I always wanted a pony! Trek Demo Day.

Here's the rule:

For every hour in the car, one must spend an hour on the trail.

Jacksonville is a long drive.  And we probably should have stayed that extra hour after test riding the Gary Fisher and Trek top of the line offerings.  But the old bikes just weren't calling to us after four hours of plush (really, really plush) cruising on Trek's latest and greatest.

It's my first Trek Demo Day.  Here's how it works.  

Take your driver's license and credit card, fork 'em over to the Trek rep, and sign in.  In return, you are handed a $4000 to $6000 bike, sized to your height and set up to your weight.  Pedals and saddles are mounted to suit your shoes and bottom line.  You are told to go play for a half hour.  Then you bring it back and try another one. 

Trek Demo Day is free.  Here's your big chance to test and decide on your ultimate dream ride.  

And sometimes a free ride can save you from a very expensive mistake!

If you've been to Hanna Park, you know the trails are twisty.  It's the perfect venue to test ride the Gary Fisher Superfly 100.

http://www.fisherbikes.com/bike/model/superfly-100 

Sure, 29ers are supposed to roll effortlessly over roots, but can they cut the mustard when it comes to tight and twisty turns?  

I've been curious about the 29ers for a long time.  Nearly everyone I know rides 26" wheels, and always has.  You might see big wheels on the trails once in a great while, but it's hard to even find a 29er in a shop to test ride, let alone a full suspension, carbon fiber, practically weightless Cadillac, like the Superfly 100. 

When they were visiting at Christmas, Sailor graciously allowed me to ride her brand new Specialized 29er.  I was impressed, but we never got off the pavement.  It just isn't a test ride without hitting some dirt.

Popeye knows just what he wants and he can't wait to check out the Top Fuel 9.8.  We already put in an order for one last Thursday, but it will be a month before it arrives. 

We both have high expectations.  I expect the Top Fuel to be my choice as well, once I have satisfied my curiosity about the Superfly.

I always wanted a pony!

There were a couple surprises right from the get-go on the first time around the loop.  

Popeye, on the very same bike he had just placed on order, a Top Fuel 9.8 in a 15.5" frame, comes face to face with a runner on a tight corner and goes ass over teakettle in a classic high flying endo.  Talk about hitting the dirt! 

My surprise is much more tame.  I feel like I am on a beach cruiser!  I am up high and cruisin' big.  My new loaner pony flattens the roots and hops lightly up the short hills.  Admittedly I am taking it easy on the brakes after witnessing Popeye's endo, but the turns are going well.  There's one big root stretched across a 90 degree turn and I think, "There's a good test".  The super-pony takes the obstacle with ease and I am unexpectedly impressed.

In all, we try to cover the possibilities with both cross country fun and Xterra racing in mind.  We swap bikes.  I ride the small frame Top Fuel, he rides the Superfly.  I feel unstable on the Fuel, but is it the small frame?  Or the fact that I was just got off a jewel of a cruiser?

We go around four times on new bikes, and once on our own.  

After an unimpressive go 'round on the Fuel EX 9.9, there is a bit of a wait for the 17.5" Top Fuel to come back in.  Whoo hoo!  Worth the wait!  And worth the weight!  Light!  Plush!  The small frame seemed way unstable to me, but that was perfectly cured simply by going up a size. 

Popeye and I trade again and he agrees completely.  The medium frame is much more stable!  

We definitely have the right bike on order.  In the wrong size.

The Trek rep steps up and works with us in making sure of what we both feel, that the larger frame is the better choice for each of us. 

They measure Popeye's old Fuel, and my Santa Cruz.  They change out the seatpost, they change out the stem.  In other words they go, not just a step farther, but the whole mile.

How tall are you, and how much do you weigh? 

Norm, one of the over-the-top-helpful Trek Reps, efficiently pumps shocks, switches pedals, and gets you on your way.

Popeye is finally on the right trail to his perfect bike, but I still have a dilemma of my own.  I can't get over the Superfly! 

One more ride.  One more approach to the big root on the sharp bend.  I push the speed a bit, purposely testing the turning ability.  Whoops!  I shoot straight off the trail and into the bushes.  So the critics are correct after all.  Not so nimble on tight turns!

In the end, it comes down to one simple question.  

What will make me the best rider I can be? 

I consider my strengths, I consider my weaknesses.  When my wrists and upper body get tired, I crash.  Although the Top Fuel is a little lighter and a lot more nimble, the bike that takes the stress off my upper body best is the big ride, the Superfly 100.  

