chester county at its finest

The horse farm below houses over 100 horses and is expecting over 25 foals. It appears as if 15 or so have been born. Some were too far away to get pics of. The goats were a different farm. But when I stopped on my bike they all started up towards me. One had a bell that kept ringing. Too cute!

Pee Standing Up

Let's hear from the ladies. Where and how to pee when biking long distances with few trees or woods and no stores or restrooms along the way?? What do chicks do?? DO we risk mooning the cars going by when we squat behind a tree?? Our chubby cheeks out for all to see!

Some products I found on the Net. GO GIRL Female Urination

P-Mate

post UMLY Triathlon Meal

Most folks after a big race or bike ride, head to the local Iron Hill and down a few brews and munch on a pizza. I decided to make a much better and healthier option for my son who did the race this morning in a cold cold rainy drizzle. He also biked to the race and after competing in the rain, had to climb back on the bike and pedal 12 miles to get home.

I cooked this up for my son and added 2 things to the recipe. First, a large head of broccoli. I simply chopped it and tossed it in raw and second, I used whole wheat organic macaroni. I put one layer of macaroni, add broccoli and then pour half of the cheese mixture, add the rest of the macaroni and pour on the remaining cheese mixture. This also keeps well and reheats well. Divide up into portion sizes and put it in plastic ware to enjoy on another day.



Macaroni and 4 Cheeses

2005, Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Serves:

8 servings

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 2 (10-ounce) packages frozen pureed winter squash
• 2 cups 1 percent lowfat milk
• 4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 2 ounces Monterrey jack cheese, grated (about 2/3 cup)
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon powdered mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until tender but firm, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, place the frozen squash and milk into a large saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally and breaking up the squash with a spoon until it is defrosted. Turn the heat up to medium and cook until the mixture is almost simmering, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the Cheddar, jack cheese, ricotta cheese, salt, mustard and cayenne pepper. Pour cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to combine. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to the baking dish.

Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and oil in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for 3 minutes so the top is crisp and nicely browned.

how to get good in biking part 2

passed these darling little animals this morning

It is no secret. You do not need to go to the spinning classes and spin your fanny off. This will not help in road biking. Throw your indoor trainer away. Don't go to some stupid computer driven training class. Waste of time and money.

So what is the secret?? Just do it for pete's sake. All I hear from other folks, I am too busy, I have other stuff to do, funny, the A riders don't seem to have these excuses and they all seem to have jobs and lives.

Just bike, bike slow, bike fast, bike long, bike short. It simply does not matter. I am living proof of that. I am old, almost 60 and have seen probably better days but I am slowly getting better in biking. I am faster, I am stronger and I can finally stand up and pedal uphills with some kind of speed. Remember, I have fallen at least 3x times grinding to a complete halt on a steep hill. So I know what I am talking about.

If I can get better, trust me anybody can. But you have to bike. Take a short spin after work. Take a short spin any time. You do not have to go out and hammer out 30-40 miles each time you ride.

how to get good in biking

My town recently had a bike shop open that promotes computer driven bike training programs. Many folks go to spinning classes in an attempt to increase their biking prowess. I am not convinced any regimented training program does one ounce of good in terms of improving road biking.

I do believe the only way to improve your cycling skills is to get your butt on your bike and go out and bike. Bike slow, bike fast, bike short and bike long, it makes NO difference.

Cycling improves based on your miles, plain and simple. I am a member of a local bike club. Who are the best cyclists in the club? The folks who bike tons and tons of miles.

Why are the C level riders slow? They do not bike much. C riders do not get out as much as A riders. C riders rarely bike through the winter months. Biking a few times a week during good weather will not improve your biking.

Now many of you do not care to improve and that is fine. You are a recreational rider. You enjoy occasional riding. But if you do want to get better and faster, all you have to do is get on your bike and bike.

If you think improvement involves some fancy training program and this is the reason you shy away from it, change your thinking. Just get your bike out and get yourself on it and pedal away. Do 5 miles, do 30 miles, it makes no difference.

Just get out and enjoy. Make the time, it is worth it.

which is the healthier meal for your child

OK, you are presented with two meals: one is a processed chicken-like patty, deep fried on a white bun and big stack of processed French fries; the other is a 7 vegetable, pasta stir fry, real cooked chicken and fruit cup. Pick the healthiest meal, the one you would want your high school child to be eating in school. Give up??

