You can try the trail-finder at http://www.trails.com/trails.asp to see what's in your area. Other stuff I've been finding by surfing google-earth and http://maps.google.com to see where there are some interesting paths around the area. It still feels pretty urban around here to me, though.

I think the only reason there ARE options around here are because everyone is so health-nut crunchy-yuppie. But even if the rail-trails weren't around here, I still made a pact with myself that I'd get my money's worth out of my bike. I bought it with the intention of commuting to work, or riding on the roads, and only after the fact found the trails.

Apparently my mom got a bike similar to mine, and has only ridden it 3 times. I didn't get the more expensive Cannondale, because I figured, "Let's see if I can stick to a commitment to ride before investing more into something more expensive." So far, I've got 129 miles on it, which isn't bad, but that's still about $2.75 a mile. ;) (Not including all the add-ons and stuff). When I've got about 4400 miles on it, it'll have paid for itself.

My car gets 30 mpg/$2.50 per gallon = 12 miles per $1.00.
12 miles/$1.00 * $360 for the bike = 4320 miles.

So those of you who own cars with worse gas mileage than mine, your bikes will pay for themselves sooner! ;)

--Janis

Hi guys, I just got back from a nice evening ride. Just about 10.5 miles. I go on much shorter rides than you! The gravel is getting pretty compacted on the route I did today so that was nice. I ride pretty much only on roads here. I haven't gotten out to the mountain bike trail yet but hope to do so soon. I guess the benefit of living in the boonies is less traffic on the roads so I'm more comfortable riding.

Janis-I love your reasoning for paying off the bike. I work out of the house so cant really implement anything like that. My hubby would love to do that but works about 45 miles away so its not an option right now.

Have a great one! Happy pedaling.

It's definitely harder to go father on "real" roads. The rail-trails absolutely spoil you, although they seem to have helped a bit, as they've encouraged me to go out for fun and distance.

I got to work (the tough hilly route) in only 27 minutes today, as opposed to 45+ minutes 2 weeks ago! Woo hoo!

--Janis

Way to go cutting your time down!! That's awesome. Its windy and rainy here so I did TurboKick for my workout. The sun poked its head out for about 5 minutes and I thought about a short ride. Thankfully all I did was think cuz soon after huge wind gusts started and more rain wasn't far behind. What a blah day!

YAY!!! today was absolutely GORGEOUS outside - although it was windy - which sucked...but it was just so beautiful otherwise!! so i FINALLY got out on my bike and i rode 8.7 miles today!! :-D just needed to post!

Way to go Ultimate girl!!!! It was beautiful in the midwest today. Unfortunatly I am to busy for a ride. Glad you were able to get out there!

Awesome! I'll live vicariously through you guys, since the weather has been hit-or-miss today (rain, sun, rain, sun...) and I didn't get out. I'm going to go to the gym after I give a fife lesson though, so I can keep up with the strength-training too. :carrot:

I was "outted" by one of the other regular gym members who works at the same company as me. "I haven't seen you around lately!" "Oh, I bought a bike." She agreed biking is a good alternative, but I promised I was going tonight, so that's the extra push I needed to keep on top of that aspect. ;-) I've been trying to go to the gym at least once a week to get my money's worth there, and to keep on top of the weights (although I've been ignoring the cardio stuff in favor of the biking the rest of the week). Maybe I'll go swimming tonight, too. I think I've had enough of a "break" that the gym isn't feeling like a chore right now. (It was really starting to drag me down, which is why I GOT a bike to mix it up and keep me interested). If I hadn't found the bike alternative, I'm not sure I'd still be "with the program" right now.

The bike's definitely helping though! I'm down to a solid 218.0. No 218.8 or 220 or anything above! So, I've taken a couple of feeble steps in the right direction off my plateau. I'd worry that it's because I haven't been lifting as regularly, (and the weight change is muscle loss) but I've only been making strength gains every time I go back, so I can't imagine that would happen if I was losing muscle. I'm also noticing my legs are changing shape, with all the biking. Not a bad shape at all - just different from what you get playing with a hack-sled and gym machines. It's a much longer, shapely set of muscles, instead of one big muscle poking out here, another one there... the slightly less natural muscle-tone of someone who uses specific muscle-targeting-machines.