At the end of Demo Day, we are both surprised! 

What we thought were truths about frame size and wheel size turned out to be opinions.  And there's nothing like a day in the saddle to change one's opinion of the pony. 

Trek Demo Day turned out to be a lot more than just a free ride. 

(Yikes!  Hope there's time to call Trek and get that order changed!)

Weathering a Gap in the Schedule. Attack of the Vampire Cat.

Ok. 

I know. 

Nobody wants to hear a Floridian whine about what a crappy winter we've had. 

So I won't - too much.  But when we're still selling out on arm warmers at the bike shop by the end of February, it's a bad sign!

We skipped the Santos 12 hour on Saturday.  Mountain bike racing is big fun, but seriously - tent camping - at 34 degrees?

Around here, a gap in the schedule fills in more quickly than the wake of a sloop in the America's Cup.

The Friday walk in the park is a chilled and windy hour spent with the ever joyous Mrs. Peanut and the adorable Little Miss Muffet (who remains elusive to my picture taking attempts).  

The sun comes out later in the day.  The temptation to return for a bit of trail running is irresistible.  But lately decent runs have been eluding me as deftly as Miss Muffet runs from the camera.  At least, the cracked ribs from the cold weather endo are 3 weeks healed.  I hope.   

The run goes well, and up ahead I see Splinter, one of the most famous ultra runners of our area.   One might wonder how a twice-a-weak-at-best runner could ever catch up with the likes of Splinter.  Here's a hint.  He was out for a typical (for him) 8 hour run.  Mine was 30 minutes.  Besides, he stopped to tie his shoe.

(Eavesdrop on their Wickham Park Marathon Google Group if you are curious about Splinter, Mad Matt, and the crazy folks who routinely run 100 and 200 mile  events: http://www.mattmahoney.net/wickham/   Also, be sure and check out the hilarious, "Wickham Park Marathon, 50, 100 and 200 Mile Fun Run" entry form.) 

Long story short, after a bit of water fountain chat about running, Splinter mentions that Saturday there will be an open house at Harris Corp, the top secret Palm Bay facility, fenced off from the world for the last fifty years.  The very same facility at which Popeye spends a good chunk of his life. 

Ah ha!  Popeye probably just didn't want to go back there on a Saturday.  Nah. Actually the open house would have been moot if it hadn't been 34 degrees in Ocala, and we had gone to the 12 hour.

One door closes, another opens.

Harris is - incredible. 

They do - incredible things.  

Things having to do with wavelengths and satellites, talking to the other side of the planet, or even to a guy in a spacesuit who's not on the planet at all. 

Touring Popeye's lab and some of the test sites was - incredible. 

And me without an advanced degree in engineering!  I have no idea what I am looking at, but I am suitably wow'd.    

I am careful not to take any photos that can't already be seen from Google Earth, so that's not a security blur. 

It's my finger.

And why is my finger poking into the picture, you ask?  

I was attacked. 

Attacked by a Vampire Cat. 

The level of violence was unprecedented this time, even for our angry little Pepper, who now finds herself in the unfamiliar position of middle child.  My wrist is punctured and swollen and doesn't bend too easily.  (I pray none of Popeye's co-workers will want to shake hands.)

Granted, as an experienced cat-herder, I should have known to wait a little longer before attempting to sooth over a multi cat spat.

Once a sweet Pepper, now a Hot-Under-The-Collar Pepper.

I thought I had cleaned up all the blood, but we are still finding stray spots along the path I took on my way out to the pool, with Pepper ferociously attached to my arm. 

At the last moment I quelled my urge to just plunge my arm, cat and all, into the pool.  I splashed her with my free hand instead.  (Not that I wouldn't have been happy to drown her at that point, I just didn't want her climbing further up my arm!)

How appropriate that the previous day the new Bad Kitty socks arrived at the shop.

Geesh!  There's another splat of blood, missed in the initial mop up!

The sloop races on, a long wake behind. 

Forget the knee.  Forget the ribs.  I just hope my wrist will be functional enough for Trek Demo Day!

Sigh.  And that this new $36 spray bottle of cat pheromones does some good too.

Plum Good Syrup! Guinness Do and Redux Review.

The other day I saw a pancake recipe nearly identical to "New Fashioned Pancakes", only it was named "Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes". 

Darn!  I know I am eating virtually the same pancake this morning - but surely it would taste that much better if I had thought to name it after an oatmeal cookie!  

