"stumbled upon" this cool site. Click the link to see a freaky painted elevator floor.
Technorati Tags: time waster, cool site
Technorati Tags: time waster, cool site
Powered by ScribeFire.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Back in the Saddle
Mon, Dec 3, 2007 - 13.45 mi [Cycling]
13.45 mi in 01:00:21 hours at 13.37 mi/h on Trek 4100.
First day back on the bike since my first 30 mile ride. It's not that it took me that long to recover (tho' it was a bitch of a ride), but at the time I was fighting off a cold and the 30 miles really took it out of me. It took 4 days of feeling like I had a head the size of a watermelon and on the cusp of exploding from all that sinus congestion. I even had to cancel two days of classes on the final week of the semester. Not a pleasant time.
I was able to dope up on some sinus decongestives and get through 6 hour stints (just long enough to lecture and then collapse) and I was still hoping to get a final 5 miles in before the end of the month. That would have put me over 200 miles for the month. Sadly, it was not to be. I decided I would take some extra days to recover and start fresh in the new month. I accomplished a lot in November and I felt good about it so while the 200 milestone was tantalizingly close I left it for another time. I had set out to ride 150 mile, some more 20+ mile rides than October and at least 1 30 mile ride and I got that. I did not want to get greedy or burn myself out in such a way as to make cycling onerous and not fun.
After getting my 30 mile in I decided the next long ride goal will be a 40 mile ride by the end of January and mapped out a cool looking route to a lake I had never heard of. The catch is that it is on the road AND (more importantly) very hilly and if there is one thing I learned from the 30 mile ride with single track, I have no climbing ability. So December will be road riding month. I'll start going along the route and training on the hills. Any climbing tips? I've read lots of forums and Sheldon Brown's site so I got the repetition, steady cadence thing planned but frankly, I want to be able to burn up a climb. I have a friend who bikes with me sometimes and while I'll whoop his ass on the flats or over long distances he always gets me on the climbs and that irks me. I'm shifting down to granny gear and huffing and puffing to keep my cadence steady and the balance between lung and leg burn steady and he mashes by me in 12th freakin' gear just before we get to the top.
What I want to do is ride next to him up a climb and then attack near the top and blow him a way (then sit up and wait for him to catch up - this is after all a duo group ride :) ).
So there it is, my goals for December: 180 miles, at least 5 20+ mile rides, and 3 30+ rides, and train for hills. Oh, and get under 195lbs.
On a different front, my reward to myself for meeting my November goals was to purchase a baselayer, wind breaking vest and some arm warmers. I got to test them out today. If was Dorthy and Toto weather out there today and getting a little chilly on the descents (46 F) and I have to say, they did the job quite nicely. No chill, I wasn't cold and actually got a little warm in spots before I scaled back the exertion to I didn't explode after 8 days of not biking. Now I'm looking forward to the colder weather. After I get me some long fingered gloves and some knee warmers for Xmas I think I'll be set for the harsh (yeah right) North Carolina winter.
Posted from My Cycling Log
13.45 mi in 01:00:21 hours at 13.37 mi/h on Trek 4100.
First day back on the bike since my first 30 mile ride. It's not that it took me that long to recover (tho' it was a bitch of a ride), but at the time I was fighting off a cold and the 30 miles really took it out of me. It took 4 days of feeling like I had a head the size of a watermelon and on the cusp of exploding from all that sinus congestion. I even had to cancel two days of classes on the final week of the semester. Not a pleasant time.
I was able to dope up on some sinus decongestives and get through 6 hour stints (just long enough to lecture and then collapse) and I was still hoping to get a final 5 miles in before the end of the month. That would have put me over 200 miles for the month. Sadly, it was not to be. I decided I would take some extra days to recover and start fresh in the new month. I accomplished a lot in November and I felt good about it so while the 200 milestone was tantalizingly close I left it for another time. I had set out to ride 150 mile, some more 20+ mile rides than October and at least 1 30 mile ride and I got that. I did not want to get greedy or burn myself out in such a way as to make cycling onerous and not fun.
After getting my 30 mile in I decided the next long ride goal will be a 40 mile ride by the end of January and mapped out a cool looking route to a lake I had never heard of. The catch is that it is on the road AND (more importantly) very hilly and if there is one thing I learned from the 30 mile ride with single track, I have no climbing ability. So December will be road riding month. I'll start going along the route and training on the hills. Any climbing tips? I've read lots of forums and Sheldon Brown's site so I got the repetition, steady cadence thing planned but frankly, I want to be able to burn up a climb. I have a friend who bikes with me sometimes and while I'll whoop his ass on the flats or over long distances he always gets me on the climbs and that irks me. I'm shifting down to granny gear and huffing and puffing to keep my cadence steady and the balance between lung and leg burn steady and he mashes by me in 12th freakin' gear just before we get to the top.
What I want to do is ride next to him up a climb and then attack near the top and blow him a way (then sit up and wait for him to catch up - this is after all a duo group ride :) ).
So there it is, my goals for December: 180 miles, at least 5 20+ mile rides, and 3 30+ rides, and train for hills. Oh, and get under 195lbs.
On a different front, my reward to myself for meeting my November goals was to purchase a baselayer, wind breaking vest and some arm warmers. I got to test them out today. If was Dorthy and Toto weather out there today and getting a little chilly on the descents (46 F) and I have to say, they did the job quite nicely. No chill, I wasn't cold and actually got a little warm in spots before I scaled back the exertion to I didn't explode after 8 days of not biking. Now I'm looking forward to the colder weather. After I get me some long fingered gloves and some knee warmers for Xmas I think I'll be set for the harsh (yeah right) North Carolina winter.
Posted from My Cycling Log
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
