Fitness – Riveted

Forgotten Black Bears

Laura Domela — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 16:24:30 +0000

I forgot to show you this photo of a black bear sow and cub that I took when we were transiting from Lowe Inlet to Khutze Inlet in BC, because that was also the day of a zillion bubble feeding humpbacks, so it got left behind. Poor bears. I'm trying to make up. (This photo is WAY zoomed and then way cropped…pretty good for my crippled camera!)

Also, we're home (you probably figured that, due to the last post and the lack of more posts since that last post) but we have some more posts we're working on about the trip in general, and about doing the Waggoner flotilla, so expect to see those in the near future. Also, expect us to be back on the boat soon, because this whole "land" thing is just weird. (And the house is too big, and there's too much stuff, and OMG mail! I hate mail! What is with all the magazines???)

We bought a WaterRower for home and have been using it every day. It's supposed to be one of the most whole-body workouts you can get next to swimming — the movement and the feel of the workout is very satisfying, and…"Hey neat! Water sounds!" I had a quick image of using it on the top deck of Airship as we cruised along, taking turns up there, pretending to power the boat. It's not marine grade though, so it's probably not gonna happen.

Bicycling Along the Willamette River

Laura Domela — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 19:13:58 +0000

Portland is such a great city for biking. I know, this is not a newsflash. Portland has Platinum level status as a bicycle-friendly community (one of three Platinum communities in the United States) and Oregon is #3 in the rank of bicycle-friendly states in the U.S. Pretty cool. Anyway, we took our bikes downtown and did a nice 16+ mile ride today. Here are some shots from the route:

The ride we did was a nice loop around the downtown part of the Willamette River, starting near OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and going north along the east side of the river, over the Steel Bridge, past the Portland Saturday Market on the west side of the river under the Burnside Bridge (Note: Saturday is perhaps not the best day for riding this trail next to the river as it is packed with peds going to and from the market. But hey! Great day to go to the market!), and all the way down to the Sellwood Bridge. Crossing the Sellwood Bridge is a little tricky (narrow sidewalk!) so walking your bike might be best. Plus you can enjoy the view a little more if you're less worried about falling into oncoming traffic. Bonus!

After we crossed the Sellwood Bridge we headed out the Springwater Corridor trail for a few miles, then back, catching up with the path that led us back around the river to our car (car, being the green dot on the map below).

It was a beautiful ride without much elevation gain, so aside from the peds along the waterfront it was a nice relaxing ride. Our Bike Fridays sure get a lot of attention! The other day we took Kevin's bike, and the instructions for packing, and managed to get it nicely packed up into its Samsonite roller suitcase without any snags. His is the larger bike, so if his fits, mine will fit. Nice to have a practice pack so we know how it all works before doing it for real for our Italy trip in a couple weeks!

Bike Ride Along the Columbia River

Laura Domela — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:44:30 +0000

We took our tandem out the other day and rode the path parallel to Marine Drive along the Columbia River. We only did about 10 miles, but it was a gorgeous 10 miles. (At home we have a shiny aluminum Santana Sovereign tandem that we sometimes ride…)

The nice thing about riding in the stoker position on a tandem (also known as "the back") is that I can whip out my camera (or iPhone, in this case) and take photos while pedaling.

There's an RV park out there that I know some of you have stayed at when in Portland, and if you go back and want a nice bike ride from the park, this is it. You'll even get the occasional great view of a huge plane flying overhead! (We saw a few hawks and herons, as well.)

We've decided to replace our Dahon folding bikes with some custom-made Bike Friday folding bikes that we test rode down in Eugene a couple weeks ago. We're going with the Bike Friday Silk … they are SO smooth (belt drive) and they ride much more like a regular full-size bicycle than our present folders do. We didn't skimp much on the Dahons when we bought them (seems we paid 600-700 bucks each for them about 5 or more years ago, using the $1000 I won on penny slots with $20 in Vegas). We get a lot of use out of them when we're on the road but they're a fairly basic folding bike.

The way we're outfitting the Bike Friday Silks is not at all basic. We're going totally high tech bike with vintage old school styling and they're gonna be SO cool. I'm going glossy white with darker leather saddle and accessories, and Kevin's going black with honey leather accessories. Here, I'll even be geeky enough to show you the super nerdy mood board I've been making while adding links to the "things I might want for my new bike" Pinterest board (which you can see here if you're into geeky stylish bike stuff):

I'm so happy to finally have found the bell that was on my bike in Holland, too!! The Crane sakura springy bell…this bell has the best tactile bell action! Remember when you were a kid, laying on the floor in your room, doinging that little thing behind the door that kept the door from hitting the wall…over and over again so it made that sound and you got to feel that springy action?

It's like that, only smaller. And it makes a nice clear "ding" sound to alert those on the path ahead of you. (I'm hoping I can limit myself to using it only when necessary so I don't drive Kevin insane OMG enough with the bell already!!!)

