Stage 2

While the rest of the country has been marred with the debilitating winter climate, us Californians have been spoiled by uncharacteristic Spring weather in the last month or so. Of course, I had to take advantage and bring the R1 out as much as I can! Next week's looking to be another bout of a somewhat Spring weekend, then the winter rain should be coming.

Until then, I gave the bike a deserved Stage 2 wash; washed the individual fairings off the bike, as well as around the engine as needed.


Don't ask me what a Stage 3 wash entails. :)

Speaking of second stages, with the pleasant success of the TAAF bike project I took upon last year, I've since been thinking of ways to evolve from that this coming season. The bike's been getting the attention I had hope it would, and day by day I'm hoping that more and more people are burning the letters T-A-A-F in their brain, inevitably associating it with the Foundation. For every person that's asked me what T-A-A-F stood for, was another person that had previously never heard of The Aneurysm and AVM Foundation.

So this season, I have two tentative plans to create awareness for TAAF, and maybe even raise funds.

First was an inspired effort from my friend Pete Leist; in hopes to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Pete did an endurance ride around Thunderhill Raceway, raising funds by collecting pledges from people to match evey lap/mile that he did with a particular dollar amount. I thought it was genius. For me, it wouldn't be but just another regular trackday that I would do, but by finding pledges to match every mile or lap that I did, every mile or lap that I used to do for pleasure would now be put to good use. Much like what I did with my bike, this was another way of taking something that I personally enjoyed and was for my personal gain, and turn it into something more objective.

Secondly, which really parallels the fundraising trackday effort, is to hold a motorcycle group ride to raise funds and create awareness for TAAF. My weekends usually consist of volunteering stint to lead/sweep a group ride; it was part for-pleasure, and part paying it forward by providing some time and perhaps what little riding know-how I have with other riders, particularly the newer ones. It's not uncommon for someone to hold a fund-raising group ride, and I've actually participated and volunteered for one as well for my friend Jenn Barrett in her efforts towards Cystic Fibrosis. The plan is to hold a group ride just like any of the ones I've volunteered in. Everyone is welcome to participate, if not just to ride as their show of solidarity for the cause and effort. I thought though, that to give riders further incentive to participate and perhaps donate, is to offer up custom TAAF arm sweatbands in exchange for a minimum donation. These armbands will then be worn by those who donated throughout the ride, as a badge of their honorable intentions, and as a show of their true, generous colors. I've contacted a manufacturer of custom armbands, and as long as I can front the funds to order in bulk, the armbands will tentatively look like this:



For now, I'm fairly certain of the fundraising trackday, as it's going to be an individual effort on my part, so logistically, it's the easier of the two. Either way, I just need to hear back from the foundation to make sure they have no qualms about it, and for any information I might need to know as I've never done any kind of fundraising before.

Escalation.

It's not always a bad thing, eh? :)

It's a New Year, but My Resolution Started Two Months Ago

Well, it's not really a resolution per se. More like, just another one of my quests for personal evolution and pushing my personal boundaries.

At some point in my life, I actually did a 180 on my personality, just to allow me to live the reality I've always desired. That may sound like a vague statement, but suffice it to say, it was an inward change that I implemented to better myself. It worked, (and whether people like it or not) I am the way I am because of what I've done. This was many years ago, in my early 20's. Fast forward to a couple of months ago and many other personal accomplishments tried, succeeded, and some failed, and I decided what my next conquest was going to be.

I've never cared much about working out or bettering my physique. A lot of this had to do with that for the better part of my 28 years, my metabolism allowed me to stay at a constant weight for the longest time, no matter what I ate/did not eat or if I exercised/did not exercise. However, in the last few years, this wonderful metabolism has slowly left me. Now, it would've never festered into a problem had gaining weight for me meant gaining weight evenly throughout my body; no, gaining weight for me meant ONLY my mid-section expanding.

Now once again, this isn't necessarily a terrible problem to be had, as it was not as if my mid-section was out of control that I couldn't see my belly button anymore, but after 28 years, any self-respecting man would've amassed a respectable gallery of clothes that he really wouldn't want to overhaul for anything other than the times changing. Overhauling for the sake of going a size up, well, that's akin to waving the white flag, admitting defeat. It's not cost-effective, and, well, I like my current wardrobe collection...

So, with those preceding realizations, my next personal project laid itself in front of me: It was time to buckle down to follow a specific diet and workout regimen.

For 90 days.

Starting November 1st of 2010.

