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! 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!
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.
Yeah for shoes/clips/pedals! I can't wait to get some!
Today hubby and I rode bikes along the river trail. We went a bit further than last week, about 16.5 miles. Each week we add distance but try to maintain the same time.
However, today's time wasn't too good because hubby's bike was giving him problems. About 2-3 miles into the ride, one side of his front brake started rubbing against the tire. We kept stopping so he could adjust the cables but that didn't seem to work. Then he tried riding with the front brake completely disabled for a while but wasn't really comfortable doing that. We didn't have the proper tools with us to loosen the pad from the thing that holds the pads (don't know the technical term for it). So it took us about 45 minutes to go almost 8.5 miles.
About half-way through, after we turned around to head back, the front brake rubbed through the tire and caused an air-leak so we had to stop and patch it. Luckily we carry patch kits and manual bicycle pumps for air. We haven't had to patch a tire in years so were out of practice. What was nice was that many bicyclists rode by and asked if we needed help or anything. We returned back without any problems. Hubby rode all the way with his front brake disabled but he rode cautiously in an attempt to avoid situations in which he might have to suddenly brake.
So this afternoon he's off to get a new tube and possible a new tire. He's "threatening" to get a new road bike, but he better wait until I can get one, too! Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Hi everyone-had a great weekend. Watched hubby do a duathalon Saturday. He did really well. Under the time he was hoping for.
Sherry-you asked if I was going to do tris or dues with my hubby. Well, I'm having some huge emotions about this issue lately. I REALLY want to do them. I think it would be great for us to do that together. My problem lies with my body-I had ankle surgery just over a year ago. I had blown out all the ligaments/tendons, and it would give out on me without warning. Well, the surgery went great, rehab was long and painful, but no problems. I was told that my other ankle will probably need the surgery down the line for the some reasons (I have severely sprained each ankle over a dozen times). SO-I want to run, but I am terrified I'll end up hurting an ankle and needing the surgery earlier that otherwise. The big problem is, sometimes I'll run and think its going well and then I'll get home and an hour later either 1 or both ankles will swell and throb-I hate that it doesn't give me a sign when I'm running, so I'd KNOW the limit. ANYWAYS, I AM going to try to start a running program with the intent of trying a sprint triathalon. I was so upset watching everyone race Sat. and not being able to participate so I'm going to give it a try. Wish me luck.
Boy, I hope that paragraph made sense. My brain is just whirling on that topic.
Sorry for the bike troubles on your ride. I hope everything gets fixed up for next weekend. My hubby was out shopping for a new road bike this weekend. He's hoping to get one before his next race in June. He currently has a 20 some year old Schwinn that the wheels keep blowing spokes. Way overdue for an upgrade!
Eek! Yeah - my front brake rubs on one side slightly, but it's on the metal rim, at least. I've tried adjusting it, but am not sure what I can do. I think it's just the wheel rim is really slightly bent out of shape, or I didn't put it back on right when I last quick-released it, because it only brushes at one point around the rotation.
I try to ask if people need help. I helped a lady on the bike path get her chain loose after it got jammed between the rear frame and sprockets. Mostly she just didn't think to loosen up the quick-release to relieve the pressure of the frame & sprocket. I've got my little emergency kit that I bought with the bike, because I remember when I was a kid I always had issues where I'd run over a thumbtack 25 miles away from home, and would have to take the train back. I've got a patch kit, a frame-pump, and a couple of "leatherman" swiss-army tools made for bikes with all the allen wrenches, screw drivers, things to get the tire off the rim, etc. I've found while doing maintenance at home that it's too small (not enough torque) for things like adjusting the seat or changing the pedals, but it's fine for emergency fixes, or things that would require maintenance on the road. It all fits in a little bag under the seat. They also now have banana-boat sunblock that comes in a big glue-stick applicator thing, too, so I keep in there for when I realize I left home without putting on sun-block.
Yesterday was nice out, but I had a doctor's appointment (far away) so I couldn't ride my bike. On the way there, I was pondering, "When was the last time I got my car inspected?" Eek... apparently I've been riding my bike so much, I forgot! It was overdue in March! So, I went and did that immediately after, before I ended up with a ticket.
There are a couple of good things about a bike. No gasoline, no registration fees (if you don't want to register it), you don't need to insure it, you don't need to license it, you don't pay excise tax on it (a foreign concept to me until I moved to MA), and I doubt you'll ever get a speeding ticket. (Although you can be ticketted... I had a friend who got a failure-to-obey-a-traffic-control-device ticket when he didn't stop at a stop-sign and hit a car...) It was a mild accident, nobody was hurt (just bruised from landing on the hood, the bike a little bent) but he was in the wrong, so he got ticketted. And inspection is kind of left up to the individual instead of having it be yet another money-making scheme for the government. That's not to say I disagree with car inspections or the need for them, I just wonder why you have to pay 5 times to get your car licensed, registered, inspected, excise-taxed, insurance, etc. It would be nice to just have a lump-sum, or with payment-plan options, like insurance does to you.