Even more regretable, I sure wish I had made more of that Molasses-Guinness syrup!  

Regrets are as easily dismissed as, "Hey, there's a plum in the fridge!"  Just one lonely little plum, but it's exactly enough for my one not-so-little pancake.

 

Plum Good Syrup

Per person:

One plum, chopped small
2 Tablespoons real maple syrup

Put the plum and the syrup in a bowl and microwave 2 minutes.

Smash the softened plum into the syrup.

(Quilter's note:  Wow.  Remember this gorgeous plum color when shopping for fabric next time. )

Of course you can always go with the tried and true blueberry, 

or a nice contrasting orange.

Today pancakes. 

Tomorrow the world! 

Well, ok, maybe not the world. 

But perhaps ice cream, cookies, poundcake, crepes, pork chops... 

Uh oh - evil thought - the Guinness syrup could be applied to all of the above as well!
  

 Plus the morning coffee!

In case anyone is interested in 

The Cosmo Induced Guinness Valentine Food Challenge

tally to date: 

Guinness Broccoli-Cheddar Soup
Guinness-Molasses Syrup in coffee
Guinness-Molasses Syrup on pancakes
Beef and Guinness and Green Tomato Pie
slow cooker pork and potatoes with Guinness
Guinness pork tacos (from leftover slow cooker pork)
Chocolate Walnut Guinness cookies
Guinness-Molasses Syrup on ice cream

Truthfully, I'm more the Belgian-wheat-with-a-slice-of-orange-type.  All I really love about Guinness Draught is the amazing depth of it's color.  But even I have to admit that 7 out of these 8 were AWESOME.

The no-regrets review:

1)  Always find an extra yummy title for a recipe.

2)  If you've got more than one plum, make extra Plum Good Syrup.   

3)  And if you ever make just plum amazing Molasses-Guinness syrup, make more than a bit extra.  Try it on ice cream.  Put it in a pie.  (Just don't put it in my coffee.)

Chocolate Walnut Guinness Cookies

She loves chocolate.  He loves beer.

Chocolate Walnut Guinness Cookies, a match made in heaven!

Valentine's Projects

On Saturday, Popeye made a "dressing room" for me to use when we are at a trailhead with minimal bushes for coverage: 

I love it! 

The next day is Valentine's Day.  I decide I should cook something using his favorite brew. 

That evening, Cosmo at hand, I decide no, no, no, not one thing....

...but an entire meal using his favorite brew!

(I really like my Cosmo.)

The toughest part of an entire meal containing Guinness is what to leave out!  Honestly!  A perusal of the internet easily yields a hundred main dish stew-, or pot pie-type entrees. A few feature shrimp or fish, and there are several breads and desserts. 

Unfortunately, like my Guinness pie from a few weeks ago, almost every Guinness main dish calls for a day (or two!) of marinating, or at least hours of cooking.  It's not like I planned ahead for this project.  

One has to have priorities.

Obviously, the place to start is dessert!

I save the gingerbread and the chocolate cake recipes for another day.

What we are really out of around here is cookies. Popeye likes cookies. I like cookies. Anybody who might possibly drop by likes cookies.

I find NO viable looking beer-cookie recipes.

We're on our own here!

Oh yeah - and forget dainty pink and white frosting. 

We are talking Guinness.

Brown is beautiful!

Guinness,

 chocolate,

molasses,

 brown sugar,

walnuts...

To perform a matchmaking miracle and get all these beautiful browns to meld into a batch of cookies we will both love, a dark, sweet, beery syrup should work!

Chocolate Walnut Guinness Cookies

2/3 c. Guinness, draught or stout

2/3 c. molasses

One 12 oz package chocolate chips

2 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

walnuts

Combine the Guinness and the molasses in a saucepan, bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat to just below medium and cook uncovered about fifteen minutes.  Check on it and stir every five minutes or so.  Cook down by about half.  (Wow! The smell is amazing!)  Pour into a measuring cup and let cool. 

And if you forgot there were no eggs in the house, you can always take a walk to the grocery while you wait.  Don't forget to cut across the recently bulldozed-all-the-way-to-the-beach landscape (where the base housing used to be), and convince your Sherpa to come with you!

Now just when you think that you have concocted the most divine syrup on earth, it's time for the chocolate!


Melt 1 c. chocolate chips over low, low heat.  Stir until smooth,  cool to room temp.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.


