More CPOA

In typical Ken fashion, I havent updated in over a week. School has been incredibly busy. The highlight of last week was High Ropes on Friday. I was surprised at how difficult some of the challenges were. Looking at the course from afar earlier in the class always had me thinking "cant wait to get up there, looks so fun." Little did I know how humbling some of them would be. The pic above is of the pamper pole. You climb up there and without using your belay rope stand tall on top of a telephone pole. It is swaying in the breeze and high enough to really f with your head. Once you stand, the way down is jumping for a trapeze swing. Intense.

We also did all kinds of tight rope stuff and a killer zip wire.

I had some amazing rides since the last posting, more when I get back from class today.

Monday 13 Oct

Morning began with PT, step aerobics. Still not a huge fan, but it was a workout so its all good. Played basketball with some dudes for a half hour after PT. Classes started at 845, and we got to wear civilian attire since its a holiday. The whole day was Ethics. Kind of a refresher for me since I deal with the subject a lot at work. Overall a decent day.

Off to get my hair cut, wish me luck. Its always an adventure getting your hair cut while travelling. Maybe I should just get the GI joe style. Leaving you with a pic of the base at sunrise, its really cool how the fog lays down in the valleys.

Weekend

Rode with Chuck today. We had a really awesome ride along Tomales Bay down Highway 1. We rode from the base out to Tomales, then along the bay to Point Reyes Station. From there we headed back to downtown Petaluma, passing the Nocasio Reservoir, pictured at left. When I was walking down to the banks I saw a lizard, they are everywhere around here. I find myself paying a lot more attention to the ground looking for snakes, I heard a hiss in the bushes while riding the other day. I would take lizards over snakes any day. We had lunch in Pt Reyes Station, I had another vegomatic sandwich.

Yesterday was really cool too. A group of us went to San Quentin Prison and got the grand tour from one of the CO's who is friends with an instructor at the school. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had while in California. We started out in the yard, where the new inmates were watching a concert of some sorts. Seemed like a ministry. The new ones wear orange, and I want to say they were call probationary, but the term escapes me so don't hold me to it. Anyway, these are guys who have just entered the system and are being categorized. They spend around 2 months and are then transferred to other prisons, or added to a tier in San Quentin. The scary thing was that these guys may have tendencies for violence against guards (or in our case a tour group) that the prison hasn't identified yet. I was real stoked to know that there was a lot of firepower in the towers. While we were there an alarm was sounded, it was a horn followed by "Yard Down!". All of the inmates hit the deck. It turned out to be for something in another area of the prison, I think the "AC". That ward is for people who "cant get along" with anyone else. Someone hung themselves there the night before too.

It was amazing to see the gangs and segregation of people in the yard. Gangs run prison, and prison gangs run the gangs on the outside. The entire yard was segregated by gangs. Whites, blacks, Mexicans, etc. When we went into one of the dorms where these orange wearing folk live, I got the first "I never in a million years want to go to prison" feelings. It is no joke, and I was soon to find out that the dorms are heaven compared to the tiers. The tiers are where people who are spending more time live, and where the orange wearers will go when they are classified and assigned a permanent home. We toured a cell, got locked in it, the whole 9. Crazy. We also went to the mess hall and saw the most amazing mural painted by one of the inmates back in the 50's. Eyes on the painting followed you, and there was a trolley car that always appeared to be coming at you. Hard to describe but an amazing work. It depicted the history of CA. We also went to the dining hall that Johnny Cash played in.

The most impressive parts of the tour were death row and the gas chamber. We walked into death row as they were locking the inmates back up from the yard. Each one is cuffed when moving, and stripped down to a white shirt and white boxers. They have 650-something condemned inmates. The co who was giving us the tour worked the row. We saw yards that they use, numbered 1-6. They are segregated mostly by gangs, Scott Peterson likes yard 6. Apparently he is no threat to the inmates and they mostly like him.

Lastly was the gas chamber. They have a new room that they will be using once they begin executing inmates again, we toured the old one that has been used many times, last was in 2006. It was quite the sobering experience. I left the prison with a renewed sense of appreciation for my freedom, for my wonderful wife and children, and for the happiness we have. There wasn't much of any inside. I also gained a huge respect for the correction officers and the shitty job that they have working alongside the prisoners on a daily basis. One person in our group asked what is was like to always be surrounded by criminals. The officer responded very well, saying that on the outside we are surrounded by them too, we just don't know it. They have 5000 or so prisoners, and a constant rotation of people. Some years see 4000 people or so released, sometimes more.