--Janis

Considering that I am a weekend bike rider only, don't have anything thrilling to report today. Though I did ride the stationary bike yesterday and today for 20 minutes of "random hills" each time. Yesterday I increased the resistance and went only 5 miles. Today I decreased it and went 6.

It is raining right now and I really hope it stops tonight because I want to ride tomorrow. Need to get outside! I don't care if it's cloudy, just want to exercise outside and see the "scenery" along the nearby river trail.

Happy Saturday!

Had so much fun this morning! Hubby took today off; he's been sooo busy at work and working Sat. mornings to get caught up but decided to take this whole weekend off. So we got in our ride this morning. It had rained all night and the river trail was wet and muddy. Then about half-way into the ride, it started to rain. But it wasn't a heavy rain, just enough to make it fun. We had hats and jackets and were prepared.

Updated my biking challenge info below. I'd like to get 500 total miles by the end of summer (April-August or so). And would like to get 500 outdoor miles for the year. This way I can track the two separate goals. We got in 13.5 miles today and 13.0 last week so we're off to a decent start for April.

Janice, I am impressed that you are commuting to work. As a kid, I rode my bike everywhere but I am scared to death to ride on the roads around here. It's so crowded and there are so many terrible drivers here that it's just not worth it. That's why my outside riding is limited to weekends when we have time to put the rack on the car, load the bikes, and drive to a trail somewhere. When the days get longer, we may be able to take short rides on weekdays. Good job on reducing your commute time!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :smug:

Great job! I tried taking the rest of the "Yankee Doodle" trail (our town's name for the the "Narrow Gauge" dirt rail-trail I've been taking into the neighboring town) the other direction into my town center... unfortunately, it's not even close to finished as the part I've been traveling. The rails & ties are still down in parts, and it's covered in hawthorns and other spiky brush. Guess it's not going to be open this spring as was planned a few years ago...

The day's weather improved after that (it was kind of cloudy and humid then) but by then my mood was shot, and I wanted to do some other stuff, but it was a nice 6-mile trip to get my metabolism going for the day. I plan on doing some distance-riding tomorrow. Not sure where to, though. Perhaps I'll take the Narrow Gauge to the Minuteman to the Charles-River trail and check that out.

--Janis

Sure thing! I got my bike a few weeks ago with the intent of commuting, too, but I've been doing a lot more!

Today I did *gag* 55 miles! Ouch, eek, och... Now to soak in a hot tub for a few minutes before going to bed so I can get up bright & early and do two "Patriot's Day" parades in Lexington & Concord (MA). That is, if I can still walk! :bike:

--Janis

As long as the weather is nice I plan on cycling as much as I can. I'm not much for walks, well not now I am bc its so hard on me being heavy. I used to walk all the time. I love cycling & its a exercise I can stay enthused about. I will have my bike in the next day or so. I cant wait !!! :carrot:

Originally Posted by busker:
Today I did *gag* 55 miles!

Wow!! Hubby and I are gradually working up to a 25-mile ride (we really are wimps ...) but probably won't get there until some time in May. Hope you're walking today. :^:

Today is sunny and breezy and would be nice for a ride, but because of time constraints had to settle for a quick walk around the neighborhood after my lower-body workout. Anxious to ride again soon!

Got my bike !! Rode today !!
 

I got a awesome mountain bike today, practically brand new for 70 bucks. The guy didnt want it simply bc it had a tiny dent somewhere (I dont see it). He paid 300 for it. I'm so stoked !! Has a place for a water bottle & has 21 speeds. I rode 3 miles on it. I though the last mile would kill me. LOL :stress: But I made it & I'm proud of myself ! I made a mini goal for my self. I hope to reach it by the end of May.

:cp: :goodvibes

Hi all, I'd like to join the challenge too. (I saw the thread when it was first posted, but there was still snow on the ground here...) Last week I went for the first ride of the season. It was gratifying to realize how much easier the first outdoor rides are when you spin thru the winter! (Although I've slacked off this last month, the old training effect is still there.) Also great to not need to break in the butt - usually the first few times out are excruciating. I always wear bike shorts or capris, partly for the padding, but also because I don't need undies with them and hence don't have that awful panty elastic cutting into my butt cheeks.

