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BOOKS

Charlesgate Confidential by Scott Von Doviak

The timing of when books find their way into our lives is always curious. In this case, Charlesgate Confidential, a book Stephen King said is “F*cking terrific”, takes place in October in Boston during three time periods: 1943, 1986 and 2014. And during each time period, the Red Sox playing in the World Series lingers in the background, from scenes around Fenway and Landsdowne Street to the old Sox hangouts and classic bars like the Cask ‘N Flagon.

But you don’t have to be a Sox fan, a baseball fan, or even a sports fan to enjoy the hell out of this book. You just have to be a fan of awesome writing, detective stories, crime noir and great characters.

We’ve also got mob hits, poker heists, cops, murder, stolen art, ghosts, journalism, exceptional dialogue and it’s all based loosely on the true story of a famous unsolved art museum robbery in the Back Bay.

This was my second book by Von Doviak and he was cool enough after I read his other book, Lowdown Road, at the beginning of the summer to do an exclusive Books & Biceps Q&A which you can read here. If you’re curious about how authors come up with everything from themes to names to historical plots, you’ll want to read it.

But check out Charlesgate Confidential. The time jump tactic is really unique, as we follow certain characters from teens to old men and back… and how the ramifications of actions in 1943 ended up altering forever the lives of characters in 2014. Cool device and fun read. Somehow the hardcover is only $6 on Amazon right now. It’s a steal. You’ll love it.

BICEPS

Back in September I decided I wanted to do my 1st triathlon.

I looked for one 12-16 weeks out so I'd have time to train: December or January-ish. But I found a cool beach one in October.

I knew that gave me only 5 weeks to train, but screw it, I signed up. Figured I could muscle through...

My logic was this:

SWIM: I swim 2-3 times a week and have competed in ocean swims before. No sweat.

BIKE: I bike my son to school every day. Casual ride but 4 mile round trip each way. Has to count for something. I'd just add in 20-30 minutes after each ride.

RUN: Started from scratch. Other than weekly sprints I had nothing. So I did two 5ks a week plus a Sunday 30 minute bike with a 2 mile run after. Disliked every step haha.

My weekly schedule was: Lift, tri-train, lift, tri-train, lift, tri-train/hoops, REST

And that was it. I always thought I could do it, but like ultra-runner and previous B&B recommended author Jesse Itzler says, it was time to turn the triathlon into a "will do".

And as of last Sunday morning, it's done.

Here’s how it went down:

I crushed the swim. I was in 8th place overall (including the pros) out of 228 competitors leaving the ocean. I love swimming and it felt great. Blew past nearly the entire pack that started ahead of me…

Time-wise I was in 10th when I left the first transition area…

But after that my mountain bike did me in. HUGE MISTAKE. I’d been told a few times that I should get a road bike for the race but I was dumb and didn’t listen. One guy who saw my bike at 5AM while I was putting it in the corral said, “Are you trying to punish yourself? Might as well do the race with a bag of bricks on your back.”

He was right.

I had 64 year old grandmas with granite calves whipping by me shouting "on your left!" every 5 seconds while I grunted like a pack mule. Probably doubled my time on the bike easy.

One of the course photographers even caught this pic of a dude probably 20 years older than me with his sick bike and racing gloves and aerodynamic neon outfit blowing by me while I pointed at the camera like a moron:

I won't make that error again and I just had to grind it out. Oh well…

The run was what I expected...a slog…especially after nearly an hour on the bike. In training I had my 5k down to around 24 minutes (basically three 8-minute miles) which was solid for me. The first 5k I ran in September took me over a half-hour, so I made a decent improvement in a short period of time.

I also noticed that most of the dudes in this race were spindly distance guys who weighed like 165 pounds. Not many 200-pound meatheads like yours truly pounding the pavement.

In the end I dropped over 170 places from the swim to the finish hahahah! Maybe that’s a record.

You live and learn.

Either way, it felt awesome to hit that finish line with my family there. Even knocked out a quick flex before sucking wind.

And here’s a cool short video my mom got of me high-fiving my daughter and son at the end:

Bottom line: Finishing the race was super gratifying and I loved the challenge of the quick training schedule too.

Don't hesitate, dudes.

Find challenges, sign up and do cool shit.

Quick Flexes

‘Boxing History’ posted this awesome photo of Roy Jones Jr. the other day:

And it reminded me that I spent 3 days with Roy at his training camp in Pensacola while he was training to fight Antonio Tarver. The piece never ran because of a jackass editor, but I’m gonna find it. It was an unforgettable story. I loved RJJ. Sick showman. Amazing tactician. And he had the best entrances.

Over 100k people have viewed my column on how I’d fix Halloween. Check it out and let me know what you think. Agree? Disagree?

FROM THE BOOKS & BICEPS CREW

I love it when Books & Biceps readers write me to share their awesome accomplishments - especially when they’re fellow authors!

Next Tuesday, one of our own, Sam Jefferies, has a book coming out:

This is a story about family, tragedy, expectations, legacy and the modern sports landscape. No less than ESPN’s John Buccigross wrote the foreword and if you’re a hockey fan, you should pick this one up right here and let’s help Sam have the number one hockey book in the country!

The NBA is BACK! And did you know I wrote the digital biography of the one and only Human Highlight film?

It’s called: ‘Nique: The High-Flying, Electrifying Career of Dominique Wilkins. The cover is so dope. I love it.

This is everything you didn’t know about ‘Nique, from his playground days to his dominant high school teams to his time at Georgia, his almost-team in Utah and yes, all the dunk info you can handle. Plus, an inside look at his underrated time with the Clippers and Celtics.

And this is what Spud Webb had to say:

“It’s amazing that people act like they’ve never seen anyone in the 80s and 90s play other than MJ. People need to bring up Dominique. Dominique was an all-time scorer. He never got his credit.”

Were you a 90s hoops fan? Yes! Buy ‘NIQUE here.

Strong Links: AKA Sponsors

One thing I noticed while training for my triathlon is that my flexibility sucks. I have the stretching range of a rickety old lawn chair. I’ve always been interested in improving my flexibility and mobility and thus… yoga. I know pro athletes have sworn by it for years, but I’m finally read to try it.

And my new resource is the Breath & Flow newsletter. They have great features on cold therapy, meditation, increasing range of motion and more. You can subscribe for free right here:

Have you ever tried listening to audio books? I’ve long resisted, but recently become a fan and have one or two going right now… I like them for fiction and have been listening to them in place of podcasts during drives…

A nice way to “read” a few more books a year.

If you love audiobooks or are thinking of joining Audible, use this link below and support Books & Biceps:

→ USE THIS LINK for an awesome Audible Premium Deal

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Thank you all for reading.

Have a great weekend! - Jon

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