After SQ Wendell and I went into San Francisco and met Chuck, Mike Love and Andrea. We saw the Blue Angels performing over the bay, completely awesome. Those guys are rock stars.

Friday 10 October

Lunch - Heading to Bodega Bay (Bodega Head) for a class walk. This is the midway point of the Academy and rumors are that we will have a chance to give feedback, etc.

Update - The walk was great. Bodega Head is beautiful. We walked about a mile then met under a tree and everyone related to the group what they got out of the last two weeks and what they hoped to get in the next two. I was blown away by what some of my classmates had to say. It was very emotional for some people.

This morning was the last unit of "Bob", it was awesome. I am still a huge fan. We also had a video teleconference with RADM Breckinridge which was nice.

Thursday Morning, 09 oct

0730, just finished working out. Class in 30 mins. Had our "team bike ride" yesterday, which meant 6 miles on 7yr old mountain bikes around the base. It was fun to ride with the team, but overall pretty yawn inducing compared to my road rides. I was happy to get an off night, my legs were definately looking for a night of rest. Did a ton of homework yesterday, feeling like I am well caught up on classes, if not a bit ahead of the game.

Today is systems thinking and an educational planning class in the afternoon which I am really looking forward to.

Bodega Bay Ride

Today was my most tired day of class yet. Not too sure why. I was in bed fairly early. Played some cards with Antonio, Jim and Wendell in the lounge while doing laundry. Was in bed well before midnight.

Anyway, class got out early (3:45) so I decided to hit Bodega Bay. Got in 45 miles and finally figured out a way to pack the camera safely. Its now nested under my seat pack in the mountainsmith bag we got at EMS. Woohoo. I'll add pics tomorrow. The ride there was against the nuttiest headwind ever. This place just never seems to be calm. Hit my best max speed of the trip so far on the way back though! 48.5mph. It was so sweet, total rush. Saw a cow in a dry river bed on the way home, it was surreal with the sun setting in the backround. The pic does it no justice.

Ok, sleeping. Pics tomorrow.
<3

Monday 06 Oct

More step aerobics. I put my step on the high setting and tried to get a good workout in. Sweat a lot and stumbled around less. I may have rythm yet!

Class was civilian clothes all day, we worked on MTBI. Meyers Briggs Type Indocator. I am a ENFP. My indicator came out 6 E, 23 N, 1 T, 6 P...so I changed my type from "t" to "f" because it fit me better. It was also discussed that if a man scored under 5 on "t" that he was stronly assumed to be "f" due to societal issues, etc.

More on MTBI when I get around to that.

Got an amazing ride in. Went to Dillon Beach again, but this time from the North. Went down Valley Ford Road past 1 south, then hoooked a left on Valley Ford Estero Road. This road led me to one of the hardest climbs I have ever done. It has to be the longest anyway. The scenery was mezmerizing, and it was again foggy and wet when i got to the top. Saw a teenaged looking cow strolling up the road on the descent, really nutty. He was on the yellow line just chilling, and I was approaching him at 40 mph. I yelled "ye-awwww" like some kind of cowboy and he completely ignored me. My cowboy skills need work.

Sunday 05

Slept a lot, no rides. Legs were smoked. Stayed up late sat night partying. Finished memo in computer lab. Early night.

Saturday, 04 October

Woke at 6 or so for a 5k run at 2 Rock Elementary School. It was a race but 23 of my fellow students and I were running for fun and to raise some cash for the school's PT program. We raised 600 clams. The Captain also put in 100 more because we finished as a team. We chanted our class number as we crossed the line too, it was pretty fun. Oh yeah, and it rained for a good portion of the run.

Got back to the room and had a snack, then set off for a ride. 70 Miles of incredible scenery and hills. I rolled into town on Pepper Road and quickly found Sonoma Bicycle Company, which so far seems to be the best shop in town. I left and climbed up D Street, a real long and super scenic climb. From there I rode directly to Point Reyes Station, then headed north on the "1" up to Tomales along Tomales Bay. The roads and views were just awesome.

Wished I had my camera almost every bend I came around. I will definately have it next time I do this loop. Ate a great sandwich at a deli in PR Station called a vegimatic or something like that. It had avocados, olives and a slew of other veggies mashed between two hummous lined peices of wheat. Yum.

