My Fitness Level Snuck Up On Me When It Became Cold

Well here we are at the end of October, goblins, witches and transformers getting ready to appear and we are still riding. I’m talking about being in Colorado, where the first ski resort opened this morning, are we fortunate or what? Yes it is a little cool in the morning but it warms up nice. There was a group of about five that went by the house this morning when the thermometer read 46 degrees, right now it’s 64.

I have noticed a new wonderful problem with my fitness level. You see as your fitness level improves, it is not always in leaps and bounds that give you that instant gratification. The long term gains are quiet and sneak up on you. Till it started getting colder in the morning I did not get the full impact of my rides becoming faster and longer. As I was attempting to stretch rides out to 20 miles 25 miles, 30 and now 32+ miles I kept attempting to do the distance faster, as I got faster I stretched it further. This summer my rides were about an hour and a half, hour forty five, doing 18 miles. I am now doing 32 to 35 miles a ride in about two hours, two hours twenty and haven’t thought much about it. This is great but it’s cold in the morning and I can be a woos when it comes to the cold and bicycling. No big deal, just start later. It’s in the high 50’s low 60”s around 11:00AM till noon and my old body will tolerate that without a problem. After all if you take the first half mile at a fairly quick pace and high RPM you will be nice and cozy warm. So this is a problem? I have the tall son that has no desire to drive, I mean after all why drive when Dad and Mom take him anywhere he needs to go that he doesn’t bike. He gets out of school at 2:40 and with an intersection re-build between home and school, I need to leave 45 minutes earlier than I did a month ago. So combined longer rides and longer trip to pick up the tall kid it is just to close time wise. It is time to invest in some winter riding gear and suck it up.

There is a lot of good winter riding gear out there but if you think out of the box there are some really good alternatives that you will not need a bank loan. I love bib shorts, they don’t slip down and when I had a bigger belly regular shorts were forced down and the belly would flop out and it was annoying. Winter long bibs with cold weather thermal fronts where the cold hits, lighter in the back to dissipate the excess heat and moisture, $190.00, not going to happen. Even a good mid weight long bib will be about $75.00 this time of year. Good winter riding gloves full finger or three finger “lobster” style, 35 – 85 dollars, wow. You need to look at what you are really going to ride during the winter and how cold of a temperature will you really put up with. I came to the conclusion that, at least for this year, I will not need clothing to keep me warm riding behind a snow plow. My decision, leg warmers and arm warmers at around 14 – 18 dollars a set. I get to use my own comfy bibs, or shorts now that the belly doesn’t fall out, as well as a plethora of jerseys I have been told were unnecessary. After all this is Colorado, I can put on the leg and arm warmers start my ride and when it warms up pull them off and put them in a jersey pocket. As far as gloves go, COSTCO has “Head” (the ski company) gloves that are a lycra/neoprem type material with silicone grips on the palms for $10. There warm and cheap. I also found that my stacks of ”under armor” sleeveless, short sleeve and long sleeves make a great base under jerseys no matter what the weather.

Well I have babbled enough, I hope there was something here that you can find usable for yourself. Fly away as a free spirit and enjoy the cold and you will have a beautiful swimsuit body next summer.

As an unrelated side note; my “new” Specialized Tri Cross, went over 4000 miles last week. The results of 26 months worth of fat burning.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Warm, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

I Am Now Supporting Another Cyclist

Well here we go; I’m now supporting another roadie (a road cyclist). Yes the short son now has a road bike. Thanks to “Craig’s List”, where we were looking for a 44cm Specialized Dolce. After all, the women I have talked to, with the Dolce, wouldn’t get rid of the one they had for anything. We did see a couple for sale, but they were only a couple of hundred less than a new one. So the little guy understood and wasn’t expecting a road bike till the spring. Then comes an email, we just put our Dolce up for sale and saw your wanted add. So on the evening of the 28th the short son became the owner of a four year old Dolce Elite which was in excellent condition, to the point of the guys at Bike Source, who went through it for flaws, could not believe it was four years old. What flaws were found on super find you ask? Even if you did not ask, there was a slight screw adjustment on the front derailleur and the end of the cables need caps on them.


Short son and I managed to go out and get in his first longish rode ride today. It was fun and a Father or Mothers great joy of celebrating this first experience.


Short Sons first Rode Bike Ride (Photo by Connor Livingston)

With all of the work he has put in on his Mountain bike and year around Basketball, he rode 26.35 miles in two hours. He took a break while I extended my ride another six miles. He had a good time, the only thing that was slightly sore, on him, was his neck and he did not think it was that hard. So by late spring, I imagine, I will have two sons that I start rides with and they will wait for me to catch up every ten miles or so.

That tells me I will need to have quite a few back to back months like September. I rode 408 miles in September which includes the last three weeks of over a hundred miles a week. My rides have been getting longer a mile or two at a time. This, in turn, gives me more endurance which makes it easier to go further. Such a wonderful circle to cycle. I really see a century in our future next year, or at least the MS 150. I wanted to attempt to do the “Ride the Rockies” when I turn 65.   I’m much closer to both.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Far, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”