I have been playing around abit with those big blowup balls that people use to substitute for weights. I always thought it was kind of silly. But, now I don’t think it’s that silly. I do think that most of the movements that you do on one of these balls are not natural. But, that doesn’t mean they aren’t beneficial to you. Anyway, Maureen has a whole room dedicated to them. And it’s only a few short steps away from where I’m staying, so I don’t really have much of an excuse to not go in and use them. It’s hard enough getting in shape this time of the year without torturing yourself with these balance movements. But, I’m doing it. We’ll see if it pays dividends sometime down the road I guess.

Everything you wish for and more.

Even a pump specifically for blowing up the balls.

Today I am one year older. Not really older a year in a day, but a year older in “the how people calculate it method”. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to spend today riding mountain bikes in South Mountain Desert Park, in Phoenix, all day. It was a humbling experience. I have blood everywhere. I was going at least mediocre by the end of the 38 mile/4 hour ride. When I rode for Specialized, we did camps at this park, so I thought I knew the trails pretty well. Not so. I rode the National Trail over the ridge and zigzagged back down. Too much walking for me, but I haven’t ridden stuff like that recently. I need to get some new equipment. I’m having a pedal release problem that is making sure that I am a “friend of the ground/rock” way too often. I am meeting up with some guys tomorrow, so maybe I won’t embarrass myself too much.

Pretty thorny. A man with a dog (English Setter) pretty high up took this photo for me.

I love saguro cactus. They can live up to 200 years old I think.

View of the desert.

Birthday present from Trudi.

And another that is coming in handy.

Better than free drinks, free desert.