Friday 03 Oct

Friday started with a 0600 OUTDOOR swim. The pool here is heated, but there was something very wrong about getting to the gym at 550 to swim, OUTSIDE, in 55 degree weather. It wound up being a total blast. We swam laps, did aqua aerobics, passed bricks around, tread water exercises, etc. I got in a great workout.

Class was more IHE, the "Stress Map" wellness class (another yawner) and some presentation training. We got out by 430 or so.

Our team went out for Hibachi in Santa Rosa. The place was pretty good and the guys had me pissing myself. Ray drove the van, and I cant begin to describe how funny a driver he is. "Can i get over, Can i get over, can i get over?" (all the while not looking at the side views) We poked a ton of fun at him. Then he walks into the restaurant and says "conichiwa" (sp) to the hostess. So fun. Had a great dinner, sushi app and scallop hibachi. Got back and worked on the memo a bit then hit the club for a few beers and a pool game. Crashed out early.

Thursday, 02 Oct

Class covered wellness. I have to admit I was kind of bored, Health Promotion Coordinator School covered the topic much more thoroughly. It was a great refresher anyway. We had a VTC (video teleconference) with CAPT Kelly, the guy who runs the leadership and development center (LDC). Class let out on time and I set out for another ride. This time I really wanted to see the Beach.

I plotted the quickest route, which was to Dillon Beach. All of the roads around here flow through what seems like endless farms and this was no exception. My route took me through a pretty cool area of Marin County with a small river and some nice rolling hills. None of the climbs were too steep. I nonticed that as I got closer to the coast that a fog was starting to settle into the valleys between rises. By the time I got to Dillon Beach Road I realized that not only was it a fog, it was some of the thickest wet fog I had ever ridden through. I had my vest and armwarmers packed and was real happy for them. My toes actually got a bit cold.

the most bizarre experience on this ride was the road that led down to the beach. It was a total white knuckle, twisty flowing mile or so long descent. One side had a guard rail and a fall that would drop you a few hundred feet at times into a bunch of cows or rocks and the other (my side) was wet under all the trees as they were collecting condensation and doing a damn good rain impersonation. I took my time and rode the brakes a little more than I needed to. The climb back up was rediculous, really made me happy to get up it. My brain was full with all kinds of Bob talk, I figured staying positive couldnt hurt. Got back in a bit over 2 hours. Took a cell phone pic of the statue down at the beach.

The waves seemed awesome by the way. It was pea soup fog but I got close enough to see what looked to be about 4-6' fun sized surf.

Wednesday 01 October

Wednesday began at 0600 with step aerobics in the gym. I have very little rythm. I am kinda fly for a white guy and all that, but step didnt do it for me. I tripped up a lot trying to get the moves down, but generally had fun and made the best of it. At least I got a decent work out in. I got better by the end and then ran back to the room. The rest of the day was filled with more "Bob" and IHE training. I really dig his methods and ideas. Spooky.

Class let out early enough to get a ride in, and I rode the Chileno-Spring Hill loop with a guy named Chuck from Class. He used to be a cat3 racer on the all military team or something. Super nice guy and we had a great ride. Luckily (for me) he hasnt got a ton of base miles in so i was able to hang. I did a majority of the work out front and we bullshitted the whole ride. Great 2 hours. Called it an early night, still feeling like east coast time. Waking up at 3-4am and staring at the ceiling sucks but it is getting better.

More CPOA

Tuesday began with a 0515 blood letting at the clinic. The staff told us that the Health Service Students would be drawing our blood, but I was lucky enough to get a petty officer that knew his stuff. The order of business in class was "Increasing Human Effectiveness" with Bob Moawad. Pretty awesome and motivating stuff.

After class we went for a team walk.


We were supposed to be gone 30 minutes, and arrive at the galley at precisely 5:30. We were tasked with choosing a Team Leader, which was easy since we had already "volunteered" Greg for the Job. Greg mentioned at the initial introduction to the entire class that he was not in a leadership position, so we figured he was the natural choice. After he agreed to take the lead, we wound up walking "Texas Hill", which took us entirely too far from the galley.

We had to hoof it through the woods to get back and were still 15 minutes late. It was a blast.

The evening ended with a pizza social in the galley.

