<p>I’ve seen bicyclists here in Seattle yakking on their cell phones while zooming through the rush hour traffic, however, they usually stick their cell phone under the side of their helmet so they could have both hands to control their bike. LP, I hope your friend is going to be OK.</p>
<p>We really lucked out today - went to Mt Rainier National Park, and the weather could not have been better! Hiked up the hill in Paradise, only about 2.5-3 miles RT, but it was pretty challenging. Saw deer, chipmunks, and a couple of really fat marmots. Hit the road just before the rain started!</p>
<p>ouch! So sorry to hear about your partner Longprime!</p>
<p>BC and idad…you lost me on your ipod tech talk! I know how to download songs and turn it on shuffle but that’s it! Love my Shuffle but I actually listen to more tv on the radio part in the gym. Seems to make the time go quicker. Listen to my music when I am outside working out.</p>
<p>Whoa, Longprime. Sorry to hear about your bike partner’s accident.</p>
<p>As I have reported, my biking is not going particularly well. I flamed out on the 73 last week and, for some reason, agreed to 52 (I AGREED to 52- not 58) with H yesterday because there was a country restaurant he wanted to ride to with awesome cinnamon rolls in Pottsville, TN. I started out OK (it was a LOT cooler than last week), but H made a small mistake on the route and we had to turn around (didn’t add distance at that point) and I tried to start pedaling up a hill and fell over. I really skinned my elbow, hit my head (helmet of course), really bruised the back of my knee when I hit the top tube and hurt my wrist (badly). I spent about 2 minutes crying and yelling at him and then picked myself up and headed for the cinnamon rolls! We got there at about 31 miles. He assured me the way we were going back was shorter. Really cool little restaurant (one of the owners is a country singer- not unusual around here). Starting back up was bad. My wrist hurt (I could barely work the brakes) and the wind had picked up. It also was hotter. </p>
<p>OH- I forgot to mention the pack of dogs that came out at us BEFORE the breakfast stop and their (female) owner who came out of the house and herded them away from us with a GUN (I think it was a BB gun, but still, a gun…). She said “they won’t bite!” So-on the return leg we had a few more dogs come out- it was the country and some of the residences were, um, not that nice. I was yelling at H again at this point. About 40 miles I ran out of steam and struggled the rest of the way. Right at the entrance to our neighborhood my chain slipped inside the chain ring and H had ridden on. I waited for him to come back and he didn’t. I wasn’t able to fix it. He “thought I was right behind him.” Uh- when I didn’t get to the f…ing house where did he THINK I was. I’m sure he was just tired of my bitc…ing. Anyway- with my horribly sore hip, my painful wrist and bloody elbow I had to walk the bike the last .3 uphill… I was NOT happy when I got to the garage. In the next hour or two the wrist pain level got to about a 9 so I took 3 Advil and we were worried that I might have a small fracture. After the Advil it settled down. I was extremely discouraged about my biking and the fact that I can’t run. It was NOT a happy afternoon. Finally I agreed to go to the bike shop (wrist brace and all) to get new bike shoes because H didn’t like the pedals/clips of my old shoes. </p>
<p>As a result, I had to ride today to get used to them before the stupid 2 day ride. I did much better today. We did about 30 miles and it was cool outside. My wrist is a little sore but not bad. I was tired, but held up OK. I like the shoes except for walking in them- which you can’t do without these cleat covers to protect the cleats and so you won’t slip. My old shoes had a smaller cleat and some tread (H says they are more of a mountain biking shoe, although they are stiff and not clunky). Anyway, I didn’t whine during the ride today. So-I’ve ridden 2 days in a row. I want to run.</p>
<p>My biking is the equivalent to running only 1 day a week and it’s the (dreaded) 20 mile long run- with people faster than you and on the hardest course!</p>
<p>Darn, I was thinking about getting out the old bike and taking it for a spin this afternoon, but after reading about your ride, I think I’ll just settle in on the sofa with a bag of Cheetohs and some cold brewskis for the Pats game, instead!</p>
<p>You are a better woman than I am (well, I guess that’s kind of obvious). I would have told the hubby to ride by hisself a long time ago. He’s really not going out of his way to work with you on this riding thing.</p>
<p>Well, I’m finally celebrating my next five pound goal today. Actually, I passed it twice earlier in the week, once by nearly three pounds, but it was a crazy week with a three pound loss one day and a four pound gain the next and body fat readings that were all out of whack. Things have finally stabilized and I’m putting another notch in my holster. </p>
<p>55 pounds. Now, I have a new goal. Just lose five pounds!</p>
<p>I don’t know how you do it. You made it sound like so much fun that I just had to saddle up the bike. I’m a piker though. I just went for a little 8.5 mile loop around a pretty little lake. Five or six little hills to get a workout. I’m much stronger than I was the last time I took a spin a month ago, but bike riding sends my heart rate up like crazy.</p>
<p>The good news is that I didn’t fall over and didn’t hurt myself in any way. I’ll live to do an iPod workout another day!</p>
<p>8.5 miles sounds more MY speed than 58! Don’t forget- my bike is really light and set up (by computer) to fit me perfectly. I’m locked into the pedals for “power”. I get into my tucked position on the drop handlebars and go flying down the hills (oh wait- did I mention that I HATE high speed and I ride the brakes down the hills? Ruins the effect a little bit!) Biking is interesting. BIG people can be pretty good at biking and it always surprises me. They aren’t doing the Tour de France, of course, but strong legs can take you a long way in recreational cycling. Today we rode a little with a couple guys in our “group”- 1 is a co-worker of mine. They are both large (not fat-but could lose a few…), black men (you don’t see all that many black cyclists) with REALLY strong legs. Uphills aren’t as easy for them, but they can fly on the flats and downs.</p>
