Puerto Rico On My Bike - Next, The World

The DVD arrived this morning so I popped it in for today's trainer session.  I like it.  I was only into the DVD for 25 minutes, so I was able to review just a portion of it.  I enjoyed what I saw.  The run time on this is 116 minutes so it's a bit longer than the Pacific Coast California DVD.  The scenery is interesting, the music is ok, it was appropriate for the venue and had a salsa flair so the tempo was quicker and I noticed that my cadence was stepped up so that's a good thing.  I don't have a cadence meter on either of my bikes,. nor a heart rate monitor, but I can see where I'm going with all of this, one thing sorta leads to another.  Still considering an iPod too.  I've never had one or the desire to have one before but I can see where music plays a role in exercise.  Years ago I used to work out to Donna Summers and Carly Simon and the "I Am Woman"  and "Last Dance" songs were powerful motivators to step up the intensity of my workout.  These videos are filmed with a dash mounted camera in a car and the driving was a tad bit faster than the other video.

Still, it is realistic enough to get caught up in and lose yourself in the experience.  With temperatures hovering in the single digits for the last few days, wandering through the streets and narrow cobblestone paths through Old San Juan, forests and along the beach in a tropical climate is a good thing.  I've never really visited Puerto Rico before, I've flown in and made a stop at the airport terminal, loaded onto a bus and was whisked to the seaside terminal to board a cruise ship and followed that routine in reverse to get home.  Spending a brief hour ferrying back and forth for travel is hardly a vacation to  some place and with this video it makes me want to spend a few days there exploring.

I think we all suffer from the same "build-on" syndrome where we get interested in one new thing and it spurs us onto delving deeper into what we find is a whole new sub-culture.  One video leads to another for variety sake, of course, then that leads to more research on the subject and a whole new world opens up.  Spinnervels, hard core workouts, EpicRides Virtual Cycling, journeys across the globe, and working yourself into a quivering mass of jello, it's endless.  Or so it seems.  So I've succumbed and order two more videos, one more from Bike O Vision, for a sampler of Europe and that should satisfy the explorer in me whilst spinning in my living room vicariously.  Maybe.  They have a whole library of videos of all the popular tourist destinations in the USA, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, California Wine Country, Sequoia National Park and I could go on an on, I believe their full complement is more than two dozen videos.

The other is an introduction to indoor spinning in a group setting with a coach from the Spinnervals series.    That one satisfies the devil in me that wants to be surrounded by other sufferers while I sweat away on my bike on a trainer spinning to nowhere in the comfort of my living room.  Again here is a whole new set of dozens of videos they offer.  Oh yes, then there is the EpicRides series which is similar to the training theme of the Spinnvervals in intensity, but it takes place outdoors (in equally epic and highly desirable tourist locals) and there are also on screen displays of cadence (which you should be striving to match), power output, an insert display of the course map you are following and more.  The thing I like about the Spinnervals and the EpicRides is that you are with other cyclists.  That's one thing I miss with the Bike-O-Vision tourist type of videos.  In those you see other cars and an occasional person but I've yet to come cross another bicyclist.  

A plan is beginning coalesce and I'm approaching this with a strategy somewhat similar to my outdoor riding.  Some rides are for exploring new places, some rides are for enjoying the sport with other people and some rides are for all-out-flat-out work-outs.  I first approached this to use my winter season on the trainer to keep up my fitness level, keep up on my legs and keep my butt accustomed to the saddle.  That was my primary purpose of using one, but now I want more.  I want to be able to work on endurance and climbing during the winter season and hopefully make an impact on my riding next year.

Quick Video Update

I've been through the entire video and one of the sections a second time.  So far so good, I am looking forward to the one taken in Puerto Rico for some change up and considering that I do enjoy them so far I plan to order one or two more to mix it up.  I find I have been day dreaming of the one trip I took to California and the video makes me want to go back.  The Pacific is gorgeous.  I live in the Great Lakes State surrounded by mini fresh water oceans and the views are dynamic, beautiful and mesmerizing, however the call to the Pacific Coast is strong right now. Considering the light snowfall we had overnight and it's white covering, that call is sounding pretty nice right now.  

The trip I took was in the late 80's and I visited San Francisco, Napa Valley, Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur. The trip was part of the Monterey Wine Festival and was sponsored in part by the National Restaurant Association.  This was during my days of owning the restaurant and going on that trip was an incredible treat.  It was a memorable and one of a kind vacation.  While there I had a flight in a hot air balloon over Napa Valley.  That was AMAZING.  California is a great place to vacation, along with the usual tourist must see spots I also spent time exploring the coast and really enjoyed stopping on the roadside to explore tide pools and all the varied creatures found in them.  I'm going to see if I can dig up some photos of that balloon flight.  

2011 Recap, Stats and Other Ramblings

As the 2011 outdoor riding season came to a close for me, I've compiled stats from the year and share them with readers.

