Best laid plans...

As I posted last week, I had been planning on riding in the 3 Feet for Pete ride.  The date of this ride was 9/14/13 which also happens to be my daughter's birthday.  It is also the date when my nephew and niece needed to get to the airport early.  To make a long story short, I was babysitting the grandkids instead of riding on Saturday morning.

I didn't mind not riding.  Its always fun spending time with the grandkids. We had breakfast together and watched some TV and they played.  When my wife and daughter got home, we then got the kids ready and went out for a combined birthday lunch for my daughter and myself.

Now, I didn't ride Friday morning, thinking I was going to ride on Saturday.  On Sunday morning I was plan lazy and didn't get out to ride before the temperature shot up into the 90's so I didn't ride then either.

So the weekend was a bust in terms of getting miles in.  I did get out this morning and put in 10.4 miles so I'm getting back into the swing of things.  I'm planning on riding at least 10 miles per day the next 3 days and then a bit less on Friday as my parents will be here and my dad and I will do a last ride before the Viva Bike Vegas ride on Saturday. This will be a shake down to make sure the bikes are ready for Saturday morning.

So, this morning's ride takes me over the 100 mile mark for the month of September.  In fact I'm at 102/2 miles for the month.  Not bad, but I have to make up some miles to hit my goal of at least 240.

I hope the rain isn't too bad across the country and you are able to...

GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE!!!!!

September Challenge update #1

OK, so we are now 5 days into the month of September and I've ridden 3 of those 5 days for a total of 31 miles.  Not bad, but I have a long ways to go to get to my monthly goal of 240 miles.  Looks like its time for a longer ride or two this weekend.

I am happy with my rides so far.  Both yesterday and today I got in a nice 12.5 mile ride.  Yesterday it took 53:29.  This morning I pushed it a bit more and did it in 52:06 with a 14.4 mph pace.  I feel really good about that.

One other notable item from this morning is that I've passed the 700 mile mark for 2013.  That is a pretty good total, but not nearly what I'm hoping for in 2013.

September challenge

This September I've challenged myself to ride at least 240 miles.  That would be my highest mileage month by 20 miles or so.  That will be quite an achievement.  Along the way I'm going to be riding the 17 mile Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello on September 21st with my father.

Now, I have to give him big props.  He also met my August challenge, riding every day during the month and beat my total miles by completing 222.6 miles for the month!  Outstanding job!  The important point here is that he turned 71 last week.  I can't say how proud I am of him for doing that.

He is worried about the distance for the coming Viva Bike Vegas ride, but I keep reminding him that he can do it and that its not a race.  We can stop and rest as much as we need to along the way.  I think he would like to take on my September challenge as well, but he will be driving out here to Vegas from Michigan and then driving back so for 8 to 10 days he won't be on a bike.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that my mom took my August challenge and met it but in her own way.  She doesn't ride, but she committed to walking at least 20 minutes each day on the treadmill and she did it!  Way to go Ma! I won't mention her age, but she might be 2 or 3 years older than my dad. :)

She is also not taking on my September challenge due to the trip out here this month.  I do know she will be walking every chance she gets, though.

So, anyone else want to commit to a mileage total for September?

Regardless, please get on your bikes and ride!

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 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 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 ride 13

Before I talk about this morning's ride I want to wish my eldest grandson Jacob a Happy Birthday!!!  Today he turns 11.

Only 3 things to mention about this morning's ride - some wind,a rabbit and some creaking.

This morning there was a southwest wind blowing 12 to 15 mph which meant I was cycling into the wind on the slower parts of my route.  It was definitely a bit more work.

On my 4th lap as I was heading north on Quarterhorse, a rabbit almost committed suicide by running across in front of me.  He timed it poorly, though and successfully made it across with a couple of feet to spare.  I guess he misjudged how fast I was in fact riding.

At about the 9 mile mark this morning, I started to notice a creaking coming from the left pedal and/or bottom bracket area.  It seemed to only do it when I was pushing the left pedal so I need to look at it this evening.  To avoid possibly damaging anything I took it really easy on the last mile this morning.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
47:09 elapsed time

Month to date

98.1 miles
7:50:29 elapsed time

A side note, as of yesterday both my mom and dad were still in the challenge having walked and ridden everyday so far in August respectively. I believe my dad was even slightly ahead mileage-wise for the month.  I am so proud of them!!!!

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 day 6

This morning I'm 6/6 for rides in August.  I'm very happy with my progress so far and have to admit there have been a couple of days I wouldn't have ridden but for this challenge.

The thing about this morning's ride is there was very little remarkable about it.  no exciting encounters with traffic, no wildlife, no overpowering smells, no real struggles, nothing.  It was a good ride which challenged me and helped me to build my fitness.

Here are the stats:

10.4 Miles
46:16 Elapsed Time

And totals for the month to date:

49.6 miles
3:49:14 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge Day 3

Its a busy day with activities this morning, so just time for a really quick ride.  I did see this on the ride, though:

 

 

So, stats for the day:

 

2.8 miles

13:40 elapsed time.

 

Month totals:

 

19.8 miles

1:29:42 elapsed time

 

I am so proud of my dad for accepting this challenge and for getting ready to do the Viva Bike Vegas ride with me next month!