For the last 20 years or so, childhood obesity has been, almost literally, the 800-pound gorilla in the room. The room in question, unfortunately, has been the pediatrician’s examining room.
Despite the fact childhood obesity has reached almost epidemic proportions in the past quarter century — the percentage of obese kids in the U.S. grew from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2006, one in three kids born here in 2000 stood a risk of becoming diabetic, the statistics go on — it’s been an issue rarely discussed at the annual well-child exam. According to a 2008 survey of its membership, the American Academy of Pediatrics found that only 52 percent of pediatricians measured patients for their Body Mass Index, an imperfect but general indicator of obesity. Even then, if their BMI indicated they were overweight or obese, 59 percent of pediatricians said they were reluctant to discuss the matter.read more
A couple weeks ago I mentioned a report from the Center on Everyday Lives of Families at UCLA that found, among other things, that middle class American families have spacious backyards that they rarely use. This got me reminiscing about those halcyon days of my youth on South Boston Court when we did everything from play the World Series and Super Bowl (which hadn’t been invented yet) to tight rope and play endless games of hide-n-seek without leaving the block. And that got me to thinking about our own backyard today and how underutilized it is. Which spurred us to do some updating over the past couple of weeks.read more
We weren’t thrilled by this study from Indiana University that found that people with neat houses tend to be more physically active. Nearly 1,000 residents of St. Louis between the ages of 49 and 65 had their health evaluated as well as the tidiness of the interior and exterior of their homes. Finding: Those folks who kept up the inside of their homes tended to be in better shape. But was there a chicken-and-egg thing at work here? “If you spend your day dusting, cleaning, doing laundry, you’re active,” said NiCole Keith, one of the researchers. Some people may not be inclined to “take 30 minutes to go for a walk, but they’ll take 30 minutes to clean.”read more
Following Thursday’s screening of “Ride the Divide” in Carrboro, endurance mountain bike racer Matthew Lee answered questions about the race. Some quick highlights:
The Cannondale bike he rode for 2,700 miles (200,000 total feet of climbing) weighed just 35 pounds. “Just,” because the Ride the Divide is a self-supported race — Lee had to carry everything he would need on the race.
Lee won the 2008 RTD, the focus of the film, finishing in 17 days and 20 hours.
He averaged about 150 miles a day.
His typical day: Wake up at 4:30 a.m., ride until just after dark. In the northerly lattitudes of Canada, that didn’t occur until around 11 p.m.
Fifteen racers started the 2008 Ride the Divide, six finished.
About 40 racers are signed up for this year’s RTD.
Since the race started in 1999, a total of 100 riders have started, 40 have finished.
The RTD route is not “super technical,” says Lee, who is also the race organizer, though more singletrack trail may be added in the future.
Lee has won the race four times.
“The heavy headwinds will drive you crazy.”
Lee’s goal for this year’s race: 16 days.
If he does this year’s race in 16 days, he says he’ll probably retire.
There’s one key difference between “Race Across the Sky,” last year’s documentary on the Leadville 100, an epic mountain bike race two miles above sea level, and the just-released “Ride the Divide,” which chronicles a lesser-known, 2,700-mile race that follows the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta, Canada, south to the Mexican border. I’ll get to that difference in a sec.read more