Outdoor Riding Season 2011
Total Miles rode  1213.85
Total Hours riding  143.84
Total Days riding   147
Total Weeks of riding  35

The outdoor season started on March 21, 2011 and my last ride of the year was on November 26, 2011.  There was a week in April where we had a late winter storm with snow and there was no outdoor riding at all.  It's official we had the wettest year on record and I am not a rainy day rider so weather plays a big role in Michigan outdoor sports.  Of those 35 weeks days of riding ranged from 1 to 6 days per week with most weeks falling into the 5 day range.  Rides were nearly an hour in average and that is time spent moving on the bicycle.  Actual time out was considerably longer due to rest time, stopping for conversations and photography, exploring on foot and sightseeing and minor repair work.

A forum that I frequent had an indoor riding challenge (TE December indoor riding challenge) and I managed to eek out just a tad over 8 hours on an indoor trainer.  Indoor riding on a trainer is loathsome but a necessary evil to keep up with fitness and not lose the gains that I spent the summer achieving.  It comes with living in a climate that has severe swings in temps and gets snow covered in the winter.  The upside is that regular riding through the off season months allows me to hop back on my bike outside in the spring without spending time getting acclimated all over again.  Keeping up a healthy heart rate and aerobic fitness allows me to expand on my goals for the coming year, push a bit harder and achieve more.  This year my speed picked up from the previous year and hill climbing improved, however I have a long way to go with hills.

The Team Estrogen forum is continuing the challenge into January and that will help to keep me motivated.  I look to outling goals for 2012 and posting them here as a committment for the coming year.

Lastly I am posting a link to a fun post in a blog that I follow from a fellow bike rider in the UK.  Mixedbabygreens is the blog and I thought this little video was so cute it just tickled me, hope you enjoy it too. Mixedbabygreens bicyle bell choir playing Auld Lang Syne

I hope that each of you had a great year of bicycling!  I thank the readers of this blog for your patience in following with my ramblings and adventures and wish the cyclists out there to have a smile on your face and the wind at your back.

Turkeys, Trails, Trees and Tires

Thankgiving with my niece and nephew

Christmas Tree up Thanksgiving weekend

On the trail at Kensington

So we have a big variety in a weeks time.  Thanksgiving with turkey and the trimmings and all the family, the long holiday weekend, an evening reserved for putting up the Christmas Tree and with the nice weather I was able to get in a two good bike rides on Friday and Saturday.  I spent Friday afternoon at Kensington and Saturday at the Huron Valley Rail Trail and boy did if feel good and invigorating to be outdoors enjoying the weather.  Of course living in Michigan where the weather can do an about face in a heartbeat, today we woke up to a winter wonderland with a fresh covering of snow.  Where I live we got about 3-4 inches (I haven't heard the official report yet).  So in a weeks time we go from outdoor riding with no jacket to snow.  One week ago today I spotted a barefoot waterskiier zipping across the lake while I was out on a bike ride.

I love it!

I do believe that outdoor riding is over but I've said that before on this blog and then we continued to have mild days enough to get out a few more times.  Likely I won't be posting my yearly totals yet in case we get that "one more nice day."   But the handwriting is on the wall and I am reserving tonight to get my trainer tire on my old bike so I can be ready for indoor training riding.  In fact I signed up for a indoor December challenge so now I am committed to a certain time spent on the bike and I intend to make good on it.

Last Ride?

Sunday November 20th and I was still riding.  I was not the only person pushing the season, I stopped lakeside and watched as a barefoot skiier took one last run across the lake.  Where was my camera when I needed it?  The day had started out at 58 F at 8 am but took a dive all day long.  By 3:00 when I rode (and watched someone ski) the temps were down in the 40's F. Brrrrrr.

I explored neighboorhoods close by home and noted how different everything looks with trees mostly barren of leaves, homes with doors and windows closed and the lack of people out and about.  There were folks doing the last bits of raking their yards and other winter chores, but in general there were not many people outdoors.  This was likely my last outdoor ride unless we get a fluke of a day.  It's time to break out the indoor trainer and set my bike up for it.  I need to swap out my outdoor riding tire and tube with the special tire I bought for the trainer last year and I'll be ready to go.

The fortunate thing this year with having two bikes is that I can always hop on my new bike if we get a rare good weather day.  This will be really handy in the spring when the weather is iffy and and mother nature has whimsical days where we have cold snow one day and mild warm breezes the next.  I'll miss the outdoor riding, indoor riding on a trainer is good for keeping up muscle memory and helping to sustain some of your conditioning but it is NO substitute for being outdoors and the adventure of exploring.

When I've recapped my mileage for the year and processed stats I'll notate that on this blog.  Now it's on to Thanksgiving Holiday preperations!

Wishing a blessed and Happy Thanksgivng to all!