17 mile ride to Yellow Barn

Time: 1:36:05
Distance: 17.273 miles
Max Speed: 31.3 mph
Avg Speed: 10.8 mph

Decided to go for a bike ride just as a storm hit. It rained all the way from home to Ringwood Rd, and then again as I was heading up the hill on Irish Settlement Rd. I was able to make it up Ringwood Rd without a problem, but the hill on Irish Settlement was too big for me. It's a 400 ft gain in elevation in a mile. I was cold and wet so Dad came and picked me up. I knew I made the right decision when after a bowl of hot soup and a 20 minute shower, I still couldn't feel the tips of my fingers.


View Larger Map

Other activities

8/20/09: running, 1.8 miles of Week 1: First Day to 5K
8/21/09: swimming, 0.43 miles, 20 minutes
8/22/09: running, 2.0 miles of Week 2: First Day to 5K
8/24/09: running, 2.1 miles of Week 2: First Day to 5K
8/25/09: squash
8/26/09: 20 minutes of Yoga Today: Twisting Away Tensions
8/28/09: 30 minutes on the elliptical
8/29/09: running, 2.2 miles of Week 3: First Day to 5K

29 mile ride to Willseyville

Bike computer finally works! Ride stats:
Time: 2:15:46
Distance: 29.357 miles
Max Speed: 27.2 mph
Avg Speed: 13 mph

This was the most painless ride 30 mile ride I've done so far. Snacks and gatorade make a huge difference. I also took a few short breaks, especially before big hills, and was able to make it up even the biggest hills without walking. Only downside with this ride was dealing with the motorists. I got honked at once and had some kids roll down the windows and yell.


View Larger Map

11 mile bike ride around Ellis Hollow

I was feeling too lethargic to ride my bike today, but I forced myself to do it and I was full of energy as soon as I started riding. I installed my new bike computer so I was excited to give it a try. Unfortunately, nothing but the timer worked. But apparently keeping track of my time makes a huge difference. I set the goal of doing the ride in 50 minutes so I knew I wanted to be at the halfway point by 25 minutes. I ended up doing the entire ride in 45 minutes, which is a full 15 minutes shorter than my usual time. Amazing!

I'm also feeling a lot more confident in my clipless pedals. I realized that unclipping my left foot when I'm approaching intersections makes me feel a lot more comfortable. This biking thing isn't rocket science, but I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it.


View Larger Map

11 mile bike ride through Snyder Hill

Went for a quick ride on the hottest day of the year. I went early, but by the end of the ride, I was s-w-e-a-t-y.


View Larger Map

22 mile ride to White Church Rd

It hit 90 for the first time all summer so it was the perfect day for an early ride. I made it 2 miles from home before I realized that I had forgotten to put on my helmet, so I had to turn around the retrieve it. I was about 7 miles from home when I got the call that everyone was going swimming, so I decided to abridge my ride by cutting from Valley Rd to Coddington. Made a wrong turn on Caroline Depot and ended up going a lot further than expected.


View Larger Map

Ride for Life

I'm officially signed up to the AIDS ride for life so now I'm in full training mode.

18 mile ride to Yellow Barn

Finally, I have another biking partner. My friend Michelle recently moved to my neighborhood and acquired a bike, so we went for a quick spin to Yellow Barn. Took about 1.5 hours. Having someone with me always increases my speed, and this was definitely a good workout.


View Larger Map

33 mile ride to Salmon Creek Rd

My longest ride so far. I made a lot of bad decisions before setting out, which led to a pretty miserable experience. The most important thing I learned was that I need food and energy drinks for anything over 25 miles (seems pretty obvious in retrospect). My coworkers also had a bad biking accident on the same day which made me realize that I need to carry my phone, cash, emergency contact info, bike tools, etc, with me anytime I am on my bike, especially since I tend to ride by myself. I ordered a small bike bag so that I can stash all of this under my bike seat. While I was at it, I also ordered an inexpensive bike computer to help me keep track of distance and time.

I also had my first (and second) bike fall. The first one was the "clipless moment" everyone has been telling me about. I stopped too quickly at a stop sign and started to tip over. My instinct was to try to right myself by putting my feet down, except they were clipped into the pedals so I fell over instead. Remarkably painless, although I was black and blue the next day. The second fall was more of a collapse. By the time I made it home, I had such low blood sugar that I just toppled over on my lawn because I didn't have the energy to unclip. Won't make that mistake twice.


View Larger Map

11 mile bike ride around Ellis Hollow

Went out for a quick ride to try out my new clipless pedals. Being attached to the bike isn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.


View Larger Map

11 mile bike ride through Snyder Hill

The advantage of being on European time is being able to workout before going to work. The triathlon was fun, but wasn't very much exercise so I was feeling restless on Monday morning.


View Larger Map

13 mile triathlon ride

I completed my first competitive race today. I set the personal goal of 50 minutes for myself because I was easily able to do the route in 60 minutes during practice. It took me 56 minutes on race day, so I'm a little disappointed with myself. A major problem was that I didn't pace myself well, so I flew past everyone on the hill (first 2-3 miles) and got passed by all the same people by the turn around (at 6.7 miles). My goal for next year is to do either the sprint or intermediate distance triathlon on my own. I'll need to keep better track of my speed/times, which is something I've been pretty lax about up until this point.


View Larger Map