And They Say Money Can't Buy Happiness

Well, folks, I'm going to do the best I can to keep up with my blog, but I've taken on a second job. I have some bills that need to be paid, and the Daily Camera isn't cutting it (surprise, surprise). I've had to start working the desk at my gym. It isn't hard work or anything, but I have to stand the entire time, and that's exhausting. Right now I'm having to work three 14-hour days in a row, and let me tell you, that's not working! My legs are about ready to seize up and fall off, and that's not even counting my actual cycling training. So I'm going to lose one of the gym shifts... that should help.

This gym is a rebirth of the place where I've been working out since 1998, Boulder's Pulse Fitness Center. It was always a low-key place with a lot of endurance athletes and downtown professionals. Very few bodybuilders or poseurs. But then the owner of the Pulse decided to buy out another local gym, Body Balance, and combine the two into this completely new club, just built in December. It's a very nice facility, but it's hardly bigger than the old place, with nearly 500 more members added. Needless to say, it's annoyingly crowded, and more people are joining every day. I'm a bit worried. Plus, Body Balance was the place all the steroid-using, flex-in-front-of-the-mirror, "Oh my god, don't do any cardio exercise -- your muscles will shrink!", overbuilt and egotistical wanna-be bodybuilders worked out. They love to prance and grunt their way around the weight room in half-shirts and lycra shorts, a truly horrifying combination by most anyone's standards. And then the former Pulse members are a lot of lean, skinny runners and cyclists, calmly walking around doing low weights/high reps (oh, the horror!) in a t-shirt and shorts. So I think it's safe to say that these two groups of people are not sharing this small space very willingly. But, everyone hates change, and I think it will all work out in the end. In the meantime, it's fun to watch!