I've read the whole thread, and wonder how those of you who bought clip-ins are liking them. I have hybrid shoes (bike/walk) and I attach the clips for the spin classes. But I'm too much of a wuss to clip in outdoors, so I use them with baskets outside. The shoes are still a good idea as the soles are stiffer and easier to ride with.

My goal is to hit 1000k (600 miles) by Labour Day. I didn't count my ride last week, so am still at 0. If I do a spin class I think I'll assume about 25k, since I can easily do 20 in an hour and pedal much more frantically and further when spinning. My fingers are crossed for a less muggy, hot summer than last year.

I've been overeating and underexercising for about a month and have put back between 7 and 9 of the lbs I lost. I really hope this challenge kick starts some more positive behaviour!!

I'm going to break up the sections of this post with titles since it's so long and you don't need to read it all if you don't want. ;)

Welcome all! :hug:
------------------------
3 Miles - good for you! That's about what I was able to do my first time out. Ouch! Somehow I don't remember those little hills being that tough when I was a kid. But, I've been seeing steady progress, as long as I push myself to go out and do it. Getting to work is getting easier (and that's the "tough" route for my week, complete with hills, a little off-road mountain-biking, some speed/road-biking, and a clock I'm racing against!)

I sobbed to myself the first couple of times out, as I was having asthma attacks, my butt hurt, my legs hurt, etc., but like the other gym work, I seem to be adapting. In fact, my weight-lifting & gym workout has improved significantly, even though I haven't been going as diligently!
------------------------

What my heart's been doing throughout all this:
------------------------
As well as pushing my butt through 55 miles (albeit it was a REALLY "easy" 55 miles, taking all the low-grade paved rail-trails and relatively flat path around the Charles River) I wore my heart-rate monitor for the first time (while biking). After the first 10 minutes, it's like, "No WONDER this is kicking my butt!" I was averaging a 145-160 heart rate! It seemed to level off at about 130-135 for the duration, only climbing to 150-160 when I did hills, but it's still a whole lot more than that puny 124 I couldn't get past on the treadmill!

I had to run like my butt was on fire on the elliptical to get it that high (145), and the elliptical seemed hard to me! My Polar watch said I burned over 3000 kcal's that day. While I can't take that at face value (as you need to replace a lot of it, or you'll have difficulties later while trying to repair muscle, etc.), it felt good to be able to tell people I rode 55 miles AND did 6.5 miles of parades the day after. ;)
------------------------

Oh yeah, that diet part of diet & exercise:
------------------------
And I was able to "cheat" a little and have those steak-tips, strawberry shortcake, and some pizza. Today it was back to the chicken & salad, but it was nice to be able to eat some of the quasai-forbidden foods, because I knew I'd burned it off, and actually NEEDED some of it. Apparently doing that much biking you need to replace some of the sugar, because you spent most of your reserves, and you'll need the protein & minerals in red-meat for red blood cell & muscle repair. Pizza? Because I was really hungry, hadn't had pizza in a long time, and didn't feel like cooking after 2 parades.

I also think my body was craving salt, as well as sugar, from what I could tell. Everything tasted really salty to me, and for once, I didn't want diet soda - I wanted WATER. The diet soda was, "eh," and the water was like, "That's the stuff!" For as big a soda addict as I am, this was interesting to me.

Since I've been doing the eat right & exercise thing so diligently for the past 4.5 months now, it feels easy to slip back into the chicken & salad mode, and I actually have no guilt about the other stuff, because it was almost like taking medicine. Sure, I enjoyed it, but I was specifically looking for something with more calorie impact, so it was kind of "prescription" food. It was also eye-opening, because I realized, "You know, I used to eat like this every day, twice a day. But I was sitting at my desk all day, not burning 3000+ calories pushing myself up hills..."

Also... it all just TASTED better. I seriously think it's because my body was really craving the ingredients in it. I actually have a number of food allergies, and things that don't agree with me. But I've found that the harder I'm working out, and the more calorie deficit I produce, the better things agree with me. I can eat onions, eggs, etc. without any negative effects, if my body NEEDS the stuff in onions or eggs. If it's just surplus, my body rejects it right away. I just digest everything better when I'm working out hard.
------------------------

Clips & Cleats:
------------------------
The clips help, I think. It isn't a noticeable difference, but I'm averaging higher speeds, I have alternatives to climbing hills (whenever I'm spent and I have to do a hill, I just "pull" instead of push), and your feet just kind of feel... "right" in the same position all the time. I'll be searching for the clip, just pushing with my foot to get across an intersection until I find my way to the clip, and when it snaps it, it's like, "Yeah, that's the right place." Granted, this is assuming your bike, pedals and clips are set up correctly for your body. (I've been reading a lot, and following instructions for properly setting up the bike for "fit", and I think it's helped).

