Sarah's Cycling Blog

2009 Review

2010-01-09T11:15:00.004-05:00

A bit of a fizzle...but let's try to find the bright spots, OK?

Trio's Metric Century A Month Challenge...I did 10/12. Still, I think it was pretty good considering my New England environment, though I succumbed in the end to knee pain, not weather.

My knees have always been an issue for me, so it wasn't really a surprise that my right one started to become very sore in August. That pain, on top of generally feeling lousy in the hot weather, led both consciously and unconsciously to me putting energy into other things that were easier than getting on the bike and also kind of refreshing mentally (though I still love cycling!). Unfortunately, my knee continues to be sore despite all the rest with pedaling and stairs being the most problematic.

Here is my overview table of riding by month.

And, here are the graphs, just because they are fun and easy to make and what else am I to do with all the lists of numbers? This year's graph, with all the riding at the beginning is basically the opposite of 2008's graph with all the build up at the end! As pretty as it would be to have an even graph, I don't think it's something I can happily do. I think it's in my nature to have, er, cycles of cycling.

For the first time, I tracked the percentage of rides per bike/trainer as shown in the pie chart.

And the percentage of miles per bike/trainer as shown below.

I just wondered what I made the most use of and I like justification for a house full of bike stuff too ;)

So, thinking about 2010...After 10 (!) weeks off, I want to build up very slowly and see how it goes on the trainer. I would be happy with a much lower total mileage this year if my knees held up. I hope to spend some of the time I would have spent on the bike doing more walking.

Let's hope I keep on adding to my 'life' miles without too many huge gaps. Here is the updated table of my miles by year since I started recording them.

This last chart shows the distribution of the above miles by week. I know the font is too small to see, but you get the idea...the vertical axis is miles in increments of 50, the horizontal axis is weeks 1-52 repeated for each year. The color key is blue=outside, red=trainer.

Happy Riding in 2010, everyone!!!

Best Wishes!

2009-12-24T14:48:00.005-05:00

I have been a horrible blog slacker, but wanted to sign in to wish everyone a happy Christmastime and New Year!!

No biking to report on lately with a painful knee and too many distractions! But you can see lots of winter fun is being had, including playtime in the snow with the dogs, on my general/not tracking fitness stats type of blog =)

(Scan of a vintage card from my Grandmother's scrapbook.)

Jamestown Classic 2009

2009-10-13T12:05:00.003-04:00

Monday, Jeff and I met up with Chris and Debby at the Jamestown Classic, a road race. We left the truck at one of the parks and rode our 'cross bikes over to the bottom of Hamilton Hill so we would have 4 chances to see Chris go by during his 2 laps of the island.

Once again, we played Where's ~~Waldo~~ Chris? It was a little more challenging this time as he was in a plain jersey. His new team is waiting for the new kits to arrive. Here's the first time we saw him on lap 1, waving in response to hearing me scream something like 'Go Chris'. Apparently, I really startled a few people watching near us, but Jeff managed to keep his wits about him and get quick shot.

I've added a couple of arrows to Chris in the following two shots. We actually saw him really easily, but weren't lined up right for pictures.

No arrow in this one, but he is in there on the inside of the curve.

How cool is this?! They were filming the race!

Here's the camera guy out in front of the breakaway group for the race Chris was in.

Chis was in this bunch, but hidden.

These pics show the racers crossing the causeway (from various Cats).

Jeff shot a few neat pics of the racers approaching the causeway.

This seemed like the hardest way around the Island to me...

There is an album of more random race pictures here, though sized a bit smaller. Btw, if you are a racer and have found yourself in one of the pics, let me know via a comment and I can arrange to email you a larger format image (free).

Check out the race recap by Chris here.

October Metric Century

2009-10-01T20:07:00.011-04:00

No procrastination this month. Got the metric done on October 1st! It sounds like I was all fired up, right?! Actually, I dragged out the door thinking I was going to try to get 20 miles. Luckily, I grabbed a cereal bar on the way out, but I was so lazy I went out with the 1/2 a bottle of water leftover from yesterday thinking I wouldn't really want it on a short ride anyway.

13 miles out I was feeling in a biking zone and started to think about going for the metric. By 20, I'd committed to the idea. I figured since it was cool I wouldn't need too much water and when I texted Jeff about my predicament, he said he'd bring me water if I needed it later on in the ride.

It was a little chilly feeling at times with temps ranging from about 54 to 58 F. I was wearing shorts, a very light, long sleeve jersey and a windbreaker jacket. Initially it was nicer as there were some areas of sun, but the clouds blew in thicker as the ride went on.

I stopped at 3rd beach for a couple of shots of the clouds, just with the camera phone. Looking back the way I'd come:

And across the beach to some moorings:

The ride was pretty much like the one last Saturday. My back really began to spasm at about 48 miles out and I had to struggle on through to the end. Jeff brought me water in the truck at 57 miles which really saved me. After he dropped water off with me, he went to fuel up the truck, then drove back along my route to pick me up just after I reached my goal for the day. Here's the Garmin profile showing 62.36 miles:

We are to the season where when I come back from a ride, I need a hot shower to warm up. No more cooling off showers at the ends of rides!

Well, just 2 more metric centuries are left in the challenge: Novembrrr and Decembrrrrrr! I won't be wearing shorts on the next one!!

September Metric Century

2009-09-28T14:59:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe that the goldenrod is blooming and it is officially fall! I am so happy with the drier weather. Saturday, I had a beautiful, sunny day for my metric. Once again, I postponed it toward the end the month and started to worry if I'd get it done, especially when I canceled one attempt due to lack of willingness to fight regular gusts of 30mph for 63 miles!

I felt great for about 45 miles averaging over 15mph and not feeling the pains I'd been having lately. After that, the foot numbness and a backache started in together and sapped all my energy. Fortunately, Jeff came out to join me for the last 23 miles, so I had some company and we tootled along enjoying the good weather and sights since there won't be as much opportunity for that soon.

The evidence from Garmin, showing 62.23 miles (just enough!).

It's getting a bit embarrassing to post the same route over and over, but it's what I manage to get out to ride...

Fall Is In The Air...

2009-09-17T17:29:00.002-04:00

But last Sunday, on a summery though gray day, Jeff and I went to cheer for our friend Jamie competing in the Firmman RI half-Ironman. It's tricky to pick a good spot for watching those kinds of endurance races, but looking at the bike course map, I realized that we could drive to Ninigret Park and leave the truck there while we biked out to Rte 1 where we would actually get to see Jamie 3 times if we timed it right and pedaled back and forth on Rte 1 a bit. Driving out to Ninigret, the bike course looked more hilly than ever before! At one point, there was an huge snapping turtle crossing the road and we hoped it would be clear of the bike lane by race time!

As we biked to the first lookout, we saw the first riders coming through and hurried to cross the 4 lanes of Rte 1 and get the camera and cowbell out of the pack. We hoped we hadn't missed him! But soon we spotted him coming and looking really fast and comfortable out there.

I was having fun cheering for everyone because you can't stand there on the side of the road with a cowbell and not ring it for people! Some people were in a 'zone', but most smiled and waved and many actually thanked me as they rode by! Too funny! I was thinking, 'If you can be talking to me, you can be pedaling faster!' Awhile after seeing Jamie go past we went to our next lookout where the riders were coming downhill and using one of the on ramps to get back on Rte 1. Jamie came flying down the hill and cornering while at the same time reaching for a water bottle to throw to me! Yeah! Swag!!! You can see the pic on his blog along with his full race report. Again, we moved on to the next lookout for one more sighting about 16 miles from the finish where Jeff got this picture:

And I snapped this one of him waving and getting ready to throw another bottle:

It was a busy day for biking with all the tri riders, but also some people just out for their usual loops. Then, we saw this peleton go by both ways on Rte 1! I think they must have been part of the Bob Beal Omnium Master's races going on at Ninigret that weekend. They got some cowbell too, of course!

I have not managed to build up from summer yet, but I am enjoying the cooler weather and feeling like I will start getting out more again. I've been having numb feet on my rides and some knee pain, so that can make me feel reluctant to head out for a ride a lot of days, but I think I need to just get out there and ride through it and I'll start feeling good again. I was very happy to be out for 20 miles earlier today!

August Metric

2009-08-31T19:16:00.002-04:00

A break in the humidity happened just in time for me to get my August metric century with a few days to spare! I rode X6 and started off very well, but mid way my feet got very sore with a pins and needles sensation and it killed my tempo. I also ran out of water and was painfully dry as the weather was still pretty hot.

Jeff kept me company for much of the ride, joining me 22 miles in and, fortunately, with eight miles still to go, Jeff took the turn to the house, grabbed some water and brought it to me in the truck. What a relief!!

At Sachuest Point, I stopped short to get a photo of this buck with velvety antlers. He wasn't at all frightened, even walking toward me a little! This is the closest I've gotten to a deer out there as they are usually out across the field more.

Garmin actually shut off on me during the ride, but I managed to notice pretty quickly and you can see I still got a distance of 63.30 miles. With the crazy pains in both feet and being dehydrated, my speed ended up at 14 mph overall...which was disappointing especially after a fairly zippy start to the ride. Oh well, I just don't do well in summer weather!

I'm really looking forward to the fall and starting to ramp up mileage again. I had a good 20 mile X6 ride today. I think the next metrics will feel a lot better, assuming we don't have early snowstorms or something!!

Hot Just to Watch

2009-08-19T17:28:00.000-04:00

As I'm not feeling very energetic in this hot August weather, I got my bike 'fix' vicariously on Sunday by watching our friend Chris race the Blount Seafood Crit in Fall River, Mass. He was in the Cat 3 race and worked awfully hard. It seemed like he was rarely on a wheel as he rode past us. His 12th place finish was excellent! You can read his write up on his blog. But I'll share a few of my pics with you too, starting with my best shot of the day:

I'm still getting used to my new camera and get a lot of rear shots when I'm slow on the shutter.

There were lots of splits and if you look closely here, you'll see Chris making an heroic effort to bridge the gap, head down with the white shoulders.

I got a finish line video too.

If you googled to find pics of the race and are looking for someone specific, let me know, I might be able to help. I took some pics of the 3 man break and various pack shots that I would be happy to share.

Jeff and I missed out on watching Jamie at a Tri this weekend, he finished in spite of a crash and you should check out his blog post!!

3 Year Bike Stat Anniversary

2009-07-25T10:24:00.000-04:00

Is there a standardized gift for year 3? Aluminum? Carbon? Maybe it's only spandex, LOL! That's OK, I could use some new shorts!

The summer slump continues, but history shows me that I'll recover. The chart of my rides and miles by year:

And I have two graphs showing nearly the same thing; I just couldn't decide which one was prettier!

All the weeks spread out with outdoor miles in blue and trainer miles in red:

All miles by week and year:

Hope those colors don't make your eyes cross!

Well, not too much to be learned from these, they are just fun to post! Obviously, I like to ride in fall and spring and the computrainer made a big difference.

(These charts vary ever so slightly from the previous charts I posted of each year as I had to tweak the way I numbered the weeks to make the years line up right. Also, I added a previously missing trainer ride into 2007 that it turned out I had stats for after all. There were some others that I didn't record, believe it or not =P!)

"No matter what..."

2009-07-19T20:39:00.002-04:00

Sometime last week I said to Jeff, "Let's go mountain biking this weekend, no matter what." That was before I bought the new trail runners and did 4.30 miles on a whim! In fact, when I set up the mtn bike 'date' with Jeff, if you had told me I'd be doing a run like that yesterday, I wouldn't have believed you and laughed hysterically at the very idea!

Apparently the run didn't excuse me from mountain biking! Since I wasn't really feeling that bad, just tired with achy shoulder blades and some muscle pain in the groin/hip area, I agreed to go as long as Jeff got the bikes ready and lifted them in and out of the truck. We went to Freetown State Forest to ride.

I haven't biked off road in ages, so I was quite pathetic, but it was so fun anyway. I had to walk over the large cobble washouts and picked my way on foot around a couple of very muddy, yellowy-green, frog filled puddles after very nearly going in one. My body felt fine as long as I was on the bike, but it was hard going when I walked.

We actually rode right through this sort of puddle easily, but it got quite boggy further on and I didn't feel inclined to get the camera out and be easy mosquito food.

Are we there yet?

Jeff got us to 'The Ledges', our goal, before turning and heading back to the start.

The loop we did came out to 10.42 miles.

The First "Run" (...er...shuffle?)

2009-07-18T22:01:00.003-04:00

After shelling out for the trail runners today, I felt like I couldn't let them just sit in the box, so I went for a test run this evening. I hoped a positive attitude would get me through it and the biking fitness might carry over a bit.

I optimistically picked a route mostly off road. It turned out to be 4.30 miles (I posted it wrong on Twitter and Facebook earlier). I ran some of it, jogged slowly for most and walked a few bits like the muddy areas and some of the hill at the end.

My aerobic fitness was fine as my legs couldn't go fast enough to cause me to have any breathing trouble, LOL! I really felt it in my feet and I guess groin to hip, some muscle there was not happy. Trail running is hard too because I had to pick up my feet so far and place them somewhat carefully and try not to have too much lateral movement which I am not used to at all. There was crushed stone that got tiring as it made me slip back a little with each step.

The trail was very pretty. Here are a couple of turn stiles by a cow pasture.

Boardwalks and bridges keep you out of the worst of the mud.

Have you ever noticed that it's impossible to take a pic of your own foot that doesn't make your leg look weird? The shoes felt really good so far.

After the exercising, I thought it would feel good to wade in the cold ocean, so we took the dogs over to the town beach. It's very rocky there, but we had a good time. Silas even saved one of my flip flops when a wave took it off my foot and started to carry it away from shore! Then, he thought the flip flop belonged to him and barked at my feet, wanting it back!

I'm not sure how much of a rest I'll need after today's run, but hopefully I'll get out there on my feet again soon!

Don't hold your breath,

2009-07-18T16:30:00.006-04:00

but a little running might happen now that I at least have some shoes to do it in. It's so humid today that I worked at getting through my list of chores that involved being in air conditioned buildings. I may have had a little heat stroke from going out in the sun between stores as I ended up in the Eastern Mountain Sports store spontaneously buying these trail runners!!

I hope to try them out soon along some roads and on the nearby Sakonnet Greenway trails (that don't allow bikes!). I'll be the weirdo running in padded bike shorts, until I get some running ones ;)

July Metric at Jamestown

2009-07-15T18:04:00.008-04:00

I think the July and August Metrics may end up being the hardest of the year for me given that I don't feel well exercising in the sun and heat and am going through my summer slump! While I may be 'well rested' I just don't have the motivation or dedication when it gets warmer and sunnier and there are many mellow activities to distract me.

However, last Sunday I did feel inspired watching my friend Jamie at a local tri.

Seeing him and all the others riding made me want to pedal. Something about the whoosh of all those bike wheels going by makes me feel a little giddy =)

Today, Jeff briefly went to work to tie up any loose ends, then took the day off to do the July metric with me. We decided that laps of Conanicut Island would be our least trafficy option and the shady parts would be occasional relief from the sun. I was anxious to get the metric done today as it was a coolish, dry day and muggy weather is due again soon.

Jeff hasn't done enough rides this summer and trailed along behind me for two laps before deciding to skip the last one to avoid serious pain later. I pushed on and managed to finish the metric distance though I got much slower toward the end. I got hungry and was low on fluid and the wind picked up a lot. As I was heading out Beavertail the third time the wind was getting so strong I was only concentrating on turning over the crank and not as aware of the road as I should have been until a deer was suddenly right beside me, pivoting away on its back legs to leap back into the woods. I guess it hadn't smelled or heard me coming as I was downwind of it. I'm not sure who was more startled! It was actually the third deer sighting of the day. On the first lap, we saw a doe and small, spotted fawn.

Here's a view to the west from Beavertail Point showing the bright, sunny day.

And one of Jeff with the Beavertail Light in the background. It's not quite as picturesque as usual as there is scaffolding on it at the moment.

Elevation Profile:

Speed Profile:

July Metric Stats
62.47 miles
4:14 hours
14.7 mph average...going in the wrong direction =(
3,289' elevation gain
1 nutty power bar and 1 bottle of Gatorade 1 bottle of citrus Nuun for fuel

Cheering at a Crit

2009-06-20T22:58:00.005-04:00

Today we had a great day out with our friends Chris and Debby! We met up in Ninigret, RI at the Mystic Velo Criterium where Chris was racing Cat 3.

This was the first time I'd tried to take pics of him racing in this year's kit, so I had to get used to looking for him in it!

After a while, I could pick him out pretty well. It's easier to see than the previous one that was dark colors.

He was even easier to see when he was at the front of the pack to chase the breakaway!

Go, Chris, Go!!

We were so lucky that it didn't rain, despite being cloudy, and after the bike race we enjoyed dinner and shopping together too!

Edited to add:

2 short video clips from Cat 3 race

finish line video of Cat 3 race

Also, I have a ton of pics from this race, so if you are looking for pics of someone else, let me know, I might be able to help!

My (Is it Really?*) June Metric Century and Catching Up

2009-06-16T17:21:00.001-04:00

(*The day started out with heavy gray clouds and light rain and 50F degree temps. A cold north wind blew the clouds apart so it finally got mostly sunny and temps rose to 64F. Not exactly typical June weather!)

Well, summer comes and my habits change dramatically as you've noticed from my blog hiatus! But I'm still here and haven't been as absent from cycling as my blog would indicate. However, I did take a whole week off for complete rest and recovery!

I have been thinking about taking a week off for awhile, but wanted to feel in control of it and not be doing it just because of laziness or because of a lack of motivation. Last week seemed like a good time as it rained most of the time and I was so at the end of my rope with traffic that I'd done the entire week before on the computrainer. I had some other things I wanted to catch up on. Also, I hadn't taken a week off the bike since the week ending July 19, 2008.

Here's my mileage by week chart to bring you up to date. The current week is incomplete, of course.

I was a little freaked out that I'd lose fitness fast, but after a few days I was so busy and sore from cutting back hedges and other yard work that I didn't feel the need for more exercise!

The week off turned out to be wonderful for my biking! My legs felt fresh and strong today. It was a little weird not to really be aware of them...no aches or pains or complaining muscles. I'd look down and it was sort of surreal to see my legs cranking away and they lasted great for the entire metric.

Given the cold wind everywhere and the damp cold by the beaches, I was in a long sleeve jersey and still cold enough for goose bumps at times. It got really weird later in my ride as the sun came out because the sun would be warming my back, but I was chilly at the same time from the wind. Felt kind of like being feverish!

I did 3 laps of my regular route and some extra back and forth bits to get the necessary miles. The pics were taken on my first and third trips to Sachuest Point today. From seeing my profiles, you are probably nearly as familiar with my bike terrain as I am!

Here's the speed profile. Yeah, I got a little tired toward the end, but the slow down actually had more to do with some school buses and UPS trucks slowing up traffic and me.

I've decided I like these Nutrigrain bars on rides better than various energy bars I've tried that are just too chewy for me. Note the long sleeves!

June Metric Stats
62.96 miles
3:58 hours
15.8 mph average...was at 16.2 'til the last miles and those buses, etc...had hoped to hang onto 16 'til the end =)
2,760' elevation gain
2 cereal bars and 2 bottles of Gatorade for fuel

Holiday Weekend

2009-05-23T23:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial Day weekend to those celebrating! It's officially planting time here in New England and I've been going around to the garden shops for supplies and working on the yard. Here's the freshly mulched herb bed by the patio/grill area. You can see a bit of oregano, thyme, sage and basil. I also have some other things like parsley, lavender, horehound and marjoram.

The veggie garden area has had another tilling and I have seedlings ready to plant out this week. It won't be a big garden this year, but it will be nice to have some organic goodies this summer. The dogs do enjoy the veggies too and would be very disappointed not to have over-sized zucchini to eat!

The Island is getting so busy and while I love the nice weather for so many things, in terms of biking, I'm really missing the peace and quiet of fall and wintertime. I rode 4 days/101.56 miles this week.

Anniversary

2009-05-17T09:45:00.013-04:00

Yesterday was a milestone day, but not because of bike stats! Jeff and I celebrated our wedding anniversary, 11 years. Here's a snap of us from way back then! We were married at Sand Beach in Acadia National Park.

Yes, we did a short bike ride on our anniversary. For the week, I rode 4 days/103.49 miles. Ironically, I'm finding it harder to ride now that the weather is nicer! There are so many things to do outside that I get distracted away from the bikes. But balance in life is good and I'll be ok with it as long as I'm maintaining the bike fitness and being active in other ways too.

Cuteness

2009-05-11T11:42:00.008-04:00

This baby has been making me smile every time I ride by his pasture. He's so fluffy, I want to give him a big hug! I should have put something in the pic for scale, he's tiny.

He was having a look at my bike today so I stopped to get his picture. I did a 23 mile solo ride on X6. The weather was gorgeous! I could have taken the road bike out, but X6 was all set to go from my last ride in the rain and some days it feels like the right bike for the inevitable bashing through potholes and patched roads around here.

Rainy Week

2009-05-09T14:26:00.005-04:00

I only did 3 rides this week, the metric on the road bike and two short rides on the cx bike for a total of 106.46 miles.

This morning Jeff joined me on a rainy, foggy ride and I thought it was quite pretty, at least during the parts where I could see through my glasses!

Meandering May Metric

2009-05-08T18:26:00.001-04:00

When I saw the sun shining this morning, I was determined to get a long ride in to make up for the lack of miles this week due to rain and feeling somewhat ill!

At the outset, I figured I'd go for the century distance, but it would be pokey given that I'd be riding on the Island and the fair weather traffic is picking up. It was more pokey than I'd anticipated for this time of year! I probably should have just done loops around Middletown, but I ventured into Newport and that's where I couldn't maintain any sort of momentum due to slow downs/stops at every intersection, slow downs and detours for road repairs/mowing and just having to ride along at the speed of the traffic flow.

All that didn't really effect my spirits though. After so much rain and being cooped up it felt good to spend all the time I could outside. I even stopped briefly at Brenton Point to gaze down at the waves breaking over the small beach below.

A view across the Bay.

And my bike, looking out to sea.

I had no appetite today and ate nothing until after my ride (and not much then). I was parched though and drank plenty of water and one bottle of Nuun. Fortunately as it was a relaxed, solo effort I didn't have to worry about bonking and being a drag for a partner.

May Metric Stats
63.09 miles
4:16 hours
14.8 mph average
2,721 elevation gain

Only 7 more to do!!

Wrap Ups

2009-05-02T22:09:00.007-04:00

Just a quick post to update the recent stats! For the past week, I did 5 rides around my short route for 111.88 miles total. For April, I rode 20 days and a total of 533.24 miles.

This is the weather outlook for the next week...I'm hoping I can get out to ride between the rain showers?!

Jeff's 1000 Days and A Weekly Wrap Up

2009-04-25T20:53:00.000-04:00

I'm so happy to have like minded company here in blogland when it comes to spending on cycling! I do try to keep it in check a little, but also feel like there's no time like the present when it comes to fitness items that contribute to good health and happiness. If I'm being completely honest, I was pretty much tallying up the expenses to see if I could readily justify buying some more things from my cycling wish list, or Jeff's.

Speaking of Jeff, I've been tracking his mileage too, so some of you might be interested to know that in the same 1000 day period as I posted for me, Jeff rode 333 days, exactly 1/3! He rode 7,129.67 miles. He's spent the same as me…we have to keep it fair around here.

Today's ride was a tough one as we'd expected a summery day and instead had fog, wind and low 50's F for temps! In this pic Jeff pushes into the headwind as his jacket billows out even though it's so fitted.

And, a little further along, on the bridge, there wasn't much of a view. There were a lot of other cyclists out, probably expecting better weather too. In fact, there was a cyclist coming towards us in this picture, but you can only barely see his head and shoulders over the guardrail.

My knees are still bothering me, so I was especially glad I'd pulled on the tights at the last minute. My joints were even chilled through those, so I can imagine the torture bare knees would have been!

The sun actually did burn through the fog at the end of our ride, maybe tomorrow will be a bit nicer? I'm planning to bike the short loop followed by more yard work.

It was a light-ish week of riding, 5 days/101.10 miles. Weather and knees didn't really want to cooperate, but it's still plenty of riding for maintenance.

1000 Days

2009-04-20T18:45:00.002-04:00

When you record stats like I do, little milestones periodically show up in the tables and charts. Today, I noticed one I quite like: I have been recording my bike rides for the past 1000 days.

