n_maher

Thanks for remembering, Steve. Happy Birthday, Matt.

I'll be with a group of friends and overall, the ride has 500+ riders so there will be plenty of folks suffering along with me. And I'm not sure about the elevation. I don't think it's extreme, probably a few thousand feet but shouldn't be too bad really.

This year marks a return to form (hopefully) and therefore I'm prepping to ride the full century in support of the Kelly Brush Foundation. The effects of the tick bite appear to have waned since around Christmas so I've been training hard, mixing in quite a bit of mountain bike riding as well as other non-bike-related exercise and actually doing a little weight training. It appears to be paying off. For those that don't know, the Kelly Brush Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting individuals with spinal cord injuries in finding ways to get out and enjoy an active lifestyle. For me, this is a cause close to my heart. I love the outdoors and the freedom to explore it in a variety of ways and have worked with organizations like the KBF for the last twenty years to help others do the same. The mission remains the same, regardless of distance, so I'm trying to raise a bunch of money again this. As usual, all of the donations are tax deductible and like last year I'm looking for interesting ways to sweeten the pot if you open your wallet a little bit. To start, I'll do the same thing that I did last year. Any donation in excess of $50 ears itself a shipment of at least two choice New England beers. Top $100 and it'll at least be a mixed 4pk. I've already been working on my stash of Maine-based beer to start things off and will undoubtedly be doing some shopping when in VT on the way to the ride. Here's the link to donate - https://kbf.akaraisin.com/ui/16790/participant/3444604?Lang=en-US - any donation is greatly appreciated, large or small. Thanks, Nate

Got back out on the road today. I'm slightly nervous about the 100 mile ride I have coming up in 3wks. Pretty happy with the average speed given the general elevation trend.

Got back out in the woods yesterday. It's been raining here just about everyday so the conditions were not good. Annoying crash on a log bridge wasn't a great start to the ride but recovered and enjoyed the remaining funji-infested trails.

I checked in on him and confirmed that he had a good day.

Got out for some early training miles this morning.

No boiling involved... this time. Three minutes each side on the grill, just went into the oven for desired mediumness.

I think if I ever bought another watch it'd be a Doxa. For whatever reason they make me tingle.

It was hot. But the view was nice at the top.

Post didn't go through this morning. Took leftovers from last night and made breakfast.

Similar cut, but my friend the butcher calls it a David Earl after his dad.

Had leftovers from making chicken fajitas the other night so changed out meat and made steak fajitas tonight. Marinated the steak in olive oil, lime juice, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, and salt. Was good with peppers, onions, and homemade pineapple mango salsa.

I know I'm probably one of the few that didn't already have one, but Anova's BT cooker is massively on sale right now. https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-A2-2-120V-US-Precision-Circulator/dp/B00UKPBXM4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1533399590&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=anova&psc=1

This, and one other piece of (admittedly) unsolicited advice - sometimes when major things go wrong for others that you care about it's easy to be so focused on them that you don't realize that shit is going sideways for you and you end up suffering significantly. Take care of yourself and your family.

As they say, dew eet.

A very happy birthday to you, Todd!

Happy Birthday!

Go big or go home.

I feel like I'm maybe the only one left here... got out yesterday for another blast through the local woods.

Happy birthday!

It's Nate vs. Brisket time again. I was able to find a whole packer in the 8lb range, which when trimmed a bit was down in the 6s, perfect for a meal + leftovers. It's been on since 4, seems to be stalling in the low 150s, so I'll wrap it shortly and am going to try cooking this one more by feel than by internal temp. Temps haven't seemed like very good predictors for me for tenderness so here's to hoping.

Ack, how did I miss this? Happy belated, Birgir!

What to do with leftover poutine, you ask? Breakfast scramble.

Switched back to the road today.