You lose, the meal designated most healthy and reimbursable by the US Federal government is the chicken mystery meat and fat soaked French fries. Why you ask, how can that be??

Well the veggie meal according to the dietitian employed by the Huntingtown WVA school district says so. She says the veggie meal does not have 1 1/4 cup vegetables. Again, how can this be? Well it sure DOES BE, the French fries count as 1 1/4 cup veggies, so the dietitian says the veggie meal is not reimbursable, whatever the heck that means. I don't know if the Federal government sends the schools so much set monies for reimbursable meals. I have no clue.

But seriously, the dietitian, with a straight face, bad mouthed the healthy veggie meal and preferred the French fry, chicken mush meal. I swear, the school cafeteria could have piled "doggie do" on the plate and put French fries next to it and the dietitian would have been just as happy.

She has lost her ability to think. She follows ridiculous Federal guidelines and come hell or high water, she is meeting those guidelines. Her degree in nutrition is a waste of money. She is not using it. All she is doing is following guidelines. We could hire Bonzo, the monkey, to perform her job. She is complaining that there is not enough money to retrain the lunch ladies to cook from scratch.

Hey, I got a wild idea, why not fire the dietitian, cuz from I can see, she is worthless. Her brain has gone to mush. She reminded me of the postal worker I met the other day. I was mailing an envelope that needed to be weighed. With a straight face, the postal worker recites the mantra, "is there anything perishable, flammable, liquid or explosive in that envelope?" Just doing and saying what the Federal government tells them to say regardless of whether it even makes sense.

The public school system is not able to function anymore. The employees cannot think anymore. No one can evaluate anything anymore. There is a show right now on ABC called the Food Revolution. Not only is the TV show a sad portrait of the school cafeteria, it is a sad portrait of just how bad entrenched government workers have become.

I can excuse the postal worker, his incompetence is not really hurting anyone but the incompetence of the the school employees, including the lunch ladies and dietitian IS hurting our children. Watch the show, trust me, not only will you be enlightened about how America is brainwashing our kids to eat processed food but you will see "stuck in cement" school administrators unable to think without their guidelines rule books attached to them at the hip.

Sorry for rant.

Livable streets, heck, they are not even driveable

I was in Ann Arbor this past week and drove there from the Philadelphia area. If you want to see the "Rust Belt" up close and personal, drive through Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, and Detroit. Some of you young folks might not be familiar with the term 'rust belt'. Think of the cities I just mentioned and you can pretty much figure out the term.

But back to my point of livable versus driveable streets. Ann Arbor was awarded a silver medal from the League of American Cyclists. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why. I would rate the roads in Ann Arbor worse than the worst roads in Pittsburgh. Not only are they littered with hodge podge patchwork, and potholes, the curbs are actually crumbling.

The bike lanes were narrow and covered with the crumbling curbs. The edges of all the roads have many awful patches of tar and what not, you would need a mountain bike to ride on them. I noticed the U of Michigan kids were biking on the sidewalks. You cannot blame them.

My son was moving out of his apartment in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is apparently spending what little tax revenues they have on recycling. To get rid of his junk and old furniture was an adventure in the world of recyling. We finally find the landfill, you must pay to drop your stuff.

We have a gazillion bags of everything. They ask us, do you have recyclable textiles, old clothes, glass, metal and the list went on and on. We lied, we had too, there was no way I was unpacking all the bags to separate the stuff.

Next trip, we did better, we had cardboard and went inside the big garage to recycle it. They had bins for white paper, colored paper, paperback books, hard back books and it went on and on.

We had furniture with us as well. We were instructed where to take it. So another trip to another part of town to dump furniture.

Both my son and I joked, Ann Arbor is spending a ton of money on recycling, yet their infrastructure is falling apart and no one even notices it. The tax base is so depleted in Ann Arbor since Pfizer closed its plant (Viagra went generic), so Ann Arbor has little money and it is obvious to the non Ann Arborian that the roads are literally crumbling. I guess when you live there, you do not notice. Another way Ann Arbor is attempting to raise money, ( taxes are so high, they cannot raise them anymore) is to lower the speed limit on main roads and highways and then fine the living daylights out of the unsuspecting motorist. It got to be a joke seeing all the cars pulled over.

Michigan has a good state wide park system, I am not sure how well maintained they are at this time and Michigan probably spent a bundle making these parks. But Michigan and Ann Arbor and many cities in the 'rust belt' are losing their infrastructure.

Green is good and recycling is good but someone please tell Michigan, your roads are a mess.