I had a wonderful ride outside today. Definetly enjoyed our spring weather! 8.25 miles, and the only problem was the fresh gravel they have spread on the dirt roads. About half my ride was over very unstable, deep gravel. Not the most fun, but I made it and fealt great afterwards.

Sherry if you figure out a pedometer fix for spinning let me know. I do spinning about 2xs a week, and not sure I want to switch to only outside for the warm weather. I know I work A LOT harder in the spinning classes than I do on my outdoor rides.

will the posts stay here on this thread? i am TOTALLLLY in!! i LOVE my bike - really I do. i havea great odometer and everything (and my bike is a trek) - It's supposed to rain tomorrow. :-( BUT i am SO getting my bike out this weekend.

is there a "deadline"? for this?

Deadline? Uh... I suppose whenever you get to it. I figured I'd try to make it by the end of the summer/biking-season, if I could.

As for the fresh gravel - I hear you. I used to live in the Fingerlakes region of Upstate NY, and they would regularly "tar and feather" the road. It wasn't too fun until it got packed down. It was unstable when I'd ride my motorcycle, stone chips would get kicked up from vehicles in front of you (hitting you if you were on a motorcycle, bike, or breaking the front window of your car after having it replaced from the LAST time they gravel'd the roads)... it really sucked.

It's such a gorgeous day today, I'm seriously thinking of charging a couple hours to personal time, taking off from work and going down to one of the paved bike trails to go on a ride just for fun (as opposed to commuting to work).

--Janis

hahaa - i know that sounded like a "weird" question...but i'll just make one for myself - i work best with "deadlines" - as in making sure I get in 500 miles by my birthday (august 29th). just a personal thing. Although I'm DEFINITELY getting my bike out and about on sunday. i got home from work at 3 today but my friends are picking me up here in an hour (it's 4 p.m. here now in Indianpolis) - and we've had plans to go out. Tomorrow I work til 2 and right after work my friends and I are going shopping...but sunday is MY day alllll to myself - I am SO excited too because it's supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny here in indy - and ya'll have NO idea how long i've been waiting for these sunny warm days!!! I honestly think i have mild seasonal depression - i HATE winter (yeah - and i live in indy! lol) but anyways - this Sunday - it's me, my bike, and Eagle Creek Park. I can't WAIT!!!

No ride for me today. We've got lots of wind in preperation for some storms that are supposedly on the way.

My hubby is buying his new mountain bike tomorrow!! Maybe we'll do the trail on Sunday. (family obligation on Sat. but thinking about taking the bike over and getting my dad and hubby to go with me for fun)

Ultimategirl-I have a Trek also. (Mountain bike) I absolutely LOVE it! Hope you get your out on Sunday!

I have a hybrid (characteristics of a mountain bike & a road bike) by Giant. I think Giant actually makes frames for Trek, if I recall. Yeah - today's pretty much shot, and tomorrow will be rainy, but Sunday is supposed to be sunny and warm!

--Janis

Hi guys-got in a short ride with my family yesterday. Hubby loves his new bike (he got a Giant Iguana-I'm gonna call it the big lizzard just to mess with him) We'll see what I can get into today! Have a good one.

You could call it Gamara or Godzilla or something. :-)

I have a Giant Cypress DX. I'm sure there's a dirty joke in there about riding around on big wood, but I'm classier than that. (not)

--Janis (Going out for a pleasure ride right now)

tofat, haven't been on the stationary bike with the pedometer again. But I went to the spinning website and it claims that most participants "travel" about 15-20 miles in a 40 minute class depending on their cadence. Hope this helps you estimate your "distance" in your spinning classes.

Today got in a short but fun 30-minute ride. Hope everyone has a great day!

I went out today... for a whopping trip mileage of 37.81 miles! Ouch! About 20 of those miles were on a bike trail, so at least it was nice pavement, nice scenery, and graded. Now my knees are sore, though. Not a bad-knee-problem sore, just a quads-meet-knees sore.

Talking to one of my other friends tonight, he said the benefit to having toe-cages or cycling shoes that clip into the pedals is that you can use the hamstrings as well as the quads, because you can pull on the up motion and drag your foot horizontally, too, so you're using your muscles for the entire revolution, instead of just the pushing motion. I'm not sure what this does to your energy level, but somehow I imagine it helps your endurance, and gives you a better workout because you're using multiple sets of muscles instead of just your quads. I think I'll look into some. I've been wondering what the point was, other than to be a cycling geek in spandex with all the gear.

