As I have been getting back into my riding routine this month, I’m sitting at 180 miles, I have made some pleasant observations. Riders are talking to each other, that is good for all of us. The matching spandex wrapped, go fast guys, (I do envy you) are saying, on your left as they blow by, with room to spare. As they come towards me they acknowledge me with a nod or a simple raise of the fingers, not just one but all of the fingers. As I stop here and there on my route other riders, of all different levels, stop next me, not 30 feet away, and talk riding. Riders, again of different skill levels, will slow as they pass and exchange a few pleasant words. The biking population seems to be getting warm and fuzzy, we all win.
I would like to think my incoherent ranting here the last few months may take some of the credit and people have taken a second look at what their actions were communicating. Maybe it has been all of the waves and pleasant greetings I have given out this past year have actually caught on. Wouldn’t it be nice if one person could make that much positive change in the world so everyone would just enjoy what they were doing and took the time for one another? But then I don’t have that size of an ego, well maybe on occasion.
In reality, it’s more like the end of the riding season will soon be close and us recreational riders are beginning to thin out (wow, that was a fitting play on words). Those of us that are still out there are die hard and still find the time with shorter and cooler days. That may be camaraderie that deserves the acknowledgement. If it deserves the acknowledgement now, what was wrong with May, July and the rest of the year? Come on now, if we can do it as the season winds down how about the rest of the time. We are all out there with our health and well being in mind, lets spread a little of that to our minds and our mental health, enjoy the ride and the riders around you, you will live longer, life is short.
More changes? The weather is great. We are coming into the best time of the year in Colorado. Pleasant temperature and the ability for those evening rides after work with out the fear of thunder storms and ninety degree heat. Not a big deal but still a minor observation. Which brings up the idea of how long will us die hard people be able to ride. There are a bunch of you that will ride in much colder weather than I will, but I’m looking forward to getting in quite a few days in the deep winter months, like last year.
As far as personal changes go, to show that persistence does work. I had two pair of brand new XL Performance Elite bike shorts (great padding) I bought the beginning of August. Before I took the tags off of one of them I needed to return them for a Large. That is real progress! Not to mention I have found that on occasion I have actually passed a rider or two. Yes, I give words of encouragement as I go by.
Till the next post, be friendly out there.
Next Post; Something That My Son Will Approve Of
Ride Safe Out There, and Don’t Run Me Over (please)
“G”
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
My Training With S.W.A.G.
For those of you that did not read my last post, the definition of S.W.A.G. is Scientific Wild A_ _ Guess. That is my training bible that allows me to listen, read and glean from this and that to make my body work better. The key to this plan is, My Body. Again, if you have been reading my mixed bag of thought wondering you have noticed that I am big on listening to your own body. Thought wondering, I like that much better than what is known around our house as senior moments. Wow, I’m having one now. Bottom line, can S.W.A.G. work?
April (ish) 2008 I was finishing physical therapy for my right wrist being fused together. My Therapist and workman comp. Dr. talked me into bicycling again. I was over weight turned into a couch potato, since I had been in a cast or brace for the better part of a year. I got back on my Trek mountain bike remembering the joy I had had about 13 years earlier. I got in 5 miles and was sucking some serious air wondering what the hell happened. 30 years of being a cop with crappy eating habits couldn’t have anything to do with it. The fact that I was getting ready to, per my son, enter my 6th decade absolutely did not have anything to do with it, I feel like when I was 30, 3 decades ago?
As for today and SWAG, it’s slow but it has worked. I have lost, as of this morning, right at 65 lbs. When I started my training log last August I was averaging 12.1 mph on 12 mile rides. Not very impressive! At the end of this July, I was averaging 13.1 mph averaging 25.6 mile rides. The biggest accomplishment, I believe, is that I have been open to ideas and learned from many different Medias. There are other things in my log that show this. My cadence, last August I averaged 52 rpm, a year later 70. Still not impressive but for someone that was that out of shape I’m still going and having fun, I’ll take it, I’m not planning to qualify for Le Tour De France.
