Guess what day it is...

While technically it is hump day it is also the anniversary of my birth 52 years ago.  I really do find it hard to believe that I am 52 years old. Personally I don't think I'm old and if you ask those around me you may be told that I certainly haven't grown up. :)  I know I am getting older, though as the body doesn't respond the way it once did.  I may have to make a much more concerted effort at improving my health in order to continue to have a quality of life that I want.

Quality of life.  To me that's the key. I want to do what I enjoy, but I realize that it must be in moderation and the good must be balanced by the not so good. Sure I can have some cake and ice cream for my birthday, just not half the cake nor a half gallon of ice cream! Not to mention I really then need to be physically active to combat that rush of calories.  Fortunately I can ride my bike and that is a good thing that I enjoy that is also good for me.

So, I started this post thinking I would do a look back over the last year of the highs and lows, the accomplishments and misses, but not today.  Maybe at the end of the year.  Today I am going to enjoy what I can and do what I must and be thankful for those birthday wishes from family, friends and acquaintances.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!

Crisis Averted

OK, I took my bike in last week for a tune up and some service thinking I might need to replace the bottom bracket.  I had talked to the mechanic at my LBS and he was going to take it apart and give me a call if that was the case. I dropped the bike off on Friday and they said it would be ready on Saturday by 3:00.  I was stoked they could do it so quickly. I didn't get a call on Friday, but Saturday about noon my phone rang and I was dreading the call figuring it was the bad news. I was pleasantly surprised when I answered and was told that my bike was ready!

So my wife and I went to pick up the bike and I talked to the mechanic.  The bottom bracket is worn and will need to be replaced in the future but it is still good to go for now.  They took the measurements so they would know exactly what to order when the time came. I was more than happy with the service.

When I got home I took it for a ride and it was wonderful.  No noises from the bottom bracket.  No wobble in the pedals.  It ran nice and smooth.

Fast forward 10 days.  I took my bike out the night before last in a light drizzle and right away there was a strange noise coming from the rear wheel. It sounded like a spoke making noise and it happened with each revolution of the rear wheel.  I stopped and checked for a broken spoke, but didn't find one. Figuring I should be gentle on it, I slowly finished my ride and took my bike into the garage to see what I could find.

I went around the entire back wheel checking each spoke. They were all good it seemed.  I decided to wait a day and see what might happen, thinking it might be the rain which was contributing to the noise. Sure, I knew it was unlikely but I didn't see anything wrong.

Last night I jumped on the bike for my ride and it was again making the noise with every turn of the rear wheel. I slowly finished the first lap.  As I got close to home I tried to note where the noise was coming from on the wheel.  I slowed to a crawl and started walking my bike and there was no noise.  I sat on the saddle and slowly pedaled and no noise.  It wasn't until I was doing about 3 or 4 miles and hour that the noise started again.  Fortunately I was able to stop the bike with the tire in the position where the noise occurred.

I grabbed the rear wheel to holed the position and carried the bike into the garage.  Noting where on the wheel the loose spoke was likely to be, I flipped my bike over and started checking the spokes one more time.  There was one spoke in the target area which was just a bit looser than the others.  I could tell by the feel as well as by the sound when I strummed it.  I grabbed my spoke tool and tightened the spoke one full turn.

I then strummed it again and the sound was close to those around it.  I spun the wheel looking for any deviation in it's true and there was none.  I flipped the bike over and headed out for another lap and was very relieved when it was once again whisper quiet.

Not sure what had happened to the spoke that it would suddenly be loose and making noise, but I am very glad it was an easy fix.

Time to ramp up the miles and the climbing because in just over 2 weeks I have the 25 mile Pedal to the Medal ride for Special Olympics.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!!

Saturday Night Ride

I went for a ride at Dusk on Saturday and there were still a bunch of people setting off fireworks.  As I rounded the corner onto Quarterhorse (less than a quarter mile from the house) there was a dog that came running by out of the common area between the 2 subdivisions.  He was terrified of the fireworks going off.  He was running away from me, north on Quarterhorse, until a firework went off in front of us and he turned around and ran the other way.  I tried calling him but he wasn’t stopping. I considered turning and riding after him, but I didn't know where he had gone so I continued on my lap and decided to stop and try and catch him if he was still there when I came back around.

