We headed out to the street where it was level (did I mention that all of the above started on Evan's inclined driveway?).  Again with the PVC pipe, but this time with the assistance of a nearby mailbox, I made several valiant attempts to successfully mount the unicycle.  Actually almost had it once for about two seconds.  After that attempt common sense again prevailed and I wisely decided to postpone any serious learning until later.  (I wonder how long I will be able to use this as an excuse???  But seriously, a fall - or more likely my attempt to stop a fall with my hands and arms - would be disastrous at this point.)  For your entertainment and instruction, here's Evan doing it:

So what motivated all of this?  Simple:  "I saw someone doing it and thought, 'hey, I want to do that,' so I bought what I needed and did it."  It doesn't get much more straightforward than that, I guess.  And the slackline and the unicycle have been joined by several footbags that he and most of the drumline enjoy playing with.  As a matter of fact, Evan and the other section leaders introduced the incoming freshmen to a round of hacky sack on the first day of band camp last week.  (Yeah, I'm not very good at that, either, but at least there's not a lot of danger that I'll re-injure myself.)

More unusual than any of his athletic/leisure pursuits (Evan also tried several sports as a youngster, ranging from Lacrosse to soccer) is the fact that he's probably the only teenager I know with healthy eating habits.  This stems in part from good parenting, but also a lot from seventh grade science class, where Evan got to see Super Size Me: he reports being at least moderately traumatized from the experience and has basically sworn off fast food.  On the day of our interview we grabbed lunch at Jimmy John's, and he says that's about as close as it gets to junk for him.  

Evan is also careful when snacking, which is how this conversation started last year.  Between marching band, jazz band, and pit orchestra, there have been long stretches of time for us to be at school together at rehearsals and performances.  While other kids run to fast food joints or Family Fare for the latest in GMOs, trans fats, and high fructose corn syrup, Evan usually has some gluten-free crackers, veggies, and fruit.  (Honestly, the first time I noticed this I assumed he'd helped himself to some of my almond crackers, because who else eats those??  I thought it was just me and/or my wife.)

How does he manage this while surrounded by peers (and occasionally teachers...) who seem to snack on anything but good stuff?  It's just what he's used to.  The serious junk food doesn't interest him because it's never really been a big deal.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and credit Lauri and Paul for this, or at least for getting it started.  (In a similar vein, Nathan and Erin had very specific tastes for take-out pizza by the time they were five.)

So there you have it.  Good habits started at an early age, a good support system, and a kid who simply enjoys being outside. All wrapped up in a pretty cool individual who is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.  Thanks for sharing, Evan :)

The family garage, where all the equipment is.  Unicycle, bicycles, golf clubs, and a really cool little purple scooter thing that is self-propelled similar to a rip stick (the one that looks like a toddler toy - it's not one).  There's also plenty of winter stuff available!