<p>Sounds like a lot of people enjoying the great outdoors today! H and I took a 3.5 hour hike today. Couldn’t imagine even attempting it a few months ago. I can’t even tell you how happy I am with my new life.</p>
<p>Cool biking stories! MOWC, I’m surprised you’re still going out…you ARE persistent. We did lots of biking this weekend. Nice to spend so many hours outside. My hands were actually freezing this morning…time to break out the light gloves.</p>
<p>I feel like I have to get through this 2 day ride because I accepted some donations (it’s for MS and you have to raise $300- my company matches my donation so I only had to hit up a couple of other people, like my mother and sister…) so I feel like I have to do it. Also, I’m on a team for it with some co-workers. It’s not a competitive event, but I have to do the longer rides to make it through 75 miles each day (actually-I think some of us will do the shorter option of 57 the 2nd day). That’s why I’m still out there. That and the fact that it’s pretty much the only endurance exercise I can do right now.</p>
<p>Hah. I took the toe clips off my bike because I thought sure I was going to wipe out trying to get my feet in and out of them. I’m not too worried about “the power”.</p>
<p>I did manage to power up a couple of the hills by getting up a head of steam and staying in a little faster gear. All those Airdyne intervals are starting to pay off. </p>
<p>This was a really nice little circuit with a few easy extensions if I want to make it a bit longer. I don’t know if biking will ever be “my thing”. It’s just awright for me, dawg. A little change of pace workout on a nice day. Great exercise, but overall I can take it or leave it. The weather will be bad and I’ll be doing Airdyne intervals soon enough. Take advantage of nice days while I can. I walked yesterday and I’m trying to mix it up.</p>
<p>I have an old racing bicycle that I built about thirty years ago. Back then, it was considered very, very light. My guess is that it isn’t considered light today. It’s a racing frame and there are often times when I wished that I had picked more of a touring frame for better comfort.</p>
<p>It does have toe-clips but you can slide your feet in and out quite easily. You get the benefit on the up-stroke though some efficiency is lost compared to cleats. But I don’t have to worry about being able to get out of the toe-clips in a big hurry if I need to.</p>
<p>It seems that your setup is more for performance; perhaps more of a touring model would make your rides more pleasurable.</p>
<p>The bike is comfortable and needs to be light. The hills around here can not be avoided (except by driving almost to Kentucky) and a light, performance bike is necessary. It’s not a tri-bike and no aero-bars like back in the day when I did tris. I love the bike. I like riding on the Natchez Trace where I don’t have to worry about cars (just hills). The problem is that to do the biking equivalent to the level of running I am used to requires hours of time and I forget that I’m not conditioned for it the same way. It’s not as awful as I make it sound, probably. Our countryside is really pretty. I just get nervous about cars and dogs, too.</p>
<p>Maybe if I didn’t have the day job and could ride during the week. Yes, if I really loved it I could set up a trainer and ride the thing in my garage for a couple of hours. Gee- wouldn’t THAT be fun! One problem with accomplishing what I have in running is that it is hard for me to do something half-assed and be mediocre at it. I didn’t mind as much when I was doing yoga, because it was cross-training and yoga is truly not supposed to be competitive. Even I EVENTUALLY understood that. I remember trying to do something called “crow pose” and sneaking a peek at the others in the room. That peek caused me to lose my balance (which isn’t good anyway) and not only did I fall OUT of crow pose- I rolled completely off of my yoga mat. You aren’t supposed to LOL in yoga class, it turns out.</p>
<p>Just ran a few miles and did weights today. I didn’t feel like hitting tennis balls (very cloudy this morning) and I had some household errands to do. I gave my son the 15 pound dumbbell a few weeks ago and he told me that it’s pretty easy to lift now (he had been doing tens because that’s all he found). He said that he may need to tape two tens together. I will probably pick up a twenty for him somewhere. I can do curls with the 15 on my left hand pretty easily. I can probably do curls with five pound weights on my right. My guess is that I would do damage above five pounds. I mostly stick with the weight machines as the barbell is too dangerous with a bad arm.</p>
<p>I’m using 14 pounders for most things right now. One of them is getting a little too easy for the step up and press – although getting in 12 on each side in 45 seconds requires a pretty fast pace. Two 14 pounders for the squat with curl and press is all I can handle for ten good reps. That exercise kills me. I’m using 8 pounders for reverse flies. That’s about all I can handle for 12 to 15 reps.</p>
<p>I haven’t decided what workouts to do this week. I may go for a third week of the same iPod workout that’s been kickin’ my butt. I’m also thinking about taking a break from iPod nazi and working for a week or two on this Sparticus workout, just for a little variety. I think that will be a project, but I kind of want to see how far away I am from being able to do these exercises. I know I do some of them. I think the two lunges (7 and 9) will be a serious obstacle.</p>
<p>Yeah. I’ll get five more. I don’t have any doubt at all. I have started to ease off on the timeline expectations as the curve has started to flatten out a bit. That’s OK. I’m enjoying the process almost as much as the results.</p>
<p>I just snuck a peak at Phase III of the iPod workouts. Wow. There are some seriously hard exercises. This is going to be a project, too.</p>
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