It seems to me taxes, insurance and the like were all grouped together with the mortgage, when I had a house, so you didn't have to think about 14 different things... Maybe it's not a big deal to most people, but I'm flakey and have a hard time remembering to put on pants before I leave the house, half the time.
Everyone asks me about duathlons and triathlons. The problem is anything involving a bike involves running, too. I can't run to save my life, nor do I wish to. It's just too much impact for my taste, and I suspect I have knee problems that only show themselves when I do impact-related exercises. If they had a bike/swim thing, that might be interesting. Somebody's got to be last, after all.
--Janis <-- worst on the swim team for 7 years as a kid
I'm doing ok, but the weather hasn't let up. Tonight I'm going to the gym for sure though... I've been slacking too much lately, and I'm beginning to feel some regression...
Janis-I know just what you mean. Our weather map shows only rain for th the foreseeable future! I dont mind riding in sprinkles, but we're talking downpours and storm like wind. We played softball in the pouring rain yesterday. It was cold and miserable at times, but it kinda reminded me of being a kid and getting all muddy and wet. We actually had a blast overall. Hope you got to the gym. At least your using what you're paying for on those icky days. I'm at the gym between 4-6 times a week. Makes me feel better for spending the money if I use it often.
Am I too late to get in on this? I've been reading the thread, but didn't even want to think of joining until I got my little odometer thingy, which I got last night!
I paced out the main part of my ride, and it came to 2.5 miles one way, so I know I'm doing over 5 miles! I plan on adding alot more, working out a new route in my head, now I just have to ride it and see how 'rideable' it is.
I'm hoping I can ride today! It's raining but if it lightens up I'll definately go anyway! I'm rarin to try out my new odometer!
Sorry I haven't posted much recently. Been really tired, haven't been sleeping well, and have made some poor food choices lately. But I've kept up with the exercise and think maybe I'm doing a bit too much for my amount of sleep and my eating. So I took an unplanned but necessary rest day yesterday and today is my planned rest day. I'm making an effort to eat better so I can keep up with the exercise, and the sleeping will just have to resolve itself in time (I hope). I was so tired that I yawned twice during spin class on Wednesday!
Tomorrow hubby and I plan a long ride (for us, anyway), about 30 miles. I am already trying to think of foods to take to fuel us on our ride and I'm thinking: almonds, peanuts, baby carrots, bananas, lots of water. Any other ideas?
Hubby got new tires and tubes for his bike. His were pretty old and getting close to needing replacing, anyway, so at least the timing of the tire tear was OK! He looked at road bikes while he was at the bike shop and the cheapest one he saw was $1000. Oh my. So I think we'll have to do some shopping around. We don't plan to race, we just want to ride faster than we do on our mountain bikes.
Brandy, I hope your training plan goes well. Your ankle problem sounds painful - ouch! Don't overtrain and really mess up your ankle, running isn't worth it (IMHO, anyway). Are there any types of races where you could bike and swim, and skip the running? I would love that, hate to run, too many things jiggle.
Janice, I got a chuckle reading what you wrote about the benefits of going places on a bike. I have to share that I got a ticket on my bike when I was 13 or 14 years old! Yes!! The ticket was for "riding on the wrong side of the street." I had to go to "traffic school" for bike and skate board offenders on a Saturday morning. So there I was, a skinny geeky girl with glasses surrounded by all these long hair boys with skateboards. My best friend and I used to ride our bikes to school and one day hers had a flat. No time to fix it, so we rode double on mine. As we approached the school, we crossed the street, which is why I was on the wrong side. When we saw the cop, she jumped off my bike so I guess I'm lucky that I didn't get written up for that, too! So now you know my deep, dark secret.
Welcome, Kim! Never too late, we're just doing what we can to get in our 500 miles. Look forward to hearing about your rides!
"offenders on a Saturday morning. So there I was, a skinny geeky girl with glasses surrounded by all these long hair boys with skateboards."
Sounds like "The Breakfast Club!" You were such a wild-child, I'm sure.
It's still raining out, but I did go to the gym yesterday, and I got in 14.5 miles on the stationary bike. Ouch! I couldn't adjust it to be like my real bike, so my butt's sore now.
I wish I could say I was getting my money's worth out of my gym membership, but I've been really bad for the past month or so. I need to get back into going 3+ times a week. I was just "burned out" and frustrated, and needed a change. That's when I started focusing more on my bike (because it was a more interesting change) but I miss the gym. It's funny how some of the same people are there EVERY night. You'd think they didn't have a home, because it doesn't matter what night you go, they're still there. I guess those are the people known as "gym rats."
Hi, Kim! Welcome! Sure - jump in any time. No time limit, per se. Just join in!
Hope you can "forget" about Sunday's incident for a while and enjoy your day. Any special plans?
I thought I was the only one. Must be a musician thing! 
Sure - jump in any time. No time limit, per se. Just join in!