RL Biking Effort

[Barkeep49]

The purpose of this thread is to chronicle my desire to bike more between now and the end of the school year (next June).

Background: Last summer I made a concerted effort to walk to my summer job, about a 25 minute walk, rather than drive. I enjoyed this greatly and continued this practice this summer. Only there was a difference. The difference being some added weight loss. During the past school year I had put on enough weight that I literally broke the buttons on 3 pairs of pants that I owned. This weight was put on mainly during the first 3/4 of the year, as the school provides free, and fairly high quality lunches, and I didn't adjust my dinner diet enough to compensate for all of the extra calories I was taking in at lynch.

At this point in the summer, I have now gotten down to the weight I entered the year with, and that I have basically maintained for the past 8 or so years, which is still about 15-20 pounds above what I think is my ideal weight (I am currently 6"2' and weigh roughly 215 pounds). I did this with no real effort in terms of diet and no regular exercise besides my walking into work.

With gas prices being what they were, a colleague of mine started biking into school over the summer. I became inspired. While I live about twice as far as he does, Google Maps told me that my drive was 5.9 miles, which seemed like a reasonable distance.

I went to the shed at my parents house and dug out my old bike only to find myself remembering why I stopped riding in high school. I stopped riding after my bike and I were hit by a car, causing all sorts of damage to the bike. So basically that bike was out of the question. Instead I appropriated my brother's bike, with his permission as he hasn't used it in forever.

Using a pump I had at home, I put some air into the tires and rode into work yesterday. It was awful, so much so that I didn't even make it the whole distance. I could tell that the tire pressure was too low. So I went and filled it with air at a nearby gas station. The ride home was still awful. When I got home I discovered that it appeared as though the brakes were rubbing up against the wheel, obviously slowly my progress considerably.

I had previously decided to take a bike ride today, to see if the bike ride to school was something I could do. So before the ride, I got out all sorts of tools and spent 45 minutes or so messing with the brakes. I now have the brakes so that they're not creating friction with the wheels, however, they brakes themselves are not nearly as effective as I would prefer. So I am going to take it into a cycling shop tomorrow and have them fix it.

Despite the somewhat lackluster breaks, I embarked on my bike ride. It was mostly a success, getting me to my destination, an ice cream shop that had been written up for having a fantastic milk shake in the paper. Fitness is definitely a goal with this endeavor, as is saving on gas and emissions, but I felt that this milk shake was a good incentive for the ride.

On the way back home, I decided to time myself (as I'd made a couple of stops along the way going there). According to the Google Map Pedometer it was a 7.045 mile ride, which I completed in 31 minutes. I was very pleased with this.

I then decided to plot my ride to school, using the bike path I planned to take. I found that it was going to be a just a touch over 9 miles, meaning if I were able to keep today's pace it would currently take me about 45 minutes, right on the upper limit of what I'd be willing to bike once school starts.

While it's 50% longer than taking the driving route, I've decided that tomorrow I'm going to stick with the bike path for several reasons. First, I don't trust my brakes enough on a street, where a more rapid stop might be required. And even if I did trust my brakes, not having to deal with drivers is not only safer (for both of us), but less stress inducing. Third, hills are killing me at the moment. This will no doubt change, as I get into better shape, but for the moment, the fairly level terrain of the bike path is quite appealing.

So the plan for tomorrow is to bike into work for the first time and then, assuming that goes well, take in the bike to be tuned up. I should then get the bike back Wednesday or Thursday, which means I'll have at least 1 day more this week to bike into work, and then next week as well during teacher meetings.

My plan, assuming all goes as I expect, is to ride until roughly Day Light savings in the fall, and then to pick back up as soon as the weather permits in the spring. Because of other commitments I will only likely be able to ride in 1-3 days a week, but I would like to do it as much as possible.

I've started this dynasty to provide me with a little public accountability, so hopefully after the initial bit of getting all the pieces into place, most posts will simply me recording that I actually did ride in, as I should. I would expect future posts to be rather short.

[Passacaglia]

Glad we could give you all that advice about the train.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Glad we could give you all that advice about the train.

I couldn't make the train make sense for me, where as biking does, smart alec .

So I rode to school yesterday and it took about 45 minutes, exactly what I expected based on Sunday's ride. This was good. I arrived all hot and sweaty, which is bad, but I also left in the middle of the day when it would be hotter than if I was riding in the morning, and I also cooled off quickly and don't think I smelled of activity after I changed clothes, washed off a little, and applied deodorant.

This is all good. What is bad, is that the brakes went kaput again getting to the trail to go home. After struggling to ride, I eventually had to be called to be picked up about half of the way home. My bike is now sitting in my car. I will be taking it to a cycle shop today, but have to admit I'm strongly considering doubling down and just buying a new bike, as my current bike is a mountain bike (bought by my brother for its looks) and it seems that if I am going to be riding it on trails and streets that a more normal bike might be better.

[Passacaglia]

Just kidding. Anyway, gmap pedometer rocks.

