Moronacity Cycling Journal » Uncategorized

Say Goodbye to Pesticides, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Monosodium Glutamate

Diane Ursu — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:00:12 +0000

I have greatly cut down on my consumption of monosodium glutamate and high fructose corn syrup over the last month. I do my best to buy organic food when recommended – some food doesn’t need to be organic. This week, I’ve noticed that I’m eating a lot less food than usual.

Yesterday morning, it took me over an hour to eat my breakfast. I nibbled on a red pear and some organic yogurt while I did some research. I just couldn’t eat it fast like I usually do.

I bought a ton of organic soup when it was on sale at Meijer a few weeks ago. It’s the boxed stuff with one serving equaling exactly one cup, and each container holding whole multiples of one serving. It’s none of this “2.5 servings per can” crap that Campbell’s likes to hand us.

Lunch is often one cup of soup with a piece of fruit. I’m trying to incorporate a rainbow of flavor into my daily food intake. Apples, pears, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, carrots, tomato soup, broccoli soup, potato soup – you get the idea. Color. It’s all about color.

I downloaded a sweet iPhone app put out by the Environmental Working Group called the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. It contains three lists. The Dirty Dozen are the fruits and vegetables that you should absolutely purchase organic. They are the ones that contain the most pesticides. The Clean 15 are those which are safe to eat non-organic. The final list contains “everything.” It is a list of 49 fruits and veggies with the best listed at the top of the list, and the worst at the bottom. It’s pretty handy.

Physically, I feel well. I have energy. I feel confident that I am doing the right thing. I’ve lost two pounds just from eating healthier food, and I think the switch away from crazy chemicals has greatly influenced how much I can eat, which translates to a lot less.

Chain Drive – Setting the Record Straight

Diane Ursu — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:01:18 +0000

Two responses to my Keweenaw Chain Drive post were somewhat hateful and seemed to take it quite personally. It seems like some of you have taken that post the wrong way. One person remarked that it was a tirade-type post. That wasn’t the case at all. I clearly expressed how the Chain Drive did not parallel my personal preference, which I clearly described. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Don’t take it personally if I am not happy with the changes to a race. I am entitled to that opinion.

One person remarked that there wasn’t more climbing because the elevation change remained the same. Elevation change and distance traveled are not the same thing. The elevation gain from the start to finish is probably about 400 feet. However, steep descents and not-so-steep climbs will easily put you at much more distance climbing. This is something that all of the Keweenaw races have in common. They all have more climbing than descending, where distance traveled is concerned, and two of them start and finish at the same elevation.

I have never “bagged my community.” Even though I have expressed my unhappiness with this particular race course, I never made a negative remark about how the race was run or how the trails are. The people who run races in the Keweenaw do an excellent job. The trails are also incredible. I have always maintained that Churning Rapids is a great trail system, and I have praised the new singletrack that was built in time for the race. I have also always boasted of the incredible cycling community in my area.

Am I going to stop doing the Keweenaw Chain Drive? Probably not. That doesn’t mean I have to approve of the race course. The world will go on.

State Park, Boating Access Site and Forest Recreation Passport Fee

Diane Ursu — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:59:30 +0000

While I’ve had a lot of fun poking fun at the Iceman (Cold Blast for Iceman Registration and Grrrr, Phhhtt, Scratch, Claw, ROAR!) and Facebook, something worth writing about has come up. This is something that affects Michigan residents, and I believe it is something worth while. Currently, the MMBA is supporting it as many, many of Michigan’s mountain bike trails are located within state parks. There really is an amazing network of mountain biking in the urban sprawl of Detroit to Lansing to Battle Creek.

Currently, state park annual passes are $24 and the DNR receives no money from the state’s general fund. At this rate, the DNR will be running in the red, this year. The Citizens Committee for State Parks made a proposal to the Michigan Legislature to adopt a method of funding that has been successfully implemented in Montana.