I'm finding most of the bicycling "gimmicks" seem to have a worthwhile purpose, although I still have a hard time accepting spandex pants. ;) I wear the underliner shorts with the padding (under my jeans), but I'm just not comfortable with my weight enough to go out in public wearing spandex tights. And as for shorts, I'm so black & blue up and down my legs from the pedals and stuff that I'm not all that interested in showing off those, either. (Not painful black & blue - just getting off and stopping at an intersection and bumping pedals or wheels, etc. from straddling the bike)
------------------------

--Janis

There's nothing like joining a challenge to get me out there exercising! Today I rode the bike to my doc appointment, 17.5km total. Only 982.5km to go. :rofl: There are lots of bike paths around here, and from May 1 to Labour Day there's a parkway circuit that's closed to cars on Sunday mornings. Of course that means getting up at a reasonable time... Three summers ago a friend talked me into a bike trip, about 300 k over 4 days; maybe we'll do something like that again this summer.

I did 2 miles today. Not much, but I just started biking after years of not doing it. My thighs & back & feet were just killing me. LOL But I did it. Tomorrow I'm taking bike riding off. :)

Hey guys, sorry Ive been AWOL. Been a busy week. I'm finally going to spin class after a week not being able to get there. I can't wait to get my butt kicked!!!! It is beautiful out here, but the day is pretty jam packed so not sure about getting a true ride in today.

Welcome to all the new people.

Busker-55 miles!!!!! You are awesome. Great job girl. AND you made it through your parades! You must feel so STRONG!!!!

Check in later. Need to get dressed for the gym!

Did a mile today...This is my third time out...My legs and thighs just BURN when I ride...How long will this last...I can barely make it through the last part sometimes....But on the plus side it gets my heart rate going & my breathing a little harder..Yeah I'm out of shape...But I'm working on it !!!

Hey Dawn, I can't really answer your question because I've been biking pretty much all my life. But like anything new, you will get used to it. I promise! Meanwhile, try changing gears to make pedaling easier. Or slow down a bit. Before you know it, you'll be going on long bike rides and will hardly feel it.

Hubby seems to be done with working Saturdays for a while ... so I am thinking that we may be able to get out both days on many weekends. But we'll get in at least one ride per weekend for sure. Looking forward to this weekend and plan to add more miles on to what we did last weekend (ideally, in the same amount of time).

Yesterday went to spinning class. Boy, I sure like those toe cages and think I'm gonna ask for clipping bike shoes and pedals for my birthday, which is in a couple of weeks. Brandy, it looks like we have almost the same birthday; mine is 5/4.

Hi all-I got in a 12 mile ride with hubby this evening. It has been a beautiful, active day for me. I did an hour spinning class this morning, went to the batting cage for 15?? minutes, walked around the 4 mile block, and then went for the bike ride. The weather couldn't be more perfect than it was today. Kinda makes you sad to come inside.

Sherry-Pretty cool having birthdays so close. Growing up the month of May held about 15 extended family birthdays on 1 side of the family. It was wild. I still haven't bought my shoes and clips so I've added them to my birthday wish list.

Dawn-The only time my legs burn are on hills cuz its flat as can be where I live so I barely ever ride on them. Hang in there. Your body will adjust pretty quickly. You're off to a great start.

Good afternoon and happy Saturday!

This morning hubby and I went 14.25 miles, which is .5 more, in the same amount of time as last week. So we're getting a bit faster. Of course, no rain and mud to deal with today, but it looks like another rain storm is coming in and we were going against a very strong wind as we rode towards the ocean.