In a large mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and 1/2 c. of the Guinness syrup; beat until creamy.  (I have about 2/3 c. of syrup, and I put it all in.  I could probably have saved a couple tablespoons for ice cream or something.  The cookie dough texture is good, but a little less syrup would have been ok too.)


Add egg and melted chocolate chips; mix well.


Gradually add flour mixture.


Stir in remaining chocolate chips, and walnuts, if your Valentine likes them, which in our case is quite a lot!

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees.  10-12 minutes. 

(We like chewy/crispy so I leave them in the full 12.)

Don't overeat these cookies!  They will ruin your dinner!

We should know.  We can barely manage a small bowl of the Guinness Broccoli Cheddar Soup that went together while the cookies were baking.

Guess we'll have to save the haddock poached in Guinness for tomorrow. 

Oh well.  You gotta have your priorities.

Biggest Loser Pizza

What do you think of when you think of pizza? 

Sausage?  Pepperoni? 

I think of the garden.

Each week on the Biggest Loser, the contestants participate in the Biggest Loser Challenge.  They haul, crawl, chase, lift, pile, run, reach, bend, stretch. 

To me, that's the easy stuff.  I crave seeing what I consider the real challenge.  I want to see what these people eat!  But I guess that doesn't make for good TV.  And probably wouldn't fill more than ten minutes of air time.

Neither would my personal challenge.  It's a daily thing and not excessively demanding. 

My personal challenge with all dishes is to see how many vegetables you can cram in.

Pizza is a natural.  

Every pizza starts with dough and sauce.  Everyone has his favorite starting line.  

So, are you ready? 

Get set.  

Go!

Biggest Loser Challenge #1:  Use as little dough as possible.

Roll the dough thin.  (Biggest Loser's don't eat much bread.)  Challenge yourself - stretch that dough!  Make it bigger than the pan size, get out the scissors and cut off the excess.  Throw it away.  Or save it for a couple cinnamon rolls - your choice.  Do you want to win this challenge, or what?

Pour on the sauce.  Store bought, or make your own for bonus points.  

Smash a couple garlic cloves, spread 'em around in the sauce.

Biggest Loser Challenge #2:  Veggies equal immunities!  

Pizza is a natural for Vegetarian Day.  A four topping limit usually works, more is asking for a soggy bottom. 

There are broccoli, green peppers and tomatoes in the garden right now.  Sliced mushrooms and mini sweet peppers are a great shortcut from the grocery store. 

Yeah, tomatoes are a little excessive with the sauce, but garden fresh is too good to leave out, and I can't resist adding just one.  (Add 2 minutes to cooking time for a pie with tomato slices.)

Biker notation - Every time I open mushrooms from the store I am reminded of the ten mile smell of the mushroom farms along the Mt Dora Century route.  How can such a stink generate such a mild and meaty veg?  (Do I really want to know?)

Biggest Loser Challenge #3 :  Meat.

The thought of pepperoni just gags me.  Oh it tastes good and all, but once you begin looking at food as fuel, sausage and such just doesn't even come to mind. 

Meat - good lean meat - on pizza is satisfying and very good fuel. 

When meat calls to us, we try to buy the leanest range fed ground beef or buffalo burger possible.  There's always ground turkey breast or chicken if you want to really go for this challenge.

When you brown the meats, tip the pan, use paper towels (handled with tongs if you don't like burned fingers) to sop up any extra grease.  

Biggest Loser Challenge # 4:  Cheese

Ok, if you can make no-fat or lowfat cheese work on a pizza, I concede this challenge!  And please let me know what you use.  Part skim mozzarella or six cheese Italian is about as low fat as we've been able to tolerate so far. 

Pile it all on the dough: sauce, garlic, veggies, meat, cheese.

Bake 20 -22 minutes at 375.

Cut into eight slices.

And then,

Biggerst Loser Challenge #5:  Challenge yourself to eat just one! 

Or, at 300 calories a slice, at least not three.

I Don't Cotton To Solids. Quilter's High.

All right!  Finally a decent run in the park!  Must be the new Nikes...

Maybe it's the runners high, but my next stop, Boutique 4 Quilters is the best quilt shop anywhere, EVER, and it's right here in Melbourne.  ALL Batiks.  Hundreds of fabrics and not one solid.  

Besides the obvious good taste in fabric, the store greeters are superb.  Today's greeter, the store owner's golden retriever, trots to the door for a prompt and friendly hello.  (WalMart eat your heart out!)

