February 19, 2011

Intervals - wow greatest workout invention since sliced bread...well that's not a good analogy but it gets the point across. It sure varies up the routine to keep a person's interest level up a notch or two from the sameness of a steady cadence of round and round. Persistence has been shakey in the last two weeks but a hit and miss workout is much better than no workout and the most important thing is that after a few days of absence I find myself hopping back in the saddle.

Sadly work also gets in the way of a steady routine...gotta pay the bills!

In fact work has been so busy that I've not had my lunch date with Joe the Awesome bike rider as both my friend and I have had schedules that have clashed. Shooting for next week.

As fast as the snow piled up it's nearly gone, birdies are tweeting in the mornings and the days are getting longer. It won't be long till outdoor riding.

Actually I took a peep outside with my bike today and cruised one time around the complex, it was a might bit too chilly with shorts and with the trainer tire on the rear wheel of the bike it made for one short trip. Trainer tires are not meant for pavement or outdoors and I didn't want to blow it out, but man it felt good to have wind in my face. I'm getting ansy for spring.

February 5, 2011

Working on setting a date in the next week with Joe the Awesome bike rider. I'm looking forward to hearing about his experiences and motivation.

Now that riding the bike trainer is becoming a habit I'll start next week with a new twist in the routine - intervals. One of the local bike shops is holding winter classes on a variety of topics like

• introduction to spinning
• cycling and yoga
• bike repair and maintenance 101
• etc.

At the spinning class they gave out a program for interval training, intervals are brief bursts of intense activity followed by a period of less intense activity. So you use a timer and follow the prescribed timed intervals. The result of training like this is to gain stamina and build endurance.

I'm about ready to switch it up a bit and ready to give this a go round. Might just help with some of the hills around here come spring time. Can't hurt.

Repair and maintenance class is coming up this month and I can't wait. I recieved a handy little all purpose tool kit for Christmas and now I can learn how to use it!

Feburary 4, 2011

Amazing story about a gentleman who will be 90 tomorrow and has logged over 120,000 miles on his bike. What an inspiration! You can read his story in the link below. More amazing yet is that I have the opprotunity to meet this person. Turns out that he lives in a senior residence nearby and my friend is the executive director there and she invited me to lunch with them.

This is going to be great.

http://www.annarbor.com/news/at-nearly-90-joe-datsko-continues-to-pursue-his-love-of-bike-riding/

At nearly 90, longtime Ann Arbor cyclist Joe Datsko counts more than 120,000 miles in the saddle from the annarbor dot com site

February 2, 2011 Blizzard

Swimming has not worked out as a form of exercise but riding my bike on the trainer does work out nicely for a lot of good reasons. My wonderful sister bought me a trainer for Christmas and it's getting some good use and I'm getting a good workout.

It was easy to see how quickly I lost flexibility between the end of outdoor riding and beginning an indoor training season. I've been in my routine now since the 5th of January and believe that this is going to have a real positive impact on my riding come spring. I should be able to hit the ground running so to speak.

One thing that can be said for absolute certain - riding a trainer indoors is way more like work and riding outside is a joy. The two have nothing in common except it's good exercise.

Whereas it takes a great deal of effort and disipline to climb on the trainer it took every bit as much effort to stay off my bike and focus on doing necessary things like laundry, cleaning, cooking, getting enough sleep and so forth. I loved the bike riding outdoors as much as I dread the trainer. But there's something to be said for disipline, I know I'll appreciate it come spring when I can hop on my trusty little bike and pedal my way not only to health but adventures too!

So far I'm logging an average of two hrs per week on the trainer. I would equate that to four hours of riding outdoors or more. Reason, there is no stopping for traffic, for streetlights or stop signs, taking pictures of neat sights, stopping and chatting with friends and folks or even stopping to shop or just enjoy a moment under a shade tree. The trainer is same old round and round my feet go. But it does give an energy boost, especially helps pass the winter time dreaming about outdoor adventure.

Photos are of new decals bought online http://www.bikenames.com/.

So if there's one good thing that comes out of our blizzard it that it has prompted me to get back into blogging and public tracking of my efforts.