I finished my first last and was just approaching Quarterhorse when he came running around the corner and up between 2 houses on the street behind us.  I “knew” the guy in one of the houses from saying 'hi' and talking about bikes as I frequently saw him out there when I would ride by.  He smokes in his garage and frequently leaves the door open about a foot or so for ventilation. Well as the fireworks were still going off the dog, who was quite large (my guess is a collie/yellow lab/shepherd mix), tried to get under the door.  He got his head under and was pawing at things in the garage, trying to squeeze under the door.  I petted him and tried to coax him out but he wasn’t coming.

Troy (the guy who lives in the house) heard the noise and hit the opener, opening the garage door.  As the door went up, the dog went all the way in next to the car and towards the door to the house.   I let Troy know there was a dog coming in and he and his wife were of course wary.  The dog went by the door to the house and lay down. He was panting heavily and looked exhausted. We approached him and looked at his collar.  He had a tag, but the tag was just a rabies tag from the animal hospital no name or contact number on it.  

Jane, Troy's wife went in and got a bowl with some water in it.  he took a few sips but it seemed like he was still terrified and couldn't stop panting enough to take a drink. He wouldn’t really move once he was in the garage.

Troy and Jane are not dog people.  We started trying to figure out what to do. I told him I was going to go get my car and we’d see if we can get him to my house. I figured we already have 2 dogs so maybe he'll feel more at ease.  Not to mention it was very warm in Troy's garage.  

I rode home, told Michele what was going on and we grabbed a leash and took the car back to Troy’s house.  The dog hadn’t moved.  He was still panting a million miles an hour.  We tried coaxing him with more water, with a hot dog, pulling on the leash.  None of it got him moving.  He wasn’t easy to move either weighing probably over 100 lbs.  Finally I had Michele take the leash and I got behind him and pushed him up to his feet and he headed towards the car very slowly.  He got to the car, put his front feet in, but then he couldn’t seem to get the rest of the way into the back seat so I helped lift his rear end in and he was finally in there.

We took him home and I had to practically lift his rear end to coax him out of the car and into our garage.  I have a piece of carpet in there he laid right down on, still panting a lot. We got him a fresh bowl of water and turned on the ceiling fan to get the air moving for him.

We took a couple of pictures of him and Michele started looking on Craig’s list for any ads for lost dogs.  I stayed in the garage with him and kept giving him water (he drank about 2 quarts) and even put some ice in a baggie and laid it on him trying to cool him down.  He eventually slowed his panting some and laid down on the floor on his side to rest.  It was good that we had the ceiling fan in the garage to help cool him.

About 20 minutes later the doorbell rang and it was Troy.  He and his wife had heard someone out calling for a dog and they talked to the guy, finding out it was his dog that had just gotten out that evening.  He came with the guy to our house (not quite sure how he knew exactly where we lived, but he must have recognized my car).  We opened the garage and the dog seemed happy to see him.  He called it by name and it came to him so we knew it was his dog.  He said the dog was older and that he had problems with his hips which is why the dog didn’t want to move.  All in all is was a good night as we reunited the dog with his owner.

So I only rode 1.3 miles that evening but I think the short distance was definitely justified as we had a chance to do a good deed.

Get on your bikes and ride and do a good deed.

Why We Ride

Doug, over at A Year of Living…humm…dangerous? published a post this morning with the same title (here) and it got me thinking about this topic. He was pointing out that it is too easy to get caught up in comparing our performance on the bike against those around us and in doing so, we may have a tendency to lose sight of our reasons for being on the bike to begin with.  I totally agree.

I try not to compare myself to others in terms of speed and/or distance, but when I read of other's exploits on the bike, riding in races, completing epic tours or even earning KOM's I start to think about how slow I am or how little I've ridden or how I have yet to actually complete a century since I've started riding again. I start to focus on what I'm not, rather than what I am and what I am is having fun.

Sure I'm riding to better my health, to lose weight and to get in shape, but the real reason I ride is that I enjoy it. It's just plain fun to ride my bike!  I have to constantly remind myself of this otherwise I lose motivation because I see the ride more as a chore rather than the enjoyable experience it truly is.

So, go, Have fun.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!

Strava and KOM's

Chris Chainring over at From the Pavement's Edge wrote a couple of posts recently that talk about Strava and King of the Mountain honors.  Bike Noob has also recently become a Strava convert as he mentions here.  Both of these got me thinking about the whole idea of an application that tracks various segments of roads and trails and allows riders to measure their riding of these segments not only against themselves but against others who have ridden and tracked their cycling along the same segments.