Now that hubby seems to be done with working Saturdays, at least for a while, maybe we'll get back to riding both days. Typically we'll do one day on the river trail where we can go faster. That is what we did today. On the second day, we like to ride along the beach itself. The scenery is much nicer, but we have to deal with many more distractions such as tourists, pedestrians, strollers, little kids on bikes, dogs, etc. So we go slower and usually only get in about 10 miles in an hour. But it's fun, and a fun exercise is one that we will do!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Hey, where is everybody??

It rained last night and the clouds were gone this morning. Was so clean and fresh that we were riding by 7:30. This time, we went to the beach and rode along the shore and the scenery was great. Today, could easily see Catalina Island which is about 26 miles off the coast. Could also see San Clemente Island in the clouds, which is about 50 miles. Due to the air quality (pollution and coastal haze), don't see Catalina too often and I've seen San Clemente only 1 or 2 times.

I've been AWOL too
 

Sorry - busy week last week, which is too bad, because the weather was gorgeous! (And this weekend and today it isn't...)

"Did a mile today...This is my third time out...My legs and thighs just BURN when I ride...How long will this last...I can barely make it through the last part sometimes....But on the plus side it gets my heart rate going & my breathing a little harder..Yeah I'm out of shape...But I'm working on it !!!"

Biking is a little different than your other cardio/aerobic exercises that just wind you. Those are using your slow-twitch "endurance" muscles to just keep trudging along, and use fat stores and the like. Anerobic exercise (weight-lifting, building muscles, etc) uses fast-twitch "hard, quick work" muscles to do a lot of work all at once. Those tend to use sugar as a source of fuel. When you hear people say "feel the burn!", this is what they're talking about - your body stores some "quick fuel" reserves of sugar, and when you do this hard fast-twitch muscle exercise, your body releases that sugar for fuel, and it feels sore. If you can push through it, it will subside after a few minutes.

Since biking (outside) is less predictable than a stationary bike, it's different than your typical aerobic lots-of-breathing but not-much-strength exercises. When you get to hills, you're doing a lot of anerobic (strength) exercise. Your heart-rate may elevate, and you're breathing hard, but it's brute-strength more than aerobic.

When you lower the gears so the work on the pedals is easy, but you're spinning quickly, this gets your heart & lungs moving, and doing that aerobic activity.

When I was a kid, I used to ride EVERYWHERE in the highest gear possible, and yeah - if I hadn't ridden in a while, my legs hurt. My second time around (now) after 15 years off, I've been doing more reading on the subject, and have learned the "art" of gear-shifting, which has also had the nice side-effect of my chain not falling off every few feet.

The goal in gear shifting is to keep your cadence (pedaling rate) consistent. Keep it relatively easy, but even. Then when you get to a hill, you don't want to have to work your legs harder - you shift the gears lower so the work you're doing pushing on the pedals is the same, and your rate of pedalling is the same. The concept I had to get over is - YES, you WILL lose speed - you can't keep your speed up the same on a bike as though you were driving a car. When you go DOWN a big hill, and the pedalling gets too easy, then you shift up into the bigger gears, again, trying to keep the pedaling and work rate about the same as your flat-surface work & cadence.

It did hurt for a week or two, but I'm noticing I'm getting MUCH stronger, and every time I go out, it doesn't feel so bad. On Saturday, I wound up doing some off-roading down by the river, and up and down hills in the woods and on the roads. When I approached the hills, I got this sinking feeling - "Ugh... that one's going to SUCK!" but once I did it, it was like, "Well... that really wasn't that bad after all." I know a month ago when I first went out, I would've had to get off and walk up that same hill - so it shows I HAVE improved a lot! And like my friend said, "There's no shame in getting off the bike and walking it up over a big hill."

So keep at it! Remember - the burning is just your body burning sugar-stores. If it doesn't burn it, it'll just sit there and eventually go into long-term storage anyway - and that's what we're all trying to avoid at 3-fat-chicks. I know it's uncomfortable, and I know back when I was 250 lbs and had never done a day of exercise in my life (7 years ago) after 5 minutes on a treadmill my legs, lungs and chest hurt so bad, I thought I would die. But each time I pushed through it, and each day I did it, it got easier. It still amazes me remembering in the first week at the gym, my friend coming over, worried I'd have a heart-attack, and asking, "How long have you been on here? Have you been running hard?" "*pant* *gasp* 5 *wheeze* minutes! *pant* 2.3 *chug* miles *pant* an hour! *wheeze*"

We've all been there to some extent, and I know it's frustrating when you want to ride your bike as much as everyone else, but it hurts. I promise that if you keep at it, though, you'll get stronger and it will get easier! You won't bulk up like a body-builder, and you won't get thunder-thighs, but you will build nice, tight, strong muscle. And those fast-twitch muscles will help you on future hills, and will burn calories when even you're sitting on your butt! So they're definitely beneficial. :) (You're definitely doing aerobic fat-burning activity too, but biking is a strong combination of both).

