Ramping up the work out

It occurred to me today " I need to really ramp up the workout"


The facts are that between work, school and a couple other endeavours that I am looking into, it is going to be hard to get more than one full day to get any kind of heavy aerobic work-out done. Where I live makes it inconvenient to do my Port Royal Ride any more than maximum 2 days per week and school has now come along and cut that down to one day. My better half had stated an early morning walk with our next door neighbour but she and I wont be able to continue until maybe next month when the mornings are not so damn cold up here.

I really wanted to ride in excess of 15 miles today but realized very quickly that it was not going to happen as on getting out of the car at 6:10am I was greeted by very blustery breeze, and the effort needed to ride in blustery breeze is like trying to breathe with someone standing on your chest.

The ride out was brisk, but the ride back in was a chore and I got winded very early. Its pretty easy to throw your hands up in the air and take a break, especially when your heart is trying to jump out of your chest from exertion and I was tempted to stop and take a break, when up rode this guy I didnt know, he obviously knew me as he called me by my name. A friend of mine in Atlanta (Jackie) who knew I had taken up riding told her friend who rode and pointed him to my blog, so he knew what I looked like and what I was riding.

He was out racing with the Spinners Club - you know the group of riders who barrel past you at about 28-30 miles an hour shouting out "RIGHT" so that everyone in the pack moves to overtake as a group. He had seen me and turned back to say "Hi" and ride with me for a while. He was a tremendous help as he gave me advice and riding along with someone really motivates you to not quit, I did stop for about a minute to get a drink but completed the route. Back at the car I chatted with a couple of more experienced riders and listened to their sage advices, the majority of riders that I have met so far have been real gentlemen.

Before coming back home I decided to hit Chancery Hall and tackle a steep hill that I used to walk on regularly maybe 10 or 12 years ago. It's a 1 mile hike straight up what I call "The Mother of all Hills", pretty steep, no flat area as such. I used to struggle over it when I was 27 or so and wanted to do this right after riding on a Saturday. I managed to do about 1/3 of it before nearly collapsing, I know my legs will be tired after riding, but I want to really overload them and then give them a couple days to recover. The entire hill up and down is 2 miles, so more work for me.

Chancery Hall told me how much out of shape I was. Cycling is good, but adding hill climbing will probably get me in shape quicker and help me to get my distance and speed up on the bike - so it should be a win/win situation.

So from now on it will be bicycle ride and then hill climbing. Let us see how that goes.


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January 30, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 11.7 miles

Miles Ridden MTD - 56.7 miles

Target for month - 100 miles

Miles Needed - 43.3 miles

Time to Step Up Nehemiah Perry

The Jamaican cricket team has been dominating West Indies regional cricket for the past 5 years and seem likely to continue the dominance this year, as they have easily dispatched the Leeward and Windward Islands and currently have the Guyanese team staring certain defeat in the 2010 Four Day Regional Competition. However there are serious flaws in the makeup of the Jamaican team and it is obvious that the Panel of Selectors are aware of them and are actually support these shortcoming.

Looking at the XI that face the Islands over the past 2 week, the Jamaican team seem to be unbalanced, with a bowler short and playing the extra batsman, when you have an all-rounder in David Bernard Jr. opening the bowling with either Darren Powell or Andrew Richardson, you know something is wrong. It is obvious the Selectors have reasoned that our strength lie in our spin bowling duo of Nikita Miller and Odean Brown who have, over the past 2-3 years run riot over all and sundry to the extent that Captain Tamar Lambert seem to use his pacers to get the shine off the ball quickly before turning to spin, and it has worked, so the Selectors are probably saying to themselves “Why mess with Success?”

Continued dominance in cricket depends a lot on the reserve players that we have waiting in the wings, and the amount of opportunities given to them to learn how to cope at the higher level. Stacking the team with batsmen and depending on 2 bowlers and an all-rounder to consistently bowl out the opposition can backfire if there no real bowlers to back them up, what happens if both spinners are unable to break a partnership ? Instead of playing Darren Powell who seems incapable to getting wickets at this level, and has next to no chance of getting back into the West Indies test team, we should be blooding young pacers like Jason Dawes, Krishmar Santokie, Andre Russell and Ricardo Dacres and giving them an opportunity to learn at a higher level.

