Here’s a video I took last September on a loop around Fox Lake. As I mention in the video, the ride took me to almost 800 miles for 2008. Yesterday’s ride took me over 100 miles for 2008, yet I felt almost as strong as I did when I rode the same route in September.
I was in a hurry yesterday, so I didn’t stop to take video or pictures. More pics and videos of upcoming rides are definitely in order.
Today I rode my Fox Lake Loop route.
21.87 miles in 1 hour 28 mins.
14.85 mph avg speed.
34.78 mph max speed.
551m (1870 feet) of climbing, according to Sanoodi.
Chased by 3 dogs.
The ride was great. This was my first ride not on the bike path this year, and it felt truly awesome. I’ve done this route serveral times last year, so I am very familiar with it. I have to say that while this is only my 7th ride of the year, I felt stronger on this ride than I have in the past. I was able to go a bit faster, and muscle over some of the hills in a harder gear. I only had to use the 32 tooth cog once, and that was on the last hill of the day. I’m really excited that some of the conditioning that I’ve been doing over the winter seems to have had some effect. It’s really encouraging that I’m in decent shape this early in the spring, and I don’t think I’ll have much trouble doing the 45 mile leg of the Tour de Forest on Saturday. Now to lose the 10 pounds I gained back from last summer, and I’ll be flying.
The last organized ride I did was the MS 25 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when I was around 14 years old. I’m looking to get a few tours and charity rides in this year. Here’s a list of a few bike tours that I’ve got my eye on.
For other rides in and around Ohio, take a look at the Ohio Bicycle Events Calendar.
Well, not in so many words. But still.
Thing is, I’ve broken two spokes on my rear wheels in the past six weeks. One was on my road bike, 6 weeks ago, and the other on my mountain bike on Monday. I also broke another spoke on my road bike toward the end of last summer. When I inquired what I could do to prevent further spokes from breaking, my bike shop owner, whom I know pretty well, made a circular motion around his waist with his hands. He also suggested that we could build some stronger wheels, but apparently watching my calories would be a bit cheaper.
I weigh 210 now, and I got as low as 198 last summer. So more riding, less eating, should save me money on spokes over the long haul.
Oh, and just so you know, my bike shop owner was just joking. My self-esteem is mostly still intact. Now to find more time to ride.
It may seem a bit counter-intuitive to buy a trainer in spring, but I’ve come to the conclusion that if I’m going to be better on the bike, then I need to spend more time on the bike. With my responsibilities of being a full-time job and being a husband and father-of-three-boys, it’s really hard to get as much riding as I would like. I’ve been borrowing a friend’s trainer for a couple of weeks, and I’ve ridden it a few times. I set it up in my family room (conveniently just off the garage) and watch TV while riding it. Unfortunately the best time for me to ride the trainer is at 5 in the morning, so that presents the challenge of actually waking up. However, once I’m on the trainer, it is generally fairly easy to wake up in a matter of minutes. To keep from getting too bored, I’ve been watching the first season for Heroes streamed via Netflix on my Xbox 360. I generally ride for about 30 minutes, but I would like to start riding for longer. That also means getting up a bit earlier as well, so we’ll have to see how that goes. I’m also still going to the gym on my lunch break during the day, so riding the trainer is not replacing my normal weight/cardio workouts at the gym. On the days that I have ridden the trainer at home, I’ve done weights at the gym (upper body only). Once I get into a more regular routine with the trainer, the gym routine may change slightly.
I wound up buying a new Minoura Mag M50 on ebay (pictured). It is the newer model to the one I’ve been borrowing from my friend. I’ve found the one I’ve been using to be relatively quiet for a magnetic trainer, so I’m hoping the newer model works just the same. It should arrive later this week, so I’ll be sure to give a review in the future.