Don’t Forget Your Booties.

Let me reintroduce myself.  I was formerly a cyclist, cellist, martial artist, and teacher.  Since I moved (the landlady foreclosed!) I’ve been tech support.  I’ve recently rescheduled my time, but I can’t spare the 2 hours a day to bike to work.  It stinks, and I’ll figure something out sometime, but not right now.

During the last week of December I decided I missed my bike too much.  The sun was out and I thought “-15º windchill is as bad as it gets.  Let’s do this!”

24 minutes later my legs hurt and I had learned a very valuable lesson: Don’t Forget Your Booties.  The wool socks didn’t do much for me.  Everything else was fine though!  Legs, arms, torso, head, hands, everything was covered.  Except my feet.  Somehow I managed to keep all my toes.  Lucky Me!

–

Today, however, was a workout of a different kind.  I decided I wanted to work my chest and belly.  Honestly, it’s been a while.  I thought I’d start easy:

One Hundred Twenty Five pushups.

Two Hundred Crunches.

I am insane.

Serve Chilled

Foggy, temperature in the 30ºs.  Chill, humid, and dark but for a nearly invisible spot of blue-white light.  I’ve covered every inch of skin with some kind of odd thin black stretchy stuff.  Helmet, headphones, a facemask, and the inherent clumsiness of gloves.  Breathe carefully, don’t fog the glasses.  Climb over, stretch, clip in, wobble.  Breathe.

Release!

–

You know what happens after that:  the long glide.

I’d like to pretend it was like flying, but it wasn’t.  Not really.  True, at one point in my ride I felt perfectly comfortable: my pedaling was effortless and my body — weightless.

The number machine completely failed.  My cyclometer no longer functions.  The components on my bike are slowly wearing down to dust.  New bike next year?  Not likely.  It’s a good frame, though.  We’ll see.

Helmet?

What are your thoughts on helmets?  I agree with this list.

While I will always wear a helmet in traffic, I have to agree with Yehuda Moon:

Styrofoam Hat?

A Styrofoam hat is not the solution to the problem.

At the same time, I know the solution to the problem will not be implemented any time soon.  And so, I wear a helmet because I bike in traffic, because in the long run I’d rather be safe than brain dead.

Frosty!

I’ve had a cold all week, and I’ve scraped frost off my windshield all week, too. If I didn’t have a cold, and had been getting enough sleep and hydration…. I would still be in bed at 6am. It’s dark and cold and 40 minutes and bleh. I never have time to ride anymore. Too much commuting. Really, an hour a day? Gah.

Maybe it’s just that I’m exhausted from the cold. Or exhausted from lack of sleep. Or exhausted from lack of free time. Which leads to another thought:

I live for karate, really enjoy cello, and need to work. If I’m going to bike at all, it’s got to be the commute. I can barely find time for my cello.

The big question is: can I afford the extra time commuting by bike?  The only day I can bike in is Tuesday.

Today it snowed.  Though it was beautiful, I’m still fighting this cold.  Let’s see  how Tuesday works out.

Quickie

No idea how I managed to make a 10 mile ride into a 40 minute ordeal, or maybe my Odo is flunking again.  It was all hills, at any rate.  The return trip, 6 miles, felt much faster but still took 24 min.

It is so nice to be out on the bike again!

New Route

I’m still alive!  Really this time!

OK maybe not.  But I did bike in on Tuesday.  Now I’m on vacation!  If the rain stops I’ll bike again on Wednesday.  We’ll see.

Chic Cyclist: Repair Station at MIT

Chic Cyclist: Repair Station at MIT.

For my Boston Bike Buddies.

–

I had been hoping to bike in today, but I knew last night there was no chance of me waking up at 5am this morning.  I did manage to wake up by 5:45, so I’m getting there.  Alternatively, if I could manage to get my stuff together at night, I could get up later.

Right.

Long commute

My new, long, commute was a bit of a workout, I’ll admit.  I started feeling tired about 10 miles in.

It was nice to wake up so much later than normal (8am as opposed to 6) but leaving at twilight is going to stink.  I managed to stick my tail-light to one of my jersey pockets.  I never understood how awesome those pockets were.  For some reason, I imagined they would catch wind and create lots of drag.  Today I carried two sandwiches, my phone, and keys/ID, and all without a backpack.

As soon as I got to work I dropped my Odo.  Ugh!  Here’s what I remember of the numbers:

48min, 14.9mi
avg 18.4mph, max 32mph
78ºF, Odo 1000mi!
Cadence: 85

Yay!

Dark ages

I’ve moved. I’m no longer only 6 miles from work. Now it’s around 15 miles. I know what you’re thinking. (OK, I’m pretending to know what you’re thinking)  You’re thinking I’ll have to leave the house at 5:30am.  It’s true, but I’ll be testing my ride on Saturday.  I only have to be there at 11 so I can leave whenever.

Fortunately my shift will be changing next month: 8-5!

It’s been a while since I’ve ridden any distance on the bike.  Due to the sensitivity issue, knee issue, rain, and moving,  I’ve been driving.  And since I’ve passed my big test at the karate studio I haven’t been working out every Saturday morning.

This all leads up to a feeling of lazyness.  I miss the thrill of speed, I miss the focus, the pain, the monster leg strength.  I miss the independence.  I miss not needing to worry about the price of gas, about traffic.  I miss biking.

I’d have biked last night, to warm myself up to it, except the front derailleur is catching the chainring.  It sounds like a chainsaw.  I brought it down to the shop and they’re replacing it.

I miss my bike.

Bike to Work, day 37

First day back.  I usually don’t expect much when I’ve been off the bike this long.  In spite of this, I pushed for speed:

0:20′41, 6.75mi
avg 19.6mph, max 29.5mph
68ºF, Odo 982.2mi
Cadence: 90

Beautiful results!

–

I made a new friend on the ride home: Ian.  He thought I was someone else, heh.  We raced about and drafted eachother.  Fun!

0:21′05, 6.75mi
avg 19.2mph, max 33.0mph
87ºF, Odo 989.0mi
Cadence: 90

Too bad about that stop at the intersection, and that I bonked myself racing Ian.  Good day!

I likely won’t be biking next week, since I’m moving.