August 14, 2026

REMINDER: YOUR SUBMISSIONS ARE ENCOURAGED

Overview for this week.

1. Bindu's Corner: This week, we have a quote from Swami Vivekananda's teachings on Karma Yoga.

2. Cycling: America's biggest bike race, the El Tour de Tucson, is less than 100 days away, so it's time to sign up and get your training miles in.

3. Reid Park Zoo: Get Behind-the-Scenes with some of your favorite animals at the zoo this month. 

4. Bears: It's been a bear summer in Aspen. A friend sent me some photos and videos she took at her property to share.

5. The Heavens: The Perseids meteor shower will be active for another ten days. Wait for a clear night to get out and watch one of the best meteor showers of the year.

6. Volcanoes: Mt. Etna on the Island of Sicily erupted in dramatic fashion this week forcing the closure of the airportin neareby Catania.

7. Wellness: There's been a lot of buzz about peptides lately, so I consulted Harvard Health to learn more about their uses, benefits, and risks.

8. Hayward M. Fox, P.h.D: Read the latest post from Dr. Fox's blog.

Now, to this week's Flock.

Today's quote from Swami Vivekananda on finding inner peace by recognizing that the Atman, or true self, is eternal and free from the physical world comes from a class he gave on Karma Yoga during his first tour of the United States.

We are less than 100 days away from the 43rd El Tour de Tucson. With over 11,000 entrants, the El Tour de Tucson is the largest perimeter bicycling race/event in the country. The El Tour offers a unique opportunity for cyclists of all ages and skill levels to ride alongside elite professional riders, retired legends of the sport, and the next generation of the pro peloton. Rides include the 102-mile Century ride, a 62-mile (100km) Metric Century, a 32-mile (50km) Half Metric Century, and Fun rides of three and one mile. If you prefer to run or walk instead of riding, there is also a 5k Run/Walk.

Charity, community, health and wellness are what Perimeter Bicycling and El Tour are all about. They all go hand-in-hand when it comes to building awareness for a bike ride that has been part of the Tucson community for nearly four decades.

Did you know that El Tour de Tucson enables nonprofit, charitable agencies to raise funds for their respective organizations? Learn about their programs and sign up to ride on their teams here. Since 1983, Perimeter Bicycling events have raised over $138 million for local and international charitable organizations.

Can We Survive The Biggest Bike Race In America?

In 2024, Ollie and Hank of the Global Cycling Network traveled from the UK to experience the biggest bike race in America. Get a rider's view of the El Tour de Tucson as they attempt to stay with elite riders in the lead peloton.

Best Buddies is an international nonprofit that supports individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. As part of its fundraising and awareness efforts, it hosts the Best Buddies Challenge: 100-, 50-, and 20-mile cycling events in Hyannis Port, Aspen, Miami, and New York. One of their staff members, Jeremiah Angel, put together a realistic, sensible 12-week training schedule to help you complete your first century ride.

From: Best Buddies Challenge, By: Jeremiah Angel

Preparing for a Century Ride

Riding a century ride (100 miles) like the Best Buddies Challenge is no walk in the park. Riding 100-miles is the cycling equivalent of running a marathon in terms of the calories you will burn and time spent exerting energy to make it to the finish line. You wouldn’t attempt to run a marathon without significant training and I don’t recommend trying to ride a bike 100-miles without significant training either (unless you really like painful experiences). Even a well-seasoned cyclist like myself still has to prepare their body to ride 100-miles.

Generally, I would recommend most individuals begin their training at least four or more months prior to their 100-mile event. The bottom line is, the more time you give yourself to train, the better you’ll feel on event day. That being said, not everyone is fortunate enough to have four or more months to train so this training blog will specifically focus on a very simple to follow, moderate mileage, 12-week plan.

Tip: Whether you’re training to ride 100, 50, or 15-miles, a good rule of thumb for beginners is to gradually work up to riding at least 70% of the distance you’ll be riding on event day.

Weeks 1, 2 and 3 – Getting Comfortable

The goal of my first three weeks of training was to merely get by body comfortable with being on the bike again. Let’s face it, sitting on a bike seat isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world and it will take a few weeks for your body to adjust and get used to your riding position. Even if your position was set up by a pro-bike fitter, you’re going to experience some level of discomfort and tenderness your first few weeks of riding.

Weeks 4, 5 and 6 – Building a Base

After three weeks of casually paced riding twice a week, my body is beginning to feel a lot more comfortable on the bike again. There’s less pain in my butt after every ride and my neck, back and legs are feeling well stretched and not overworked.

