Sports

Mountain Biking

If you asked me what my favorite sport was, I'd say mountain biking. Since I live in SF, Marin, the birthplace of mountain biking, is just a Golden Gate Bridge away. I love riding from my house to the headlands and up to the top of Mt. Tamalpais. No sissy like driving over to the mountain. I've only competed in one race, the 1997 Sea Otter in Monterey, Ca. I woke up late and missed my heat, but I blew away all the late people (all the late people race last). Competition makes you ride hella hard. It also helped that I trained. I trained for 3 months before the race by running up in the Berkeley hills, running up the bleachers at the Cal football stadium, and riding 60 miles a week with the Cal team up to Tilden National Park.

My current state is a sad one. I just finished my holiday eating ritual of cheesecakes, Prime rib, pork chops, stuffing, All-you-can-eat buffets in Las Vegas, and Nation's famous banana cream pies. I am so out of shape, I can barely type this sentence without breaking a sweat. Once I finish installing my new Shimano 747 pedals, I'll be back in business. Always remember, when disassembling your old pedals, the left pedal has a left handed thread, which means, turn clockwise to unscrew, you monkey brain! Freaking pedals piss me off. I stripped the dang bolt the other day and now I have to bring it in to the shop where they can hopefully repair it.

My plan is to purchase a dual suspension, hopefully a Klein, GT, or Specialized. I was originally thinking of upgrading my old bike with new Shimano XTR components because of the new v-brakes, but the parts are really expensive. I can buy a whole new bike with the parts for almost the same price as just the components! I'd also like to purchase a thule rack for my bike and for my snowboard, which is also on my wish list, hint, hint.

If I can't bike, I love to run at this trail around my house. It's called Lincoln Park/Land's End. It is my most favoritist place in the world. You gotta run or walk it sometime. You have a sick view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Marin Headlands, the and the Pacific.

Snowboarding

I just came back from a snowboarding excursion to Squaw Valley in Tahoe. It was pretty crappy riding the first day (12/18/98) because there was hardly any snow and ice really hurts when you fall down. The next day, there was a crazy blizzard, so riding the mountain was awesome. I love fresh powder even though it shoots up your shirt when you fall. If you board or ski you definitely need goggles. I just bought a pair of Santa Cruz EXP goggles($70). But I kinda regret it cuz most of the riders use Spy or Oakley goggles. The goggles were pretty dope though. They didn't fog much, helped me see, and they protected my eyes from the vicious winds and snow at the top of the mountain. I used to ride with sunglasses, but snow has a way of collecting on the inside of the lenses which really used to tick me off.

Here's the Board(s) I want: Burton Canyon or K2 Fat Bob, with Shimano clicker bindings and K2/Shimano Yak Boots. I think even though they say that the bindings sometimes get clogged with a lot of snow, I think that it is the best design since you lift your heel and your toe when you ride. The other systems, (ie. Clicker and Burton) click in on the sides of your boot. I trust in Shimano bike parts anyway. I'm planning to purchase my board at the end of this season. I'm pretty sick of renting. Most times the board is too narrow and I get toe drag, or like this time, my bindings were broken, so I had to run around looking for the part. I would buy one now, but the prices are so ridiculuous. The Burton board is about $450, and the K2 is about $400. Just the board, no bindings, nothing!

Tennis

Have you seen all those new titanium, carbon fiber, Magnesium, space age, extra long, extra wide, extra huge, tennis rackets that look like they're designed to hit beach balls? I want to try one someday, but I'm pretty happy with my Wilson Prostaff Classic 6.2. It is the best racket I've ever had besides that cool bent up metal prince racket I used to whoop butt with. I use an extra sticky Gamma Grip and 17 gauge strings. I used to play a lot in high school, but lately I've slacked off. Buy a Ball Hopper to practice serving and hit against the wall everyday for best results.

Rollerblades

I own a pair of Roces Moscow rollerblades, which are essentially the same as Rollerblade Lightnings. They cost my mommy $150 during the era when rollerblades were "trendy." I used to rollerblade everywhere, but I haven't gone lately. Golden Gate Park is still the coolest place to rollerblade on Sundays because they close off the streets to automobile traffic. The only trick I knew was jumping over garbage cans. Roller hockey is pretty cool too. Buy a wooden stick, and a flat puck made for asphalt. Plastic sticks and ball pucks are not much fun.

I want to pump, you up

I work out at 24 Hour Fitness in the city, or at the RSF in berkeley. I am currently 180 lbs, but my goal is to reach 190 lbs by the end of this year (1999). I can't decide whether or not to take Creatine Monohydrate and cheat, but I don't think anyone knows the long term effects. I don't want to have a heart attack at the age of 30, the year I will graduate college. Working out is pretty boring if you go by yourself, which is basically what I do (loser). That is why I'm trying to cut back on going to the gym. Instead, prostate allowing, I want to ride my bike more. Life is too short to sit in the gym and push weights around, but I guess it feels pretty good knowing you can throw sand at the faces of little wimpy guys at the beach like on those old comic book advertisements.

Pyramiding

The best way to gain mass and grow stronger is to pyramid your sets. For example, Bench Pressing. Start with an easy weight, (100lbs or whatever is easy for you) and do 1 set of 15 reps. Then during the next set, increase to around 130 lbs and do 12 reps. We now get to the harder weight, 150 lbs, and do 1 set of 8-10 reps, followed by increasing the weight to 180 lbs and doing 1 set of 2-3 reps. Then do 1-2 sets of lighter weight to pyramid down. Sometimes during my last set, I choose a really light weight and rep until failure. The main thing is to keep your intensity high and to really work the muscles.

Here is my routine: I stretch, then I usually do some kind of cardio work before I lift. I usually do 3-5 sets of each exercise including a warmup set. Each set comprises of 11 repetitions or less. Remember that strict form is the only way to achieve results. Who cares if you only can use little 2 1/2lb weights? Nobody really cares, period. Okay, I'm lying. Everyone's going to laugh at you, sissy boy.

Day 1
Chest

Benchpress
Incline dumbell press
Dumbell flyes
Cable crossovers
Pushups

Back

Lat pull downs
Seated cable rows
Dumbell rows
Standing T-bar row
Lower back raises

Day 2
Triceps

Dips
Lying french press
Lying close grip bench press
Rope press down

Biceps

Seated dumbell curls
Preacher ez bar curls
Cable curls
Hammer curls

Day 3
Shoulders

Military Dumbell Press
Military barbell Press
Upright row
Front raises
Side raises
Shoulder shrugs

Legs

Barbell Squats
Hack Squats