I'm Back

There is something about blogs that often finds me bored and/or just not wanting to post. Laziness? Time management? I havent a clue, but I do know that the ride I did today, and the riding I have done this week, warrant mention. Why not here? I have to catch you up on the week first.

I flew out to Petaluma, CA for the Chief Petty Officer's Academy last Friday. In the weeks before leaving I convinced myself that the best bike to take along for 33 days in NorCal was the roadie. No car, no singletrack on base and tons of epic road rides out of the front door. No brainer.

I bought a Thule 669 bike carrier from Halter's Cycle back home (the best shop in NJ) and rolled the dice with flying the bike as checked baggage. United hooked me up hugely, I checked the bike case, a huge suitcase and garment bag. Since I was travelling on orders up to 3 bags were free.

I got to my room early in the afternoon Friday and set out for a loop after calling home. First order of business was to hit town and buy some water bottles from the nearest shop. Mission accomplished, and I hooked with a frame pump too since cell service is horrendous and being alone on a desolate road for hours with the weather out here doesnt appeal to me. I got back to the base area with under 20 miles and really wanted to ride more. I had done some google earthin' around the area, and took a chance at Spring Hill road not knowing exactly where it came out.

I wound up doing the Spring Hill - Cheleno Valley ride. Met a dude named Paul who used to live in NJ, he gave me a few directions and saved the night. I would have been back 2 hrs after dark had I not spoke to him. I have since found out that it is a staple of the petaluma area. It rolls through breathtaking farmland, and the roads are often carless for super long periods of time. I was immediately impressed by the local drivers. They wait to pass until it is safe, often wave to you, and wait at intersections when they see you. Refreshing really.

Saturday was a full day and evening of academy business, including "low ropes" which was a blast. It was all team building excercises, the best of which was a "trust fall". You fall backwards off of a 6' platform into the arms of your teamates. It felt awesome to let go, and really built trust on the first day. Cool stuff. The night ended with a reception in the club put on by the local CPO Association. I called it an early night but had an arrogant bastard ale or two.

Sunday was again filled with CPOA stuff. We began the morning with a health assessment. Weigh in, blood pressure, 1.5m run, pushups, situps. I did great ok on the PT portions, though I am going to work on increasing the situps in a minute test. BP was awesome and I weighed 192. Up a solid 8lbs from where I was a month or two ago but I know how I got there. I was surprised to find that by the forthcoming BMI standards I would have been 1lb overweight. My new max weight will be 191 down from 205. More motivation to keep healthy! We ended the day with a game in the galley called "promises promises". It was fun, more team building. Had a few lagunitas IPA's but again called it an early night.

Monday we were out of class by 3:45 or so, I hit the Cheleno Valley-Spring Hill ride in reverse. This time I took a detour through Helen Putnam Park and found an awesome climb on a path in there called the ridge trail. It dumped me off on the outskirts of downtown Petaluma, so I turned around and climbed it the other way. It was 17% in some areas, a real leg burner. I couldnt get mountain lions out of my head, since a classmate had asked the base captain earlier in the day about our risk of cougar attack. The Capt. took the question well and had a response that was half joking half serious, a good laugh. Bottom line is that they have a 100 mile feed zone and I think all of the deer, cattle and sheep I see around here are tastier than my 192lbs.

More to come on the week's rides tomorrow, and all about today's epic ride. Off to dinner.

I started the day Saturday with a 5k fun race.

50-50 Ride (2-18-2008)

50% Sun and incredible spring weather, 50% rain, wind and general nastiness.

I am really digging the road when our trails are beat up, today's ride was no exception despite the rain. I rode past the Hospital Rd. lot on the way out and the way back and was pretty surprised at how many people were riding. Hopefully they stayed off the newer and/or muddier stuff.

I started out and felt amazing, legs felt real fresh. My goals were to head into the Colts Neck area and look for some hills, push a bigger gear than I did last ride, and stay in the big ring as much as possible while keeping a decent spin. I was looking to do about 3 hours, and met all of my goals pretty well.

The rain started in Marlboro, so I made a quick stop at the Bicycle Hub hoping it would end. I refilled water, looked outside and realized it likely wouldn’t end. Pit stop lasted 5 minutes, and then I went for the quickest way home without hitting too many main roads (besides rt 34). I was damn near cackling inside, saying to myself “harden up, you LOVE this shit" but honestly the rain blew.