Admittedly, I was still too much of a man to ask for directions, so no, I didn't get a personal trainer or consult with a nutritionist. Instead, I turned to the internet (like I do with everything else!), and found a diet and workout regimen that was realistic to my current eating habits (I love to eat!), with exercises that would be accessible. I found a high-protein diet consisting of six meals/snacks per day, with target workouts for specific muscle groups per night, four nights a week, topping it off with cardio for the next day or two, resting on the 7th day.

I'm now in my 9th week of about 12 weeks total scheduled, and here's my impression and findings so far:

• It's completely counter-intuitive, personally speaking, but eating more small meals per day vs. less larger meals really does make you lose weight!
  
  
• Working out doesn't seem like too much work when you split the muscle groups per day/night, and it also means you spend less time at the gym, which is always a plus.
  
  
• On average, once I got in the groove of my eating and workout regimen, I can lose a pound a half in a 24 hour period.
  
  
• I could've lost a lot more weight by now, if I dieted full-time instead of just the four days that I worked out. That changed about a week or so ago; no more cheat days or fasting day, just six small meals per day for 7 days.
  
  
• Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve dinners didn't crash my party so much, but they did set me back a good 2 pounds or so each night. People thought I was crazy for doing this during this time of the year, but I figured if I could do it now, I should b able to do it any time.
  
  
• It's so stupid of me, but I never realized how much you need running shoes for running. For the first month and a half I would run in basketball shoes, until I started feeling shooting pain in my left foot. A simple suggestion by a friend to switch to running shoes fixed it alright!
  
  
• I can't get enough running now! I started off just running once a day for two days like my workout regimen suggested, but now I cap off every workout night by running a mile at max heart rate as well.
  
  
• I find myself reading up on which foods are healthy, and how intense your workout needs to be for optimal payout. Thankfully, I haven't started calorie counting (yet?).
  
  
• I love eggs, but having to eat 6 egg whites and 1 egg yolk every morning got too cumbersome. Thank god for whey protein shakes.
  
  
• Speaking of food, I can still apparently eat the same thing over and over again, but I've found that there are certain foods that I need to deviate from every now and then. Such as chicken breast. That god-forsaken dry and soulless piece of meat.
  
  
• Speaking of soulless food, cottage cheese is torture, but Knudsen's Low-Fat Cottage Cheese has the best taste I've found so far I no longer need to mix in some crushed pineapple just to eat cottage cheese.
  

To be truthful, I'm not doing this for total weight loss or muscle-gaining. Obviously I want to lose the flab in the middle, but I also want to get my total body fat down overall, while retaining my existing muscle mass at least. Remember when I said I didn't want to overhaul my closet just because I've gained weight/mass? Well, I don't want to overhaul my closet either because I've lost too much weight/mass. In short, I'm really just trying to get my body as lean as I can possibly get it, to see what's the best I can make it look with what I was naturally given. I've never cared to even wonder before, so I figured now really is the better time to find out, when my body at its age could use all the help it can get from me in keeping it in shape.

I started off at 189 lbs. in November 1st, the heaviest I've been. I also measured my chest, shoulders, and arms while I was at it. By tomorrow morning, I'm pretty sure I'm going to clock in at 181 lbs., making it an average of nearly a pound lost per week since I started. As I already mentioned though, I'm jump-starting this last four weeks by following my diet 7 days a week; I got tired of seeing all the progress I'd make in four to five days, only to gain a few of it back because of the weekend.

Once my 90 days are up, I may relax on the diet, but I've found that I actually enjoy this type of workout regimen, and I am definitely enjoying all this running, that I may incorporate the latter two full-time into my lifestyle.

So in three and a half weeks today, we'll see what I've achieved overall in the 90 days I allotted, but like I just mentioned;

I could get into this for life. :)

Provenance

I wrote this entry just over two years ago, concluding that my love affair with motorcycling practically sprouted from out of nothing.

I was wrong.

There is rhyme and there is reason to how I came to be the motorcyclist that I am today. I do have personal history and background that fostered this admiration. However, it is still true that there is no tradition I'm upholding, nor was I impressed by anyone in particular to begin with.

My love affair for motorcycling didn't just happen after all. Instead, it came from this:

In my earliest teens growing up in the Philippines, I now remember one of my most fondest memory - my brother's red mountain bike.


