Yes. The beard really does work.

My wife asked the other day, does all that hair on your face really keep it warm?

YES.

Who needs some silly smelly balaclava when ya got beard potential. Sure, granted most women can't grow such copious thick facial hair, and that's probably a good thing. Riding in this morning - stiff stiff breeze blowing unfettered across the water from the west - gusting at times so that I was riding tilted into the wind (draggin the trailer) - anyway, riding in this morning 22°F or so, wind chill down in the low teens. Just that Ibex Beanie under the giro - damn that thing has lots of vents - and perfect. Toes? Cool, but not cold. These DeFeet Blaze socks totally rock. Booties? PFAH. Yeah right.

Also, not once crossing the debris field did i reach down and brush the back tire. My sheldon nuts are here and the rear is installed!!!! With a nice kingsbridge tire saver mounted just so it is barely grazing the top of the tire. If i want to annoy the crap out of people i'm riding with i can just bend the tabs down a bit and the sumbitch howls like crazy.

Days like today it is nice just to spin. Pedal my ass off. Stay'n warm. Nothing crazy - probably only in the low 90s most of the way in, a few jaunts up to the 120s for the hell of it, and some low slow grinds up the hills draggin the trailer.

Days like today the passenger is super warm. Bundled up but at this age, with the fierce metabolism fueled by never sleeping under covers, all it takes is a couple waterbottles (black vanderkitten ones are the preferred model this year) full of hot tap water and she's rosy toasty when we get to our destination.

I am constantly thankful that so much of the commute is on the bike path. Riding home it was silent. Not a peep from anything. No car noise. And for a long time we didn't hear any flights coming in and out of TFGreen. The longshoremen must have gone home for the weekend. It was wonderful. Just coasting along with the rolling sound of the tires. No wind. Silence. The stark contrast is the sound riding along the parkway. Car after car, roaring by. Having the bulk of the commute on a path is a blessing. Sure we picked our house with that in mind. But it was there, giving us the opportunity to pick it. The dropped shells will always be a problem this time of year, and once we get that first 70°F day the path will be swarming with iPod wearing runners, roller bladers, walkers, strollers and pathletes. All out enjoying the outdoors while tuning out the sounds of everyone else with their music devices. Then the path becomes somewhat less enjoyable as an isolationist retreat. But it still is wonderful even with the crowds. Now it is the same handful of regulars. Mostly older folks who are out walking. The same old guys, the same women. All with a single intent but a remarkably peaceful look on their face. Something about the ritual of walking along the water in the morning does the same for them as it does for me. It grounds your day. Makes the bickering about moronic training toys seem pretty silly. But then it makes the debate about food, sustainability and energy even more powerful. A razor of the arguments. Culling the retarded ones and sharpening the ones that really matter.

I've started part 2 in Pollan's new book. Pretty solidly remarkable stuff. But just affirmations of what I've been saying for years. Eat good food. Eat food. I loved the word association difference between France and the USA regarding Chocolate Cake. The overwhelming word USA chose to link to Chocolate Cake was guilt. The French? "CELEBRATION"! You tell me which is healthier?

The whole fat issue. 66% of the brain is fat. There are as many neurons along the digestive track as there are in the spinal column. And yes. Like the brain, these neurons are sheathed in lipid (fat). Bodies need fat. From the dawn of these low fat fahkups I've thought them strange, wrong. Silly. But it was a feeling. Intuition. Whatever. People have gone through eliminating things one by one. The Fats are bad. Then the carbs are bad. People still get sick. Still suffer heart disease and cancer. Maybe it is the protien. Or the quantity of protien. But MP points out what we know. Food and Human needs are far far too complex just to reduce it down to one element.

But that said. Reducing your food down to simple elements is good. Reduce the food to the basics. The unprocessed elements. Combine them yourself. People load up still on fiber and antioxidants. I find it hysterical and sad. There is more fiber in real food than a human needs. And Pollan points out, how do we know antioxidants removed from the foods they are found in are even effective? It isn't really a tree hugging frame of view. But in some ways the hippies are right, organic, whole grains, simple food that tastes amazing. Enter in all the Local 121 type establishments. There is a market for good local basic food.

But then lets look at waste. I got thinking about waste yesterday as I was making some chickenstock. Ya know, why buy some oversalted crappy flavor canned or cartoned stock when you can take the chicken carcass (which many just throw away) chop one or two carrots (the ugly ones even) a bit of an onion and whatever else you have rolling around. Fill up with some water. Slowly simmer. Skim the fat off the top (home rendered chicken fat - if ya eating natural chicken that's some good flavor down the road to use - skim, filter and freeze) and reduce. And boom. Ya got some amazing chicken stock. From stuff that wasn't going to be used.

It is about not making waste. Buying toothpaste. I was confronted by the Crest Pro-Health display. The 6oz tubes were on sale at the bullseye this weekend. Cheaper by the volume than the 7.8oz tubes. And then they had the travel size for free with the 6oz tube. So, I bought the 6oz one (actually bought 2). But I thought for a moment about the packaging. Wondering if the more expensive larger container might actually have a cheaper footprint in the big picture. Sure I can recycle the boxes. But it made me think. And at the Market on sunday I stood infront of the chicken stock (Better than bullion bulk base) and it hit me. Reading the ingredients:Organic chicken meat and natural juices, salt, organic cane sugar, organic maltodextrin, natural flavor, organic dried onion, organic potato starch, organic dried garlic, organic turmeric, spice extractives. Why can't I just make my own? Salt and Sugar are just flavor enhancers making up for a lack in other areas, no? I didn't buy any. Heck the non-organic chicken stock uses corn syrup instead of sugar. I hate that stuff.

Natural stuff. Simple ingredients. Good for you is important. Good to eat is just as important. Combine the two and you have some serious good stuff.

Don't settle for that crap around the corner for lunch. Make some extra food at dinner, bring it for lunch. Save some cash, eat better, feel better, move on to less important issues after ya tackle the big ones.

Heddwch
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