September 9, 2008
This week the focus is on getting ready for the excruciating Tour De Shunk, a hundred-plus-mile road biking hammerfest that takes off from Rockys Bike Shop in Monroeton Sunday morning and winds through several counties and up and down lung busting and leg burning climbs all over the Endless Mountains. Five or six hours later survivors are massaged and fed spaghetti and meatballs with Martha White's homemade sauce and gallons of beer and have the option to listen to the exhilirating mile by mile ride commentary provided by Michael Budjnoski. Most of the guys really look forward to the massage, I don't really care, I prefer the beer and the Budj. We've covered the event that raises money for the Lance Armstrong foundation on the show in the past, but Bob doesn't want to do it this year because he is afraid someone is finally going to suggest he ride a bike himself. He does know how to ride a stationary bike but I think he uses his daughter's training wheels on his real bike and has made it around his block only one or two laps at a time before he has to rest. At least he can paddle a kayak by himself. And he can ride a Suzuki King Quad pretty good without wrecking.
This will be my third year for the event and I hope I'm ready because if I'm not it will hurt. Ryno and I did a half a shunk last Sunday and it felt ok. And that was without the turkey sandwiches. They hand them out to you every 25 miles at rest stops and they're really good. They definitely keep you going to the end. We didn't have any on the practice ride and Ryno got king of the hill on the last climb because I was weak due to hunger.
The key is to have fresh legs. Tapering down from training hard will be easy this week since these hurricanes are dumping lots of water on us today and forecasted to continue through the week. I don't like to ride in the rain. I've been canning tomatoes, Italian plums that originated as seeds in the mother country of Italy and were collected, started indoors and painstakingly planted by my Elk Mountain ski buddy Howard Bonk on his family's farm near Clarks Summit. We picked hundreds of them on Saturday and I've done about 40 pounds so far. They'll make for some good fuel to keep me tearing up the powder and moguls this winter at Elk.
I'm also getting ready to edit my first totally on my own shooting foray - I just got a new camera of my very own and am learning to shoot with it. My videography initiation is a segment about local hunter rider Marla Sgarlat and her gorgeous horse Marcus for the September 21 show. Hopefully when I put the mini DV tape in the machine to load this morning it won't be blank. I'm hoping to shoot a striper fishing derby with it off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in two weeks.
If I survive the shunk. Stay tuned.
This week the focus is on getting ready for the excruciating Tour De Shunk, a hundred-plus-mile road biking hammerfest that takes off from Rockys Bike Shop in Monroeton Sunday morning and winds through several counties and up and down lung busting and leg burning climbs all over the Endless Mountains. Five or six hours later survivors are massaged and fed spaghetti and meatballs with Martha White's homemade sauce and gallons of beer and have the option to listen to the exhilirating mile by mile ride commentary provided by Michael Budjnoski. Most of the guys really look forward to the massage, I don't really care, I prefer the beer and the Budj. We've covered the event that raises money for the Lance Armstrong foundation on the show in the past, but Bob doesn't want to do it this year because he is afraid someone is finally going to suggest he ride a bike himself. He does know how to ride a stationary bike but I think he uses his daughter's training wheels on his real bike and has made it around his block only one or two laps at a time before he has to rest. At least he can paddle a kayak by himself. And he can ride a Suzuki King Quad pretty good without wrecking.
This will be my third year for the event and I hope I'm ready because if I'm not it will hurt. Ryno and I did a half a shunk last Sunday and it felt ok. And that was without the turkey sandwiches. They hand them out to you every 25 miles at rest stops and they're really good. They definitely keep you going to the end. We didn't have any on the practice ride and Ryno got king of the hill on the last climb because I was weak due to hunger.
The key is to have fresh legs. Tapering down from training hard will be easy this week since these hurricanes are dumping lots of water on us today and forecasted to continue through the week. I don't like to ride in the rain. I've been canning tomatoes, Italian plums that originated as seeds in the mother country of Italy and were collected, started indoors and painstakingly planted by my Elk Mountain ski buddy Howard Bonk on his family's farm near Clarks Summit. We picked hundreds of them on Saturday and I've done about 40 pounds so far. They'll make for some good fuel to keep me tearing up the powder and moguls this winter at Elk.
I'm also getting ready to edit my first totally on my own shooting foray - I just got a new camera of my very own and am learning to shoot with it. My videography initiation is a segment about local hunter rider Marla Sgarlat and her gorgeous horse Marcus for the September 21 show. Hopefully when I put the mini DV tape in the machine to load this morning it won't be blank. I'm hoping to shoot a striper fishing derby with it off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in two weeks.
If I survive the shunk. Stay tuned.
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valgeist
Extreme and Adventure Athlete, Producer and Reporter for The Great Outdoors show
Member Since: 8/29/2008
