"It's Just Ballast"

bal˙last

n.

Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship or the gondola of a balloon to enhance stability.

Joy here…You know the song by Sir Mix-a-Lot, "I like big butts…"?  (Now I dare you not to have that song stuck in your head all day.)  Well, that song is kind of like my theme song.  Not only do I dance to it any chance I can get (including the weddings of my friends and my own wedding, or at high school graduations - not my own), but it also kind of encapsulates my physique:  "little in the middle, but she got much back…"

This was struck home to me (forcefully) just the other night.

We were invited to dinner where we would get to see a guy that The Man rode with on his very first ever road ride here in Malaysia.  That was almost 20 years ago, before The Man knew anything about lycra or slim road cycling wheels, before I had ever met him or knew that he existed on the other side of the world just waiting to meet me, the most awesome woman ever who would become the most awesome wife ever.  He was just a kid riding a mountain bike, wearing baggy shorts, and hanging out with the Europeans.

The guys riding "back in the day" (c. 1998).

Well, one of these Europeans was paying a visit to Malaysia, and I would get to meet him for the first time.

Upon meeting me, he immediately compliments me saying that I look like a cyclist.  Now before I got a chance to get all chuffed and feel good about myself, he immediately says (in a thick Austrian accent):  "no extra up top; you don't need anything up there" (gesturing to my non-existent boobs), "it's just ballast," he concludes smiling away at me.

Who knew that needing nothing more than a AA training bra well into my 30s would translate into me having a great cycling physique?  I guess I wouldn't have spent so much time as a teenager wishing that my boobs would eventually grow (which they didn't) had I known that really all they are is unnecessary ballast!

Let's just say that compared to me, this girl
is positively buxom.

Dammit, Walter, where were you when I was 15 and suffering from low self esteem due to flat chestedness?

Can't wait to ride with him this week and show him what my power butt, unfettered by excess ballast on my chest can do!

Over and out,
Joy

Backsliding on the Blogging, but Living the Life!

Joy here…While it's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down at my computer and update my blog with my sporting progress (and some random thoughts that dance across my mind and out through my typing fingers before I know it), and usually these kind of lapses indicate that I've fallen off the workout wagon and have missed all my workouts, backslided into laziness, and generally turned into a bit of a lump (Exhibit A: this post from May 2013).

Then, like some high school girl whose mood swings are as violent as that crazy pirate ship ride that every carnival seems to have and that I always ride on no matter how it makes my stomach twist and twirl and flutter, I settle down to blog again and subject my poor readers (you know, like all 3 of you) to wading through my self-flagellation as I swear that I'll be better next time, and and won't fail; I commit to new levels of sport and high-mindedness, and then, inevitably, it all just follows the same, predictable pattern all over again.

Well, fear not, dear reader, this time, things are different!  This time I've not been absent due to failings and flaws; I've not been avoiding my computer, because I don't want to face logging all my missed workouts; I've not been lounging on the couch playing angry birds hour after hour, nor have I felt my midsection begin to increase at an exponential rate, related, directly to my alcohol consumption.

No, no, this time, I've not been a good blogger logging my progress because I've been damn busy…but busy in a good way, not busy in the "geez, I've not hit my workouts, because I've just been so darned busy" sense of the word.  This time I've been busy with work; I've been busy with life; AND I've been busy with workouts.  Somehow I've fit everything in (more or less), and only let the writing about it fall by the wayside.

And really, if you've been out there LIVING life and not having time to write about it, that's not a bad thing, is it?

I promise to catch up on some of my blogging updates, because there are some good highlights to come…here's a bit of a summary of some of the goodies:

• I did a super cool, futuristic bike fit that used motion sensor technology to situate me on my bike properly, increasing my power and decreasing the possibility of injury (now when I say "motion sensor technology," think WETA Workshop technology that allowed for Andy Serkis to embody Gollum in the LOTR series of movies - and if that means nothing to you, find the closest geek and ask them to translate).
  
• I've both squatted and dead lifted over my body weight at the gym - challenging myself to lift more and do more than I would have ever thought possible, all while having a whole lot of fun!

• I have gotten back into running over the past couple of days since straining a muscle - putting in an easy 9kms (without whining), including revisiting the monkey loop.

• I had a bit of a hamstring/calf injury (that I'm still nursing a bit), but instead of just throwing in the towel and giving up entirely on running, I've ridden my bike like nobody's business and layered in some swimming as much as I can in order to compensate.

• I've done some truly epic rides - not only riding 70kms in a group just to be able to justify amazing banana pancakes made at a grass-roofed cafe in a small town outside of KL, but also riding with Robbie freakin' McEwen of Tour de France fame (this will get its own blog post in due time, because, well, it was just so FREAKIN' AWESOME).

So I'll do my best to keep on blogging and keep on updating…but I'm also going to be busy doing my best living and loving life!

Over and out,

Joy