This Weeks Training - The B52 Ride!!

This week was a great week for training. During the weekday I was able to get in 1 hr each of chest, back and shoulders. I also able to do a weekday swim and run.

The weekday run was in the rain with Bonnie and Chewie (my dog). The dog loved the run and made it about 2 miles before he pooped out. He is only a 20lb dog so he can not go to far. He was soaking wet when we hit the door. I dried him with a towel but he was is spazo wet dog, run crazy around the house mode. Why do dogs do that when they get wet? After a quick dog drying Bonnie and I continued the run without Chewie.

A bonked Chewie!!

One day during the week Bonnie and I also had a cycling class at a local bike store. We are doing the Taste of Vision Quest classes. The classes are pretty cool. They are 1.5 hours of training focusing on getting your cycling wattage up. They do kick your butt.

On Saturday I did a 3K swim followed by a 8 mile run. This was the first and longest run since the last 70.3 and it was slow and it was HOT HOT HOT. The run started at 10:30 and ended around noon. The FL summer heat just beats you down.  I ran 7 loops around the lake.  On one of the loops I saw 3 otters eating some fish.  That took my mind off the heat for a while.

The winding Heintzelman loop

 Sunday I skipped my normal cycling groups and did my own thing. I found a new local riding area near the airport.  It starts on Heintzelamn Blvd and rides completly around the airport.  The looped ended up being around 33 miles.  I did two loops for about 65 miles.  It was really winding and really hot. 

It's a bird!! Nope its a plane.

The cycling loop is pretty cool though.  You get to see all the airplanes taking off and landing.  They are right above you for most of the ride.  It is a nice distraction from the wind and the heat.  There are also a ton of wildlife in the area.  I saw a ton of Sand Hill Cranes, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga and Herons.  I also saw a wild turkey who ran off as soon as I pulled out the camera.
  

Sand Hill Cranes (SOURCE)

ROCK LOBSTER!!

I was also able to ride into B52 Park.  The Orlando Airport use to be a McCoy Airforce base.  According to Wikipedia Orlando airport was once home to B52 bombers.  "During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, McCoy AFB became the primary forward operating base for U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and associated Cuban overflight operations, as well as a forward operating base for over 120 F-100 Super Sabre and F-105 Thunderchief fighter bombers. SOURCE"


PBS Historical Interuption



I have never seen a B52 bomber in person.  I knew they were big but I had no idea how big was big.  I included a picture of one of the landing with my bike in front of it to give you an idea of how big the plane is.  I made for a cool SWAG stop.

This is how big is big!! (SOURCE)
Length: 159 ft 4 in (48.5 m)

Wingspan: 185 ft 0 in (56.4 m)

Height: 40 ft 8 in (12.4 m)

WOW That's big!!  It makes "Old Blue" look tiny!!

Front View

Side View

BINGO!!

Better Than Gu Brew

Better Than Gu Brew

These came out yummy!

What do you do on your free time?

One of my hobbies is making hard cider and mead (honey wine).  Just yesterday I a new brew.  It is a acerglyn (a honey wine with maple syrup).  The house is starting to smell like sweet honey maple wine.  I don't have a large amount of free time and this is one hobby that does not require much time and the rewards are great.  You would be amazed at home many friends come out of the woodworks when they hear you are bottling a new wine.  :-)

The last time I used oneof these I was in organic chemistry class
but making wine is far more fun.

The rewards!!

What do you do on your free time? Leave me a comment.

WOW!! An Even Better Price on Great Pedals

WOW!! An Even Better Price on Great Pedals


SOURCE

Wow!! I thought I got a great price at $126.  Now the Keo Look 2 Max Carbons are on sale for $109.58. They are on sale at Chain Reaction Cycles.  Get them while they last.

Throwback Thursday - Cereal Prizes

Throwback Thursday - Cereal Prizes

Rooom...Rooom!!