How It Works

â€¢ Under the new proposal, the $24 annual state park resident motor vehicle permit and the $24 boating access site permit will be eliminated.
â€¢ A $10 fee (adjusted each year for inflation) will be added to the annual vehicle license plate registration and a $5 fee be added to the motorcycle license plate registration. This fee would allow access to all of the state parks and recreation areas.
â€¢ Citizens who do not use state recreation areas can opt out of the “State Park, Boating Access Site and Forest Recreation Passport” fee when registering their vehicles.
â€¢ Since people may opt out of this fee, it cannot be viewed as a tax. Instead, it will be a long-term stable fund.

What if People Opt Out?

In Montana, 30% of vehicle registrants opted out of the park funding fee in the first year, and this number decreased in subsequent years. We would break even if as many as 60% of Michigan registrants opted out.

For more information, check out the Resolution of the Citizens Committee for Michigan State Parks to Eliminate the Michigan State Park Motor Vehicle Permit and Boating Access Site Permit and Improve Funding for Michigan State Parks and Other Michigan Outdoor Recreation Areas.

Weight Training With Morrie

Diane Ursu — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:50:28 +0000

Last winter, I took a weight training class for one of my PE credits at Tech. I spoke with my instructor about my goal and he gave me a few exercises to do. I told him that I am a cyclist and my weakness is upper body strength. I wanted to concentrate on my arms, shoulders, and back. I acted like I didn’t know anything because I wanted his opinion without having any direction from my comments. He gave me some exercises that I was familiar with, and some I wasn’t. He gave me the grand tour of the weight room and showed me variations of exercises using different equipment. I prefer hand weights because they’re all in one spot.

This year, since I am spending a couple more months weight training than I did last year, I’ve decided to find some additional exercises and work through them on a six-week cycle. Monday began the first six weeks.

The following is my current upper body workout routine. I have enlisted the help of Morrie (the Moron, as in Moronacity) to help me illustrate these exercises. You’ll have to excuse Morrie. He has a bit of a Buddha from a little too much time off and a little too much partying at the KBC.

The following numbers are “sets x reps, weight”:

Shoulder Front Raises; 3 x 8, 12

Military Presses; 3 x 10-12, 12

Bent-Over Rear Deltoid Raises; 3 x 12, 8

Dumbbell Curls; 2 x 10, 12

Triceps Kickback; 2 x 12, 8

Lat Pulldown; 2 x 12, setting 6 on the machine
(I don’t know how much weight this is)

Good Morning; 3 x 12, 15

Man, that Morrie looks like he can lift a lot of weight. Look at the size of those dumbbells!

Use Protection, Wear a Helmet

Diane Ursu — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:13:00 +0000

It’s interesting how cycling helmets have so much opposition. Excuses for not wearing them are plentiful:

They don’t look cool.

They don’t feel right.

If I fall, the helmet will cause neck injury by rotataing my head on impact (this was part of an Australian study against laws necessitating the use of a helmet).Helmets among cyclists are a great necessity. If you don’t wear a helmet around one of us, you don’t look cool, and you do look funny, and chances are we won’t want to ride with you. Look cool. Wear a helmet.

Give it a week and you will wear a helmet for the rest of your life. I feel naked without my helmet and even a little scared. As a mountain biker, I’ve had quite a few accidents that were nothing because I wore a helmet. Hitting my head on that rock didn’t take me out of commission. Click here for a great story on how my helmet either saved my life, or at least the quality of it. Since I was wearing a helmet, we’ll never really know. The answer to this question should never be known.

I have never injured my neck in a fall. Sure, neck injury is possible, but if you consider how many cyclists hit their heads each year without inducing neck injury, you’ll see the odds are on the helmet-wearer’s side.

Here are a few tips for wearing your helmet:

Helmets come in different sizes. Choose one that fits well and has an adjustment to make it tighter or looser.

Adjust the chin strap so it is snug.

When properly adjusted, your helmet should sit squarely on your head and should not move when you shake your head from side to side or front to back.

Wear it. It may save your noggin.

Ride long enough, and a situation will arise where a helmet will save your noggin and allow you to ride another day.

Easy Steps to Properly Fit a Bicycle Helmet
Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute