ride my bicycle more

I’ve still been riding my bike and it is awesome. The goal is quite loose and open ended, just to ride every other day weather permitting. Riding in the rain is OK, but I have disk brakes and I consider it a bit hard core. My bike doesn’t have fenders too. Bicycle riding has been helping with my “lose weight” thing. It also helps me clear my head mentally. I recently found my halogen night light too! This was a discovery in my garage that I’m cleaning/organizing as another thing. Been doing construction during the day so dusk/evening rides have been the soup du jour. Still awesome weather for it, although we’ve had a bit of rain. Memorable rides were a 50mi. punisher in 3hrs.30mins. and a two lap ride I did on my favorite workout hills. The strength is coming back and my cardio is coming up and I’ve been at it for 2 months. I had the idea to map out elevations with a friends gps on the roads I don’t know as well. This way I can pace myself by just downloading maps to my cell/pda during longer rides. One day was quite windy and I just didn’t feel the strength so I just trimmed the ride short and called it a day. I’ve been really trying to listen to my body and continue to keep it a fun thing. Walking is OK and I’ve never been a runner (insert flat feet story here), but you see so much on a bike, not to fast but fast enough. Some days I drag the Burly trailer still and take mini-sweetness or my camera. This is one goal I’m having a great time at.

Springtime, perfect weather, low wind… Brought my little girl agian. She was in a bit of a grumpy mood but we still had a great time. The wild mustard plants made some of the trails look like the yellow brick road. BB was awesome, fish jumping, birds, blue skies with puffy with striated clouds. Hadn’t been to D park in years, played on jungle gym, swings and in the sand. Went to FI too and did train rides and played in the fountains. Went over to BI and rode the ferry accross. Made sandcastles and watched the sun go down together. Turned on my halogens and burned a trail home in the cool dusk. A very nice ride and a great workout to boot. Think mini sweetness slept well that night too.

I hope this goal will help with my lose weight goal. Rode my bicycle Saturday and Monday. Saturday I bought a replacement set of clip in shoes. My “excuse” for letting my 1300$+ bike gather dust was I had misplaced my fancy shoes so I went and bought a reasonably priced set of replacements. I hooked up the Burly trailer and gave my little girl a 5-10 mile chariot ride. She really loves the trailer, I heard her little “piglet” toy the whole way ;o). Maybe I can combine hanging out with my little girl and riding, ie make out and back destinations like city parks. She can play jungle-gym while I take a halfpoint break. When I was younger I loved road and dirt riding and could take off whenever. I put myself through college wrenching some of the first fully suspended 3k-4k$ highend rides. Now I have to balance responsibilities with riding, I can’t (or it feels like I can’t) take off for 4 hours on a weekend to ride. I’m not bitter, just trying to be a good father and take care of my body and mind too. Rides will need to be a bit planned, something I’m not used to. I plan to ride today (ack it’s almost 1am) on Wednesday too. Being self employed I might do some errands using the trailer during the day. The weather has been awesome spring weather! My favorite time of the year to ride! Remember to strech out and do my old water sport streching routine. My ankles especially are not as strong as they used to be, I’ll need to build strength before I can safely do distance again. The last thing I want to do is blow some soft tissue. Well I consider this the line drawn in the sand, I hope I come back and add to this. I’m just stoked I went out and rode again…