Crane Bell Co. makes these bells, and they come in spring versions and lever versions (but why bother with a boring lever, really?)

So there you go. Update on the Airstream's folding bikes!

Soooooo relaxed

Laura Domela — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:45:03 +0000

I picked Kevin up from the airport this afternoon and we just had time to stop at the Airstream for a quick bite before it was time for our massages!!! YAY!!! Yesterday I was thinking "Hey, Kevin's been traveling, and I've been wishing for a massage (what's new?) and we both could probably really use a massage before we head out tomorrow."

I did a little research and found a well-reviewed spa not too far from our campground and booked us each an 80-minute massage (and the new client introductory rate of $79 dollars). We went to Elements at Piney Creek in Centennial, CO.

So, it's pretty cool when your expectations are, well, non-existent, and you end up with the Best Massage Ever. Seriously. The only real contender was maybe the ashiatsu we had at Kanani Pearl in Portland, but having someone hang from bars on the ceiling, massaging with their feet and body weight is tough to compare to anything else, really.

During my session I was hoping Kevin was having as good a massage as I was. Turns out yeah. Jeff was my massage therapist, and Victoria was Kevin's. We HIGHLY recommend both of them. We are so happy. Now we've got some chicken on the grill, and some laundry going before we head off toward Texas in the morning.

Ahhhhhh.

On the Banks-Vernonia Trail

Laura Domela — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:40:45 +0000

Took a nice walk today on the Banks-Vernonia Trail. All of the other trails are pretty muddy right now (and I'd already cleaned my shoes after the previous mudfest) so we opted for pavement. We went toward Vernonia 2.5 miles or so and then back. Fitbit says 11,827 steps, 33 floors, 5.47 miles.

Now we're back to work. And yeah, we know…it's Presidents Day.

(Posted by Laura)

Fitness on the Road

Laura Domela — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:02:15 +0000

Getting in a good amount of exercise while traveling around the Pacific Northwest in a trailer in the winter can sometimes be a challenge. We hike and walk in the rain (Gore-Tex) and that's fine, but sometimes you just don't feel like being out in the cold wet weather. I thought I'd compile a little list of the things we have and use for keeping in shape (or, trying to get in shape, whichever) while on the road.

We have two folding Dahon bikes that I bought for us after winning some money from a slot machine in Las Vegas. If you know me, you'll think that's funny. I'm not a big Vegas fan, and neither am I much of a gambler. We were in Las Vegas for a friend's birthday party, and we stopped spur-of-the-moment and decided we'd each spend $20 bucks on penny (!!!) slots. We were to either (a) double our money, or (b) lose it all and we wouldn't stop 'til either thing happened. I was playing one of those slot machines that has all the combinations lined up…straight across, diagonal, etc. and you bet a certain amount for certain rows or combos, and I had no clue what I was doing. I mixed it up every time, and just pulled the lever (or pushed the button for variety). Pretty soon at about ten dollars into this game, my machine lit up and started making noise. I'd won something!! What had I won?? I had no idea. But the machine kept going. I looked at the levels, and it looked as if I'd either won 4 dollars, 38 dollars, 160 dollars, or 1007 dollars (roughly). It passed the 4 dollar mark and kept going. It passed the 38 dollar mark and kept going. It took quite a while. The lady next to me looked over…I had my feet up on the ledge and I was texting my mom ("I won!") and I looked up and her and said "I'm winning." She asked how much and I said "No clue."

Anyway, with my winnings (turns out it was just over $1000) I bought us the majority of two really nice folders, with racks and upgraded tires….but no fenders. So we don't ride those much in the rain.

Wow, that was a long story to get to folding bikes. So we have a pair of these: Dahon Speed P8

Folded, they're small and fit nicely in the back of the truck (in sweet carrying case/bags):

We have these racks (but not these fenders):

Okay so those are the bikes.

For the times when it's crappy outside and we want to stay inside, I got us this set of elastic resistance bands called Bodylastics:

It all fits in that black bag and stores nicely under the bed. There are two doorway anchors which work great in the door of the Airstream. It's a versatile, compact solution for resistance training. We also have one of these:

…and a yoga mat. Turns out trailer yoga is totally doable.

Perhaps our favorite fitness equipment, however, is the Fitbit. It's fabulous. You just clip it to a pocket and it tracks how many steps you've taken, how many flights of stairs you've gone up, how many calories you burn in a day/how active you are, as well as your sleep efficiency. It syncs to a web app (and/or iPhone app) and in the app you can enter any activities you do, what you eat, etc. using a simple, colorful, well-designed interface full of helpful graphs and charts.

It's so easy to just get sucked into work (or reading, or whatever) when we're traveling, and this cool little device (and its web app and iPhone app) all work together to remind you of the exercise you're getting (or not getting). Highly recommended.

So there you have it. Travel trailer fitness.

(Posted by Laura)