Previously I've mentioned looking for local segments and riding them just to see how I could do against other riders.  In this post I talk about a quick ride and looking for local segments. I'm not obsessed with the segments, primarily because I know I am not fast, but it is fun to compare myself to others and watch my progress as I set new PRs (Personal Records) on the various segments as my cycling ability improves.

One thing that annoyed me, however, was that some other local cyclist seemed to be segment hunting to see if they could achieve KOMs (King Of The Mountain) on those segments.  I had created a personal segment which I had unfortunately made public. My purpose for this was simply to measure my own progress by letting Strava tell me when I had improved on my previous best time.  All was well and good until these faster cyclists saw it and decided to do their thing, completely destroying my time!  Here is the current leaderboard from that segment:

As you can see, Joe Lindner was the first to beat my time back in 2012, then a year ago Jason and Terra apparently rode the segment together cementing their KOM and QOM titles.  Quite a difference between what they did and what I did, but the important thing is that my PR on 8/1/13 is over 2 mph faster than my first try after creating the segment back in April of 2012.  Progress has been made.  My goal is to increase my PR on this segment this year by at least 1 mph.  We'll see if I can do it.

This is what Strava is for, measuring oneself against previous accomplishments and against others. The key is to not get obsessed with the numbers and comparisons to the point where the riding is work and no longer fun.  Its the fun that keeps me riding and really nothing else.

Eat well and Get On Your Bike And Ride!

October Wrap Up

I have been remiss about posting here of late.  Here it is the 5th of November and I have yet to wrap up and summarize what I did in October.  Truth be told I have been avoiding it just a bit as I did not come close to accomplishing what I had intended for the month of October.

The truth is I only got in 8 rides during the month for a total of 84.45 miles.  Nowhere near my goal of 22+ rides and 300 miles.  I'm strangely Ok with that though.  Its not that I just didn't want to ride, its more that life got in the way.  Again, I'm OK with that.  I just need to work a little more on my organization and make sure that I continue to ride and not let the downward mileage trend continue.

I do plan on riding more this month than last, but I will not put a specific number to it at this time.  One thing to my advantage is the BIKE:MS Challenge which I am riding this coming weekend.  My goal is to ride the 30 mile course on both days.  I look forward to the camaraderie and sharing of a common experience. I also look forward to riding with Juan again of the Tour De Cure ride back in April.  He said he is riding the 30 mile route on Saturday as well.

Look for a write up next week.

Get On Your Bikes and RIDE!!!!!

OK, maybe I am a fair weather cyclist...

When the alarm went off at 3:45 this morning I wasn't ready to get up, but knew it was time.  As I struggled awake I heard what sounded like water dripping.  I knew they had said there was a possibility of showers overnight, but they've said that before and it hasn't happened.  So I decided to check the radar map on my phone to see what was up.

I got on to Accuweather.com and zoomed into the Las Vegas area and lo and behold, there was a swath of greens and yellows across the area.  It really was raining this morning.  With that confirmation, I reset the alarm, rolled over and went back to sleep for an hour and a half.

When i again awoke at 5:15 I heard a definite steady drumming of rain on the roof, it was pouring at that moment, thus confirming that it would have been a wet ride if I had ventured out.

Now, let me assure you that it wasn't the fact that I might get wet that kept me from riding.  To meet my challenge last month I rode in a pretty significant rain as detailed here.  What I learned on that rainy ride, is what convinced me that riding in the rain, in the dark wasn't the best of ideas.

You see, when it rains, ones tires and wheels get wet.  Then wheels get wet, applied brakes, which rely on friction to stop, don't work nearly as well.  in fact one website I saw a while ago estimated their effectiveness at about 40%.  (OK, granted they were making a case for disk brakes, but still that number stuck with me).  Combine the lessened stopping power with reduced visibility and the propensity of at least one car pulling out in front of me in the mornings and I felt like it might be a recipe for disaster.  In this case I think I really made the right call.

So, no miles this morning, but perhaps a ride this evening after dinner might be in order depending on the evening's schedule, but that might not happen as its open house night at my grandsons' school and it will likely be a late dinner.  Have to wait and see how the evening unfolds.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I am considering riding the 3 feet for Pete ride on Saturday morning.  Anyone else interested?

Get on Your Bikes and RIDE, but be safe out there!

Another Registration...

When I was looking for rides this year, this one particularly caught my eye.  Its called the BIKE MS Vegas Challenge and it is a 2 day event on November 9 & 10.  The goal of the ride is to raise funds in the fight against MS.  If you would like to donate, here is the link.  It is a very worthy cause.

