Exercising At Home

My last post on the heart walk got me thinking about how I started exercising after my friend Afee had his heart attack. I was hearing about a lot of acquaintances dying or having health issues and many of them were about my age! Plus, I had a few blood donations where my BP was around 135/86, which was borderline hypertension. So I started hitting that equipment that we have in our house.

I do the Hoist V-4 home gym every other day, takes me about an hour. I just follow the wall chart that came with it. The wall chart has 4 different workouts on it, so I can rotate around and not get stuck in a rut.

On the other days, I do either the Vision Fitness T9250 treadmill or the Vision Quest X6000 elliptical for just 30 minutes. The elliptical surely seems to be more work, but when I got a twinge in my knees from the home gym I started using it because its less pounding on the joints. Plus, I burn about 425 calories in 30 minutes, don't think I'm coming near that on the treadmill. The cool thing is, you can swap these two if you get tired of one or the other (and I can see a TV from either one!).

The reason I finally stuck with this workout plan was mainly because I cut back on the time involved and limited it to 1 hour (weights) or 1/2 hour (treadmill, elliptical). I look at that time as an investment in myself, so I don't wind up seeing old age turn me fat and soft. So far its working - I got my BP down to 110/64 last time I had it checked! About the only thing I don't understand yet is why my pulse stays over 70 bpm -- but I'm not too worried about that one!

Heart Walk

Looking for AHA Heart Walk supporters! I have a biker friend named Afee that had a heart attack last year. This year he recruited me to be on his fund raiser team called "The Heart Throbs"! So, if you know someone who suffers from heart disease this is a great way to support them. You have my personal thanks!

United Way

I just volunteered to help with computer literacy for United Way. They had Trainer positions available when I first looked (you lead the class), but I didn't sign up at that time and those positions got filled. So what was left were Helpers, who help 2 families follow along with the Trainer. But it's all good stuff...doesn't matter how I help out. Computers are easy peasy, lemon squeezy -- it'll be fun!

Silver Lake

Took a walk today with mrs.jss around Silver Lake in downtown Rochester. Felt like one of the last gorgeous summer days before the Fall weather hits. The fence you see is part of an erosion control program to grow wildflowers and other flora to help stop the geese poo runoff and make the water in the lake cleaner. It takes a few years for the plants to get established, but once thats done the fences will be removed. It's working well as the walkway around the lake is much cleaner than it was two years ago when we last did a circuit!



The geese are having finding great eats at the dam on the lake, the water in the pictures is only a few inches deep and most of them were gobbling something every few minutes!

Labor Day - Part 2

With the beautiful 87 degree sunny weather today, I could hardly pass up an opportunity to volunteer at Paws & Claws again. I could see they had a bunch of new dogs. First up was Eboni - a black lab. Talk about a chewing fetish - this dog destroyed the rubber toy bone they had in her kennel. She couldn't go on the walk with me without chewing up every stick she could find. Can you say good-bye furniture? Training, training, training!

Next up was Moose, who've I've mentioned in previous posts. I'd forgotten Moose was a strong as a, well, moose! He was pulling me all over the place and I'm no lightweight. He was still at the shelter along with Damon (who I didn't walk, someone had Damon out for a walk already). I feel bad to see Damon still there...apparently he must make potential adopters nervous.

Lastly, I took out Justice, another black Lab. He's a fun dog, young and full of energy and was just happy to be outside. The shelter is air-conditioned, but I'm pretty sure the dogs don't mind the heat to get outdoors!


You can check out all my Paws & Claws dogs on my PicasaWeb. The purple dogs are reserved for higher trained volunteers as they're more difficult or stronger (I'm purple level). The green dogs can be walked by beginning volunteers.

Labor Day!

So what's been happening on this great American holiday? Glad you asked! I took the plunge and joined Patriot Guard today. I'd took part in the rally last month, and it was kick even though I didn't get to finish it (had other commitments).

That means I can get the backpatch they have for members. I'll be looking to add it to my leather riding vest -- something I've asked my sister-in-law to help me with. Guess those decorator and flower arranger types are kinda useful after all. Yes, I kid - Kathy has great taste and a terrific eye for what looks good! I was collecting a few patches with some potential...which you can see here.

Update (to add background):
Patriot Guard Riders got its start in 2005 in response to a religious group that had been picketing the funerals of soldiers. A group of riders in Kansas got together and founded the Patriot Guard with the mission of honoring those who have served while shielding their family from protesters. Within three years, the group's membership has climbed to 148,000, said Chad Tarpley, the organization's national communications officer.

*Southeast Minnesota has about 150 Patriot Guard members in its chapter.

New Profile Picture

I finally got around to getting a picture of me on my new Road Star. You can see it on my blog photo, which if you click on it will take you to my PicasaWeb photo album for the Road Star.

It's tough finding good help around the house to take digital pictures! My kids are always busy, and mrs. jss tends to cut off my head (or other parts!).

Helmet Decal

For some reason, I took a picture of my helmet decal for the Beehive social network at work. Figure I'd post it here too! I'm looking for patches for my black leather vest too. Right now some of the stuff I'm looking at is from Xpressmart.com.