The quartet of Xavier Marshall, Brenton Parchment, Shaun Findlay and Danza Hyatt have all failed to give Jamaica reasonable starts at top of the order and we have had to depend on Lambert, Nash, Hinds and Baugh to set us good scores, what happens in the one or two matches that Hinds and Baugh fail with Nash away on West Indies duty in Australia ? A perfect opportunity exist for Mr. Perry and company to blood one of or both batsmen Zeniffe Fowler and Horace Miller and achieve two tasks, one - to expose two new players with enormous potential and two - to drop from the system chronic under-performers who have been given more than enough opportunities to show that they belong.

The Trindadians, Windwards, Leewards and Guyanese have all been “blooding” youngsters, while the Jamaican team has correctly allowed players time to settle in and perform, but methinks that Messrs. Marshall, Hyatt, Parchment, Findlay and Darren Powell have had more than enough opportunities to prove that they belong, and unfortunately the verdict is NO - THE DO NOT BELONG !

The Selectors seem to be playing it safe because we are currently winning, but if they wait until we start losing to get new players into the team, we will be running the risk of taking two steps backward before taking one step forward again, and erasing the advances that have been made in our local cricket programme.

Pictures: Andrew Richardson, Donovan Pagon, Nikita Miller, Jerome Taylor & Nikita Miller
Copyright to their respective holders

12 more days before its back to the daily Grind

I have been on vacation since the 3'd of January. I decided late last year that despite all the important issues that are demanding immediate attention in my life, I needed to make certain lifestyle changes that would ensure that I live beyond the age of 4o, and the main one was to eliminate stress. I loved my job and the career path but I also know it is important to balance my work life with personal time, hence the change. I just signed my contract with my new employer and come February 1st will be off on a new adventure.


One of the advantages of having 3-4 weeks of down-time is that it makes you think a lot, and I been thinking of various ways I can go into business for myself. While brainstorming over the past few days I hit up on an idea and after consultation with a couple of my friends, we have decided to take the plunge. We all work full-time and the business will demand very little in the way of Capital to start up but we think it has enormous potential and will meet on the weekend to finalize everything. This will have little or no effect on my main job as the other partners in this venture will be available to help guide and grow the company.

Being on vacation also gives me a lot of time to catch up on my reading and movies and also comic books. I havent been buying for the past 8 or so months but I still read a lot inline and look at pretty pictures.
Today I ran across someone who had uploaded pages upon pages of DC Style Guide artwork of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and I just had to share it with you all. Why would any of be interested in this ? well if you have ever bought your son, nephew or cousins Batman or Superman PJs or Wonder Woman t-shirt for your daught or neice or Super Friends bedsheets then you alreay know his art. JL's art has been used on millions of licenced products world-wide.


JL is a Spanish born Argentine artist who lives in the US and works for DC Comics. He has been acknowledged by many of his peers as a master draftsman and is admired by millions of fans worldwide. I consider him my favourite Superman artist and have yet to see any work from him that I dislike.

Its my hobby and I am excited to discover these pages, and I am determined to own a copy of DC Style Guide in the future (the cost be damned)

I did not ride this weekend, for some strange reason I woke up with a pretty bad headache and my wife felt so nice and warm and cozy that I just couldnt resist snuggling back into her arms. I also have the constraint of having to watch my money as I have another month or so before I get paid plus I have to attend classes on Sunday. I will be making a real effort this weekend to hit the road.

All characters in this post are the copyright of DC Comics Inc.

The Ladies are right: An Inch Does Make A Difference !

An inch makes a big difference, so anytime a lady tells you that size doesn't matter - AH LIE SHE AH TELL !!


So I adjusted me seat by an inch and what a difference it made. I always knew it needed adjustment as it felt uncomfortable when I rode, like I was cramped for room. The seat needed to be raised and also it sloped slightly upwards. All of that was fixed and now it feels a little better. I will have to adjust the handlebar as I get a slight backache while riding.

When will I ever learn ?? Everytime Wilson tells me that he wants to start early, invariably he will be late. Yesterday it was overcast the whole day and Antoinette and I were in Mandeville looking at some properties, we came back in and ran straight into friday kingston traffic and rain. But rain be damed, we will still ride.

The plan was for 5:45am start. I was there at 5:50 but Wilson was still home, and I just set up and started. It was still pretty dark and I dont have lights on the bike but I was sure it would light up enough before I end up under a truck. Its really nice riding early and I saw Paul riding with his group. The ride to Port Royal was great, the ride back was not. It was a windy blustering morning and it really took a massive effort riding against it. I had to stop to catch my breath and get some water three quarters of the way back as my heart was really pounding from the effort.