Look what I got in my bag of Cheerios at work. It reminds me of when I was a kid. You either got a racecar or a rubber Wacky Wall Walker purple octopus (my personal favorite).  The racecar even came with stickers, which I put on all by myself.  Just proving I am a big boy now.  It now sits on my desk at work.

I remember my sister beaming me
with these when I was a kid.



1. I do not remember the cereal boxes ever toys for the female demographic.  Only cars, wacky wall walkers, super balls, etc.  Do you remember any?  If so, what were they? 
2. What toys do you remember getting in the cereal boxes?  What were your favorates? 
3. What was your favorate cereal (my was Captain Crunch)? 

 BTW - According to Wikipedia in the 1980's over 240 million Wacky Wall Walkers had been sold, raking in about 80 million dollars.  God, why could I have not thought of that idea.

My Questions For You.  I double dog dare you to answer them.

I Survived Lucky's Midnight Piranha Lake Swim

I Survived Lucky's Midnight Piranha Lake Swim

SOURCE

On July 3 I survived swimming in the lake infested with piranha.  It was Lucky’s 3^rd annual midnight swim.  For those of you who have never done this it is described as “Come join us at 10pm and watch a horror film that involves fish feeding on humans. No more hints about the movie, but you can also watch this short film that might give you another clue what the movie will be about. If the short film freaks you out then definitely don’t watch the movie and do the midnight swim this year. The swim will start at midnight after the movie. We were going to order extra body bags for this swim, but then we realized –  what would we put in them LOL Pretty freaking funny if you really think about it.  And, before we get 1000 comments on questioning where the photo was taken I will tell you.  Lake Cane, at least we think it was lake cane.  We found the camera on the bottom and this was the last shot on the screen.  No photographer though?  Weird, it was like he just disappeared without a trace. hummmm?” <SOURCE>

You got to love Lucky’s sense of humor. 

At 10pm Bonnie and I arrived at Lucky’s house to watch the movie Piranha 3D.  Lucky was showing the movie in his living room. We all brought chairs and beverages to watch the movie.  There were about 90 people who showed up for the swim so the living room was quite cozy.

IMDB describes Piranha 3D as “Lake Victoria's annual Spring party by 50,000 young revelers is about to turn into a feeding frenzy with prehistoric hunger-pains. With knee-trembler's above the waves and tremors below, released from their dormant sleep, thousands upon thousands of flesh-eating nippers are released into the lake with whetted appetites and razor-sharp teeth. With a motley crew of strangers thrown together to defend these shores, it is now up to them to prevent the largest eat-out in human, and piranha, history.”  <SOURCE>

Lucky had a much better definition “If you are not sure about the movie please watch Piranha Attack at Lucky’s Lake Swim  Now this short film is about the same (including the acting level) except for these four differences 1. Richard Dreyfess is not killed and eaten in the opening scene of the Lake Cane film. 2. There is 1000 times more blood and gore in the movie. 3. There are no college girls with their bikinis constantly falling off in the Lake Cane version. 4. The piranha in the lake cane version were real whereas the ones in the movie were computer generated.  Hope to see you at the movie and the swim“ and as “Blood and Gore, Some nudity, Blood and Gore and then more Blood and Gore”. <SOURCE>  

It’s your basic B rated horror film with piranha attacking college girls who are topless for most of the movie and with very little acting (none of it good).  Great stuff!

After getting through the movie it was time for the midnight swim.  About 90 swimmers got ready to venture into the piranha infested waters.  Many people posed with the stuffed piranha then jumped into to waters with the flesh eating fish. 

Digger being attacked by the dog easting fish!

During the swim I did not see any piranha or topless college girls (damn) but I did hear some screaming. I don’t remember seeing Digger coming back into the shores so maybe he became fish food.

For more pictures of the swim go to Lucky's Lake Swim Blog http://luckyslakeswimblog.wordpress.com/.

For more information about the movie Piranha 3D go here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464154/



Me in the background before the swim



Hey, I am actually smilling.

I am not sure who is eating who here.