Thursday, I mentioned in passing a bike race on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. How, you might wonder, could one mention a bike race on the ocean floor in passing? An oversight on my behalf, so I’m back today with a rebroadcast of a story I wrote for The News & Observer in 1996 on the 13th annual Underwater Bike Race on the Indra. It’s a tale that needs no more introduction, so without further adieu, a trip down memory lane — not to mention down 60 feet below the surface of the Atlantic — for the 1996 Independence Day running of UBRAI.
Cycling adventure through a new Lenz
My wife leaned over and whispered, “You’re thinking about something.”
It was hard not to. (And drat the telltale look that signals when thought is finally occurring.) It was Monday evening and we were among 30 or so others listening to author David Herlihy recount the adventures of cycling explorer Frank Lenz. Lenz was a Pittsburgh bookkeeper who became caught up in the early stages of a cycling boom that swept the country in the late 1800s. He started pedaling a “high wheeler,” participating in races on dirt (usually mud) roads and tracks that might draw 20 competitors and thousands of fans. Begrudgingly, he switched to a “safety bicycle” — the prototype for the modern bike — when that style began to curry favor. In the meantime, he was honing his skills as a photographer, and in 1892 convinced Outing magazine to back an ill-fated trip around the world. That trip is the basis for Herlihy’s “The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance,” and constituted the bulk of his talk and slideshow Monday at Quail Ridge Books & Music.
Introducing the GGNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection
The weekend approaches. You’re eager to do something, but what? And when? And where?
Behold the GetGoingNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection. For a while now I’ve been mulling a unified calendar that would include every outdoor activity — from nature hikes, to bike rides, to paddle trips, to 5Ks, to Yoga-in-the-Park to whatever — going on across the state. I’m still mulling (I’ve discovered that such a calendar is a lot of work), but in the interim I’ve come up with the next best thing: a collection of event calendars culled from across the state that should clue you in to dang near everything going on on any given day in North Carolina.
Aha! Proof that the BMI is flawed
Those of you who are in great shape yet feel betrayed — and baffled — by your BMI, take heart. A study released earlier this month by the American College of Sports Medicine finds that you can be in great shape, yet deemed overweight by your BMI.
Seventy-one high school football players from seven schools were poked and probed in a variety of ways to determine their fitness levels. Based on their their body fat percent (or BF% in industry shorthand), 45 were declared of normal weight. But based on their BMI, only 26 fell into the normal category. Likewise, 18 were considered overweight based on their BF% and 21 using BMI as a measure, while six were considered obese under BF% guidelines, 24 when judged by their BMI. Said the ACSM: “These larger players’ muscular body composition may lead to overstated body mass indexes.”
Study: Trekking poles make a big difference
Last year I was backpacking across Jane Bald on the Appalachian Trail when I came upon a 74-year-old gentleman from Atlanta. We talked for a few minutes, mostly about his extensive hiking experience in the region. “Of course,” he said after sharing his 10th favorite trail, “I wouldn’t be hiking any of them without these.” At that, he tapped the two hiking poles he’d been leaning against. “Wish I’d started hiking with ‘em seven years sooner,” he added. “Would have spared my knees some pain.”