Keep at it!

I rode my bike down by the river through the woods on Saturday. I don't remember the mileage (not much) and it wasn't a very productive ride, but now I know it's a fairly easy ride (despite the hills on the roads) to the bridge to go over the river to the other side and explore. It was a crummy day and rained later anyway, so it was good I didn't wander too far from home, but still got out for an hour or so.

My birthday was on the 20th. The bike-fairy didn't bring me anything. I ordered a gel butterfly seat and tried that (Saturday) but I actually like the saddle that came on my "comfort" hybrid bike better. It might have been an improvement over racing bikes or something that comes with a hard seat, but the one that came with my bike is a very soft foam & spring seat, and wide in the rear. The butterfly might have broken in, but it really wasn't as off-the-shelf comfortable as the other one, so I returned it.

In past years, my boyfriend & I would play some mini-golf and go to the batting cages for my birthday, but this year I got out of work too late, so it was dark, and too cold for outdoors at night. Also, I'd played a softball game Wednesday night at work, so I was sore from that. (More so than any of the 55 miles of biking or marching!) So, we played pool instead. We felt bad for the bar-bimbettes in their mini-skirt finest, because we were almost the only ones in the whole place (probably 20+ tables), and we didn't come in to drink. We just... played 5 games of pool. :) (And no, he didn't let me win because it was my birthday... we both won 2 games, and then he won in the final round). The problem was he hit too many balls in the pockets (including some of mine), and I didn't hit enough... ;)

--Janis

Hi guys-Haven't ridden in a few days, but hubby and I have a bike date tonight weather permitting. Yesterday really wanted to go, but forced myself to get some projects done that need to be delivered today. Thats out of the way now, but the weathers supposedly going real cold tonight. Cant wait till things even out temp. wise.

Janis-I visited your site yesterday and was somewhat dumbfounded by your dog. I have a aus. shep./chow/lab mix who looks SO much like your dog!!! The markings are a bit different, but colors and expressions are very much the same. Have never really seen another dog so similiar to my darling Fozzy before. Happy belated birthday! I've got one in a week, and pretty positive the bike fairy will be delivering shoes/clips/pedals. I'll let ya know.

Have a great day!

Where'd ya'all go?? I had an awesome spin class yesterday and another scheduled for this morning. Haven't ridden outside in awhile-time and weather. Hope you are all out riding and having fun.

I'm around! But I was also wondering what happened to everyone else who joined in???

Sadly, we don't bike during the week. "Nowhere" to ride in our neighborhood. It's a typical suburban tract neighborhood with lots of cars, etc and we prefer to ride on trails that don't share with cars. Although hubby is not working Saturdays now, he's still working pretty long hours and often doesn't get home till after 8:00 or so. So no time to go somewhere to ride in the evening. But weekends are better than nothing! :)

I went to spin class yesterday. I enjoy that a bit more than other indoor cardio (really don't like indoor cardio ... blech). The one thing I don't like is the mirrors all around the room because I look particularly fat in there. Well, I guess that's incentive to keep going ... in the hopes that one day I won't look quite so fat in all those mirrors!

Hi Sherry-I dont particularly like riding on the roads around here, but have my entire life, so I still continue to do it. (Plus to get to any decent trail we need to drive about an hour)

Spin class is definetly my favorite indoor cardio although I enjoy cardio kickboxing too. My legs are killing after yesterdays class! (I actually like that feeling-twisted I know) I'd just rather have a great workout and feel it a bit the next day than have a lousy workout.

Its nice that hubby and you go out together. We sometimes go together, but I'm slower than him (He's an amateur triathlete!) I make him switch to his mountain bike to slow him down a bit. We do enjoy our rides together no matter where we end up going.