I liked this ride when I saw it as it is multiple days and it is a distance I feel I can manage.  On Saturday there are several ride options - a 100 mile, 65 mile or 30 mile route.  I decided the 30 mile route is for me.  Here is a link to a map of the route.  What I like about this route is the chance to ride along the strip, even if its not at night like the Viva Bike Vegas ride.

On Sunday there are 2 routes, a 50 mile and a 30 mile route.  Again, with my current fitness level I figured back to back 30 mile rides would be great.  Here is a link to the Sunday 30 mile route map.  What I like about this route is that it heads out to my old stomping grounds along Boulder highway up into Henderson.

While MS has not touched me personally, I have known a couple of people that it has touched and this disease is one of the worst out there.  It is dastardly in that it affects the body and makes it impossible to accomplish even simple tasks, but leaves the mind sharp so that the afflicted know full well what it has done to them.

Please take a minute and donate what you can so that a cure can be found.  In case you missed it at the top, here is a link to my donation page.

Enjoy life, get on your bikes and RIDE!!!!

August Challenge Day 27 Ride 27

Cool but humid morning this morning.  69 degrees with 71% humidity.  The original forecast last night said there might be showers this morning, but they were nowhere to be seen for which I am happy.

From my analysis this month, I've decided that Monday night must be a big party night here since Tuesday morning has the most traffic heading home between 4:00 and 5:00 am.  There must have been 12 or 13 cars making a left into the subdivision this morning.

I was up just a bit early this morning so I decided to extend the ride to 12 laps.  Felt good.

This morning's stats:

12.5 Miles
54:47 Elapsed Time

Month to date:

27/27 rides
195.9 Miles
15:39:31 Elapsed time

I hope you are able to Get On Your Bikes And Ride!!!!!

August Challenge Update - Rides 23, 24, 25, and 26

I have been remiss in my updates and for this I apologize.

Its been a rather busy few days and the good news is I have gotten in a ride everyday. I am still on track to ride all 31 days in August. The bad news is my oldest grandson went home to Michigan on Saturday. It was really tough this year as he has grown and matured so much. We were going to do a last ride on Saturday morning before he left, but it didn't happen as he slept a bit later and then had to get to the airport.

Friday's ride was a ramble to look at all the streets in the subdivision and the one next door. Sad to say after 3 years of living in the house there were streets in our small sub I hadn't been on. One interesting note, one of the bordering street has a single house on it, all alone. The other houses around it all face into the subdivision and are accessed off the internal roads. A nice, private oasis.

Saturday was a couple of laps around the block with Dillon, Nick and Ceanna, who only made it part way up the block and was too tired.

Sunday Dillon was the only taker and we re-rode most of the streets in the subdivision since he hadn't been down them.

This morning it was back to the usual 4:00 am ride of 10.4 miles. It was nice seeing the 2 women who were walking last week were back and they had a third woman with them. We exchanged greetings on one lap. 2 laps later the woman who seemed to be the leader was jogging while the others were walking.

So, month to date we have:

26/26 rides
183.4 miles
14:44:44 elapsed time

Hope you are able to Get On Your Bikes and RIDE!

August Challenge Day 22 Ride 22

This morning as I got on my bike I decided that I was getting just a bit bored doing the same loops morning after morning.  I had found and ridden a couple of other Strava segments in the neighborhood as I wrote about here, so I decided to see if I could do better on 2 of them.  I wanted to add a bit of variety to keep it interesting.

So I headed out and rode.  I refused to look at my Garmin the whole time I rode this morning.  I really didn't know how far I had gone, nor how fast, nor how long I'd been on the bike.  I wanted it to be a surprise.

I rode those different roads and threw in a couple of laps around my usual loop just to get in the miles.  One interesting note was that the 2 women were out walking again this morning.

When I decided I'd had enough for the morning, I stopped, turned off the Garmin and put my bike away.

I then headed inside to see exactly what I had done.  I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged the Garmin into my laptop and Training Center showed that I had ridden 9.66 miles in 41:59 this morning.  I really had thought I had only done about 7 miles.

I then uploaded the data to Strava and learned that I had set a PR (personal record) on both of the segments this morning.  I am very happy with that.

So for the month I am now at:

22/22 Rides
166.6 Miles
13:09:52 Elapsed Time

Oh, one more thing.  I officially registered my dad and I for the Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello 17 mile rides on September 21.  Anyone else want to join us???

