A Peak Experience

My best day cycling was on July 19, 2003.  This was my journal entry from that day:

I had a most enjoyable day riding on Saturday. The weather was perfect, low humidity with a touch of coolness in the air.
I went on all virgin roads in New Hampshire. I did a loop starting on route 112 in Lincoln then 118, 25A, 10, 116 and back to 112. It is the Mousilaukee region so I knew there would be some climbing but I thought it would be mostly on my return on 116.

It turned out I started to climb almost immediately and when I got on 118 I hit a three mile stretch with a posted 8% grade. That sure got me warmed up quickly. I was glad to have a 27 tooth cog to go with my 39 in front. The overall climb was about 8 miles so I knew the downhill would be nice. The sign said 7% grade for the downhill. It was twisty with not the best pavement. I got up to 48 and then did some braking. Not knowing the road and the twists had me chicken out.
From there the ride was comparatively flat over 25A and route 10. The roads were very nice with almost no traffic with beautiful panoramic views.

As I was turning onto 116 from route 10, I noticed a road construction sign. Further on it said the road was closed 6 miles up! I didn't know what to do because I had already gone 50 miles at this point so backtracking, especially with the climbing, was not looking attractive. I stopped and asked a man if he thought I could make it through. He indicated I would have to get across a river as the bridge was out. I decided to go for it. After a lot of climbing on a what was now an almost completely deserted road because only a few local residents now used it, I came to the road closed sign. Sure enough, there was a ravine with a river at the bottom. I debated taking my shoes off because of the cleats but decided to go with shoes. Crossing the river was a bit tricky but I only got my shoes a little wet. I climbed up the other banking and proceeded.

After some descending I rejoined route 112 to find more road construction signs. Turns out the pavement had been taken up for 3 1/2 miles. Most cars slowed down when passing so it wasn't too bad, just slower. After the construction, I really started the climbing. It was relentless up to a lookout over the valley and Mount Mousilaukee. After a brief rest there, I prepared for the descent. I saw the grade sign coming up. When I got close enough to see the figure, my heart jumped - 12% grade! And a good road! And fairly straight! with almost no traffic. My bike quickly went through the 40s and before I knew it, past 50 - I kept accelerating topping out at 55 MPH! What a rush! My legs were tired and shaking a little bit which at this speed translated into making the bike shake some. I was grateful to have good wheels under me. I have attached a photo I took of my computer.

I had always had a goal to beat 50 but didn't hope to do 55 on this ride. I would love to hit 60 sometime. I was solo so I'm thinking if there were a couple other riders to slingshot with on this descent, we might have reached it.
Final stats: 71.38 miles in 4:11:51 for an average of 17.01. My average speed really takes a beating in the mountains.

and the requisite photo of my cycling computer:

Ocean City Trip

Amanda's grandmother has a beautiful condo overlooking the beach in Ocean City, Maryland.  She graciously agreed to let us stay there for a week.  We hit a week of perfect weather.  There wasn't a drop of rain the whole time we were down there though we did hit some rain while traveling down.

This is the view looking off the front balcony in the early morning light:

In the evening we could see beautiful sunsets from the rear balcony looking westward:

We spent our first day largely enjoying the beach.  Ocean City is known for its delectable crab dinners so we went out that night to sample one.  It had been two years since I had had crab when I was last here:

I got the early bird special which featured all-you-can-eat crabs.  Eating crabs is a messy undertaking and you have to work for it as there's not a lot of meat in each crab but after a second tray was brought, I had more than my fill!

It's very pleasant on the beach close to sunset:

I protected my hair by applying lots of coconut oil everyday before going to the beach and swimming in the ocean.  It worked well and left my hair with lots of waves:

Mostly, I'd keep it in a braid for protection as well:

I brought my bike down and was able to go on three rides including a 52 miler to the Bay Bridge and back.  Mostly, days were spent on the beach right in front of the condo though we did venture down to the boardwalk area on one of the evenings.  This is how things looked at the extremity of it:

It felt like we were staying in a 5 star resort!  It was great to spend time with Amanda and her grandmother in such a beautiful setting and we look forward to visiting again next year.

Ferry Beach

Amanda and I went to Ferry Beach in Maine this week.  It's located about four miles from Old Orchard Beach.  It's a retreat run by Unitarian Universalists but all are welcome to visit.  We had camped there last August but decided to stay in a room this time.  We knew the forecast was for unbearable heat but we figured we'd be alright because it's right on the beach.  Guests who reserve rooms also receive three meals per day included with the package so it promised to be a very relaxing experience.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and after putting our things away we headed to the beach.  It was late enough in the day that we didn't bother with our beach umbrella and the beach was gorgeous!  The water was very cold but we managed to go in some.  Here's how it looked:

Amanda didn't go all the way in but here she is coming back from her semi-immersion:

What is really nice about Ferry Beach is that it's not nearly as crowded as Old Orchard and it's quite an idyllic setting:

Amanda decided to do some yoga poses:

All went well until it was time to sleep.  The room has no air conditioning and it was a tiny cubicle of a room on the second floor.  The first night was bad but the second night was even worse.  I woke up at 3AM and realized my only chance to get back to sleep was to go and take a cold shower.  We spent a lot of time at the beach on Thursday and it was a haven from the ridiculous heat.  There was no sea breeze whatsoever though and the only way to cool off was to go in.  I think the heat brought out the bugs and I managed to get stung by a bee and by late afternoon, the flies and other pests had driven me from the beach.

