Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: accidental, bicycle, bike, cold, commute, commuting, competition, energy, exercise, fitness, office, ride, strength, warm, weather, work
The last couple of days brought some nice weather to ride in, at least compared to the very cold weather last week. When I rode to work last Monday it was 9 degrees. Monday and Tuesday of this week the temps were in the mid to upper 30s, which is still a bit cold, but that is almost 30 degrees warmer. For the ride home yesterday I had temps around 47 degrees, and it was beautiful.
The challenging part of the last couple of rides is that I notice that after not riding for almost a month I’m definitely not in the shape I was in before.
It’s amazing how fast one’s fitness level can decrease. I was only away from riding for a few weeks, but I can definitely notice a difference. I can feel myself getting some strength back over the last couple of rides, but I have been very tired and my joints and muscles have been complaining a bit.
I did see another bike commuter yesterday morning, which is the first one I’ve seen since things started to get really cold. He was friendly, and had a very nice bike. He came up behind me near the start of my route, and then left me in the dust at the first stoplight, but then I was able to catch up with him while he was waiting for the last stoplight on my route. I was proud of this accomplishment, since he had a super light Specialized road bike, and I had my chromoly Trek mountain bike with probably twenty or thirty pounds of stuff in my panniers. We had some friendly conversation when I caught up with him, and then I wished him a good ride as I turned off for my office.
That little bit of friendly competition got my blood pumping, and showed me that I still had a good bit of strength and energy left, it just needed some strong coaxing to show itself.
What’s the best part about realizing that I’m not as fit as I was before vacation?
Knowing that to get back to where I was I really don’t have to do anything different. I got to that fitness level by riding my bike to work, so if I keep riding my bike to work again I should get back there soon.
I think that is one of the best perks of bike commuting on a regular basis… accidental fitness.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bike, cold, commuting, comute, Florida, snow, utah, vacation, warm, weather
Well, I’m clearly past due on another post. I have been home from Christmas vacation for over a week now, but it has taken me a while to get back in the groove of day to day life.
I was in Florida while on vacation, and it was interesting to see the differences in the biking environment compared to my home in Utah. Here are some things I noticed:
- The roads are a lot less bike friendly. Lots of high traffic roads with no bike lanes and small shoulders.
- The drivers seemed less bike friendly as well. I didn’t ride at all while I was there, so this is kind of an assumption based on my observations, and some conversation with a Florida bicyclist.
- In spite of the above, I saw a lot of bicyclists. Large, small, old, young, rich, poor… bicyclists of all types were everywhere.
- A lot of the bicyclists I saw were riding on the sidewalk, often going against traffic. Maybe this was a response to the less than optimal riding space on the roads.
So I have to give props to all you Florida bicyclists, but I’m glad I get to ride in Utah.
It was good to get home after being gone for over two weeks, but it has been a struggle to get back in the saddle on a regular basis.
It was 9 degrees last Monday when I ventured out for my first ride of the new year. Wow, that was my coldest ride yet, and yes… that was COLD! I got creative with my clothing and added a couple of extra layers. Some parts of me were too warm, some parts were just right, and some parts were numb. Add that to the fact that I felt pretty tired after not riding for a couple of weeks, and Monday’s ride was not very enjoyable.
I ended up working from home the rest of the week due to weather, so I haven’t ridden since then, but I’m planning on riding tomorrow morning. Temps are supposed to be in the high 20s. Hmmm… maybe bicycling in Florida wouldn’t be so bad after all. 🙂
Happy New Year, and thanks for reading.
Drive My Bike 