It was a good ride tough and I saw a business associate of mine who rode up, pack away his bike, took on some fluid and went off for a run. He said he was training for competition, I need to ask him what exactly he takes part in, but he really inspired me and made me realize that riding alone wont work with me, it will have to include walking, running and weights training.


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January 9, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 12.3 miles

Miles Ridden MTD - 45 miles

Target for Month - 100 Miles

Miles to be Completed - 55 Miles

Enjoying the break and putting in more miles

As I intimated in my last post I need to make major changes in my life and maybe the first one is the job, so I did it, I resigned.

..........and I feel good. I loved my job, I was dedicated to it and gave my all, but over the past 12 months I had become dissatisfied and knew that eventually something would have to give. I gave notice and was told that notice wasnt necessary, so I have a 3 week vacation before starting my new job.

This morning I decided to hit the road again, with so many days free it is entirely possible to do 100 miles for the month, so that is my target. I drove down to my regular spot this morning and did 11.7 miles. My wife surprisingly accompanied me and went off in the other direction for a brisk morning walk and we met up back at the car about an hour later. The ride out was good, but back in was a struggle as usual. I am sure my seat and handle bars need adjusting as I get an ache in my lower back after about 40 minutes and will need to address that by weekend. I enjoyed having my wife along although she's insistent that she will not be riding a bicycle, the thought of cars and buses passing her while she's riding terrifies her.

She will be up at 6am tomorrow to do a brisk 2 mile walk and I will be joining her, the more exercise I get in the better for me. My next ride is Saturday at which time I will try for 15-20 miles.

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January 6, 2010

Miles ridden today - 11.7 miles

Miles ridden MTD - 32.7 miles

Target for month - 100

Miles to be completed - 67.3 miles

Great Start to 2010

21 Miles today

I have been riding infrequently, I have been busy with work and school and a number of other issues. Where I live the road is very busy and as far as I am concerned not conducive to riding, so I occasionally ride when I can get up early on a Saturday morning to get it done. My job invariably interferes and it seems like 50-60 hours during the week is not enough for me to at least have Saturday mornings free.

My life needs changes and the first change is the job. I have been at my current place of employ for the past 6 years and although my passion is high and my dedication is more than 100%, there are times when one must make an honest assessment of what is happening. Am I being treated fairly ? are my opinions valued ? are we just cannon fodder to make the numbers and nothing else ? do I have peace of mind ?

I have made some promises to myself for 2010:

1. I need to have peace of mind while working
2. My dedication to getting fitter and healthier has to be prioritized
3. My family must take priority
4. I must assist my wife as much as possible to ensure her new business venture succeeds.

This morning I did 21 miles. I have never ridden more than 12.3 miles before and haven't ridden since the middle of November and was determined to ride today and tomorrow. A friend who rides a lot suggested that I work on fear of riding near my home and just get to it. He rides up here regularly and has never really had a problem. The advantage to riding up here is that the roads are not flat, and about 3 or so miles away there is a steep climb to Stony Hill. I am under no illusions that I am ready for Stony Hill but I know fighting my way up that slope on a regular basis will benefit me tremendously. So tomorrow its Temple Hall to Golden Spring and then eventually up the hill incrementally until I can do it.

Today was a big challenge and I copped out before finishing. I met with Robert a co-worker of mine and we did Airport to Port Royal and back in good time. On the way back I saw Wilson my regular riding partner heading out. After the ride Rob and I leaned against the car and chatted for a while when up rode Wilson. We chit chatted for about 20 minutes before Wilson convinced me to go another round. I wasn't totally sold on the proposition but I need to really push myself. I didnt carry any Gatorade this morning so that might have contributed to my being wasted, but I soldered on gallantly to Port Royal, on the way back though my legs gave out a couple miles from the car. It was about 10:30am and the sun was very fierce. I was thirsty and probably a little dehydrated but I really couldnt continue on. Wilson rode on and got the van.

I didnt finish the ride, but I am glad that I was able to get in 21 miles, which is a wonderful start for January and for 2010.

Sunday morning at 6:30am will see me doing Temple Hall to Golden Spring and back. Shouldnt be more than 5-6 miles, but its not flat and that should be an entirely new challenge. Maybe I'll even tackle a little bit of Stony Hill

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January 2, 2010

Miles ridden Today - 21 miles

Miles Ridden MTD - 21 miles

Target for month - 100 miles