Have I hit plateaus? Yes just like the professional plans but I experimented and broke through in a way that was far from being conventional. I had dropped right at 55 lbs up to May of this year, a pound a week very slow and almost discouraging but an excellent way to lose. From May through the end of July I rode 881.75 miles, remember 17 months ago I was breathing hard at 5 miles. Have I improved? My weight loss, +2, talk about frustration. Yes I have heard all of the stories and pep talks about muscle
weighs more than fat. I hate to break the news but as an x-body builder that only goes so far. Especially with a smart-alecky son that lets me know that a tattoo once was in the middle of my bicep and never wrapped around my arm. So what did I do that was unconventional? Timing is everything, we took a family road trip. A week long road trip then a week in Vegas, with the guys, to recuperate from the family road trip. Bad food way too much alcohol and no riding. I lost 5 lbs and broke the plateau, go figure. Since getting back from Vegas I have ridden 125.8 miles in 6 days, lost another 5, every body is different.
Do I have bad days, Oh Yea I do! Some days I wonder if I will get home or over that next incline but I always make it, kind of like life and that song. “Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you’re the windshield”. Do I have bad habits? Yes we all do but I’m trying to work on them. I really need to find someone to ride with that is a speck faster. I need to try to keep up with people rather than just let them go by and watch them get smaller. But most of all I need to start riding some 8 to 10,000 foot climbs. I can not climb for anything, but that fear of what your body will really do for you is always lingering in the back of my mind, sound familiar?
Ok enough of my senior moments, if you have stuck to the end of this, my condolences, but thank you. Now go outside and breathe real air!
Next Post; Changes I See on the Road
Ride Safe Out There, and Don’t Run Me Over (please)
“G”
April (ish) 2008 I was finishing physical therapy for my right wrist being fused together. My Therapist and workman comp. Dr. talked me into bicycling again. I was over weight turned into a couch potato, since I had been in a cast or brace for the better part of a year. I got back on my Trek mountain bike remembering the joy I had had about 13 years earlier. I got in 5 miles and was sucking some serious air wondering what the hell happened. 30 years of being a cop with crappy eating habits couldn’t have anything to do with it. The fact that I was getting ready to, per my son, enter my 6th decade absolutely did not have anything to do with it, I feel like when I was 30, 3 decades ago?
As for today and SWAG, it’s slow but it has worked. I have lost, as of this morning, right at 65 lbs. When I started my training log last August I was averaging 12.1 mph on 12 mile rides. Not very impressive! At the end of this July, I was averaging 13.1 mph averaging 25.6 mile rides. The biggest accomplishment, I believe, is that I have been open to ideas and learned from many different Medias. There are other things in my log that show this. My cadence, last August I averaged 52 rpm, a year later 70. Still not impressive but for someone that was that out of shape I’m still going and having fun, I’ll take it, I’m not planning to qualify for Le Tour De France.
Have I hit plateaus? Yes just like the professional plans but I experimented and broke through in a way that was far from being conventional. I had dropped right at 55 lbs up to May of this year, a pound a week very slow and almost discouraging but an excellent way to lose. From May through the end of July I rode 881.75 miles, remember 17 months ago I was breathing hard at 5 miles. Have I improved? My weight loss, +2, talk about frustration. Yes I have heard all of the stories and pep talks about muscle
weighs more than fat. I hate to break the news but as an x-body builder that only goes so far. Especially with a smart-alecky son that lets me know that a tattoo once was in the middle of my bicep and never wrapped around my arm. So what did I do that was unconventional? Timing is everything, we took a family road trip. A week long road trip then a week in Vegas, with the guys, to recuperate from the family road trip. Bad food way too much alcohol and no riding. I lost 5 lbs and broke the plateau, go figure. Since getting back from Vegas I have ridden 125.8 miles in 6 days, lost another 5, every body is different.
Do I have bad days, Oh Yea I do! Some days I wonder if I will get home or over that next incline but I always make it, kind of like life and that song. “Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you’re the windshield”. Do I have bad habits? Yes we all do but I’m trying to work on them. I really need to find someone to ride with that is a speck faster. I need to try to keep up with people rather than just let them go by and watch them get smaller. But most of all I need to start riding some 8 to 10,000 foot climbs. I can not climb for anything, but that fear of what your body will really do for you is always lingering in the back of my mind, sound familiar?
Ok enough of my senior moments, if you have stuck to the end of this, my condolences, but thank you. Now go outside and breathe real air!
Next Post; Changes I See on the Road
Ride Safe Out There, and Don’t Run Me Over (please)
“G”
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