Weeks 7, 8 and 9 – Increasing Intensity

With six weeks of lightly paced base miles in my legs, it’s time to start adding some intensity to my rides. Riding at one set pace during your training can become monotonous and plateau potential fitness gains. By adding intensity “intervals” (riding at above-average speeds for set periods of time) you can improve the quality of your training without having to add significantly more time on the bike to your training schedule. Countless exercise science studies have shown that in as little as two weeks, interval training can improve your speed, power, and endurance. With this in mind, twice a week I will begin adding in a higher intensity interval workout towards the middle or near the end of my ride.

Weeks 10, 11 and 12 – The Home Stretch

The final three weeks of training are here and the focus of my training is now on maintaining consistency, increasing endurance and avoiding fatigue and/or injury.

Life is busy and the weather might not always cooperate with your training schedule, but it’s important to find the time to ride at least 2-3 days a week. At the same time, it’s also important to listen to your body and avoid the signs of over-training. Quite simply, over-training occurs in cyclists who train well beyond their body’s ability to recover. During these last few weeks, if you find your legs consistently feel like they don’t have any power or your motivation to ride is severely lacking, then perhaps it’s time to cut back your mileage a bit or skip one scheduled ride in order to help your body recover from the last 10 weeks of training. Hopefully, this won’t be necessary, but it’s better for your body to have more time to recover from training vs being over-trained.

The Reid Park Zoo in Tucson is hosting four special Behind-the-Scenes Tours throughout August. These tours offer an excellent educational opportunity for young and old visitors alike to get up close with some of the zoo's most popular residents. 

Behind the scenes

From: Reid Park Zoo

Get up close with some of your favorite Reid Park Zoo residents by booking one of these exclusive, semi-private experiences. Tours are now pre-scheduled, so grab your tickets for an upcoming tour as space is limited.

Click through to individual tour deatails for tour registration and age requrements

Specialty Behind-the-Scenes – Elephant

August 20, 2026

Your 30-minute adventure will take you behind the scenes to see a training session with the world’s largest land animals. Educators will provide information while Keepers work with the Zoo’s elephants, demonstrating how our animals participate in their own health care. At the end of the training session, you will have a couple of minutes to ask Keepers questions, and will then return to the public side of the habitat to view the elephants receiving enrichment.

TOUR DETAILS »

Goat Behind-the-Scenes Experience

August 22, 2026 at 8:30 am

Learn how Reid Park Zoo cares for its herd of goats, from nutritious foods and tactile enrichment, to climbing structures and training. Get an up-close look at the features that allow wild goats to live among cliffs!

TOUR DETAILS »

Specialty Behind-the-Scenes Experience – Grizzly

August 23, 2026 at 10:30 am

During this 30-minute adventure, see a Keeper training session with either our brown (grizzly) bear or lions.

Your experience will take you behind the scenes to see a training with one of our larger animals here at Reid Park Zoo. Educators will provide information while Keepers work with the animals, showing you how our animals participate in their own health checks. At the end, you will have a couple of minutes to ask Keepers questions.

TOUR DETAILS »

Ambassador Animal Behind-the-Scenes Experience

August 28, 2026 at 10:00 am

Meet several of the Zoo’s animal Ambassadors during this semi-private encounter. During this experience, you will have the opportunity to get closer than you imagined with some awesome species. You’ll meet invertebrates, reptiles, and mammals, and have a chance to see a training session.

TOUR DETAILS »

An Aspen friend took these photos and videos on her property. The bears are everywhere in Aspen this summer. I've seen them in my yard, on forest walks, and in town. So far, mine have only thrown my trash cans at the house, but they haven't figured out how to open them yet.

A forest visitor comes lumbering out of the woods.

Look, but never approach a momma bear with her cub. 

It's been a warm summer. The bears need to take a dip to cool off, too.

Help! There’s a bear in my yard

From: BearWise

What should you do if you look out the window and there’s a black bear nosing around your bird feeder or trash, taking a dip in your swimming pool, or investigating something that looks or smells interesting?

A. Call 911

B. Call the neighbors to come watch

C. Offer food, the bear is probably hungry

D. Make lots of noise and yell at the bear

E. Encourage your dog to chase the bear

If you picked D, good for you! You’re more BearWise than the average person.

Discourage the Bear

• From an open window or a safe place on your porch or deck, yell at the bear, bang pots and pans, and do your best to let it know it’s not welcome around your home.
• DO NOT let your dog out or let your dog chase the bear. A bear may view a charging dog as aggressive and respond by defending itself or its cubs, which could injure or kill your dog. Or the bear may climb a tree in your yard to escape and stay there until it feels safe.
• Teaching bears it’s OK to hang around homes almost always leads to problems for both people and bears. So don’t offer food or encourage it to stay so you can watch and take photos.
• Give the bear an escape route. Anxious, nervous bears can run over people or pets standing in the way of freedom.