Well, have a good one, and hopefully we'll hear from some others again!

Just a quick look-in. I haven't been on the bike at all this week, and won't for at least another week. Cold, rainy weather, and also I'm away on business with no wheels. So I haven't deserted the thread, just had nothing to report. Brandy - I envy you your spin classes. I haven't been in a month and really miss it, but I have any number of good excuses... Mainly that I'm out of town so much.

Keep on peddling!

Happy belated birthday, Janis!

Hey Brandy, do you feel like your spin classes help you with speed/endurance when you're really biking? Sometimes I feel like I am going so fast and effortlessly in class, even with fairly high tension, but when I really ride it's a lot tougher. Of course, we ride mountain bikes (saving for road bikes) so that might explain it. There are some people in the classes I take who race, so spin classes must help.

So your hubby is an amateur triathlete! Do you ever think about training with him and competing? That is a secret desire of mine -- to compete in a triathlon. The only problem for me is that I hate to run. But I love to bike and swim. Well, there is another problem: I am still out of shape though things are improving. Maybe as I get more fit I can think about it. How far is each segment of a triathlon?

Today hubby and I rode just over 15 miles in about an hour. For some reason, it was a tough ride for both of us. My theory: the cheeseburgers we had for dinner last night (I know, I know!). There were a few "bike gangs" on the river trail this morning, most of them passing us. What really shamed us was the "roller-blading gang"; although they were traveling in the opposite direction, I am pretty sure they were going faster than us. Sigh.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Today we rode bikes along the beach. Got a later start than last week and it sure was crowded. Lots of joggers and walkers. Hubby and I agreed that we need to get an earlier start to enjoy rides along the beach; was too much like an obstacle course today.

Another thing happened and this just annoyed the :censored: out of me. The trail along the beach is like a mini-street with a dashed yellow line down the center. There are signs all over the place announcing that rules of the road apply along with speed limits for bikes, right-of-way rules, etc.

So we were on a fairly narrow bridge heading south. The bridge is still somewhat under construction, which is why it's narrow. As we approached a small group of pedestrians heading north, one of the bike riders behind this group decided to pass them. To do so, she swerved into the southbound lane and practically caused a head-on collision with me. Did she yield to me and drop back behind the pedestrians even though she had time? NO!!! I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision. Nothing bad happened, I glared at her, and her boyfriend/hubby/brother/whatever yelled at her afterwards, but it's just so annoying.

OK, sorry for the rant, but I figured my biking-buddies would understand! :dizzy: Otherwise, it was a great ride. Then we had coffee and a cinnamon roll afterwards. :D

:tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum:


Hi gals. I'm having a rough day-I am a church organist. Went to work this morning as usual-played early service, stayed for bible class, played late service. Went to my truck to go home, and someone has smashed my window and stolen my purse. I am still in shock that someone would steal and vandalize in a church parking lot. So, got home, cancelled my personal credit/debit cards and then waited for hubby to get home to cancel all the joint things. As soon a Craig got home we called on the other cards so that was all taken care of within 2 hours of me finding the smashed window. I still can't believe it. I park out near the road and no one saw or heard anything. I hope they BURN for robbing and vandalizing in a CHURCH lot. Hopefully karma will come and bite them in the *ss. I had about $60 cash and a $25 gc card-so not terrible damage, but to replace my drivers license and insurance cards its gonna be a pain. (This will be my 4th drivers license in a year cuz I lost 2 of them in the fall!! The DMV is gonna get suspicious of me soon!) Needless to say I'm having a crappy day. I now am sitting here with a bottle of raspberry wine trying to relax. I'm sorry to rant, but I am still in shock and really in the anger stage of a stress situation.

Didn't go biking, but had a softball practice to work off some steam. I'm trying to relax and will focus on moving on tomorrow. I'm SO angry and I don't like feeling like this.

Sherry-I'm sorry you had such a bad encounter on your ride. Some people are just *ssholes! Yesterday it was brought up how I look for the good in everyone-well today may have been the end of that. I just don't get how some people feel entitled to things without working for them. I work so hard for everything I get, and I don't mind that till now that it has been so unfairly taken away.

Sorry to rant. I really need to get this out of my system. Thanks for listening.

