What gets dropped off

must get picked up...well, if you value the thing dropped off, that is.  Or want to keep it.  Or can't leave it dropped off cause then the phone calls start, threats are issued, and the police get involved...so, yeah, I picked up the Murano.  But first, I rode!

 

As you can see, I took it easy.  It was a beautiful morning for a ride, and I should have taken a longer route.  I'm ok, though with 30ish miles this week; next week, hopefully, I'll start adding to that total.

I may post another ride today depending on how Brandy feels, so you'll just have to wait and see what the final total is.  Suspenseful, yes?!

Drop off the Murano

and bike home.  This ride required that I load up all my gear (and bike!) before leaving for work; thankfully I didn't forget anything.  Of course it's just a short 5 miles to home, so it wouldn't have been the end of the world to make a trip home and back for the forgotten item.

I didn't realize what an assist I was getting from the wind until I headed north, then, it hit me.  If you look at the map on mapmyrun.com, you'll see that very little of the ride was headed north, so, that's why I felt pretty good!

I suppose I need to look down at my watch to see where I'm at, mileagewise.  I mean, I could have gone another .04 miles to round out the ride, eh?  Yeah...eh.

Another nice ride

Same basic route, with a little variation to the first mile, which shifted the following miles a bit.  But, lets just say for arguments sake that they're all equivalent so I can feel good about myself.

So, with that (blatently false) assumption in hand, every mile but the first and last ones were faster today.  I had a couple of more stops for lights today, but over all, I just felt stronger.  I also had my backpack on today with my water bladder, so maybe I also kept hydrated knowing I wouldn't run out.

My basic 10 mile route is a big "around the block" type ride that negates any wind or elevation advantage that I might have in a point to point ride.  I head south first and you can guess which way the wind was blowing from my times.  I made it up on miles 5-8 with the wind at my back.

Current temp is 90 F with a "feels like" of 95.  I didn't really feel it until I had to stop for a light; I was pretty happy to get that hot wind blowing in my face once the light turned.

Back...to the place I live...

...cause it sure don't feel like home!  That trip out west really got my homesick juices flowing; of course, we went to places that I lived before (Denver - aka donkeytown, and CoSprgs - aka place of my HS graduation.)

Denver was the same for me - too crowded, too far from the mountains, and too many donkey fans.  CoSprgs, on the other hand, was AWESOMESAUCE!  sigh.  WTB some mountains for Indiana!

Anyway, here's my ride from today:

The bike was in the shop while we were out west, so it's all tuned up with new top and middle gear front chain rings.  Of course, it's still a mountain bike, so, top speed still isn't that fast...and the knobbies and full suspension don't help.  8-P

My goal for this ride was twofold.  Assess my conditioning level and finish under 40 minutes.  It took me more that a moderate effort to finish under 40 and at the end I was struggling to maintain 15 mph.

I'm hoping to get out on my running schedule for these little rides.  Of course, I'd like to add mileage as my strength and wind increase, and I'd also like to go for a longer ride on Saturdays or maybe on my off Friday.  All of this is in addition to lollygag riding with my wife, which isn't too hard - 8-10 mph or so, 8-10 miles at most.

If only the dang heat would go away, I'd be set.  At least I get to create my own wind.

...a hot, steamy, melting wind...but a wind nonetheless...

Hammer Time!

Note to self: Might have to start going two columns for bike rides.

A funny thing happened on Monday; my false tooth fell out.  This event disrupted my plans for a solo ride yesterday as I had hoped to find a dentist that could stick it back in my head that morning.  I didn't, but did find a dentist that could glue it in yesterday afternoon.

Dr. Steve Mosby just moved to town two months ago, and in the course of yakking while he fixed me up, I invited him to go with me on a ride this morning.  Now, I didn't know this guy from Adam, but it turned out he was a big time cyclist back in the day.  He thought that a ride today was a great idea, even at my proposed pace of 14-15 mph.

So, today, at 6 am, we met up at my father-in-law's house and set off.  As you can see, we hammered out.  It...was...GLORIOUS!  Oh...my....gooooooodness!  We were at about the same fitness level and without even discussing it, set out at a little less than comfortable pace.

The sun was shining; it was a bit cool; there was no traffic.  I don't think I could have asked for a nicer day.  Steve and I yakked a lot about biking; he is a wealth of knowledge. ( I got some good advice for when Brandy and I start on our tandem adventures.)  It was like we have known each other for years, and the whole bike ride was pure joy!

If I could upload the elevation chart, you would see why we went so fast on the way out - it was almost all down hill.  And since it was an out and back...what goes down, must come back up again.  Even at that, we maintained a comfortable pace coming back although I was pretty winded at times (Steve provided me with my excuse - It's the altitude!)  Thankfully, the last two miles were generally downhill or flat.

So, my legs are trashed, I feel exhilarated, and I made a new friend.  And all of that before 7:30 am.

That's what I call a great start to a day!

Brandy bikes, I bike

I didn't get in the hammer time solo run that I was planning, but I did go on this ride with my wife.  Unfortunately, we started out a bit late, and the heat was already rising.  The out part (miles 1-3) was gentle (for me) inclines, and, as you can see, we were much faster on the return.

My wife still needs quite a bit of time on the bike for the shifting timing, getting comfy, and just general on-the-bike experience.  It will come, but only time on the bike will bring it about.  Conditioning will also come with more riding, so I am content to slow down if it means that we can add biking to our list of activities that we can enjoy together.

Michael runs; I bike.

My father-in-law turned 66 today and decided to celebrate with a 20 mile run.  Hey, don't ask me, that's her side of the family.  Anyways, since I am in town, I got to be the pack mule for his water and Gatorade.

The day started out cool, in the fifties, and warmed up to the high sixties by the end of the ride.  Since I needed to be around in case Michael wanted water, I poked along on the opposite side of the road as him.

I took a bio-break after the first turn around while Michael forged ahead; I was able to get cruising after that to catch up.  Lewistown has some nice hills, and I was on a downhill part.  I let the legs work off some of that stored energy and got the bike to 28 mph or so.  Unfortunately, I caught up to Michael way too quick.

At the 18 mile mark, Michael had some cramp issues that plagued him for the remainder of the run.  We stopped 4 or 5 times for him to stretch and try to get them to go away.  He was able to make it home under his own power, and even though I offered him the bike when he first cramped up, he declined.

Michael ended up with a 3:04 and change for his time, which was 6 minutes faster than his 20 miler two weeks ago.  That particular run was not hindered by cramps either.

I may take the bike out tomorrow morning for a solo ride just to work off some of this vacation fat.  I'd also like to get up to cruising speed and see how my endurance has suffered due to the sporadic exercise of the last month.