WEATHER THERE: sunny, -2C (-5C with windchill), 8 km/hr cross/headwinds
WEATHER BACK: sunny, 7C, 11 km/hr headwinds gusting to 28 km/hr
I need to change my tires - BADLY.
My beautiful Myka Pro mountain bike is still wearing her insane Schwalbe Ice Spiker tires. These were the all-time best tires in the history of the world for riding on ice and snow, but now that the streets are largely bare they are simply 5 lbs of metallic rolling resistance. They are the bike tire equivalent of wearing spurs, given that there is no way I could possibly sneak up on someone: from a block out, a pedestrian would be able to hear me coming with the snap-crackle-pop sound of my studs demolishing the road beneath them. It literally sounds like I'm riding over Rice Krispies everywhere I go. I guess that's a good thing for safety - being loud - so I guess there is always a silver lining!
But, man, it does not help my feeling that I'm embarassingly out of shape to be riding on tires with that much weight and rolling resistance. I'm working my ass off to maintain speeds of 20 km/hr - and, sure, maybe that's a combination of me being out of shape and my bike needing a good spring tune-up and whatever other excuses I can come up with - but I'm thinking that these daily commutes would get a whole lot easier if I had my regular tires back on. I'm going to try to take my bike in to the shop to get the tires changed out on Wednesday evening or Thursday during the day because - sadly - I've never learned to change my tires myself. And, maybe even more sadly, I'm not that interested in learning - keeping the chain clean and lubricated is enough dirty work for my taste!
I'm hoping by next week I'll be back on regular mountain bike tires and enjoying an easier, faster ride. In the meantime, if you hear some snap-crackle-and-pop nearby and a whole lot of panting, feel free to wave and give me a sympathetic smile. I could sure use the encouragement!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sore
WEATHER THERE: sunny, -4C (-7C with windchill), 8 km/hr cross/headwinds
WEATHER BACK: cloudy, 2C, 22 km/hr cross/tailwinds
As my daughter might say: I'm sooooooore!
I don't really have any hobbies, sadly. Ever since grad school, and especially since becoming a single parent in grad school, I haven't had the time or money to really be able to do much of anything fun. I go out to movies whenever I can, and I read whenever I can, but for the most part I have ceased to be a remotely interesting person. That kind of sucks. So I decided to change that - I decided to join a recreational dodgeball league! It was either that or softball, and since I don't really know how to play any team sports and never have in my life, I figured the learning curve would be more manageable for dodgeball. Also, it seemed like a lot more fun!
My first game of the season was last night. Turns out - I suck! But there is a lot of room for improvement, and by the end of our one-hour match I made a couple good catches and got a few people out. It might take a while, but I'll get better with more and more practice. Nothing but better from here, I say!
The downside is that even before the end of the game I was sore. I threw out my left hip because of the weird way I throw the ball with my right hand, and by the time I got home from the game last night I was limping and feeling pretty stiff. It only got worse overnight, as my right shoulder started to seize up as well. This did not bode well, especially since I had planned for today to be my first day back to biking since that short spate of nice weather we had in mid-March. Despite waking up with aches and stiffness all over, I determined I'd stick to the plan, and I biked my daughter to daycare with the trailer before biking to work this morning.
Ultimately, I'm sure the exercise actually helped with my soreness and stiffness, but man did my commute-time suffer from my stiff-and-out-of-shape-ness! It took me a solid 30 minutes from daycare to work, and although there weren't a lot of bike commuters out this morning, I did get blown past by a cyclist on campus who put my palty 16 km/hr to shame. And I was working for that! Blargh! Ahh well. The more I bike, the easier it'll get. And the more I play dodgeball, the better I'll get at that - and less sore, too. The point is that I'm becoming interesting again - I officially have a hobby! Hell, maybe even two if you count biking! Despite the soooooore, this is turning out to be a mighty fine personal development . . .
WEATHER BACK: cloudy, 2C, 22 km/hr cross/tailwinds
As my daughter might say: I'm sooooooore!
I don't really have any hobbies, sadly. Ever since grad school, and especially since becoming a single parent in grad school, I haven't had the time or money to really be able to do much of anything fun. I go out to movies whenever I can, and I read whenever I can, but for the most part I have ceased to be a remotely interesting person. That kind of sucks. So I decided to change that - I decided to join a recreational dodgeball league! It was either that or softball, and since I don't really know how to play any team sports and never have in my life, I figured the learning curve would be more manageable for dodgeball. Also, it seemed like a lot more fun!
My first game of the season was last night. Turns out - I suck! But there is a lot of room for improvement, and by the end of our one-hour match I made a couple good catches and got a few people out. It might take a while, but I'll get better with more and more practice. Nothing but better from here, I say!
The downside is that even before the end of the game I was sore. I threw out my left hip because of the weird way I throw the ball with my right hand, and by the time I got home from the game last night I was limping and feeling pretty stiff. It only got worse overnight, as my right shoulder started to seize up as well. This did not bode well, especially since I had planned for today to be my first day back to biking since that short spate of nice weather we had in mid-March. Despite waking up with aches and stiffness all over, I determined I'd stick to the plan, and I biked my daughter to daycare with the trailer before biking to work this morning.
Ultimately, I'm sure the exercise actually helped with my soreness and stiffness, but man did my commute-time suffer from my stiff-and-out-of-shape-ness! It took me a solid 30 minutes from daycare to work, and although there weren't a lot of bike commuters out this morning, I did get blown past by a cyclist on campus who put my palty 16 km/hr to shame. And I was working for that! Blargh! Ahh well. The more I bike, the easier it'll get. And the more I play dodgeball, the better I'll get at that - and less sore, too. The point is that I'm becoming interesting again - I officially have a hobby! Hell, maybe even two if you count biking! Despite the soooooore, this is turning out to be a mighty fine personal development . . .
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