Anita is with a fabric rep, so I get to peruse the rainbow of shelves for woven treasure all on my own, which is exactly the way I like it.

Spending weekends on the bike keeps me hopelessly out of the quilting loop.  I missed the quilt-a-thon last weekend.  The goal was  300 quilts for Haiti.  Anita said they exceeded the 300 by working in the shop and the empty storefront next door for 48 hours straight.  48 hours!  Wow!  I usually go buggy after about two.

Anita gives me her key to the adjoining store, and I let myself in for a look.  The visiting fabric rep catches up, and we tour the dim, vast space of the old Michael's store together.  The photo shows less than a quarter of what's hanging, and there's 2 more tables piled with quilts besides.  All to be picked up this week for transport to Haiti with a local doctor.

315 quilts in 48 hours.  Wow!  

Lest you think this looks like gentle, refined and ladylike fun, a caveat.

Do not enter the world of quilting lightly.

There is something one should know. 

About the fabric stash. 

Quilters are fabric addicts, and to sustain the high, there are only two rules:

1. One must continuously search and acquire. 
2. One can never have too much fabric. 

For some reason I am attracted to yellows lately.... but there's a really beautiful new red!  And a contrasting green... 

(See rule #2)

Back home with my treasure.  Wash.  Dry.  Iron. 

The fun begins - the fabric audition!

Cutting is next.  This project is going to be simple, and quick.  I feel like triangles!   

Mermaids - 2009

I am done with curves for awhile.

Mermaids - 2009

Don't feel like applique or messing with glittery paint.

Nice simple triangles, yeah...

So I put a new blade in the Olfa, 

(ALWAYS start a project with a new blade in the Olfa, unless you actually like tearing your hair out.)

 and I cut,

  and cut,

     and cut.

for what seems like 48 hours, but is probably 48 minutes.

And then the rain comes.  No sewing today.  Too gloomy. 

Hey now, I know what you're thinking!  I'm not that old!  I can see just fine!  But the colors aren't as true when the light is gray.  The final pairing of colors will have to wait for morning.

But, what a great day!  Surprise day off, runners high, fabric high, free quilt show.... 

Plus - it's Tuesday.

Biggest Loser night is Pizza Night around here! 

Depraved?  Perhaps.  But satisfying, oh so satisfying.

I Saw A Sign. Gina's Pies are Square. Fartlek in the Park.

*Fartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish, is a form of conditioning which puts stress mainly on the aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be put under stress. Most fartlek sessions last a minimum of 45 minutes and can vary from aerobic walking to anaerobic sprinting. Fartlek training is generally associated with running, but can include almost any kind of exercise.

How quickly the seasons change.

From December....

 To January....

To Yikes!  It's February???!

Gained 'em?  Lost 'em?  Gained 'em back?  Don't look sweet on any kind of seat?

Seems everyone I talk to is in the same scale boat.

Don't look at me!  I don't have the answer, I gained mine back too.  So many recipes, so little time!

Scout's not helping!  She sent me a very interesting pie recipe from a restaurant called Gina's Pies Are Square, which is located on a paved bike trail across Wisconsin. (Check out Scout's comment to find out how the Pie Man got his name.)    

http://thesquarepie.com/blog.aspx 

Mmm, pie with Guinness.  Only Gina's pie with Guinness has molassas and chocolate chips too!  Yup, saving that one!  OK, so my beer glass may be half full, but leaner times are sure to be ahead.  Somewhere.  But when is one Guinness enough?  Or one kind of Guinness pie, for that matter?  

But oh yeah, it's February.  Brakes on the baking, at least for one day.  

Before I can think about tipping the scales any further I try to convince my chubby menisci to go for a run in the park.

You know how it is.  Fartleks happen. 

The knees just weren't having it.  The park run turned into a park  walk/run.  Not good.  

However, opportunity for intensity is everywhere, especially on a gloomy day when the park is nearly deserted.

A log to jump,

(and back again)

stairs to run,

(times ten)

fences to walk "tightrope style",

(OK, so I only get about ten feet and can't get it going again, leaving a challenge for the next time.)

And my personal favorite, picnic table hurdles.  Lots and lots of picnic table hurdles...

It's a fun hour, easier on the knees than a regular run, and I really hate to leave.  Because (as all runners know), the toughest part of a Fartlek* is admitting you did one.

Besides, when it comes right down to it, workouts may not be easy as pie, but they often end up being way more fun!