Investigate and Remove Attractants

After the bear leaves, walk around your house and property to figure out what attracted it in the first place. These are just a few of the things tempt hungry bears:

• Bird feeders
• Dirty grill
• Trash or smelly garbage cans
• Compost pile
• Ripening fruits
• Pet food
• Backyard chickens

The bear may come back, especially if it found anything edible, so remove all attractants. Then alert your neighbors so they too can remove anything that may attract bears.

Bear in Your Yard? Here’s How to Stay Safe

The Perseids meteor shower was at its maximum Wednesday night, August 12th. Unfortunately, it was cloudy where many of my readers and I were that evening. The good news is that the Perseids will continue through August 24th. So, if you get a clear night, find a spot far away from city lights, take a few moments to let your eyes adjust to the dark, and you should still be able to catch a show as dust from the comet109P/Swift-Tuttle's tail burns bright as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.

Currently active

From: American Meteor Society

Active from July 17th to August 24th, 2026

The Perseids are the most popular meteor shower as they peak on warm August nights as seen from the northern hemisphere. The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 24.. They reach a strong maximum on August 12 or 13, depending on the year. Normal hourly rates seen from rural locations range from 30-50 shower members per hour at maximum. The Perseids are particles released from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle during its numerous returns to the inner solar system. They are called Perseids since the radiant (the area of the sky where the meteors seem to originate) is located near the prominent constellation of Perseus the hero. When at maximum activity. In 2026, the moon is new on August 12 so conditions are optimum for viewing this shower.

Mt. Etna, Europe's highest and most active volcano, erupted again this week, generating stunning images and closing the nearby airport in Catania. This spring, while on a Viking Cruise sailing through Italy's coastal towns, I had the good fortune to meander into a small, rather windy and cold crater on Mt. Etna. The wind was strong and pushed me down.

Tourists rush to Mount Etna as Italian volcano erupts

From: Phys.org, By: Alexander Pol, August 12, 2026

Spectacular images of lava flowing down the slopes of erupting Mount Etna have drawn flocks of tourists to the Italian volcano—to the worry of local guides.

The tallest active volcano in Europe, Etna has been spewing ash and lava for days, forcing the closure of nearby Catania airport, a key gateway for tourists visiting the island of Sicily.

Companies that organize nighttime hikes allowing participants to watch the eruption up close say they have been flooded with calls.

"They all want to come and see the lava flow; everyone is drawn to this unique beauty," Daniele Perricelli, 41, a local guide, told AFP on Wednesday.

Perricelli's group, Guide Etna, takes a few dozen visitors up the volcano every evening—but is currently receiving about 300 requests a day, three times what it gets on an average summer day, he said…

Safety concerns

"There are up to 2,000 people climbing up every evening, the trails are overcrowded," he said. "Yesterday, we saw some wearing flip-flops," he added, calling on authorities to be more vigilant.

Some climbers, including Italian TV host Diletta Leotta, have been criticized on social media for taking photos seemingly too close to glowing lava.

Yet, guides said it is possible to come within a few meters of the lava flow in lower-altitude areas where it has already cooled down.

Under current rules, visitors can climb to around 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) on their own but need to be accompanied by a guide to go higher, tour operators say.

Etna Eruption - 11 august 2026 - Lava reach 1350 meters

Peptides are one of the latest trends in wellness, and I know a few people who have tried them, but I think they are still a mystery to many, including myself. Much of the buzz I've heard has been about injectable peptides, many of which are still sold as experimental, haven't been rigorously tested for safety and efficacy, and haven't been approved by the FDA. This is something you want to be very careful with and only try under your physician's supervision. Not all peptides require injection, and some are available as dietary supplements or topical creams. Still, I would be wary of the health claims they make and, again, consult a qualified physician about use and dosages before adding them to your health routine.

From: Harvard Health, By: MarygraceTaylor, July 7, 2026

Peptides are getting a lot of attention on social media, purporting to support everything from muscle growth and skin health to improved energy, cognitive function, and sleep quality. With all of the buzz, you may be wondering what these compounds are, what benefits they actually offer, and whether they’re safe.

As it turns out, we still have more questions than answers about trendy peptide injections. Here’s what you need to know.

What are peptides and how do they work?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) that can have a range of effects on the body. For example, peptides help orchestrate hormone activity, immune defense, tissue repair and growth, control of inflammation, and digestion. You can think of them as smaller and simpler versions of proteins, which are made of longer chains of amino acids. The body can make countless types of peptides by stringing together different amino acids. Each combination of amino acids produces unique — and very specific — functions.

The body can make some peptides on its own. Others are made using the amino acids found in dietary proteins like meat, eggs, or legumes. Peptides can also be synthesized in labs. The lab-made kind are often used in medications, supplements, and injectable products.