Got a flat less than 2 miles from home, no tube or pump on me (looked at the tube and inflator as I left the garage earlier, I love learning lessons this way). 10 seconds after I stopped this dude was heading out o his driveway for a jog and said "need a pump"? Bingo, I electrical taped the living shit out of the hole, inflated until his pump was about to explode, said "thanks" and hauled ass the rest of the way home.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...sant/465522589

Overall a great day!

Irony

I bagged work early today, blazed home and rolled out of the garage at 2 with a goal of spinning for 3 hours. I was real stoked with the weather and wind direction, so headed for Island Beach State Park.

On the way back North I swung through the swimming pavilion’s lot to answer a work call (I know, lame). I was spinning slow and finished the call, then set out north again while putting the phone away. Just as I got back down on the bars and started kicking it up this older dude blazes past me on a classic old road bike, pushing a big gear.

He didn't say hi.

I got an instant "ohhh it’s on" thought in my head and started cranking. I reeled him in, which was way harder than I hoped, and returned the favor. Every time I looked back he was hanging tough, about 50 yards back the last time I looked. I proceeded to ride a lot faster than I wanted to until I hit the gate house and finally shook him off. I hit Ocean Ave. and spun through arcade hell at a good clip.

I felt pretty spent, and as I hit Bay Blvd in Ortley decided I should kick it down and ride mellow until home. I also felt like a complete ass for re-passing that dude and not saying hi.

Minutes later a guy on a Cervelo passed me like I was standing still.

He said hi.

I returned the greeting, and once again stood on 'em. He was pushing entirely too big of a gear and dropped me handily, like I was a 6th grader on a beach cruiser. As we crossed to Rt35 north I thought I was closing the gap, but maybe HE was on the phone because after 5 or ten minutes he kicked it back into gear and I lost sight of him by the time I hit Mantoloking.

I got home and thought about the irony of the ride. Isn't biking cool?

Stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Passed on by a friend from mtbnj.com, highly reccomend taking the 20 minutes to watch it. I watched it twice. Some points can be argued but overall one of the best videos I have watched in a long time. Linear system on a finite planet is what strikes me most. It needs to be said, because it is blatantly obvious yet always overlooked.

Ton of good resources on the site. http://www.storyofstuff.com/pdfs/annie_leonard_glossary.pdf lists references. Also liked the links to NPO's divided by the different steps in the system.

A good day on the bike

In the last week I logged a metric shitton of saddle time, enough that I feel all weird not riding today, almost bummed. Took some much needed time off the bike today, but damn it was awesome to ride with summer gear on for a few days. Actually changed the worn-to-hell cleats on my summer shoes yesterday, something I didn’t see doing until months from now.

Yesterday kicked a lot of ass. I left work early and within a half hour of leaving my office was on the bike headed for Allaire. Got to the trails hurting pretty good from too little rest but knew I would be pissed if I missed the weather.

Met a few friends and ripped through all of the good trails on the "lot side", pace was fast enough to really kick my ass. We got back to the lot after a few hrs and friends split. I headed over to the campground side for a final loop before dark that would end up closer to the bike path that leads me to the road ride home.

The sky was on fire. I came around a corner (near the old rope swing for those familiar with this part of Allaire) and saw a guy sitting in a camp chair looking out over the sunset. He had an amazing view, one that you ride by every day but never notice until you NOTICE it, you know? He had a bike lying against the tree next to him, might have had racks and gear on it, or just a jacket or something, not too sure. It occured to me that thousands of people were blazing by on the parkway a 9 iron shot away from us and likely not giving much of a shit about the sunset.

I rode off without disturbing him. I dropped down the fast hill to his south, over the river crossing and along the river back to hospital road. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head, who was he? How freaking smart was he that he caught the sky on fire on a 60 degree day in January, sitting in his chair on a secluded hill in the middle of New Jersey, where most people from other states agree the country would receive the pointy end of an enema? He may have been homeless, broke, wealthy or somewhere in between. It didn’t matter, because for those few moments and for that sunset, he had it all right.

I hit the road as the sky got dark and pedaled home hurting pretty bad. I wanted to throw in the towel and call the wife for a ride. Legs didn’t want to go. I thought about the dude on the hill and decided getting a ride would be lame. It took me quite a bit longer to get home than usual but went to sleep pretty stoked with the day and looking forward to today. Isn't biking cool?