One day he didn't have one, and the next day he did. If I remember correctly, my brother (being the juvenile that he was), had won a ton of money in a gambling game, and the two notable things that stuck to my memory that he bought with his winnings were a genuine dart board set, and the red mountain bike. This must have been in the early 90's, so there was really nothing particularly special about the bicycle; it had a rigid frame and chassis with no suspension, and rubber brake pads for both wheels. It did have multi-gears though, so that made it a pretty trick item around our parts in the neighborhood. I didn't know any of this at the time though, being so young and this being Philippines when a blazing red bicycle would still be a luxury rather than a commodity. All I knew was that the red hue seared my eyes, and that it had two wheels to be powered by pedals.

My brother owned it. It was his. But no one else in the family really rode that bicycle as much as I did. I must have shaped the contours of its seat padding with my rear, and the handlebar grips were molded after my hands. I was a wandering kid before that bike, and I was a wandering kid on it that covered a whole lot more distance. I remember just getting on it at times, and pedaling the rest of the day away. It didn't matter if I was going somewhere I've never been in, or places that I always rode through; sometimes it wasn't the scenery or the destination that mattered. It only mattered that I was on the bicycle, moving, and the world gliding past. Being on that bicycle was the quickest way for me to feel the wind on my face. You could bet what little amount of pesos you had at time that if you couldn't find me at home, I was on that red bicycle.

Then one night, my brother, still the delinquent that he was, came home very late and left our house gate unlocked.

The next morning, the red bicycle was gone.

I don't remember being so devastated about it, although it was quite a loss and it's not as if we ever replaced that bicycle with another (like I pointed out, a luxury more than a necessity), but to think about it now just shows how much I actually valued every bit of that bicycle. It was one of the best things to happen to me when I was still in the Philippines, and it really is the only memory I can recall of my first encounter with a two-wheeled platform.*


And now I have my red steed, which for all intent and purposes, I did not premeditate that it would also be blazing red at times.

But here and now, I now know how I got to here, becoming the motorcyclist that I am. And once again in retrospect, my brother had something to do with me being a sport motorcyclist, and that red bike. :)

* Come to think of it, I really cannot remember how I learned to ride a bicycle. I'm sitting here trying to remember anything beyond that red bicycle, and nothing comes to mind. I remember who got me started on the guitar, and I even remember how I learned how to draw (which was way before the bicycle), but I just cannot remember how I learned to ride a bicycle. What a shame!

Life's Best Viewed in Panorama

Courtesy of my dinky camera phone, in which I always seem to find something new to do with time and again. :)





I wish I had found out about my phone's panorama pictures a few more months ago, when I was right across the water from New York!

Helloooo Fall :)

Cell phone cameras have come a long way,
with photo adjustment at my fingertips as well!
I'm not much of a holiday person, and while I'm not a complete Grinch, the next few weeks to close out the year just won't be my favorites. So I figure I'd post this now before I get all surly. You know, to leave on a high note, so to speak.

It has been a pretty good year for me with, and not at all bitter-sweet despite a failed attempt at shooting a short film Robert Rodriguez-style. Even that particular adventure earlier this year produced quite a memorable experience that I don't think I'll ever forget, and have surely learned from. It's one those better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all life lessons.

Then to be able to follow that (successful) failure with a project I had set out for my motorcycle to honor my brother, and succeeding at that, almost as well as the last one had failed, and 2010 really has been quite a personal stellar year. I couldn't have asked for a better way to segue into 2011, a year that will no doubt spell an even more monumental adventure, not just for myself, but for Belle (and of course Rusty!).

Suffice it to say, 2010 is a year not to be forgotten, or to be regretted. :)

'Round the Outside

Six feet 'round the outside, to be specific. Passing rule for B Group with Zoom-Zoom Trackdays at Infineon Raceway yesterday. Six feet in the inside is allowed, but I hate to be spooking people, so the long way around we go. :)



Yesterday's trackday marked the last for the season for me, and I have now officially had a crash-free 2010 track season! I'm hoping to repeat this from here on out, and doing even less trackdays (and more sport-touring!) should help. :)

This is a Bomb. A Rusty Photo-bomb.

Cause you know, a picture is worth a thousand words, and since this spot has been nothing but my adventures as of late, it's time to catch up on all things Rusty too.

So here are Rusty's latest adventures in 16,000 words. :)


Rusty's a sun child. :)


Pseudo Pig-in-a-Blanket!


The Squished-Face One.




"Get off my lawn."




A ninja knows how to blend in!


Apex predator on the prowl.


Pilates!


Let's go!


Yup. That's him too.


Morning news brief.


When the parents are away, he builds his fort.




'nuff said.


Always a sun child. :)