Mountain Biking and Aikido for 4/21/2008

On Saturday, I went to a local bike shop and purchased a 2008 Gary Fisher Mountain Bike. I then had a half-hour bike ride to the college and through Gunnison's various side steets. Sunday, I biked West and then rode through a field being converted into a subdivision full of manufacturing homes costing over 250k (ahh, living in a Mountain Resort economy). I rode my new bike into work today. To my surprise, it only took me six minutes from my front door to the library, less time then it takes me to drive! A pleasant irony for Earth Day. Here is a photo of my new mountain bike I took before leaving this morning:


Last night for Aikido, Jake and I practiced on a smaller section of the former wall mats. The space was much reduced but as Jake and I talked, the space is actually more than when practicing at an Aikido seminar. The techniques we practiced last night were:

• Ryotetori Tenchinage omote and ura
• Shomenuchi Irminage 4 variations. The most basic style (off of USAF 5th kyu test) is slide to the forward arm, tenkan at the same time bring uke's head to your shoulder nearest to uke's arm, and then stepping forward bring uke up and down to the ground. There are other variations that Jake and I played around with.
• Tsuki irminage 6 variations. Basically all of the shomenuchi variations plus two direct irmimnages that are difficult (if not impossible) from a shomenuchi attack.
• Katatori menuchi irminage 2 variations. This technique was hard to figure out a realistic irminage. When uke grabs the collar and then steps into for a punch to nage, the most basic response (for me) is to tenkan, pivoting around the grab. Eventually, a shihonage comes naturally from the punching fist which can then turn into an irminage throw. The other style is really how you time it, duking under uke's grabbing arm before uke lands a punch. From there it an irminage is easy.
  
• Ushiro Tekubitori irminage 2 variations - one variation is fast, as soon as uke grabs the first wrist, you step behind and bring up the grabbed hand over and then flowing into the irminage throw. The second variation is to allow uke control of the first wrist and then use uke's second wrist grab for an irminage throw off of that side.

In general, my plan is to try to bike to work at least three times a week. Besides the health benefits and the cost savings from not driving my SUV, I am also following a good Colorado hippy mountain town traditions of environmental awareness and action. While snow still persists in the larger snow drifts around town and still covers the surrounding mountains, Spring is here. The temperature in the mornings still ranges from the high teens to the lower twenties, it has been warming up to the 60s during the day. This year I am going to try to do some container gardening on my side patio. Some fresh tomatoes, peppers, and various herbs should be a good start. I think I'll do some container shopping when I am in Grand Junction on Friday for my nephew Keegan's birthday.