State Fair

Hit the Minnesota State Fair today with my neighbor Mitch Oyen. We rode our matching Yamanha Road Stars up to combine riding and fairgoing! Beautiful day in the high 70's with a packed fairgrounds. Wander over to my PicasaWeb for a look!

Birthday Cupcakes

My daughter made some cupcakes for her ex-boyfriend, with whom she's going water-skiing today. Seems like this kind of effort rated a picture and mention...it's so cute!

Gas Efficiency

Here's what my current gas economy on my Yamaha Road Star looks like. I think I have some bad data where the mileage spikes to either side of 49 mpg...go figure!

Patriot Guard

My latest motorcycle run was for the Patriot Guard. It was on par with The Cruise as far as size and organization goes, so it was quite enjoyable. We had all the intersections held up to keep the riders together, which was impressive. Lots of veterans in dress gear and families lined the route and saluted, with some holding American flags. I would guess there were around 500 riders for this one!




The backpatches for Patriot Guard riders is very cool. It got me thinking about whether to start putting some patches on my own rider vest. I have a few pins from various rides I've done, but no patches. Guess I'll ask Harley Springer for some ideas!

I did the ride with Jim Soppa and Bruce Timmerman, but Bruce and I had to drop out at the Wabasha stop since we had other commitments. Here's some of the pictures I managed to get in Pine Island and Wabasha before I dropped off.

Skid Plates

I was leaving the local Kwik Trip when I had what was, for me, a new experience. That is, I leaned my Road Star over so far in the parking lot a loud metallic scraping noise grabbed my attention. What was it? I got my first introduction to the Skid Plates on my floorboards!

Skid plates are meant to take the abuse from contact instead of your actual floorboard. Notice the part of the floorboard that is lowest - it's a replaceable part! I suppose you can wear these down and need new ones!

Olmsted County Fair

The fair ran from 7/23-8/3. I wound up going as part of IBM day at the fair, where we time off to take our families. But the wife was away for work and my teenagers would rather commit seppuku than be so uncool as to "hang with Dad". So, I hit the midway alone...


Food is always an attraction for me, but after that are the animals. So I got into the Belgian and Percheron horses. You can see more shots here.



They had a competition with carriage and stagecoach, which was cool to watch. Riders have to demonstrate ability to go around the track in both directions "walking" and "driving" the horses and also being able to back them up.

And Then There Was Road Star...

As I alluded to earlier, I now have acquired a 2007 Yamaha Road Star Midnight Silverado. It was a 2 hour trip to reach the dealership in Osseo, MN, but with temps around 87 and a sunny day it was not time wasted. I rode as a passenger on my neighbors Road Star (yes, we have the same the bike)!

The handling of the bike in turns was most impressive and it is very forgiving with the clutch, unlike my 2000 Vstar. I posted pictures of my Vstar on craigslist.org and less than 12 hours later got my first request to see the bike. Sold to the first buyer for my asking price!

Specs on the Road Star are shown on the right. I'm told if you cruise at 60 mph the fuel economy is in the 50 mpg range.

Sheila even sat on the bike when I brought it home -- but much to my regret I neglected to snap a photo of the event!

The Cruise - Updated

We finally finished The Cruise today, just as the rain started falling the last 15 miles. The organizers anticipated 1000 riders (800 last year) but actually got 1200 this year! I scrapped together an impromptu team of Afee Abdulla, Jim Soppa, Bob Petrillo, Mark Bauman and myself.

Bob has a 1978 Yamaha Vstars and Mark has a 2008 Vstar but with the larger 1100 size engine. So we had 3 Vstars in our group and 2 Harleys.

Here's a partial view of the RCTC parking lot at the end of the ride - lots of bikes to admire!

Yamaha Road Star Silverado

Possible bike in my future? We don't know for sure, but Sheila is allowing me to consider it as long as its the last bike I ever get. I think this offer isn't going to come my way again, but this is what I'm looking at...hopefully the Midnight Silverado package.

Paws & Claws - Duex

Ahh, I walked 3 dogs at Paws & Claws - Damon, Chevy and Moose. I already mentioned Damon in an earlier post, but here is a dog I really enjoyed walking. Meet Moose, super friendly, super active, wants to get close to you!

I had a hard time getting a picture of Moose because he kept moving and jumping on me! I would love to adopt this dog for myself, but alas, we already have a dog (Lacey).

Paws & Claws

Chevy's description which is hung on the the kennel of each dog in Kennel Row. As you can see, Chevy has a problem with seizures. Here's Chevy while on our walk. He didn't have any seizures while I was walking him.

But he was a "staff only" dog for a long time since he bit one of the volunteers. They finally moved him down to green level (anyone can walk green dogs).

Farmers Market

Sheila and I hit the Farmers Market today, which is held every Saturday in the summer. Lots of vegetables, but no fruit to be found? Oh well. We found some stir fry veggies to cool on my new grill veggie tray. I also bought some Medium Mango Salsa, which sounds good! Awesome weather for the morning!

Sheila was focused on finding fresh snap peas for some dish she had in mind. We hit Roscoe's (right next to Farmers Market) for BBQ pork for lunch before leaving.