No Excuses

Michelle and I went for a slow ride.  We went along the river and saw some picnic tables that we’ll have lunch at next time we ride.  The weather here is so nice.  I guess being in North Dakota the last 3 years I forgot what it was like here this time of year.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/15/2008
• Time: 09:30:00
• Total Time: 00:40:00.00
• Distance: 6 miles
• Average Speed: 9 mph

Consistency!  I’m feeling pretty good about myself.  This is the fourth day in a row that I’ve went out riding.  My legs and butt are no longer getting sore.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/28/2008
• Time: 17:30:00
• Total Time: 00:28:44.64
• Distance: 5.69 miles
• Average Speed: 11.88 mph

Went for another bike ride tonight.  I decided to push the pace a little.  I’m getting ready for the Granite Bay Trail that I plan on doing next weekend.  I want to be prepared this time, because I don’t want to get owned like the last time.  I want to have my legs in good shape.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/27/2008
• Time: 17:30:00
• Total Time: 00:23:01.09
• Distance: 4.57 miles
• Average Speed: 11.91 mph

Jovon, Michelle, and myself went for a ride together this morning.  It was a slow ride, but It just feels good to be out riding again.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/26/2008
• Time: 11:00:00
• Total Time: 00:25:00.00
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Speed: 9.6 mph

Today I went on two separate rides.  First, I went with my friend Jovon for about a 4 mile ride. We completed it fairly quick, but I did not have my watch on me so I don’t know the exact time.  The second ride was with Michelle. That ride was about a mile and a half.  We took it slow because it was her first ride.  She is pretty nervous about riding fast.  She takes it safe and sane, I do it dumb and dangerous.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/25/2008
• Time: 11:30:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Distance: 5.5 miles
• Average Speed: 11 mph

I decided to go for a short ride today because I got off work early.  I plan on going for a run tonight when it cools down.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/07/2008
• Time: 13:00:00
• Total Time: 00:41:23.65
• Distance: 7.13 miles
• Average Speed: 10.33 mph

Today was the first time that I went on an official MTB trail.  Bo, Zimmer, and I went up to Auburn to go and try out a trail.  The trail that we went on was called the Forest Hill Divide Trail.  The internet states that this trail is for beginners, with little difficulty that should be manageable.  Let me tell you, I consider myself as a beginner and this trail was pretty difficult.  The trail was 11 miles long and should take approximately an hour and a half.  Our ride turned into a 15 mile trek and took us just under 3 hours to complete.  Before I get into that, you have to know some of the circumstance that we had.  First, we thought it was going to be a real beginner trail so we didn’t think that we would need helmets.  Bo and I were the only ones out there without helmets on and needless to say, we looked pretty stupid.  Secondly, Zimmer and Bo did not bring enough water for the entire ride.  I brought 3 bottles of water, which would have been more than enough for me, but I ended sharing and we ran out early.  We ran out of water at the half way point of the trail, which wasn’t that bad because the first half of the trail was all uphill and was the most strenuous.  Our mind set was that we completed the first half, which was all uphill so the second half had to downhill right?  Well we were right about that and the second half was really fun.  That part made the ride fun.  As we were flying down the second half of the trail, we passed the 9 mile marker and took a wrong turn.  We were supposed to turn left, but ended up going to the right.  We took this trail 2 miles before we gassed out and things started getting miserable.  Bo was a little ways ahead of me walking his bike when a couple of riders asked him if he was ok.  After a short talk we figured out that we had made a wrong turn and had to turn back.  The problem was that those 2 mile were completely downhill and we had to head back uphill.  By this time we were totally beat and we pretty much walked our bikes up that hill.  As we got to the top of one hill, we decided to try and get back on our bikes and try to ride the rest of out.  I was so dehydrated and spent that I was going to fast on a turn and flew over my handlebars and landed on some rocks.  When I got up off the ground I realized that I ripped my seat on the rocks.  Then, when I got back on my bike to try to ride I noticed that my front rim was completely bent.  When we finally got back to the fork in the trail, we went the way that we were supposed to go, and no lie we only had to ride about 5 minutes to get back to our car.  We went 4 miles out of our way, and it took us about an hour to get back on track.  If we would have made the correct turn the ride would had been just fine.  But no, we had to mess things up and we paid for it.  Before the ride my main concern was getting a helmet, now I have to worry about getting a new front rim and possibly a seat.  I most definitely plan on riding that trail again, and plan on dominating it.   

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/27/2008
• Time: 09:30:00
• Total Time: 2:56:17.00
• Distance: 15 miles
• Average Speed: 5.11 mph
• Max Speed: 28 mph

Today I decided to do something a little different.  I decided to run immediately after I rode my bike.  I didn’t run as far as I would have liked, but I ran nonetheless.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/15/2008
• Time: 10:30:00
• Total Time: 00:18:05.56
• Distance: 4.68 miles
• Average Speed: 15.52 mph

So I took my God Daughter out for a ride today.  It was pretty nice today, not as smokey.  So the good news is that I took my first fall.  Yup it happened.  It was pretty funny how it happened too.  We had just got back to my house and I was slowing down to step off, but I was able to get my right foot out but not my left.  The problem was that I was leaning to my left.  And you know what happens next.  It was not that bad of a spill considering I was at a stand still, but those are the ones that are the most embarrassing.  Oh well, at least I got the first one out of the way.  I can already tell that I’m going to be nervous the next time I get back on.  I think I have to get the Pedal Float adjusted so I can get out easier. I guess all that extra float isn’t a plus when your trying to get out of them.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/11/2008
• Time: 12:00:00
• Total Time: 00:25:14.86
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Speed: 7.13 mph

So today the package was complete.  I recently received a pair a MTB shoes as a gift, and a good friend gave me his extra pair of clipless shimano pedals.  The only thing I was missing was the cleats that go on the bottoms of my shoes.  Well I picked up a pair of cleats today and went for my first ride with that setup.  It was amazing.  I made a couple of stops just to see if I could get out of them properly.  I am impressed with the range of motion that I have with them.  My foot has some free range of motion that I did not expect.  I will admit that I did almost fall the first time I tried to pull out.  I got a little nervous and was not twisting all the way.  Either way, I am excited about trying them on the trails.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/10/2008
• Time: 13:00:00
• Total Time: 00:10:55.68
• Distance: 2.11 miles
• Average Speed: 11.58 mph