I have been on the bike 54.6% of the days I've tracked, averaged 24.22 miles for ride length and that is like riding 13.23 miles every day!

Out of curiosity, I've figured my cycling expenses during this time frame are approximately .68 cents per mile which is about $9 every day. But wouldn't you know it, there is more gear I'd like! Guess I just have to ride more =)

Btw, I'm not complaining about expenses, I just find it interesting. I geared up from scratch starting in July/'06 having never had a 'bike shop' bike before or a helmet! The fun factor and health benefits are priceless, don't you think?

Spring Gardening

2009-04-19T20:52:00.001-04:00

We took a day off the bikes to try to catch up on some yard work. Jeff did a great job tilling the entire garden!

I'll probably just do a little gardening this year, perhaps 7 rows running the length of the garden. I'm considering some rows of zinnias or other easy care flowers and for eatables focusing on the veggies we use the most for salsas, grilling and favorite Italian style dishes. I'll plant the rows wide apart so we can till between them and even mow between them if the weeds start to get way out of control on me!

April Metric

2009-04-18T19:43:00.004-04:00

With the temps reaching the 60's F, we are wearing shorts at last, hooray!! There are a lot of spring blooms like this pretty tree.

I've had knee pain this week, so I was a little worried when we set out today, but riding with only Jeff meant I'd be able to ease off anytime I felt too much strain. There were some aches, but I think the knees are getting better.

It was just Tiverton/Little Compton again, so I won't bother with the same old map! We did a lot of retracing on this ride, but it was interesting to feel the terrain in the other direction and I saw quite a few different features of houses and things. You can see the repeating parts in the elevation profile.

The speed profile.

April Metric
66.73 miles
4:08 hours
16.1 mph average
+2,986 elevation
fuel: latte before riding, then 2 bottles mango Gatorade, 1 toffee-chocolaty-nutty-yummy Power Bar

For the week, I did 5 rides/159.66 miles. Today's ride got me past 2,000 total miles year to date. My outside mileage is finally greater than my trainer rides: 1,048.97 outside!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T17:50:00.000-04:00

My Uncle and Aunt sent me a Bunny Buck this year which really surprised me as I'd not heard of such a thing. I opened the card, thought 'hey money!', looked at it a little closer and laughingly saw the bunny and realized it was play money...but no! I picked it up and it felt like real money!! Upon closer inspection one can see the sticker part and the card included some info about the fund raising aspect of Bunny Bucks.

The funniest part was quietly leaving it out for Jeff to find and then watching him go through the same thought process =)

As for last week's ride report, April is proving to be a tough month to ride in, with wind and unseasonably low temps. It briefly snowed yesterday. I did 2 group rides and 2 solo rides for a total of 102.25 miles.

I also started the spring yard work this week and sawed a lot of shrubs back. My shoulders and the insides of my forearms are really feeling it, so let's count that as exercise too!

Local Shop Ride

2009-04-05T16:56:00.001-04:00

Jeff ate a bug today, so I think that means it's truly spring now! I'm glad I have managed to postpone my first bug swallowing of the season! The weather was fairly warm, sunny and windy and we went to Village Bicycle for a group ride. Ribuck met up with us there.

As you can see from the map, we could call this the 'butterfly ride'. It annoys me when I forget to turn the Garmin on at the very start of rides, but I did remember before we got too far. The red/end pin shows the more precise location of the shop.

Riders sorted out into different speed zones in the first few miles and Jeff, Ribuck and I ended up in a group of 10 for most of the ride. This was a really good bit! On the 'train' to Horseneck Beach with a tailwind!

We did 36.51 miles at 16.3 mph average.

I've been riding on my own or with people I know well lately and I found it a little hard to get comfortable riding with strangers again. I was frustrated with the amount of yo-yoing I did off the back for awhile. I'd be on a wheel and hit a pothole or something and get nervous and drop back and then have to work to bridge back, again and again. Eventually, I got it together and did better, particularly if I was on Jeff or Ribuck.

At one point in the ride we had a bunch of wild turkeys cross the road in front of us! It was nice to see the views in sunlight for a change rather than shrouded in fog and clouds. I struggled with a bit of a mechanical for a ways when my chain got stuck in the big ring. When I finally got it free with some awful cracking and popping sounds, everything seemed to be rattling, but after some shifting up and down it got sorted out again. Ribuck had an encounter with another gray pickup truck and a flat when we were nearly back to the shop! Not sure what is with the trucks going for him lately, he's a good, predictable rider!

It's been a great weekend of biking with 2 fun group rides totaling more than 70 miles! I'm looking forward to catching up with the blog reading to see what everyone else was up to =)

Weekly Miles and a Group Ride

2009-04-04T13:44:00.001-04:00

It was kind of a rainy week and I didn't feel like wrestling my trainer tire back onto my road bike, so I had 3 days off! I still did 3 cx rides and 1 group road ride for a total of 106.46 miles.

The rain cleared out and we had an overcast, windy morning for the Saturday group ride. Seven started out together though we broke into groups of 5 and 2 in Little Compton.

I could have ridden sweep like this all day!!

The elevation profile. We can find some hard flats here on the coast!

And the speed profile, 15.8 mph average.

The only downside of the ride? Worms. Guess who cleaned both bikes? Well, to be fair Jeff did go to the dump in trade for me cleaning bikes. But, ewwwww...here's my rear brake...I'll leave the condition of the down tube to your imagination!

The weather is supposed to be even better tomorrow and we hope to do a local shop ride then, if I can get up after being out late tonight!

So Far..

2009-03-31T18:17:00.001-04:00

I think logging ride days and miles makes me even more conscious of how quickly time passes! Since a quarter of the year is up I figured I'd post some stats so far. I'm very happy with the miles, but want to build up speed. I've been too content with base miles and will have to push myself more. Hopefully I'll get there doing intervals and group rides with friends to inspire me.

Here's my table showing number of days and miles biked by month.

And, the miles by week chart that you are familiar with. My outside miles are catching up to the trainer ones as the weather gets better. (The most recent week showing is not complete.)

YTD Outside Ride Details
Solo Rides: 15 (set out alone, but found friends on 5 of these rides)
Rides With Jeff: 8
Group Rides: 1
CX: 19
Road: 4

Group Ride to Wrap Up Week

2009-03-28T12:01:00.010-04:00

I thought today was the nicest day of the week and luckily Jeff and I had plans to meet up with a couple of friends, Ed and ribuck. We did a popular Tiverton route of 30.34 miles at 16.8 mph average.

For the week, I did 5 rides/130.35 miles. I'm still taking the cx bike out most as the roads are sketchy in places with sand and potholes, so 3 cx rides and 2 roadie rides.

I shouldn't be eating this...

2009-03-25T14:10:00.006-04:00

There is leftover birthday cake in the house (Jeff's). Here's a slice, appropriately served on the piggy plate. Om, nom, nom... I really should have done a longer ride today!

End of a Week

2009-03-21T17:05:00.011-04:00

Today was the second outside ride of the year on my road bike. It is feeling good from its last tuneup and has a fresh set of tires on it.

Jeff and I did 55.22 miles at 15.8 mph average on many of the same roads as last weekend's long ride, but we didn't go as far and varied it a little.This was a farm we passed today.

For the week, I did 5 rides/147.72 miles. Four on the cross bike and 1 on the road bike. This was the first week of the year with no trainer time!

Bird Sightings

2009-03-18T12:54:00.007-04:00

Today, I spotted these snow geese along my short route. One of the fun things about biking around here is the diversity of birds you see, especially in the colder months when they are migrating or over wintering.

Of course we have the common ones as well, like these mallards I see just about every ride in the same place. Maybe there will be ducklings later on.

March Metric +

2009-03-14T17:22:00.010-04:00

I left the Island for this one--OMG! There are 3 bridges off the Island, but somehow people here get this mentality that it's burdensome to leave. I didn't think I'd get as irrational as that, but it's happened!

On Thursday and Friday, when it looked like the weather for Saturday would be sunny and high 30's/low 40'sF, Jeff and I started thinking of possibly doing the ride for the Metric Century a Month Challenge. We decided to start in Tiverton, ride south through Little Compton to Sakonnet Point shown here:

From there we rode East through farmland and little villages to Horseneck Beach and accidentally did the loop into the wind...aargh!!

We crossed the Westport River on this drawbridge:

And continued through Westport past the historical town farm:

We planned our ride to go past Village Bicycle so we could stop and say hello, pick up a spare tube and get tickets for the owner's Race Across America Fund Raiser Dinner. It's a very friendly shop! We only stopped briefly as we didn't want to stiffen up. We still had some ground to cover to get back to the starting point.

Here's how it looks on the map:

And the elevation profile:

I felt just OK for the ride as I was on the edge of being cold for a lot of it even though I've ridden in much worse. Some of the roads were so bumpy, it wore me down and made me achy (for the locals, I'm referring mainly to Peckham Road!). My feet were either cold or a little numb, so it got interesting putting a foot down at intersections, like when the foot's asleep and you're not quite sure it will hold you up. It wasn't pain, just sort of nagging discomfort.

March Metric + Stats
Road bikes (first outside ride of '09!)
68.35 miles
4:30 hours
15.2 mph average
fuel, egg muffin thing from drive thru on way to ride, 2 bottles of Gatorade in my fav flavors at the moment, tropical mango and strawberry orange

Now, only 9 more to go ;)

PS. Today's ride wrapped up a week, so I'll report the weekly stats as well. I rode 4 days outside/138.43 miles and 2 days inside/30.44 miles, a total of 168.87 miles.

Brrr

2009-03-13T14:18:00.004-04:00

It looked warmer than it felt out there today! Just did my short loop for 23.83 miles. These fuzzy wuzzies were so friendly, I had to pause for a pic.

My toes are warming up still and I know they aren't going to be very happy in a hot shower in a minute!

Random Fun

2009-03-09T13:23:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Jumbly pointing out how to turn new pics into Polaroids, I have been playing instead of doing chores or trainer riding!

Some ingredients ready for tonight's dinner:

Another pic of Jeff from our ride on Saturday, love that purple snow and sky:

Funny thing is, I actually have real Polaroids I should get around to scanning and preserving sometime!

1st Week of March

2009-03-07T18:14:00.002-05:00

March arrived with snow and frigid temps, but things got way better today and we got some sun and warmth due to us! It was so nice, I had Jeff grill lunch for us.

Burgers with secret seasoning, caramelized onions and mushrooms with thyme and a splash of sherry vinegar on a toasted english muffin with a little lite mayo. Very summery! We ate indoors though...too much snow on the patio!

After a little rest to let lunch settle, we felt fueled and ready to ride. Here's Jeff showing his pasty white legs! Yikes, makes the pic look overexposed! Those are a pair of the new shorts I ordered for him recently too. I think the gray looks good.

We rode out Ocean Drive and back past the glammy Newport Country Club. No danger of wayward golf balls today as the ground is so muddy.

It got up to about 61 degrees and felt very warm in general, though a bit chilly in the hollows and along the beaches in the sea mist.

The rides this week were 1 outdoor ride of 35.99 miles and 5 computrainer rides of 122.12 miles, a total of 158.11 for the week.

This week's computrainer total was really boosted by one ride in particular, 46.46 miles. It took me 4 hours as there was over 4,000 feet of climbing! Lately, I've been treating most of the computrainer rides as base mile rides and not worrying about intervals or speed work, but I will begin that soon. I will miss the relative ease of base miles, I'm sure!!

Base mile trainer time is the non guilty way to watch a lot of TV. A couple posts ago, Buttsy asked me what I've been watching. Most recently, I'm working through Firefly with Jeff watching that too. I've watched all of Dr. Who, Samantha Who, all sorts of movies. As for current shows, I like Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty, The Office, 30 Rock and Biggest Loser. Also two detective shows, Life and Life on Mars. I put the sound volume up a little louder than usual, but not too much. If it's a lot of talk, I'll have the captions turned on so I don't miss subtle things. Bike race footage has been good too, of course!

Sometimes, I do just watch the numbers and profile as I ride. When I do the intervals, I'll play a CTS dvd or something to follow. I'm not good at keeping track of time and what to do without the dvd telling me. When I start doing TT efforts on it, I'll just have the profile graphics so I focus.

I've just played around on the computrainer a bunch too. It's fun to see how fast I can pedal, most watts I can put out, etc... But I haven't done that sort of stuff in a way that counts as testing or training, yet.

Melty Snow

2009-03-06T12:33:00.014-05:00

The snow is melting quite a bit today and I'm hoping there won't be more! But I have to say, it is fun to play in the snow with the dogs when the air temperature is relatively warm. The melting snow is the perfect consistency for snowballs.

There is all that snow in the yard, but the only snow they want is the snowball I'm holding!

One snowball is not enough! Saffy misses most of it as she tries to avoid a collision with Silas.

She's so happy when she finally gets one to herself.

We'll be back to mud season soon...just imagine what these two dogs look like after play time then!!

February Wrap Up

2009-02-28T20:17:00.017-05:00

Aside from the head cold, February's been a good month and I've met my expectations. Tonight, I did one more ride to wrap up the past week with 6 days of riding, a total of 123.94 miles. For the month, I rode outside 4 days/144.46 miles and inside 17 days/355.84 miles, a total of 500.30 miles. As hoped, I bagged my first thousand for the year and am currently at 1,050.34 miles in all. Here's the updated chart of my miles distributed by week.

I've started reading the book by Burke shown in my last post and so far I'm finding it very good. It's so clear and answering a lot of the questions that I've had. Hopefully a bit of study will give me a clear idea of what I need to do when I want to maintain and what I need to do when I want to increase intensity. I guess I'm looking for some reassurance that I'm doing the right sort of things in a sustainable way, or learn what to change. Also, I need all the ideas for drills and exercises to try. It's still all about having fun though! I just like to challenge myself!

New Reading

2009-02-27T20:07:00.013-05:00

I had a rest today and spent my 'bike time' at the bookstore to treat myself to a couple of books I've been wanting. I have fun generating and looking at all the data from my rides: the Garmin with HR outside and the computrainer with power, etc. inside. I'd like to understand it more and learn how to use it effectively. I think developing a bit of a plan will be motivating and probably good for my health as well.

If you have any advice or can refer me to other good books or online sources, please let me know.

It's something I'll ease into. I know I'm not going to make sense of it all overnight! And I'm prepared, if it gets too complicated, I can take breaks and stare at fashion pics or food for awhile since I got a couple of 'fluff' items too ;) I've been in the mood to cook lately and try some new things. Anyone else crave dark leafy greens and other vitamin rich foods this time of year more than ever? I can't get enough baby spinach lately!

I keep thinking I'm at the end of the cold, but it just lingers on. Everyone who has had it says the same thing. It's more annoying than painful at this point, just pressure in my head. Guess I'll just take it easy a bit longer.

Last Week

2009-02-22T10:19:00.003-05:00

I did 5 days of riding and 100.90 miles all on the trainer this past week. I decided to take Friday and Saturday off to rest and try to recover from the cold I'm fighting. Yesterday was actually my worst day and I napped, read all of my new Peter Robinson book and watched the AToC. I think I'm feeling a bit better today, so hopefully I'll be healthy soon!

As if the head cold wasn't making it hard enough to breathe, Silas stupidly charged a skunk last night and stinks! He feels sheepish and insecure since we aren't petting him, so he wants to be as close as possible for reassurance! Ack! Luckily Saffy was sensible and did not get sprayed.

I'm looking forward to the last Stage of the AToC today, but am afraid I will go into withdrawal when it's over!

Goodies

2009-02-20T16:55:00.005-05:00

I've been trying not to have a pity party during my cold, but it does get tiresome to be sick and who doesn't like presents to help feel better? Therefore, it was extra fun to get my new shorts and jersey in the mail from Team Estrogen today. The free post it notes will be useful too. Both items are good, so I might order a couple more sets in a week or so. (Definitely want to relegate my older shorts to trainer time only, just in case they are getting thin!)

Jeff brought this chocolate bonbon home for me at lunchtime. Under the crunchy chocolate coating was a very chocolaty brownie-like cake. Yummm!

After lunch, we ran out to the bookstore to pick up a brand new book by my favorite author out this week. I have to try to take more than 1 day to read it and be sure to savor it. I love a good police procedural mystery!

Otherwise, I have been glued to AToC TT on cycling.tv today!

Update

2009-02-16T22:51:00.000-05:00

Good news is that my left knee has recovered from the fight with the ottoman! Boy, do I feel foolish when I get hurt doing something as mundane as trying to put my feet up to watch TV! Bad news is that I have the dreaded head cold that's going around. I feel like I'm going around in a bubble, quite disconnected. Therefore, it was rather amusing to me that I was on the computrainer for the last hour of AToC Stage 2, doing a small climb when the tour riders were ascending and then descending 'with' them as well. I had the computrainer window on the laptop screen and I had the cycling.TV window on the TV screen. See the devil?

Silas watched a few bits of the race, but both dogs were pretty underwhelmed as usual. Saffy alternates between sleeping and staring at my right foot going around like she is mesmerized.

I'm going to try to keep up with little trainer rides while I'm feeling crummy. The legs actually don't feel too bad though everything else aches and the AToC coverage definitely helps with motivation.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T11:44:00.005-05:00

This week, I got used to fastening my bike to the computrainer (we have to switch between my bike and Jeff's bike), warming up the trainer (miles I don't count!! gasp!!!), calibrating it and then starting the software for the course I want to do. It sounds like a lot of work when I write it out, but it really doesn't seem like it. I've already gotten quick at it, even after just a week.

In case you are familiar with the computrainer courses and wonder which ones I've been doing, so far they are:
Windach-Sternberg
Rudolstadt
Talladega
Whidbey Island Recovery
imn_outfortyk (not sure what that stands for)

I've also done Killington at the shop and downloaded it to use at home too. Jeff did it here the other night.

Speaking of downloads, there are so many free course downloads! The ones I'm really looking forward to trying soon are the time trial stages of the 2008 Tour de France!

It would be easy to get carried away and try to ride far more than my level of ability, so I keep reminding myself to take it easy! Also, I managed to hurt my left knee a little this week while lounging in the armchair. I put my heel on the ottoman and when I pressed down to pull it toward me, something made a suction/pop noise in my knee! It is a little sore, but seems to be getting better. I've been doing easier profiles and easy to moderate effort while it heals.

Talladega was the hardest so far with 2600 feet of climbing and inclines up to 9% over 20 miles. That is quite a bit of work on a trainer since you pedal the entire time, even downhill. Whidbey Island Recovery is a 30 mile flat/downhill course that is great for keeping HR and effort down while letting you have a good spin.

Today is a rest day. I did 5 trainer rides and 1 outside ride for a total of 154.30 miles this week.

I am currently at 825.50 year to date miles, so I anticipate crossing 1,000 by the end of February!

Feeling Better!

2009-02-08T20:49:00.000-05:00

I was feeling a little under the weather the past few days and ended up taking 3 days off the bike, despite being very anxious to try the new computrainer. So last week's stats were 4 days of riding and 121.16 miles.

Today was a gorgeous, warm day and I was torn between riding outside and getting on the new computrainer. Well, I decided that despite being warm, it would be a dirty ride outside and there could still be some ice. In fact, I later felt like I made the right decision when I saw on the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen message board that someone crashed on ice on today's ride and is having surgery. I don't know her, but feel so sorry it happened to her and hope she heals quickly!

I decided to do the same course on our computrainer that I did the first day on the shop computrainer, back on January 16th, so I could compare. Having felt off the past few days I didn't try to 'race', I just 'went for a ride' to see what would happen (which is how I did that shop ride too). Last time I did the 20.36 miles at 16.5 mph average and 144 average watts. This time I did 17.8 mph average and 159 average watts. Could it be improvement already?!

Computrainer Set Up

2009-02-05T23:45:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night, after going out to a group computrainer session for an interval workout using the CTS Cycling for Power dvd, we were ready to spend the rest of the evening sitting around reading the material that came with our new trainer and beginning the process of setting it up. Jeff attached the resistance unit to the stand.

It was easy to tighten the bike onto the trainer. We fastened the cadence magnet on the crank arm and the sensor fastens to the chain stay with a Velcro strap, though we didn't get to that just yet. It's easy to plug the wires from the HR monitor and resistance unit into the computer unit, then just one wire goes from that to the laptop.

Tonight, we installed the software onto my laptop that resides next to the TV partly for the convenience of watching free internet cycling video, like Stage 6 of the TDU on Versus last month (shown in pic). We don't get cable, so we try to find the current cycling events online.

Anyway, the software was straightforward to install. One disk is actually just directions and the other has all the program stuff. Soon, we had our first glimpse of a track and virtual ride buddy. I didn't have the window quite centered on the TV screen so it's a tiny bit cropped in the pic. Jeff was on my bike in sock feet and jeans just pedaling a little to check that stats were getting from the bike to the screen.

Then, we installed the Ironman UK disk and briefly checked that we could get that started up. I'll make the window fill the screen when we do it for real. The video really does speed up and slow down to match your pedaling speed!

The trainer and bike are in the same place we've been using the Kinetic in the front hall with a clear view of the TV through the double doorway. The only thing I still need to get is the mat to protect the floor. I'll admit that we've been using a couple of super thick sheets of cardboard under the trainers temporarily, but that won't do for much longer! We want to make a little stand for the computer unit to go next to the bike like they are at the shop rather than on the handlebar.

Now that things are set up and working, we just have to explore all the possibilities! That's going to take quite some time and be quite motivating too!

Computrainer

2009-02-04T14:58:00.004-05:00

After waiting much of the day for UPS, jumping up whenever I heard a truck and glumly watching a UPS man deliver to the neighbor and then drive away without stopping here, I checked the tracking status and saw 'delivered'...What?!...I checked the back step and there it was, apparently delivered by the world's most stealthy UPS man. The dogs didn't even know about it!

Once I wrestled the box inside, it had to be checked out.

It was deemed intolerably dull, by dog standards, judging by the yawn attack that ensued.

In case you are wondering what you get in the box, here's the first look inside with the 'free' Ironman DVD that was included as part of the winter sale. We picked the UK one.

Once you haul out the box in the middle and the packing on each side, you see the support for the front wheel, the stand part of the trainer and the software/reading materials.

The box in the middle contains the resistance unit and computer.

I'll wait for Jeff to be home to take part in the assembly and set up and probably have a post for you soon on how that works out!

Catching Snowflakes

2009-02-03T16:09:00.003-05:00

The dogs do love snow!

What a quick change back to winter weather. Yesterday was sunny and warm, but today is gray, windy and snowy.

My Ground Hog Day Metric

2009-02-02T17:22:00.000-05:00

Given the number of times I doubled back, looped around and cris-crossed my route, I began to feel a little like Bill Murray repeating his day in the famous movie. But it was a beautiful, warm day and I was outside, so I didn't mind. After all, the trainer has been far more repetitive!

When I woke up this morning I felt lousy, but once I had coffee I felt a lot better and more optimistic about a long ride on my cross bike. I took it very easy which I sort of had to in most places anyway considering all the water on the roads in many places or mounds of sand or even some slush still. I wanted to pace myself to finish.

Eighteen miles out, I was so pleased to see my friend Lynn riding towards me. I had a feeling I'd see her as we have similar biking habits. She had time to do 11 miles with me. I was by myself again until 41 miles out, when I saw two men coming along in the opposite direction. As we got close, one of them waved and called my name and I realized it was one of my regular ride buddies out with his friend who I'd met once before. They waited up as I turned around and I decided to ride with them for as long as I could keep up. Keep in mind I was on my cx bike with knobby tires and they were on road bikes! My pace picked up as I rode with them. At my 58 mile point, I started to tire and let myself fall off. I knew I could turn for home at that point with plenty of miles to count toward my goal for the day, so I didn't have the incentive to keep going anymore.

February Metric Century
64.98 miles
4:23 hours
14.8 mph average
+3,126 feet elevation
stops no longer than waiting for a light or for turning to meet up with friends
fuel (this is embarrassing) a Gatorade (I *know* I was bad about eating *again*)

Today's ride was actually my 2nd outdoor ride this month. Yesterday, Jeff and I did 20 miles. I now have some proof that the trainer riding is working. I'm not sure I've gotten any faster, but I've at least maintained and I think I have improved my cadence, muscles and aerobic capacity even if it's not showing up in my speeds yet. Keep in mind, the roads are in bad shape out there, so I don't think anyone is out there pushing for full speed this time of year.

The only thing that I felt I might have lost from all the indoor riding is the mental stamina for dealing with the puddles and potholes and wind, etc. Yesterday seemed hard and I really had my fill of all that stuff within 10 miles though I kept going. Today didn't seem as hard that way, but it was a lot warmer and I had more company and conversation to distract me!

January Wrap Up

2009-01-31T09:11:00.000-05:00

January turned out to be a rather pivotal month as trainer riding finally 'clicked' for me. A few things contributed to that, primarily my determination to keep a positive attitude, road conditions that did not allow safe outside riding and the discovery of a fairly local computrainer multiride center. Besides reading about bloggers going through similar efforts to keep riding, it's helped enormously that Jeff is doing the trainer as well as ride buddies ribuck and Lynn, who just bought her first trainer this month.

At the start of January, I had it in mind that I'd try to do 500 miles, though I wasn't sure that would be feasible on the trainer. Turns out, it was about right!

Out of 27 days of riding, 25 were done on the trainer. I feel so relieved that I managed to check off my January metric century on what was probably the *only* possible day for it! I did 83.65 miles outside and 466.39 on the trainer for a total of 550.04 miles.

Since the week also ends today, I'll report that I did 6 days of riding and 116.81 miles. It doesn't look like much yet, but since I don't have a picture for today's post I'll show you my graph for 2009 miles by week, just getting started. I love seeing the lines grow!

For February, I want to keep up the frequent rides and work more with the training dvd's and features that come with computrainer we've ordered. I want to get some of the CTS ones I've tried at the shop to use at home too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can do 2/12 of the Metric Century a Month Challenge!

Is it a frozen pond?

2009-01-29T12:08:00.006-05:00

No, it's actually my driveway. See why I'm not biking outside? This makes the trainer look great!

Saffy found the one small patch of ground and stood there squinting in the bright sun and snow glare. Silas is a bit foolish and trots and slides around on the ice.

I think I need an ice ax and crampons...

Another New (to me) DVD

2009-01-28T21:30:00.001-05:00

At tonight's group computrainer ride we followed the CTS Train right - Race Simulation DVD. We had to chase breakaways and climb hills, surging at the tops! I think that's the most I've sweat on the trainer so far!

It's really inspiring to ride with other people and it's amazing to me that one of those people is training for Race Across America (RAAM). If you want to learn about Jim's plans and donate to his race you can read all about it here. He owns Village Bicycle and has made the group computrainer rides possible.

It's Ordered!

2009-01-27T09:46:00.003-05:00

Since having the opportunity to try out a computrainer, it wasn't a question of whether we would get one, but when. Waiting did not seem at all appealing considering we still have a lot of winter to get through (more snow tonight!). I'm not sure who is more excited about the computrainer, Jeff or myself! I suppose it's pretty sadistic to be so pleased about a trainer that's going to make us work harder than the one we have, but I think anyone who reads my blog understands.

The company that makes them is Racer Mate and we picked the lab version.

We showed a small amount of restraint by not expediting the shipping, so it may be a week or so until we have it. You can be certain you'll see pics (*not* taken from the angle shown in the ads!) and hear all about it when it comes!

Blow Out Week

2009-01-24T12:48:00.004-05:00

I've done 2 group computrainer sessions this week. Wednesday, Jeff went with me. The profile was set on an easy course with minimal hills and trending downhill overall (Whidbey Island) and the dvd was a CTS climbing workout. Because the course was relatively flat, we could follow the dvd and change our cadence and effort as needed. It was a fun way to use the computrainer, though I also like just following a course like I did before.

Friday, I did the CTS cycling for fitness interval workout while on the same course as Wednesday's ride.

Jeff and I have been using our old tires on the trainer so we don't wear down new ones. Well, apparently other people do that too and when we were setting up on Wednesday we heard that some one's tire had blown earlier in the day. They told us it made a ticking noise before it blew. That turned out to be valuable information later on! Jeff's wheel starting ticking, he stopped pedaling and we all looked with dismay at how deformed his tire was! He got off his bike and let the air out right away and spared us having to hear the bang. One of the mechanics had a new tire on the wheel in no time and Jeff was able to continue his workout.

It turned out that the shop was getting trainer specific tires in stock the next day, so I planned to pick up one for each of us at my Friday session.

Friday, I got the new tires and one of the mechanics quickly put it on my wheel over my old tube. Well, maybe the tube was pinched a little, or there was sand or it was just old. A few minutes into my session, the bike felt bouncy and as I was looking to see if the front tire was flat and slowed my rpms, I heard tick, tick, tried hard to stop the wheel, but it immediately went BOOM under me. Ack! I'm glad that happened in the trainer and not outside! I'll bet it shows up on my heart rate graph! The new tire was fine, but the tube had a big hole in it. The mechanic did a quick tube change and I was back on the bike for the rest of the workout.

I've also done 4 rides at home on the Kinetic, but Thursday's ride was only 30 minutes. My legs felt heavy and I just wanted to loosen them up a little and have them ready for Friday's group ride. I did a total of 103.37 miles this week. Today is my recovery day unless I get restless later!

You can probably tell that Jeff and I are smitten with the computrainer. We are seriously thinking about buying one for home use...maybe very soon! They are expensive, but occasionally we get something big for both of us that counts for all the little holidays and birthdays and most of Christmas, all at once. I'll let you know as soon as we decide for sure!

Weekly Stats

2009-01-17T17:20:00.000-05:00

I rode 6 days, 124.46 miles, all on the trainer. I've had a rest today, so I can start a new week fresh tomorrow!

Kicking Trainer Riding Up a Notch!

2009-01-16T17:30:00.003-05:00

I could get used to computrainer time at Village Bicycle! I tried it for the first time today, thanks to ribuck talking me into it and giving me a ride there. It seems a little harder since I work more in front of people than alone in my house and the resistance changes according to your progress on the profile. Fortunately, the time goes faster with people around and the data to watch.

Here's the data screen showing me in red after I finished my ride. (Don't be too impressed, a few of the guys had been through another workout already today!)

Here's the set up with the race DVD on the left screen and the data on the right. The trainers are arrayed in front of the screens with a couple of oscillating fans aimed at the riders.

I'm looking forward to going back!

Edited to add: Locations of computrainer setups, in case you want to try to find one near you.

Trainer Convert

2009-01-14T21:13:00.005-05:00

I think some of you are curious where I have my trainer set up and how I am getting motivated to use it, so I thought I'd write a little post to tell you.

Where it is set up has a lot to do with motivating me to use it. It's in our front hall, but practically in the living room thanks to a double doorway. There is a good view of the TV from it. It doesn't get put away. I've been leaving it there all the time with either my bike or Jeff's bike on it. It's unavoidable that way and seeing it there makes us use it. We generally lower the heat a little for our riding, but it's pretty warm. We wear summer kit and still sweat buckets. I have a towel over my bike and a towel for my face. I have a fan aimed at me too.

Jeff and I have made a deal that we will encourage each other to do workouts. Jeff's good about putting my bike back on the trainer for me after he rides his, so I don't have any excuses. When he rides, I bring him water, increase the fan as he warms up and adjust the TV volume so he can just pedal. If we had more space, it would probably be fun to have two trainers.

Stopping negative references to trainer time has helped me too. I figure if I recite 'trainer time is fun!' often enough I might just start to believe myself. Well, maybe not, but thinking about the benefits of it helps. For example, I am suffering less from cabin fever as a result of the workouts. I guess I get too tired on the trainer to care that I can't do much outside this time of year! I also think about how I won't have to start over when spring comes in terms of saddle soreness and base miles.

Movies are great. I can't watch new ones as I miss a lot of dialog and details, but I like watching ones I've seen before. It's mainly about watching the images changing in front of me without really thinking about it. A Good Year, Under the Tuscan Sun, Across the Universe are some non bike ones I've watched in addition to the Dr. Who series.

I want to get some bike DVDs that are fun to watch over and over. So far I've gotten The 9 Ball Diaries which I really like and wish was a bit longer than 50 minutes for trainer riding.

Do you have any favorite bike movies/races you can watch repeatedly on the trainer? I'd love any recommendations!

I have the Spinervals DVD that came 'free' with the trainer. It's three 30 minute workouts. I haven't done it properly yet as I need a new battery for my cadence sensor (hopefully that will fix it!). Jeff's done it right though and he likes it. I think I will get a couple more from that series, like the climbing one.

I think I've moved past the 'white knuckle' phase of trainer workouts. I started the year daunted by the trainer and worried about my ability to stick with it, but the trainer time is becoming a habit for me and not something to dread so much! I am doing rides of varied length and intensity for 1-1:35 hrs, so far. I might do some shorter, really hard efforts at some point. I worry that I might not be working as hard as I should! I might be able to go a bit longer too, but I want to be careful not to burn out, so I'm not going to push the time for now.

I'm only a beginner at this, so I'll continue to look for trainer workout help on blogs and welcome any input from you!

The Dog Days of .. Winter?

2009-01-13T18:02:00.001-05:00

I am doing well with my trainer rides, but they do not make interesting blog fodder! When I am posting infrequently, you can always check for signs of life in my sidebar where you will see an increase in my trainer mileage total after each workout.

We don't have much snow, but what we do have is hard and icy and treacherous. The dogs definitely have an advantage when we go out as they flair their toes and dig in with their toenails. Their exercise is undisrupted and they are very fit and strong. Their favorite activity is tug-o-war.

I am the referee and sometimes I have to step on the old flattened football and call a time out. Don't be fooled by these big puppy eyes...Silas gets the most penalties! He gets time outs for putting a paw high on Saffy's neck and shoving and for rough body checking.

Despite an ominous, gray sky, there was no precipitation earlier today.

Quick Weekly Update

2009-01-10T14:26:00.001-05:00

This week, I did 2 outside rides/83.65 miles and 4 trainer rides/69.09 miles. So, 152.74 miles in all.

Our weather forecast is a real blast of winter with snow coming tonight and cold temps all week. Between road conditions and cold, it's likely I'll be on the trainer for awhile. Fortunately, I have a much better attitude about using the trainer this year!

1/12 Carpe Diem

2009-01-05T17:01:00.005-05:00

I have been so worried about having good enough road conditions for my January Metric Century Challenge ride! I wanted to get out there for it on the first possible day. I checked and compared three weather forecasts last night and was feeling optimistic about getting an outdoor ride today, maybe even the century. I decided that if I was able to go around my short loop once, I'd do laps of it 'til I got the necessary mileage. I know it's not adventurous, but felt I had to not be choosy about a route and just do it. It was wet, quite slushy in spots and windy. Fortunately the temps weren't bad, about 40F. I rode my cx bike and decided at the outset to just go at a comfortable pace (I'm good at 'saving' myself, must get better about working harder!). It took a long time and as the temps dropped in the last hour, my soggy legs got cold and I was getting stiff around my neck and shoulders as my collar let a draft in. My right foot had gotten wet in the first 3 miles, so that was very cold and my pedaling got pretty slow. But hey, it's January and I got in a big outside ride. It's more miles in my legs and there's lots of room for improvement! So, I'm not going to complain any more about it! Actually I'm pretty happy about it and enjoyed being out there =)

Here's the elevation profile for the ride. You can see my repeated laps...

January Metric Century
63.47 miles
4:38 hours
13.7 mph average
I didn't get off the bike at all, though I did pause to make a quick phone call once. I did dab and shuffle over some icy bits, straddling the bike still. So, no real breaks.
Felt good 'til the cold started to really get to me for that last hour.
Oh, probably should have eaten something! Only drank a Gatorade.

This pic shows the trickiest bit and it was very dim like this for the whole ride.

Trainer Time

2009-01-03T12:44:00.018-05:00

This week straddled the New Year with 4 days in December and 3 in January. To finish up December, I did 3 outdoor rides, 67.54 miles.

Along with the New Year, we've entered the coldest, snowiest part of a southern New England winter and the roads have not been bikeable. Fortunately, I have a nice Kinetic trainer and though I've neglected it in the past, I am determined to make good use of it this year. I've been on it for 3 days of January so far, 52.66 miles.

So, 120.20 miles total for the week.

With the roads truly too risky outside, I actually feel pretty good about riding the trainer. I set myself up in front of the TV and pop in a disk. (I'm working my way through Season 4 of Dr. Who to start.) It's refreshing to wear summer kit. I guess this is gross, but it feels cleansing to sweat so much though I did put the fan on for today's ride. So far, I haven't followed a specific workout. I've just worked my way up through the gears, increasing my effort and heart rate every 10 minutes and then worked my way back down, trying to keep a steady cadence around 90. I pulled out a couple of books/mags with trainer workouts today with aspirations of trying some cadence and one legged drills, etc, in the coming weeks. I want to make sure I get the most out of the time I spend on the trainer!

Although I'm off to a good start with the trainer this year, I am looking forward to getting some outdoor miles too. I hope it warms up soon to melt the snow off the sides of the roads!

2008 Wrap Up

2009-01-01T14:30:00.005-05:00

This year was about making myself recover from a rough beginning. It's a little sad to look back at the first 6 months of '08 and see how little riding I did. There are such big holes in my graph. On the other hand, I'm proud of having pulled out of the slump!

The holes in the graph correlate to the death of my grandmother in January, a nasty flu and then basically moping for much of the summer over my loss of fitness. Finally, after a few false starts, I revved up for real at the end of July. 12 weeks later, I started feeling really good again!

Here's my table of mileage by month, showing 162 rides and a total of 4,236.81 miles.

This chart shows the distribution of my miles by week. You can see where I built up, peaking with a 265.16 mile week.

A Few More Stats
Road Bike Rides: 96
CX Bike Rides: 62
Mtn Bike Rides: 4
Solo Rides: 75
Rides with Jeff: 67
Group* Rides: 52
*at least one other person, not including Jeff

Looking ahead, I just have a couple very generalized goals. I want a more even distribution of miles throughout the year with two peaks, one in late spring/early summer and one in fall/early winter. I will ease up in the winter and in the hot, muggy part of summer. I want to do some trail rides on the mountain bike. We have to drive to get to trails, so that's been the drawback, but I miss the woods! I pretty much just want to keep having fun on the bike, enjoying the scenery, company of friends and feeling the benefits of exercising. My one specific goal is to complete a metric century a month!

Good luck on all your endeavors in the new year!

Edited to add:
The weather was dismal outside, but I had to start the new year with some pedaling. I set up the trainer and did an hour, 16.19 miles.

Dashing thru the snow...

2008-12-31T12:38:00.004-05:00

...for one last ride of '08.

'Dashing' is a little bit of an exaggeration as we averaged just 12.1 mph over the 20.13 mile ride. I'm not used to riding on snow, so I was taking it easy, learning about snow riding and having a very fun time!

When we set off, the snow was just beginning. The temps were at 22F for the whole ride. The wind speed was variable, 8-20 mph.

We paused at the boat landing where I snapped this pic of Jeff.

The grasses along the beach were crispy with frost like this.

As the snow built up on the roads it became more and more like pedaling on the beach sand, soft and grabby.

Another pic of Jeff...can you believe I was operating the camera with my lobster gloves *on* and pedaling one handed in snow!

I didn't realize it at the time, but I had icy bits sticking in my eyebrows! I had to give up on my glasses about 3/4 of the way through the ride as they were foggy and gloppy.

Ahh, pristine snow! I absolutely love having the 'cross bikes so we can do a ride like this.

Jeff and I will spend the rest of the day snug at home as the snow continues to build up and blow around outside. We were hoping to do a New Year's Day ride tomorrow, but it looks like we may be snowed in at home instead.

Happy New Year! Hope you are happy and safe tonight and throughout '09!

Our Holiday: Bike Rides, Games and Food

2008-12-29T15:16:00.002-05:00

My calf muscles are suddenly better. Honestly, I think the pomegranate cosmos I made last night healed me!! They were very, very relaxing =)

We always have some Scrabble battles around this time of year. We've been playing on the PS3 too, but working together in those games, like Resistance, to shoot the monsters.

It's nice to have Jeff home on vacation for games and lots of bike riding. We've already been out two days this week. Today's ride included 2.16 miles of beach riding which is incredibly fun.

When it's cold, gray and damp out I love to heat up the oven and make homemade pizza. It's the best after ride food! Here's one I made yesterday, didn't the crust come out well? This time the toppings were turkey pepperoni and kalamata olives. I sprinkled a little pecorino romano over the top in addition to the mozzarella.

Last Complete Week of '08

2008-12-27T16:11:00.007-05:00

Jeff and I both rode 3 days and 94.92 miles on the cx bikes.

It was clear, but windy for our xmas day ride. You can get some idea of the wind if you look at the surf blowing back off the waves in this pic.

On Friday's ride, we saw these tiny calves. They seemed as excited by snow free ground as we were!
We stopped to watch them chase each other back and forth in the pasture with their tails in the air like cats. I didn't manage to get a clear shot with both of them running, but here's the little tan one. We could hear their little hooves clattering over the frozen ground.

Sorry, no pics from today's ride, it was wet and I didn't bother to take the camera.

Maybe one of you can help me with a problem? I have had tight, sore calf muscles since my Thursday ride. I am actually OK while pedaling, but I can't walk comfortably. Stepping forward causes the calf to knot up even more. I haven't ever had such knotted calves before. Does anyone have any suggestions for making them better? I have been stretching them, mainly by standing on a step and dropping my heel off the edge. I'm not sure what caused it, but it seems like maybe the 5 days off the bike wasn't so good for me!

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-25T15:10:00.002-05:00

I got my Christmas wish...the snow melted so Jeff and I could ride! After 5 days off, I was feeling achy. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had been able to walk or jog, but we had treacherous ice and I didn't want to risk falling. Everywhere I went I hobbled around like a penguin. Today, it felt so great to get on the bike. It always feels so light and responsive after a break. But, it took me about 10 miles to work out the kinks in my muscles. Jeff and I did 33.34 miles in all on the cx bikes. It was really windy, but it was a fairly steady wind so it wasn't knocking us off our line much.

We opened our presents this morning and the dogs opened theirs as well. Saffy knows what to do on Christmas and gets very excited for it. Silas is more reserved about it. He's a bit neurotic, to say the least, and new stuff can make him nervous.

Silas slowly worked his way into his present and really seemed pleased with the tire toy.

Saffy tore into the paper, and found her stuffed, squeaky hedgehog to add to her increasing collection of soft toys. That was fun to play with, but she also had to shred all the wrapping paper into tiny pieces.

After shredding and playing with hedgehog, she set her sights on the tire and stole it from Silas.

After all the excitement and treats, they are sleeping soundly now.

O Christmas Tree

2008-12-21T17:08:00.013-05:00

My legs are feeling a little twitchy from two days off the bike, but I'm getting a lot of other things done around here, like decorating for Christmas!

We have a tabletop tree, loaded with an assortment of ornaments from family and a few I've picked out over the years, but I don't seem to have a single bicycle ornament!

Snow!

2008-12-20T13:56:00.000-05:00

The snow accumulated quickly yesterday evening and overnight. The dogs were so excited and had to dig to find their toys in the backyard.

It's going to be awhile before the roads are clear again for riding out of the way of cars as you can see in this picture I took on our way home from the grocery store today. This is one of the main roads, so it is in much better shape than the side roads which are still snow covered. I would love to have a chance to snow bike, but there aren't any car free places that I know of around here.

I'm glad I was able to ride a bunch earlier in the week. I did 6 days of riding and 168.11 miles. It was good to make use of all three bikes this week, the old mtn bike doesn't get out of the barn much these days.

I'll take a day or two off and then get the trainer set up!

1 More Before the Storm

2008-12-19T10:47:00.011-05:00

X6 is home from the shop and feeling great. It got new brake pads and chain and all tightened up. It's shifting beautifully! I love having both my bikes feeling like new again!

I went out for a 20 mile spin on X6 this morning before the snow. It was dim, cold and there was a fairly steady wind out of the north. I thought this view was interesting, almost abstract. In the foreground is a bit of icy marsh that runs between the road and beach. The gray band of sky keeps fooling me into thinking it is the ocean/horizon! The clouds like that over the sun are a sure sign of the snow to come.

I'm not sure when I'll get outside for a ride again...I may be on the trainer some.

4,000

2008-12-17T14:52:00.011-05:00

I still don't have any waterproof gear because I don't think of myself as a rainy day biker, but I keep finding myself out pedaling in rain! I think I will end up buying some gortex before the spring rainy season.

My road bike is like new after the shop tuneup, but the weather has only been reasonable for 2 rides on it since. X6 is still in the shop. Thankfully I have the mtn bike to take out in the wet. It's been out two days this week, pretty much all on pavement. The short shoreline access paths are usually fun diversions from the pavement, but today they were more like small streams and I felt too soaked and cold and skipped them.

Today's ride got me to 4,012.28 miles for the year.

Weekly Stats

2008-12-13T19:05:00.005-05:00

I had 2 days off this week, so 5 days of riding and 125.54 miles. I'm kinda sad to see the miles that low compared to the last couple of months, but it's actually good mileage in terms of what I can usually do in winter.

Given the road conditions, I still haven't had a ride on my tuned up road bike! I'm hoping I can ride it tomorrow. The X6 is getting worked on, like fixing the rear brake that has been unusable unless I want to hear an awful noise. I'm looking forward to finding out what's been causing that! It will get a new chain and general tightening up.

I really shouldn't have let either bike go so long without a tune up. I thought the benefit of having multiple bikes would be that one was always in good shape when the other needed work, but somehow I timed it so both bikes needed work at the same time. Oops! I will try not to let that happen again!

Jeff and I did a cold ride this morning around our short loop and found that most of the flooding had disappeared, drained away at low tide. It was nice to be able to get through on the usual roads, but along the beach we had to pick our way through places where the sand and rocks had washed over the road. There were some pretty scary patches of ice, but we made it over them. It's suppose to warm up, so I'm hoping the roads will dry up so I can test out the tuned up road bike. If not, I'll go out on the mtn bike until X6 is back home.

Detour!

2008-12-12T16:54:00.001-05:00

We had wind and a ton of rain overnight and part of today. When I ventured out on my bike this afternoon, there was flooding everywhere from small streams and ditches. When I got down to the beaches, I saw that the marsh had filled up with water and the roads were flooded and closed!

Hanging Rocks Road is supposed to be in the center of this picture. You can just see some of the guardrail sticking up here and there. The water was mid-thigh depth and I know this because there was a guy walking through the cold water when I got there. He'd been out running and apparently didn't have time to backtrack the way he had come so he'd taken his shoes and socks off and gone through!!

You can see what the road is supposed to look like in this older pic I posted last spring. It's taken closer to those white signs in the flood pic, but I think you'll see the difference!

There was no way through to Sachuest Point today and the 2nd Beach parking lot was completely submerged in the right of this pic.

I backtracked and did a variation of my usual short loop for 21.16 miles.

Bike TLC

2008-12-11T08:01:00.019-05:00

My road bike went to the shop this week for some maintenance. I was expecting to leave it for a few days, but it was there for just 24 hours! That's some good service! My bike got a new chain and cassette and handlebar tape. It also got all the cables and the loose headset tightened and other little tuneups. I can't wait to go for a ride on it, I think it's going to feel like new! It certainly looks like new with that shiny cassette!

I seriously considered actually doing a 'cross race this weekend. I started going through the 'checklist' of what I'd need to do and went over my X6 thinking about taking the bottle cages off, etc. I've known my bike needs a tuneup because of some dodgy shifting, but it's a little more in need than I'd been thinking with brake pads almost down to metal in front and very stretched cables. So, it's not going to happen this weekend, but I am going to do it at some point! The bike shop owner talked with me about it too and really thought I should start in early fall with the training/clinic options. I am going to be serious about practising in '09, even if I have to tie pillows to my body for padding to reduce the bruising =) I really appreciate the encouragement, please don't give up on me, I do want to try it.

When I picked up my road bike last night, I made plans to drop off my X6 so it will be in good shape for the winter riding ahead.

I'd like to figure out how to do some of the maintenance stuff myself, but I don't even have a bike stand yet, so it's easier for me to take it to the mechanics. Besides, it's always fun to have an excuse to stop by the shop to see the new bikes and gear. I was able to get warm covers for my cx shoes last night (and Jeff's too)!

We are having a few soggy days this week. I got out Wednesday morning before the heaviest rain. There was just some light rain at times that didn't really soak through. The wind was something else, really gusty! Today is probably going to be a rest day. It looks like the weather will clear up during the day tomorrow!

A New Challenge for 2009

2008-12-09T22:36:00.001-05:00

It's never too early to plan some New Year's resolutions. Thanks to Trio, I have a new goal on the horizon, the

2009 Century a Month Challenge.

I'm going to choose the metric option given how hard it can be to ride any long distance from December-March. Considering I rarely do more than about 40 miles on rides, this challenge will be the push I need to to go further.

I went out to ride today and walked over some snow to get to where I get on my road bike. Well, the snow built up in my cleats and froze up quite solidly. I actually had to call my ride buddy to tell her I would be late to our meet up place because of it. I managed to find a rigid piece of plastic garbage on the side of the road and I chipped away at the ice with that. After that problem was solved, it was a good ride and I did 41.21 miles.

Snow and Sand*

2008-12-08T13:10:00.024-05:00

(*Well, most of my ride was on pavement, but I did ride a stretch of snow covered grass and the sands of 2nd beach.)

This morning I was reading blogs and building up motivation to venture out into the cold. I find the blog Up In Alaska is often what sends me out the door with my bike. After seeing the weather she goes out in, really, what do I have to complain about?! Anyway, today I gained motivation from Jill writing the following:

And yet, for all the times I remember reluctantly gearing up and wheeling my bike out into the blah weather, I don't recall a single ride when I came home and thought "I wish that never happened."

I feel the same way. So, keeping that thought in my mind, I bundled up and headed out with my 'cross bike. I snapped a picture as I was having second thoughts in the driveway.

The temps during today's ride ranged from 18-23F with a windchill ranging from 8-15F, one of my coldest rides ever. My Nuun had a block of ice in it within the first 5 miles. My toes felt like ice cubes. I don't have covers for my cx shoes, so I was just in double wool socks. By 10 miles out, my feet were really uncomfortable and I was thinking the rest of the ride was going to be pretty difficult.

But then, coming down the hill at the end of 2nd Beach, I looked down the length of the long, wide beach at low tide and got an idea. Beach Ride Time! I'd never done it before, though I've thought about it for some time. Instantly I forgot about my cold feet and felt perfectly fine out there. I was pretty tentative getting out onto the beach as I really didn't want to fall over in front of people sitting in their cars in the parking lot. They already seemed to think I was pretty insane and falling down would have looked ridiculous. So, I dabbed and picked my way over the deeper softer sand and then got pedaling for real out on the flat, packed sands. Oh, it was sooo fun!!

These two pics were taken in the same spot, first looking one way and then the other.

Would you believe today was my first day on the beach this year?! Hot summer days didn't get me there, but give me a December day with single digit wind chill and I'm out there, apparently!

Here's the frozen water bottle shot. The camera lens was fogging up from suddenly being warm in the house.

I ended up doing 21.36 miles in all and after the first 10 miles managed to stay warm. I probably wouldn't have been cold at all with booties.

Early Christmas Presents!

2008-12-08T08:30:00.015-05:00

When the weather isn't so great, I need to focus on some cleaning, maintenance and making sure I have gear I need. Yesterday afternoon I stopped by two bike shops!

I've mentioned my tires a few times lately...can you tell how worn they are in the pic? You may need to see them in person for the full effect. Take my word for it, they have squared off edges!

Visiting Bikeworks Sunday, I was able to get replacement Bontrager Race X-Lites. The water bottles I've used for over a year just went completely plasticky almost overnight, so I got a stash to replace those and was pleased to find Cannondale ones to match my bikes! I am going to try the Tri Berry Nuun. Do you have a favorite Nuun flavor? Also in the picture are some new cleats. I've been a little afraid of pulling out of the pedal with my old worn ones lately. I ordered some replacement handlebar tape which should be available soon. (They didn't have any Cannondale kinds in stock.)

We also went to Providence Bicycle to pick up the PI AmFib tights that were on hold for Jeff. He's going to love those! Of course, I started looking around and noticed this top. I don't normally wear such bright colors, but do on the bike for visibility. It's the PI Symphony Reversible Jersey.

Doesn't everyone love a reflective 'tramp stamp'? =)

This is one of my favorite items now, the shaping is great and it's so comfy! I'll be tempted to wear this one off the bike too.

I made do with a bare minimum of bike clothing for a couple of years and only the tights for winter cycling specific gear, so now that I've stuck with the biking for awhile it's fun to treat myself to some clothes. I do find it helps. I don't have to think about what to wear or worry about whether it will work. It is comfortable while riding and I can just get on with the pedaling, the way it should be.

It had to happen sometime...

2008-12-07T08:47:00.009-05:00

...a rest day.

I have a supply of coffee and a stack of magazines for reading. And, of course, I'll be spending time out in the yard with the dogs who love snow. They never seem to tire of catching snowballs.

Here's Saffy, actually begging for the snowball Jeff's holding, while Silas plots how he's going to get it before she does.

Goddard Park RI CX Races

2008-12-06T20:47:00.003-05:00

NBX G.P. of Cross / Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross 8...Lots of pics!

Jeff and I made it to the park in time to see the Cat 2/3 Men and the UCI Elite Women and Men.

Some Cat 2/3's make the change from fast pavement to grass. Note the tree in the right foreground. I tend to put a tree between me and the racers in places it looks like they may go wide!!

Cat 2/3's on a long grass section.

Elite women at the barriers.

Women leaders coming out of the sand into a run up.

I thought this was a pretty good picture from my little point and shoot. It's Rebecca Wellons chasing, eventually placing 4th, though she was leading the series overall.

Wellons again, on a run up.

Amy Wallace on the run up.

Elite men through the barriers.

Elite men tackling a run up.

Just after the mount after the above run up.

Elite men on a surface I thought looked like fun!

Elite men.

And, this is what happens when I am a bit too zoomed in as they go past, but I kind of like how these pics came out! This is the winner, James Driscoll, with his Cannondale bike.

I'm not sure who this is, but I like the look/color of the bike!

It wouldn't be a cross race without the Devil and the Ape Man!

You can click on any of the pics to see them full sized. Hope you don't mind the picture heavy post! I have so much fun at these things and end up taking a bunch of pics.

I noticed Until the Snow Ends riding with his bike cam, so I assume he'll have race video posted in a few days.

Edited to add: link to bike cam footage.

Stats for Week

2008-12-06T10:05:00.004-05:00

Jeff and I went for a ride this morning, so I'm up to 62 days in a row now, but the streak will be ending soon, maybe tomorrow. Seven days of riding and 231.73 miles for the week.

In awhile, I'm off to watch some elite men and women race 'cross! More Cowbell!

60 Consecutive Days Riding

2008-12-04T13:51:00.003-05:00

At the risk of appearing somewhat like the cat in the picture, I'm going to post my stats for the past 60 days!

I know you kind blog readers have seen some of these numbers twice already, but I've got the whole set now. Sixty days and 1,964.20 miles. (I'm not too bothered about not hitting 2,000.)

My friend Lynn snapped a pic as I rode out to meet her today. It was so windy here and I'd just felt like I was going to be knocked over. I know I need a new jacket every time I see a pic of me in that big, old one of Jeff's! It is not flattering, especially when the wind is puffing it out!

I liked facing the challenge of riding everyday and trying rides in some weather I'd ordinarily avoid (like sleet!). I didn't get too fatigued or burnout and I've gotten a nice base that I hope to maintain through the cold weather and build on in the spring. I don't think I would have done nearly so many miles without the challenge and all the encouraging blog comments. Thank you very much for them! Getting to know some blogging bikers better has been one of the best parts!

The weather is actually looking good for tomorrow, so I will probably be out riding again. It's hard to stop daily riding once you get started! I may get a rest day on Saturday though as I will be going to watch other people pedal at the NBX G.P. of Cross / Verge New England Championship, but it will depend on if Jeff wants to fit in a ride and wants company.

December 3

2008-12-03T15:37:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day: #60!

I am starting to believe that I really am going to hit 60 consecutive days of riding. I still don't know how I'm going to celebrate. Jeff and I usually celebrate everything with a bike ride, but that may not work this time?! We do have plans to go out to dinner tomorrow night. Jeff is getting off very cheaply treating me since there is a work dinner event at a nice local restaurant for a mere $10 each! That's ok with me, it will make it easier to get more biking accessories.

Today was beautiful, warm and not quite so windy. I did a 40.53 mile solo ride, not going that hard, but making sure I kept my cadence up. I have a tendency to mash when I don't pay attention.

December 2

2008-12-02T13:07:00.005-05:00

I had a good ride today. It was still very windy, but I didn't have to dodge any blowing debris! It occurred to me that yesterday was a trash pickup day in a lot of the areas I rode through, so that explains all the odds bits of plastic and things flying at me in the wind. At least I didn't have to share the road with a goat like BettyBetty mentioned in my comments yesterday! I do ride by a big white billy goat with a beard and he seems to like to watch me climb the hill past him, but luckily he's always in his little pen or on a leash. I rode with Lynn today and her company always makes the miles fly by, even when we are going straight into the headwind out at Brenton Point! I did 41.04 miles.

2 more days!

December 1

2008-12-01T16:51:00.002-05:00

I was excited to ride today with temps in the mid 50's and the sun shining brightly after the rain moved out in the morning. I guess the wind and gusts up to 27 mph had moved the rain out. I ride in wind a lot since I'm on the coast, but today seemed more difficult than other days. There was so much debris on the roads and blowing around. Within a mile from home, a 10 inch plastic plant pot blew right into my front wheel and crunched under my pedal and between my wheels. I had to be extra vigilant about watching for stuff coming at me like sheets of blowing newspaper as well as staying upright in the gusts. My upper body was getting a real workout from balancing me and keeping the front wheel straight.

As I rode out from home, I kept telling myself it would be OK to do a shorter ride and turn for home at the next good road, but when I reached the road, I would decide to keep going!

I am used to a big hill with an almost invisible, very deep pothole in it. I always manage to miss the pothole just fine. Today, the pothole had been filled with loose black gravel tar stuff that was not just in the former pothole, but spread all across the road. I made it across the pointy, loose gravel OK, started to sigh in relief, but then noticed wood and who knows what scattered all across the road in front of me. I had to hold my line and ended up hitting a fist sized piece straight on which popped my bike up a bit and then it jarred me as it hit the pavement again. I heard an awful noise which I was worried was spokes breaking or something. I was amazed to still be upright and continued to the bottom of the hill to where I could stop and check over my bike. Remarkably, everything seemed OK! I think the noise was from the stuff in the road breaking and popping out from under me. But after that excitement, I'd had enough and headed toward home and ended up with 33.90 miles for today.

Just 3 more consecutive days for 60/60!

Sleet/Freezing Rain/Cold Rain

2008-11-30T19:40:00.005-05:00

The weather threw a whole lot of yuckiness at me today, but I did my hour and rode every day in November. Now, there are only 4 more days to hit 60/60 and I can go back to being a normal person and hide under the duvet on days like this! Well, I'll probably ride some days like this because I'm a little crazy that way, but I won't feel quite so driven until the next challenge.

Jeff opted not to ride today, but ran out into the sleet to add a little Pro Link to my poor chain and then remained ready to rescue me with the truck if needed.

Here are the stats!

After my ride today, Jeff and I went to an open farm day at an alpaca farm owned by a couple of cyclists and met up with my riding friend Lynn there as well. It was raining buckets, but we had fun seeing the alpacas and doing a little shopping for warm, soft alpaca gloves.

From there we went to Providence Bicycle where we got Shine booties and lobster gloves for each of us! We asked the shop to hold some AmFib tights for Jeff when they come in the next shipment. When we get those, he can be dressed as warmly as me on our rides. I still need some new tires, but will have to go to another shop to find the ones I want. I'm going to get the same ones I've been using, Bontrager Race X-Lite. I've had no flats and I've been riding this set since August, 2007.

We celebrated my month of rides with dinner out at Carrabba's with no consideration given to calories! I didn't have a cupcake, but we shared a huge dessert that I would describe as something like tiramisu made with brownies. That should give me energy for the next 4 days of riding, at least!

Stats Update

2008-11-29T13:56:00.002-05:00

I rode 7 days this week and 245.48 miles. (Jeff was on vacation this week and did 5 days of riding and 192.48 miles! That's *huge* considering he hasn't been riding much this year and I am so proud of him!)

I haven't been writing about my effort to ride 1,000 miles in November for fear of jinxing myself, but it probably wasn't much of a secret! I managed to reach 1,013.36 miles on today's ride. Tomorrow is the last ride of the 30/30 challenge and those miles will be 'icing on the cake'. Ummm...cake! Maybe I should have a celebratory cupcake tomorrow =)

After tomorrow, I'll keep riding for 4 more days to reach 60/60. I'm SO close now!

Wednesday Night Lights

2008-11-26T22:04:00.005-05:00

I finally heard about a weekly cx training race not too far from home...just as it's wrapping up for the season! Jeff and I drove over to *watch* tonight and ring some cowbells and see what it was like. There were quite a few people there and it was fun under the lights!
Lining up at the start:

Riding toward a run up:

One set of barriers:

These people really earned an extra slice of pie at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow!

Rain

2008-11-25T11:03:00.007-05:00

I couldn't do my usual sort of road ride today with all the rain, deep puddles and car drivers not expecting bikes to be out there. But, I didn't quit! I drove my mountain bike over to the East Bay Bike Path and did a very, very slow ride, getting a total time of 1:01 just to check the box for the 30/30 challenge.

The picture shows a pretty section of the path which follows an old rail bed. I eventually got soaked, but going at a snail's pace kept the splashing to a minimum.

After such an easy ride today, I should feel energized for the last 5 days of the 30/30 and am still hoping to reach the 60/60 milestone.

Ninja Jeff

2008-11-23T14:35:00.003-05:00

In these pics, we were just heading out on our ride to meet Lynn and the temp was about 26F. As this was Jeff's coldest ride this season, I think he was in shock at this point!

The bright sun helps make you feel good despite the cold and we warmed up as we pedaled. This is a view I love along the bird sanctuary land where you can see a bit of 3rd Beach straight ahead and the sea out by 2nd Beach all along the horizon to the right.

The wind was from the west, which is my preferred direction for local rides. It somehow doesn't hurt as much as the other directions! We did 41.03 miles in all.

We have a stretch of 40+ degree days in the forecast and it is such a relief! I don't even mind the chance of rain, I'm just so happy for the warm up!

Time flies this time of year...

2008-11-22T13:08:00.000-05:00

It's time for another weekly wrap up post!

The weather is definitely adding some hardship to the 30/30 challenge, with below normal temperatures and a lot of wind. It's felt more like January than November! Still, I rode 7 days and another record week for me of 265.16 miles.

A plumbing emergency this morning meant someone had to stay home to be here for the service guy. Jeff stayed home and sent me out on the bike to stick with the 30/30 challenge. Fortunately, he has a week of riding ahead of him during his Thanksgiving vacation. I just hope the weather doesn't get too bad! The forecast is showing possible rain/snow showers Tuesday through Thursday! (Remember the Weather Underground link is at the bottom of this page, if you want to see what I'm trying to ride in!)

Cold Enough For Ice

2008-11-19T15:02:00.004-05:00

I keep forgetting that shiny pavement is ICE this time of year! Fortunately I haven't skidded!

I was so happy to have company today on the coldest ride so far this season. Lynn had emailed me last night to say she'd meet me. It makes such a difference to have company.

Yesterday, I did a solo ride and the temperature was a comparably balmy 37-40F with winds between 12-20 mph. It seemed like a hard ride!

Today, the temperature ranged from 29-33F (though the wind chill was 18-25) and the wind was 8-19 mph, but it seemed easier than yesterday. It must be the occasional chatting that helps, along with the chance for drafting.

Do I really look like this?! Ack! I'm hesitant to post this photo, but it explains why my two dogs are freaked out when I've got all my gear on! I was braced in the wind, taking a moment to collect myself for the bash into the wind the rest of the way home.

I am wearing a balaclava AND a skully! I have a heavy jersey, Barrier jacket and the yellow shell on top. It's a wonder I can move at all really. I had thermal fleece tights over shorts, wool socks and the Calientoes over my shoes. Oh, gloves too, of course. The trick is to get all that on and get out of the house before I start to overheat! Then, I need to ride enough to make all that process of getting dressed worth the effort! I was actually comfortably warm today.

My dog Silas, didn't want to pose for a pic with me even after I took the balaclava off. He was still looking all around in case that was someone else, I guess!

Saffy wasn't nervous anymore, but apparently thought she had better things to do on the other side of the yard, then pose for a pic.

So, I still have 11 more days for the November 30 days of riding challenge and a few more to hit 60 days in all. The good news is that Jeff is taking the week of Thanksgiving off work and will be available to ride with me every day! I hope he's as excited about that as I am =)

Seaweed Slog

2008-11-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

Jeff and I took the road bikes out today and ran into Lynn by chance and the 3 of us rode out Ocean Drive and back. A storm had blown through in the night and it was still windy and the sea was wild looking. There were a lot of wave watchers at Brenton Point.

The sea had tossed lots of small rocks and seaweed onto the road along one stretch and we opted to carry our bikes to keep them out of the salt and slimy seaweed.

Just one more shot of the sea as I carried my bike over my shoulder.

We did 41.84 miles today. I'm looking forward to meeting Lynn for a ride tomorrow. Having company really helps to motivate me!

(I know I'm a little silly for logging all my miles, but it is one way I keep motivated. I started keeping track on July 25, 2006 and today crossed 10,000 miles!)

Half Way!

2008-11-15T09:06:00.006-05:00

Jeff and I did our ride as soon as it was light enough this morning around 7, hoping to avoid the heaviest rain, but it was already steady and soaking. If I keep riding in this sort of stuff, I'll definitely need to think about buying lights and rain gear!

I am half way through the November 30/30 challenge with 15 days of riding and a total of 502.71 miles. Only 15 more days to go...or 19 if I want to try for 60/60...! The weather will almost certainly be more and more of a problem. I do have a trainer to use indoors if it comes to that! For this week I rode 7 days and 234.83 miles.

3,000

2008-11-13T11:32:00.005-05:00

With the threat of rain in today's forecast, I headed out for my ride earlier than usual on X6 despite feeling pretty bleary. I wanted to make sure I got my ride for 30/30 and was further motivated by being just 31 miles from reaching 3,000 miles for the year. I didn't manage to shake off the sluggish feeling, but I pedaled the 31 miles anyway.

(Pic shows clouds over 2nd Beach this morning.)

Traffic Jam!

2008-11-11T12:53:00.012-05:00

On my return trip on Ocean Drive today, a swan was trundling along one of the traffic lanes, with no apparent interest in going back to the marsh! Feeling vulnerable with only my bike to put between me and it, I still paused to get a pic and see if my presence would scare it off the road to safety. Having once been attacked by a swan, I didn't feel up to making any shooing motions at it!
It wasn't deterred by my being there and continued along the road, eventually causing a bit of a traffic jam! Someone braver than me got out of a car and waved their arms and clapped at it. After a few minutes of that, the swan finally left the road!

It was a solo ride for me today: 40 miles in the chilly 40's with a relentless wind. This little hill was my friend today, being just about my only shelter from the wind during my entire ride! After the steady whoosh of wind in my ears, a little silence as I climbed was so refreshing.

I added a list in my sidebar for the 30/30 challenge showing the day and number of miles which I will update daily, so you can check my progress even if I don't do an entire post.

Sunday Group Ride

2008-11-09T12:49:00.006-05:00

Jeff and I joined friends for a 42.86 mile road ride today. The pic shows Jeff out front in his new jacket, ribuck97 and Lynn as we pedaled up Bellevue Ave.

Out on Ocean Ave, I spotted this white tailed deer and had to stop for a pic.

Lynn had a flat near the end of the ride, but was able to change the tube like a bike mechanic!

New Bike Clothes!

2008-11-09T07:10:00.005-05:00

Well, black spandex items don't make an exciting photo, but here are some of the new bike things I bought on Saturday. What I have been using is looking a little threadbare, so it was time for some fresh gear!

I got new gloves to replace my ones with the holes in the shifter fingers. The balaclava is mainly to keep my neck warm when it gets really cold out since I really can't bear a draft down my collar! It's always good to have another pair of wool socks. I also got a new pair of shorts and a pair of fleece tights. I know the shorts seem kind of strange this time of year, but I have been wearing them under the tights when it's cold.

Jeff found a nice shell jacket to block the wind chill. It's a fall orange color, so probably not too visible this time of year, but it will be good for the rest of the year. I picked out some bike wash and a chain brush since it seems like it will be a little more effective than an old toothbrush considering all the rainy rides I'm doing lately.

I tried on a couple of other items that I think I'll have to add to my holiday wish list. I liked the Pearl Izumi Insula Tour Jacket in limestone and white. It was so cozy and comfortable that I think I'd end up wearing it all the time, not just on the bike!

And I will have to get the women's version of Jeff's yellow jacket that I've been wearing. It's called the Vagabond 2. For now, the big one isn't so bad because I can fit as many layers as needed under it for dealing with the cold.

I'm not committed to wearing only Pearl Izumi, it just seems to be what's readily available at the local shops. PI is working out very well for me, though I wouldn't mind finding some different brands too. I took a mail order gamble on the De Marchi jersey and it turned out to be my favorite!

Also on my wish list are booties and maybe the lobster gloves. It wouldn't hurt to have a couple more jerseys to reduce the constant need to do laundry and the Gavia Pro Jacket seems nice at least in the pictures.

Do you have any bike clothing that you 'can't live without'? Let me know if you think of something I should consider getting!

Consecutive Days Keep Adding Up

2008-11-08T11:53:00.009-05:00

So far, so good. Despite rainy weather, I've not missed any days for the 30/30 November challenge! For the week, I did 7 days of riding and 227.22 miles.

I've been varying distance and intensity on my rides, so I don't burn out. I think I'm building a good base right now! I'm glad that I'm not feeling drained at the end of my rides lately and that I wake up really looking forward to my ride everyday. It's a nice place to be at the moment!

Jeff was able to join me on this morning's damp ride. The yellow leaves looked especially bright in contrast with the grayness.

We were surprised to see a lot of people walking and running around fields and found out it is the Race for Open Space, a fundraising 5K event and celebration of opening a new section of the Greenway. I am pleased about all the new trails, but am sad that bikes are not permitted on them!

The last picture is just a shot of Jeff finally riding out in front on the last stretch to home!

The forecast looks dryer for riding Sunday-Tuesday, but then there is some rain predicted again. At least it isn't snow! I recently added the weather link at the bottom of this page, so you can check to see what conditions I'm dealing with. I'll be riding with Jeff and two friends tomorrow and will keep trying to get out everyday!

Rainy Day Ride

2008-11-06T12:22:00.007-05:00

I rode X6 in the rain today to stick to the 30/30 challenge! Can you see how wet it was? The rain picked up as soon as I started my ride and has let up a little since I got home! I did 21.32 miles.

I did see some other people outside today and probably should have been dressed like them!

Maybe I'm crazy, but I actually really had a blast out there. I think I was able to have fun because it was so warm, around 60F, so being soaked wasn't a problem.

30/30

2008-11-04T13:50:00.040-05:00

It occurred to me as I wrote down my numbers for today's ride that I just completed a run of 30 rides in 30 consecutive days. I don't think I've ever done that before! No wonder I'm feeling a lot more fit lately.

I didn't make it a goal in advance, it just happened to work out that way, but a few blogging bike girls have made a 30/30 goal. Kate, Trio and Jumbly, are trying to do 30 one hour or longer rides in the 30 days of November. I thought I'd play along as best I can. If the weather gets too sloppy, it's not safe for me to go out on my routes. There is some rain already in the forecast, but we'll see what happens. Checking my old records shows that I rode 19 days in November 2007 and 25 days in November 2006. Even if I don't bag another 30/30, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I pushed myself to ride as many days as I could!

I'll keep you updated with the weekly mileage posts and probably have a chart of days and miles for you at the end of November. You know I love an excuse to post a chart!

Now, I'm quite certain I'm going to stay up way too late watching election results! Hopefully I won't be too tired for tomorrow's ride with a friend. Just so you know, I made sure to get out and vote before my ride today!

Pace Line of 3

2008-11-02T13:46:00.002-05:00

I hadn't tried to take motion shots with the camphone before, but I tried it out on today's ride. It worked pretty well, my biggest problem was trying to keep my gloved fingers out of the picture! I cropped this one!

Jeff and I joined a ride buddy and did 41.35 miles. The pic shows Jeff and our friend plowing into the wind around Brenton Point.

Jeff was happy to get in 82 miles with me over the weekend since he's not getting out much during the week now. I got a good start on my weekly miles!

And, after the cold ride...low 40's at best...we made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup! Perfect recovery food!