As the very wise Freddie Mercury said:

Get On Your Bikes And RIDE!

August Challenge Day 21 Ride 21

Having been awake since 2:00 AM I wasn't feeling it when 4:00 rolled around and it was my normal time to get up and ride.  I thought about putting it off, but decided that since I was up I might as well go and get in at least a short ride.  When I went out, I had every intention of taking it easy and only doing a couple of miles.

That changed within the first few pedal strokes  I felt good on the bike and decided I should just go ahead and push it a bit.  So I did.

According to Strava I did my 3rd fastest loop at 4:01 for my first lap and the next was at 4:04.  Not bad at all.  My finishing time for the same 10 miles I rode yesterday was almost 5 minutes faster!

One interesting note was that where I saw several pedestrians yesterday - there was no one out there this morning.

This morning's stats:

10.4 Miles
43:44 Elapsed Time

Month to date:

21/21 Rides
157 Miles
12:27:53 Elapsed Time

Do something good for yourself - Get on your bike and ride!!!!

August Challenge Day 20 Ride 20

Warm, humid start to the day.  I checked my tires before the ride as usual and was concerned when I found my front tire at less than 40 psi.  It seemed the issue was with the valve and not with a puncture.  I tightened the inner valve and pumped up the tire and it seemed to be holding air, but I didn't have faith in its staying inflated so I stopped a few times during the ride to check it out.

Overall it was a good ride.  It was interesting in that there were very few cars, but there were several pedestrians this morning.  Two women were out walking laps.  I passed the 4 or 5 times.  A gentleman was walking his dog and on the last last there was another man out for his morning exercise.  That's more people out and about in one morning than I've seen the rest of the month combined.

This morning's stats:

10.4 miles
48:33 elapsed time

Month to Date:

20/20 rides
146.6 miles
11:44:09 elapsed time

Heading into the home stretch of the challenge.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!

August Challenge Day 19 Ride 19

The rain persisted on and off until about 3:30 this morning.  I know because it was raining at 10:00, it was raining at 2:00 and it was still sprinkling at 3:20 when I looked at the radar loop on my phone.  I was thinking that I would wait until after work to get my ride in today as I lay back down to try and get some sleep.

I kept thinking about how yesterday's ride was so short and mainly a token effort.  I thought about how the weather forecast was for more thunderstorms this afternoon and in all likelihood I would end up making only a token effort today.

I decided that for good or bad, I was getting up and riding this morning.  I am glad I did.

The roads were still wet when I got out there a little later than usual, but I decided to just start out nice and easy and see what I could do with the time I had.  There was a lot of sand and grit on the roads, especially on Quarterhorse by the construction site.

I did my first lap and thought to myself, "this isn't too bad."  The temperature was 73, and although a bit humid, it was nice riding weather.

I know I was slower than usual as I was taking it easy, but I decided 4 laps in that I could make the scheduled 10 laps in what time I had.  And that's what I did and I am happy.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
48:31 Elapsed time

Month to date:

19/19 rides
136.2 Miles
10:55:36 elapsed time

Get on your bikes and ride!

August Challenge Day 16 ride 16

The plan last night was to get up this morning and go for a ride with the grand kids.  I was thinking we would get out pretty early to try and beat some of the heat.  Normally the kids are up by 7:00 or 7:30 so I was thinking if we rode by 8:00 or so it would be good.

Finally at 9:15 I said it was time for them to get up so we can go.  We got out there at 9:28 and it was already hot.  Jacob, Dillon, Nicholas and PT all went with me.  We did a nice ramble around the neighborhood and rode by the house about 1.9 miles into the ride  The kids wanted a break so PT and I went on a quick trip around the block while they came in and got a drink.

When e got back to the house.  Nick was inside and not going any farther.  Jacob, Dillon, PT and I took off for another "lap" but just at the corner, Jacob decided he was done and headed back to the house.

Dillon hung in there and completed a total of 4.1 miles today in the heat.  PT and I completed 4.6 miles.

I am proud of all of them for how far they went.  They are all riding better and better.

Today's Stats:

4.6 miles
33:29 elapsed time

Month to date:

16/16 rides
123.5 miles
9:54:21 elapsed time

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!

August Challenge Day 15 Ride 15

It was a little warmer this morning in the mid 70's and the humidity was up a bit as well to close to 30%.  I can hear everyone from other parts of the country say "you call that humidity?"  Just remember this IS the desert. My legs were feeling a bit tired and heavy as well.