Sorry to hear about your car/purse. :( I kind of chalk up when I started putting the weight back on to having gotten my car stolen. I just didn't want to go anywhere - I'd rather stay locked up inside lost in t.v. fantasy-land or I'd stay at work until really late with the idea in the back of my head that "at least the parking-garage (at work) had cameras and security-guards." I now live in a gated apartment complex, but I still can't say I feel completely at ease about leaving my car in the parking lot each night. (Yet I'm too cheap to rent a garage).

As far as my bike goes, it comes inside with me into my apartment. When I lock it up, I have the biggest, heaviest bike chain I could buy, and take half the bike with me, too. (Seat & anything removeable). I went to a shoe-store the other day, (one of those old-timey village shoe-shops that employs a bunch of elderly gentlemen shoe-salesmen) and the salesman working with me was trying to figure out what was sticking out of my back-pack. "Oh - it's your bike seat. You carry it around with you?" "I don't want it to get stolen..." "I didn't think of that." I probably wouldn't bother if it wasn't quick-release. But again, my experiences tell me I should be ready for it if/when it happens. My mom's bike was stolen right out of our garage in broad daylight when I was a kid. :p They left another bike there instead. We found out that one had been stolen earlier. So at least one person got their bike back... But the garage door was open, and such things happen. :p

People asked why I didn't have a car-alarm or security system on my Cherokee, too. I said, "Well, back in rural Western NY, snow was a bigger problem than car theft, so I never even really thought about it." I don't even see why they picked my car over other people's - it was the most bare-bones basic standard-shift model they came in. You'd think there were cooler cars than mine around...

My dad (also a church organist - BTW) tends to lock himself up way too much. He expressed concern over my personal safety while biking out alone too, but I don't think being agoraphobic like him is the answer, either.

I've been out of touch lately, just because I've been way too busy at work, finishing up a semester at school and trying to get in some biking when I can, as opposed to putzing on the computer in my free time. I went for a ride today and Friday, and managed to get to the gym (once, anyway) on Monday, so that's something, although I feel like I've been slacking and falling into old patterns. :(

--Janis

Brandy, so sorry to hear your truck was broken into and your purse stolen. Losers like that, they don't care where it is. In fact, it may have been even more of a thrill to break into your truck and steal your purse because it was in a church parking lot. I hope they get caught.

It's really sad that we have to worry about people stealing our stuff. Why can't they just work for it???? I hate thieves! The only thing that I've ever had stolen that I care about was my wedding ring. Grrrrrr.

Janice, your story of taking your bike seat into a shop with you reminds me of a classmate several years ago who rode his bike to school. He brought the seat with him to class and set it on an empty desk. The professor just kept staring and staring at it, then finally asked what it was. We all knew what it was and why he brought it to class, but it was funny.

I know how you feel about falling back into old patterns. When I get busy, working out is always the first to go. Good luck with finishing the semester and hope you keep up on your exercise. If nothing else, keep up the good eating habits; may be a bit easier to control than getting the optimal amount of exercise.

Morning gals-I haven't been out riding lately. I have spin class today and a softball game tonight. It was pouring out yesterday but looks like we might have a nice one today.

Thanks for the sympathy on my stolen purse/broken window. The window is fixed and most of the replacement on cards/license stuff is complete. I'm working hard to move on emotionally.

Sherry sounds like you've had some awesome rides with your hubby!! Glad someones been able to get out!

Janis-It's so cool your at the half way mark!!! Great Job!!

Happy birthday, Brandy! :hb: :balloons: Hope you can "forget" about Sunday's incident for a while and enjoy your day. Any special plans?

I've just been plugging away at my weight and cardio workouts. Today I plan to attend the indoor cycling class. I think am getting competitive because I find that I enjoy trying to "keep up" with the racers in the class.

Hope the others are so busy riding and having fun that they have no time to post! :carrot:

Hey Sherry-I pushed yesterday in class-my goal was to keep my spin the same speed as the teacher throughout class using the same tension scale I usually do. I'm usually at a slower cadence and really struggle to kick it up, but I DID IT!!!! I was so beat and happy at the end. SO, that competitive thing sometimes is good to have. I've got another class today.

Have a good one.

I got my shoes/clips/pedals!!!! I haven't fallen yet. They're not that bad to get used to-at least so far so good. Have a great night.