[Barkeep49]

So upon learning that my bike would take about $150 in repairs, I decided to buy a new bike and tomorrow morning will be the proud owner of a Trek 7100, which cost another $200 on top of what the repair would have been. However, the new bike fits my frame better and is not a pure mountain bike. The plan is take said Trek and bike to school tomorrow morning. I will be disappointed if the bike change doesn't knock off at least 5 minutes of ride time.

[Barkeep49]

Rode the new bike today and it lopped 10 minutes or so off my time, which makes biking a lot more managable. I timed my cool down today as well and I was essentially cooled down with-in 10 minutes, which is also a good sign.

[Barkeep49]

I made it in today in basically the same time as yesterday (30 second less), which was five minutes faster than my first day with the bike. All that is good. What is bad, is that I had to really push myself much harder the whole way to do that. As part of my ride at the very end I go through an underpass to get to the side of the road that I want. I get off my bike at this point and my legs were really feeling it when I did. Taking off the weekend, as was my plan, is looking mighty good right now.

[Barkeep49]

Had a slight set back yesterday as I accidently misjudged a sidewalk cutout and ended up jumping a curb instead. I am scraped up pretty bad on my left elbow, got a noticable something on my chin, and a few scratches on my knees. Otherwise I, and the bike, were fine, though I did take it very easy the rest of the way home. Rode again today and it felt fine and I maintained my previous pace, which was good.

[Barkeep49]

I cut at least a minute and a half (got to less than 28.5 door to door) off my best overall time and even more off my best return trip time. It was a good thing. Less good? Seeing the asinine head of one of the places I work.

[Barkeep49]

Set a new best time on the way there, and I knew I was going to do it too. Felt really good and fast. On the way back the wind was a killer and so it was like the opposite of the way there, though my time was only 3 minutes slower. Overall, I feel so far so good.

[Barkeep49]

Had my first rainout today. And tomorrow doesn't look promising either, which means I likely won't ride until Monday. Hopefully my muscles don't regress too much .

[Barkeep49]

I went for a long ride on Sunday, as it was supposed to rain on Monday. It did rain, but I don't think one day off was enough for my body to recover. I felt it riding home yesterday, where I was 4 minutes off my best time (15%), even going really hard at the end, and I felt it even worse this morning and went very easy the whole way. I plan to go easy again the whole way home (though it makes me feel like the old men I'm used to passing) and we'll see if Friday happens as there is rain again in the forecast, but it's supposed to be clear during the day.

[Barkeep49]

Yesterday I decided that the reason my times have been slower is that the weather is getting cooler. It's supposed to warm up Thursday/Friday so we'll see if I can get my times back down.

Additionally, a secondary goal of this has been weight loss and while I'm not going to weigh myself until the season ends (as I've gotten into habitual scaling before), I am on a new belt buckle. Barely, but there, so that's a good thing.

[RPI-Fan]

What kind of time/distance/speed are you doing?

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

What kind of time/distance/speed are you doing?

According to the google pedometer map, it's about 9 miles. My best time is 27.5 minutes. Yesterday my body felt good, there wasn't much wind, but I was only able to do it in 33 minutes, going all out, which is substantially more on a % basis even if it's not all that much more time, speaking absolutely.

[Barkeep49]

Weather was beautiful for my rode home yesterday and it still took me a touch over 30 mins. I decided that after transporting my bike in the car, I had failed to put the seat at the right level. Raised my seat for the morning ride and it felt good. Hopefully I can get the time to back it up this afternoon.

[Barkeep49]

I rode hard home, but still felt for sure that I was still going to be around the 30+ minute mark. Turns out I did it in a touch under 27, which is a new personal best. The big adjustment was that I raised my seat. I'd had to transport my bike in a car at one point and when I put the seat back on I didn't put it high enough. So I have to believe that while weather does play a part (as it was absolutely gorgeous yesterday), the bike fitting my body makes a difference as well.

[Barkeep49]

Still at this. Last week while the weather was uncertain on Friday, I didn't ride more because I didn't feel like it. This week due to illness and holidays I didn't ready Tues-Thurs but did ride today and it felt great. It was a little weird because I hit this one spot and all of a sudden it got noticeably warmer. To the point where I took off my gloves. It was very strange.

[Barkeep49]

Was able to take advantage of some real nice weather for about a 30 mile ride. It was a very nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

[Barkeep49]

Exercised on an elliptical machine today and yesterday and it was amazing how having more energy, as I did yesterday, made the exercise so much easier than today when I had none. With using a machine, rather than biking, it wasn't a good experience. I really think being out in nature, and having an objective I couldn't fudge (getting to work or home) makes a difference for me.

With that said, it's simply become too dark for me to bike. When day light savings happens I might get a week or two more of riding, but I think I might be done for the winter.

[Barkeep49]

Had a chance to ride for the first time in 09 yesterday. The good news is that it was a lovely day. The bad news was that my iPod has disappeared, so that was a bummer. Worse news was that during the part of my journey that was gravel, it was VERY slow going as the path was completely waterlogged. Fortunately the 2/3 or so that is paved was lovely.