What are peptides used for?

You’re likely familiar with some of the peptides your body makes, such as

• insulin, which the pancreas makes to regulate the body’s blood sugar
• endorphins, which are released by the central nervous system to block pain signals and relieve stress
• growth hormone–releasing hormone, which triggers the pituitary gland to make and release growth hormone.

Peptides are also used in some FDA-approved medications to treat diabetes, obesity, certain endocrine disorders, and other health conditions. Injectable insulin for blood sugar control is a peptide. So are GLP-1 medications that treat obesity and type 2 diabetes (among other diseases). Examples include semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound, Mounjaro).

A growing number of people are also using peptide injections and supplements to enhance their health and fitness. Many of these products, which lack FDA oversight, make various unproven health claims.

Peptide supplements and injections

Many of the injectable peptides currently marketed online and by wellness clinics are not regulated or approved by the FDA. Instead, they’re experimental compounds that are typically sold through “gray market” online storefronts and often labeled “for research purposes only.”

You can also find dietary peptide supplements (typically in pill or powder form) like creatine, collagen, and follistatin (which are purported to support muscle growth and recovery and joint health, among other claims) at stores and from various online retailers. These products are also largely unregulated.

Potential benefits of peptides

Different peptides have different functions in the body. So, it’s impossible to quantify the benefits of peptides as a group.

Some FDA-approved peptide medications have proven their value for supporting health after rigorous testing, clinical research, and real-world use. For instance, insulin is essential for helping many people with diabetes control their blood sugar, while GLP-1s have helped millions of people reach a healthier weight.

Far less is known about gray-market injectable peptides. “When you’re talking about peptides being promoted online, those health claims have not been vetted by any expert group, the FDA, or anyone else. The health claims are divorced from data,” says Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who studies dietary supplements…

Are peptides safe?

Peptide safety varies considerably. FDA-approved peptide medications have been studied in large clinical trials, so we have good data supporting their safety.

For unregulated peptides, however, there’s simply not enough evidence to say if they’re safe or not. “You’re really just experimenting with injecting amino acids into your body,” Dr. Cohen says. What’s more, the studies we do have suggest that some injectable peptides could trigger abnormal immune system responses, leading to allergic reactions (including severe ones like anaphylaxis) or autoimmune issues in some people.

Of equal concern is the fact that unregulated peptides may be contaminated with impurities, according to the FDA. That’s especially true for gray-market injectable peptides. These products may be manufactured under murky circumstances, often overseas, so there’s no way of knowing what could be in them.

My thanks and great appreciation go out to Dr. Fox for once again blessing us with his wisdom.

From: Institute of Personal and Transpersonal Knowledge, written by Hayward M. Fox

Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for (audience)? Why should they care (benefit)? What do I want them to do (call-to-action)?

Create a great offer by adding words like "free," "personalized," "complimentary," or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take action, so consider inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining!"

These Flock regulars are always here for you:

Cita Scott for paintings, photography, and culinary art. Cita will be in and out of town all summer. Don't hesitate to give her a jingle. (520) 404-1551

Kimberly Gomer, MS, RD/LDN:

Registered and licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist. Find me on my website at KimberlyGomer.com for information about nutrition coaching.

Sarah Smallhouse & Make Elections Fair ArIzona

– Sign the petition here

Sensitive & Specific: The Testing Newsletter by Mara G. Aspinall and Liz Ruark. Mara is always here to help in understanding testing knowledge and how it's being applied.

Kyria Sabin of Fletcher Pilates:

(520) 323-7070

The Fabric Jeanie!

Tap to learn more. 

(520) 245-0589

Linda Collazo, mezzo-soprano:

for piano and voice lessons

Andres Valbuena: drum selection, drum basics, and more.

Dr. Hayward M. Fox, Ph.D.

The institute of Personal andTranspersonal Knowledge

Tucson Village Farm:

Vegetaable growing in the summer heat.

The Physio ShopThe Physio Shop:

Elite physical therapy services and more.

Icebox Cryotherapy:

Icebox Tucson’s unique enhancers allow you to be your best version! 

Nathan Anderson of Catalina Acupuncture:

(520) 999-0080

Greer Interiors: Insightful, elegant spaces that complement your life. True beauty begins with alignment. 
(970) 570-3039

Tanya Joy Wellness: Look and feel your best - inside and out.

Skincarecare, Integrated Health Coaching, Energetic Clearing, and Pilates.

Don't Be Shy: Share Your Stories!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of your personal stories - oral, written, or otherwise, as we enter our third year. I'd so love to present them to The Flock, hit a mailbox below to share your story.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

520-818-4433

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