--Janis

ok, im sooo totally wanting to get out on my bike!!!
last night i ate SO much pizza (i think i had 80 points yesterday. :-(
and a friend came over and we talked until 7 a.m. - so i slept til 4 p.m.!!
plus, it's supposed to rain ALL week here! grrr!!!

i WILL start riding sooon!
til then, i'll just keep reading about your lovely bikerides! lol

It's raining here today and I went to spinning class during lunch. Class is 60 minutes with a few minutes of off-the-bike stretches at the end. I seem to be in the middle of the pack as far as cadence, so based on the info I got off the spinning website, I'm going to say I went about 24 miles. I was soaking after class and definitely worked harder than I do when riding outside with hubby.

Janice, I know what you mean about "cycling geek in spandex." We have those biking shorts and the padding in them does help the rear end. But hubby always puts regular shorts over them because he feels so silly in the spandex. The spinning bikes have toe cages and I can feel my hamstrings work more than without them and my quads don't feel so worn out. Plus, you can pedal harder and faster without fear of your foot slipping off the pedal. That's happened to me and it is not fun.

Hi guys-I've been looking into bike shoes and had planned on getting a pair of mountain bike ones. Well, the bike catalogs are now showing biking SANDALS. I'm wondering if I would like those better. It'd stay nice and cool and I rarely ride in cold weather. I wish they had some in the local shops so I could check out more than a picture.

No ride for me again due to some big wind and a bad cold. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do spinning in the morning. Guess I'll see tomorrow. Have a great one.

I just ordered 3 mesh padded liners to wear under shorts or other clothes. You can pick up unpadded spandex shorts (if you're so inclined) just about anywhere, cheaper than at the bike stores and wear them over the liners. (Or, capris, shorts and other stuff - or whatever pants you already own). www.teamestrogen.com has plus-sized liners and cycling clothing for us "less in shape" chicks, too... although it seems I'm something like a 3x when normally I'm a 1x elsewhere... *sigh* But it's a lot closer to my measurements than most of the bike clothes I've seen for what looks to be women the size of 11-year old girls.

But, after my long bike ride on Sunday and my sore butt yesterday, I'm ready to invest in some sort of padding. Ironically, my chiropractor says cycling seems to agree with me, and it's not knocking out my hip alignment or screwing up my back. (But I've been going to the gym and strengthening my erector-spinae muscles for a few months too). Aside from my leg muscles being sore, my shoulders were a bit sore as well as my abs. So, it's not just my legs getting a work-out!

Sandals vs. shoes - I'd go with shoes. Sandals on bikes aren't a great idea - usually people tell you that, but I can tell you from experience. When I was a kid, it suddenly started raining, and of course all the oil on the road washes off in the first couple of minutes... into the gutter. I was crossing a side-street, and down I went - skidded about 15 feet on my bare ankles. NOT a fun experience, nor the infections and recovery time it took after that. I'm just lucky I didn't break something, too. Basically - you can never predict an accident, but you'd like to be somewhat protected.

Mountain-biking has a lot of sticks, rocks, poison ivy and stuff. When I prepared for hiking Mt. Washington 3 years ago, everything I read said "get hiking boots, not sandals" and told me to wear long jeans, not shorts because it keeps you from getting scuffed up. Also, you probably want to wear some kind of socks so you don't get stinky sandal-feet, or blisters. It's not quite the same as a liesurely walk on the boardwalk.

Ultimately it's up to you, but I'd suggest erring on the side of safety and being a little bit hotter. (Then again, I'm used to wearing 3 layers of wool and a polyester powdered-wig in 96 degree summer heat playing my fife for fun... and rarely wear shorts).

I think I will look into some cycling shoes. I only slipped off the pedals a few times, but yeah - I think I'd prefer to share the burden with my hamstrings instead of just winding up with sore quads and foot-arches.

--Janis

Silly me never thought about the practical side of protection on the trails. I'll stick with the mountain bike shoes. Just gotta get my butt in gear and go get them.

As for the padded bike shorts, I've succumbed to wearing them and now can't imagine not having that added protection. Makes rides a lot more comfy.

Had to cancel on spinning due to bad cold. I'm very disappointed, but hopefully will be able to go tomorrow.