April 2025

April 2025

Covering the rest of March following an awesome time in the Arizona Sonora Desert courtesy of Bicycle Adventures and April in this update. Only home for a few days before spending time at the Southern Training Camp in FL. As we put the house on the market, far different than the real estate market in Northern Virginia, unsure of return trips. Weather couldn’t have been better – mild temperatures and minimal wind. Rode each of the 11 days there covering over 638 miles with 7,750’ of elevation in just under 33 hours. Time well spent. Will most certainly miss the location when the house sells but it’s time to exit the FL market.

Culinarily lazy while there and didn’t make anything new or exciting. Did sample Korean BBQ from one of the local food vendors that serve the neighborhood and visited our favorite establishment, Keel and Curley Winery, for gator bites and a burger. Also stopped at Parksdale Farm Market for a half flat of strawberries, strawberry cookies, bread, and milkshake. Yes, there will be strawberry baked goodness in the near future.

Returned to NoVA for a few days. Long enough to make strawberry banana and strawberry oatmeal muffins while the Missus made a pie. Unfortunately, began a long spell of indoor riding, with two exceptions, that lasted for most of April. Headed back to OH for two weeks to be with the parentals and continue getting their house ready to sell. Managed to complete my first randonneuring event 9 months, Triple Shot Permanent 100K which added DC to the American Explorer list. The indoor setup in OH was a recently purchased Zwift Ride (which includes a Wahoo Kickr Core and Zwift Controllers), fan, and mat. Zwiftie was easy to assemble, setup, and configure. Lots of adjustments are available in seat height and handlebar position and controllers are much more convenient than tapping keys on the computer or Companion App. Drawbacks include lack of dual sided power meter and only 170 mm crank arms. Although as of 16 April, an aftermarket adjustable crank is available that provides a range of 160 – 175 cm. It’s. also nice not worrying about the long-term effects of sweat dripping onto the frame, handlebars, hoods, cables, etc. Price isn’t bad either!

Continued being lazy in the kitchen although did prepare an Easter meal for the parents of pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts. They enjoyed it as the quality of institutional prepared meals tends to be less than ideal.

Separately, started reading “Outlive” by Peter Attia, MD which focuses on living longer but more importantly, living healthier for longer. Most of the ailments that develop later in life are the result of poor choices and behavior and are too a large extent, preventable! Couple of key takeaways – VO2max and muscular strength are highly correlated with living healthier, longer. Goal is a centenarian decathlete! Highly recommend it and take control of your health and life. Never too late to start.