An Early Workout Sets the Tone
Sunday, May 4, 2008
21 Days Until Bolder Boulder

The order of the day was an early workout on the LifeCycle. I read newspapers as I rode to nowhere and got a great workout. It was much more difficult than I had expected and made me realize I really was out of shape.

It appeared that “getting in shape” could mean achieving a number of different goals. I could be “in shape” for running but not for cycling or for lifting weights. I knew I needed to do all three to truly be in shape – and probably needed to toss in some yoga for good measure.

As I rode and passed the 35 minute mark, one of the covers came off the front end of the cylinder which supported the LifeCycle. The result was the bike started to wobble. This was a tad disconcerting because (a) the bike felt like it might topple over and, more importantly, (b) it made it very difficult to read a newspaper which was now jiggling madly.

I waited until I hit an easy 30-second point in the repetitious routine and revved the RPM’s up to 150 or so. That gave me time to take one foot out of one of the stirrups and lean over to pop the cap back in place. Unfortunately, it did not snap back in because it was meant to be glued or otherwise secured.

My 30-seconds was up and the RPM’s had fallen to 85. The objective was to not go below 80, so I had to wait for the next opportunity. That came a couple of shaky minutes later. This time, after revving the bike to 160 RPM’s or so, I totally dismounted and tried to secure the cap.

I remounted the bike and, within 60 seconds, the cap started to wobble. Then it started to vibrate madly – striking itself against the cylinder like someone who had totally lost it and decided to start hitting their head against a wall. Even the dogs wanted to know what the heck was going on.

I was resigned to another 20 minutes of insanity and did my best to ride the bike normally, read the newspapers, and ignore the noise. Somehow, I finished the 60-minute workout. I also weighed in and was somewhat pleased to be at 202 pounds. Now, if I could exercise some restraint on my big mouth…

I then rushed to get ready and met some friends at Dot’s Diner on 28th Street in Boulder for breakfast. We talked about the Bolder Boulder but Deb had recently had foot surgery, which would slow her down, and Matt was waiting to see what she decided to do. I was confident they would be in the Race.

I had a large spinach, Swiss cheese, and mushroom omelet, hash browns submerged in ketchup (hey, it’s a vegetable, right – isn’t that what President Reagan told us? – and I know a tomato is a fruit but ketchup is mostly corn syrup anyway) along with a large biscuit smothered in grape jam. So much for my diet…

I returned home to work and take care of the pups. Then I headed to Denver to meet some of my production team members at Pint’s Pub – just a block west of the Denver Art Museum. Parking was a nightmare thanks to the giant annual Cinco de Mayo celebration being held in the area. It took me ten minutes to find a parking spot so I was happy in the end.

At Pint’s Pub, we planned the U.S. Senate shows we were doing and went over the details of other programs, including our upcoming “live” call in show with Governor Bill Ritter. I always ended up getting a slew of assignments at these meetings because so many people needed me to do something but that was OK. I was glad to be able to help my teammates.

Pint’s is a great place to eat because the menu is so diverse. At first, I was fairly good this time because I ate some of the Havarti cheese and giant water cracker (over a foot in diameter) we ordered for an appetizer. Then I had a chef’s salad and downed six Arnold Palmers.

I went from my team meeting to the next table to meet with a new colleague from CBS4 and had two more Arnold Palmers and half an order of “Bisto Chips” – French fries with melted cheese all doused with brown gravy. Talk about naughty.

After getting home, I took care of the dogs, worked some more, welcomed my daughter home, made her some dinner, talked with her and heard all about her weekend, and then finally made it to bed by 10:30 pm. It had been a good day but I knew I hadn’t helped my weight goal.