We decided to take a break from the sun on Friday and planned to see the Harry Potter movie.  We figured we'd spend a little time in the morning at the beach and then see the movie around noon.  We totally struck out at the beach.  First, the beach umbrella we bought earlier this month turned out to be a total piece of junk and it gave out.  Secondly, the water was just too cold to go in.  Even just standing up to one's ankles was very painful.  I went all the way in once but it was very unpleasant.  Thirdly, the bugs were now downright vicious.  We gave up and headed into Saco.

We enjoyed a fine dining experience at Taco Hell with its delectable food selections.  We finished just in time to proceed to the theater and the first showing of The Deathly Hallows at 12:10.  Alas!  The heat had caused a power outage throughout much of Saco.  We tried to going to another theater but the next showing was for much later in the day.  We ended up killing some time at Borders.  They had advertised good deals with their going-out-of-business liquidation sale but these deals were not to be found - 10% off of full price?  By this time the power had been restored at the original theater and we went back to see the movie.  The movie was everything I was hoping it would be.  My favorite part involved Harry going into the pensieve and seeing Snape's relationship with Lilly Potter.  It was very well done!

We had paid to stay at Ferry Beach for a third night but we were really questioning whether we could stand another night in that hellhole of a room.  We went back and enjoyed a great supper and then tried the beach again but were almost immediately driven away but these pernicious biting flies.  We encountered a woman leaving the beach complaining that she had repellant on and it was doing no good whatsoever.  That sealed it for us.  We decided to forfeit the last night and the two paid-for meals the next day.

We were a bit disappointed overall as our experience last year had been much better.  In Ferry Beach's defense, however, such intolerable heat is a rare occurrence there.  I think if we ever go back, we'll schedule our stay for late August in the hopes of avoiding it.  It is risky to schedule staying in a non-air conditioned room in July.

The Results from Two Months of Coconut Oilings

The last month has brought about mostly good things in the hair department.  I seem to have noticed an uptick in shedding but perhaps it's a summer thing.  It's nowhere near as dramatic as the shed from the summer of 2008.  It could be partly from stress too as I just moved and that is a huge endeavor.

On the plus side, I continue with regular coconut oil applications.  I've been allowing for a 24 hour absorption time before washing it out.  I've also come up with a routine for beach activities.  I wet my hair before leaving the house and smother it with coconut oil.  Then when I arrive at the beach, I apply a generous amount of jojoba oil as a top layer.  It seems to work well to repel the salt water and sun damage as well.

My ends are definitely better but they still have a ways to go.  I don't feel that the extra care and regular coconut oil applications will be enough.  I'm planning on having another inch trimmed next month and may go to a regular routine of getting an inch trimmed every three months.  I think after a 6 months to 1 year timeframe of doing this, my hair will hopefully get back to the fully health state I'm shooting for.

Here are four photos taken yesterday:

June 12, 2011: Results from Coconut Oil and a Trim

This post will commence what the main purpose of this blog is about: to see if I can restore my hair to its 2008 health while at least maintaining and hopefully increasing its length.  I now have been experimenting with coconut oil for almost four weeks.  I have done a couple of deep oilings while leaving it in my hair overnight and also have used smaller amounts on just the last six inches of my hair.  I also had my wife trim about an inch from the ends a few days ago.

Here is how my hair is looking today.  This is after a deep oiling on 6/9/2011 and washing/conditioning yesterday but with no further oiling:

I think it is looking better than it did last month.  The trim definitely helped and I think further trims may be in order as the last six inches still feels rough when I run my hand down the length.  I'm very interested in trying to attain greater length too so I will have to balance the two objectives.  The difference is that now I'm taking better care of my hair so as new hair grows in the healthier hair should push down to the ends.  Coconut oil is an amazing product.  It actually penetrates the hair shaft unlike jojoba oil which only coats it.  My hair reacts far better to the coconut and I think it's going to make a difference by protecting and nourishing it at greater lengths.

Bringing Things Up-To-Date: 2011

2010 ended with me being unhappy with the feel of my hair.  The last six inches felt damaged and I was unsure how to proceed.  I remembered my dyeing it the temporary plum color in 2007 and how I liked the results then so I decided to try this again in January 2011:

I think the intense conditioning did make the ends feel better but it was really only a temporary fix.  By May, the ends again were not feeling healthy:

So, this ends the recounting of my hair history from 2004 to the present.  From this point forward, I will commence posting about my efforts to attain further length and improved health.  A very helpful discovery I made last month was coconut oil.  It's showing great promise in eliminating tangles and penetrating the hair shaft to improve the hair's health.  I also plan on trying Feye's self-trim method soon to give myself regular small trims.

2010 in Review

This year was a whirlwind for me. I got married on July 11, 2010 and so much of it went by very quickly. My hair was kind of just there. I got a trim of about two inches shortly before the wedding and another trim late in the year. For the first time I was really beginning to see damage even at lengths that I had previously attained with much healthier hair.

I'm not entirely sure the reasons for this but part of the reason for me chronicling things in this blog is to see if the situation can be corrected. I think part of it was me just not being as focused on hair care and maintenance. I also exercised much more than in previous years and didn't put a lot of effort into trying to protect it. This is probably the main culprit.

I wore my hair in a braid for the wedding:

In Gloucester in August: