Goal: 8.00km Actual: 8.51 km
I've got to remember that I would have days like these at the gymn as well. Days where easy things are hard and hard things are impossible. I am so not sure whether this is on the list of things you should not do or if it's on the list of things that hardly matter. I had a thick slice of whole wheat bread with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese and rosehip jam before I went riding today. Forgetting about the fact that the ingredients sound exotic we could say what I did was equivalent to eating a couple of slices of Hawaiian pizza before my ride. I also downed a glass of water because I am almost always not quite hydrated and then I went for a ride. Did I mention I was tired today? For lack of a better name, I call these "weak days". Nonetheless, I met my goal. As I walked in the door with my bike, I felt like I could have honestly gone further. Where was that feeling when I was on the bike? Now that I sat down, I know I made the right decision. That, and the fact that I am scared of being out in a lightning storm. My bike has rubber tires, my boots have rubber soles.... I might just be in luck.
To think I was going to up my goal to 10km. Days like these are good reminders of why I must be patient with my goals. They have to be something I can attain and raise gradually. One day, this distance for a goal is going to be laughable. Till then, this is my goal.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Dips and Roadsigns...
Since this is a guy learning to ride his bike, you'll probably find many of my points as relevant as some guy learning to drive and observing that a steering wheel turns in circles and is round... like a wheel. Whoa!
Nonetheless, on today's ride, I noticed the overabundance of "trail closed" and "detour" signs. Not to worry... I was on the part that was apparently the detour and was to me, the main route. The trail that was closed was a minor turn-off point on the main trail, but nonetheless, you had signs announcing that the trail was closed miles ahead, with no clear indication of how far up it was closed and for that matter, if you would be able to make it to the mountains, etc. The whole time, you were on the detour, but the detour would not, from what I could see, ever lead you where the closed trail would've taken you. City, you're confusing me -- but in no bad way. Every part of the trail that I wanted to ride on was open.
What was pretty cool is that a part of the trail that was closed last time I tried to take it was open this time. I was really glad. This portion of the trail has just enough incline to keep your bike going, but not so much that I get out of breath when I ride back up it. The main feature of this trail is lots of dips. The trail is right by a large arroyo (open cement drainage ditch that runs from the mountains, meant to catch melting snow from the mountains and waters from flash floods) and there are a whole lot of dips in this portion of the trail where open ducts are made to redirect water to the arroyo. (They're dry 99% of the time.) Most of them are really shallow and just give me a minor thrill on my bike. I am new to dips anyway. Then as I get further down the trail, the dips start getting bigger and bigger. I sort of remembered this, and as a matter of fact, when I was biking with a friend of mine, he had to stop and encourage me to ride my bike through the dip because it looked steep to me. He cheered me on, though he and I mutually felt like a toddler was being cheered for successfully placing one block on top of another. "Congratulations! You made it over the... uh...... gradual incline.... yeah." As a matter of fact, when I got to the first large dip today, I was thinking, "Well, that was hardly worth writing home about." I got to a second larger incline that my memory had failed me on, and I thought, "Well, I made it over that one. That was the one!" Then, finally I see what incline it was that scared me. Honestly, it looked like the Grand Canyon with a steep drop-off. Remembering last time, I just took the thing without any problem. I am going to use my bike as a mountain bike one day, just like it's meant to be. Really, I am.
About the biggest problem on the trail, really was this older lady who walked really slow and wasn't too steady. It wasn't so much that I needed her to be aware that I was passing her.... I just needed her to stay straight. She actually wandered closer to my bike as I was passing her. That wouldn't have been fun for either one of us.... She could barely walk, poor lady. Glad she was actually out walking, though.
My thought for today actually had to do with the plausibility of "living on my bike." I am sure some people do this. It's not really anything I have time for... but you know, you could just get your bike going, and just practically spend the rest of the day on your bike. It's really hard to put the exact feeling I am going for in words. I mean, it does require energy to bike, but it seems like if you achieve a groove, you could just keep going all day without problem. Am I making any sense?
A black woman with a very beautiful voice yelled, "Passing on your left." today. It was her voice I found remarkable.
Today's goal was 8km (5 miles). I went 11.19 km (almost 7 miles). My goal is to do this at least 3 more times this week.
Nonetheless, on today's ride, I noticed the overabundance of "trail closed" and "detour" signs. Not to worry... I was on the part that was apparently the detour and was to me, the main route. The trail that was closed was a minor turn-off point on the main trail, but nonetheless, you had signs announcing that the trail was closed miles ahead, with no clear indication of how far up it was closed and for that matter, if you would be able to make it to the mountains, etc. The whole time, you were on the detour, but the detour would not, from what I could see, ever lead you where the closed trail would've taken you. City, you're confusing me -- but in no bad way. Every part of the trail that I wanted to ride on was open.
What was pretty cool is that a part of the trail that was closed last time I tried to take it was open this time. I was really glad. This portion of the trail has just enough incline to keep your bike going, but not so much that I get out of breath when I ride back up it. The main feature of this trail is lots of dips. The trail is right by a large arroyo (open cement drainage ditch that runs from the mountains, meant to catch melting snow from the mountains and waters from flash floods) and there are a whole lot of dips in this portion of the trail where open ducts are made to redirect water to the arroyo. (They're dry 99% of the time.) Most of them are really shallow and just give me a minor thrill on my bike. I am new to dips anyway. Then as I get further down the trail, the dips start getting bigger and bigger. I sort of remembered this, and as a matter of fact, when I was biking with a friend of mine, he had to stop and encourage me to ride my bike through the dip because it looked steep to me. He cheered me on, though he and I mutually felt like a toddler was being cheered for successfully placing one block on top of another. "Congratulations! You made it over the... uh...... gradual incline.... yeah." As a matter of fact, when I got to the first large dip today, I was thinking, "Well, that was hardly worth writing home about." I got to a second larger incline that my memory had failed me on, and I thought, "Well, I made it over that one. That was the one!" Then, finally I see what incline it was that scared me. Honestly, it looked like the Grand Canyon with a steep drop-off. Remembering last time, I just took the thing without any problem. I am going to use my bike as a mountain bike one day, just like it's meant to be. Really, I am.
About the biggest problem on the trail, really was this older lady who walked really slow and wasn't too steady. It wasn't so much that I needed her to be aware that I was passing her.... I just needed her to stay straight. She actually wandered closer to my bike as I was passing her. That wouldn't have been fun for either one of us.... She could barely walk, poor lady. Glad she was actually out walking, though.
My thought for today actually had to do with the plausibility of "living on my bike." I am sure some people do this. It's not really anything I have time for... but you know, you could just get your bike going, and just practically spend the rest of the day on your bike. It's really hard to put the exact feeling I am going for in words. I mean, it does require energy to bike, but it seems like if you achieve a groove, you could just keep going all day without problem. Am I making any sense?
A black woman with a very beautiful voice yelled, "Passing on your left." today. It was her voice I found remarkable.
Today's goal was 8km (5 miles). I went 11.19 km (almost 7 miles). My goal is to do this at least 3 more times this week.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Not the World's Best Spitter
I am an adult who never learned to ride a bicycle as a kid. I grew up in this fairly bike-friendly town of Albuquerque, and it's not like my parents and brothers did not try to help me learn. They bought me a black bicycle with Space Invadersque characters all over it and the caption "Space Star". To think of it, that seems pretty cool now, but as a kid, I did not really think much of it. It could have lost the "Space Star" label and that would've been alright. My bike had training wheels and my parents took me out to the caldesac near my house and helped me do laps. I hated any kind of physical activity at the time and did not have a lot of confidence in my coordination. I did foster my passion for computer programming at the time and had fun doing it, but that's a whole nother blog. I had brief stints during my teen years and early adulthood where people tried to teach me how to ride a bike. One friend gave up me almost right away when I did not just take off like a rocket. One of my girlfriends just took me to the college with her and let me figure it out for myself on her mother's bike. Quite honestly, that's one of the best things she's ever done. I figured out that riding a bike was feasible. By the way, don't ever leave your girlfirend's mother's bike outside in Florida. That bike was not in such great condition when I returned it.
So, a couple of years ago, I decided I was going to learn how to ride a bike. I bought a mountain bike from one of my friends and decided to hit the trail. Most days I've ridden the same stretch of trail up and down. And I still kind of do, expanding out on occasion. I think the previous two years, I've just had lack of goals and boredom. It was okay that I wobbled along the path as long as I did not hit anyone. Other activities quickly became more pertinent and endurance was not built.
I've hit the trail much harder this year, I think. I did not have an odometer in previous years, so it's really hard to tell. I know I've been biking more consistently, though, and I am beginning to feel some progress in terms of leg strength and endurance. Mind you, enduring 6 miles with some of it downhill and 15 whole seconds of extra leg strength is not a big deal. But for this boy, it's a start. And now this boy has goals! I want to be able to ride my bike to work, and I want to start doing it daily. The hurtles involve coming out of my comfort zone on certain points. We have bike paths that run along the streets, and it may be necessary to use them to a certain extent. It almost certainly will. I do not trust cars, and this is a good thing. I just have to make sure I have enough control of my bike to be around cars. Right now, I don't feel I do. (It's easy to start wobbling when I feel tired.) The other part is distance. Home is all uphill, though most of it should not be very steep. Riding up in the general direction of the mountains is good exercise and I am finding it challenging to say the least.
So, now that we have that covered, I'd like to record my progress today. My goal is to be sure I ride 8km (approximately 5 miles) about 4 times this week. Today, I made 10.22 km. One of the things I am working on right now is being able to turn my head to look around me without turning the handlebars too. Silly as it might sound, I am finding hard to look over my shoulder without accidentally turning right. Even better. Don't consider spitting to be a skill? Didn't partake of spitting contests as a kid? You may live to regret it. I know I am. Today, a bug flew into my mouth while I was biking. I turned my head and spit right on my arm.
So, a couple of years ago, I decided I was going to learn how to ride a bike. I bought a mountain bike from one of my friends and decided to hit the trail. Most days I've ridden the same stretch of trail up and down. And I still kind of do, expanding out on occasion. I think the previous two years, I've just had lack of goals and boredom. It was okay that I wobbled along the path as long as I did not hit anyone. Other activities quickly became more pertinent and endurance was not built.
I've hit the trail much harder this year, I think. I did not have an odometer in previous years, so it's really hard to tell. I know I've been biking more consistently, though, and I am beginning to feel some progress in terms of leg strength and endurance. Mind you, enduring 6 miles with some of it downhill and 15 whole seconds of extra leg strength is not a big deal. But for this boy, it's a start. And now this boy has goals! I want to be able to ride my bike to work, and I want to start doing it daily. The hurtles involve coming out of my comfort zone on certain points. We have bike paths that run along the streets, and it may be necessary to use them to a certain extent. It almost certainly will. I do not trust cars, and this is a good thing. I just have to make sure I have enough control of my bike to be around cars. Right now, I don't feel I do. (It's easy to start wobbling when I feel tired.) The other part is distance. Home is all uphill, though most of it should not be very steep. Riding up in the general direction of the mountains is good exercise and I am finding it challenging to say the least.
So, now that we have that covered, I'd like to record my progress today. My goal is to be sure I ride 8km (approximately 5 miles) about 4 times this week. Today, I made 10.22 km. One of the things I am working on right now is being able to turn my head to look around me without turning the handlebars too. Silly as it might sound, I am finding hard to look over my shoulder without accidentally turning right. Even better. Don't consider spitting to be a skill? Didn't partake of spitting contests as a kid? You may live to regret it. I know I am. Today, a bug flew into my mouth while I was biking. I turned my head and spit right on my arm.
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