I did see a rabbit twice this morning.  Not sure if they were 2 different rabbits or the same rabbit both times as the sightings were about 20 minutes and a quarter mile apart.  Traffic was also the lightest its been all week during my early morning, but there were a couple of drivers who slammed on their brakes at the last minute, obviously used to sailing through the stop signs.

I also saw a teenager on a mountain bike with a back pack.  Not sure where he was going to or from, but he was headed south on El Capitan Way at just the wrong speed where I had to slow way down to keep from impacting him as I made my turn onto Mackanos while he continued south.  He never knew I was there.

Stats:

10.4 miles
46:02 elapsed time

Month to date:

118.9 miles
9:20:52 elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge Day 14 Ride 14

Feeling pretty good about the August challenge at this point.  Its been 14 days and I've ridden every one of them.  A couple of items to note regarding this morning's ride and they both have to do with distance.  This morning's ride took me over 100 miles for the month, but more importantly it took me to 567 miles for the year which surpassed last year's total of 566 miles.

I'm riding more this year and I'm feeling good.  The bike is working well as well.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
44:21 Elapsed time

Month to date

108.5 miles
8:34:50 elapsed time

How are you doing this month?

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge Rdies 11 and 12

So far so good on the August Challenge.  12 days - 12 rides.  Not a bad streak but I'm not even halfway there yet.

These 2 rides happened almost exactly 9 hours apart.  Ride eleven was a fun little ramble around the neighborhood with the grand kids.  We had fun and I'm amazed at how quickly they are progressing.  Where a few weeks ago they would complain and want to take a break before we completed one lap, yesterday they were raring to go for multiple laps.  The 3 boys actually did 4 or 5 laps and were doing great!

Stats for ride 11:

3.0 miles
0:21:45 elapsed time

This morning it was back at it - up at 4:00 and out riding by 4:07.  There were a few remarkable things about this morning's ride.  The traffic was awfully busy for that time of the morning.  I must have been passed by 20+ cars. I know that's not a lot for most people, but that is one of the reasons that I like the early morning rides - virtually no traffic.  Among the cars were an NHP cruiser and about 10 minutes later an LVMPD cruiser.  What was remarkable was they both headed in the same direction - south on Pebble towards Durango.

I also saw a group of 4 riders headed north on Pebble towards fort Apache all decked out in their matching kits.  I couldn't read what they said but they were all while and green.

One other item to note was I saw a young boy - probably 11 or 12 riding a much too big bike with no lights.  He slowed and was waiting to turn onto El Capitan Way, but I slowed to wait for him to see if he was all right, but he disappeared.  Not sure if he changed his mind about turning or rode into the new sub on the corner, but I couldn't find him.  He just seemed out of place at that time of the morning.

Ride 12 stats:

10.4 miles
0:46:31 Elapsed time

Month to date:

87.7 miles
7:03:20 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge rides 8 & 9

So the weekend is starting off on a busy note starting yesterday.  I managed to squeeze in a quick ride in the morning before doing my errands for the day.  Today I just rode around with the grand kids - not far at all, but it was fun getting them out there.  Unfortunately it started getting dark so we couldn't go very far.

So, some stats:

Ride #8
3.3 Miles
15:15 Elapsed time

Ride #9
1.8 miles
13:01 Elapsed time

So far this month:

61.9 Miles
4:49:50 Elapsed Time

There have been challenges getting a couple of my rides in, but having this challenge has been enough to make sure I'm at least on the bike daily.

Keep those pedals turning!!!!

August Challenge Day 7

Its 4:00 am on a work day in August so I'm getting up and heading out on a ride.  I normally have a routine I follow which involves a trip to the restroom, but I changed it up slightly this morning and that impacted my ride.

The temperature was a reasonable 80 degrees with a light Southwest breeze.  A good morning for a ride.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention yesterday, I passed the 500 mile mark for the year with yesterday's ride.  It took me until September 22 (the Viva Bike Vegas ride last year) to pass that mark.

I was feeling pretty good out there especially considering this is my seventh consecutive day of ride.  That is until about 4.5 miles into the ride I started to feel some rumblings in my intestinal tract.  Things weren't too bad and I convinced myself to carry on, which I managed to do until about 2 miles later when the rumblings became quite insistent and the call of nature was quite urgent.

I made it back to the house, having completed only 7.2 miles, but it was enough for this morning.

Stats:

7.2 Miles
32:22 Elapsed time

Month to date:

56.8 miles
4:21:36 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!