Beautiful

Since dropping off my trusty new(ish) mountain bike, herein referred to as "White Lightenin'" (I know . . . just - I know . . .) for a tune-up, I've been using my road bike, Mike the Bike, and my own short stubby legs to get around. I biked a couple times to work (a 16 km round trip, plus another 2.5 km for dropping off/picking up my daughter at daycare), and another couple times I've opted to walk through the river valley (a 12 km round trip, plus the 2.5 km to daycare). Luckily, the weather's been holding out for this - it has been BEEEEAAAAUUUUUTIFUL the past few days! Even when it rains, the rain is short-lived and doesn't cloud the whole day with grey, dismal skies. There has been some intense wind here and there, sometimes gusting up to 40-60 km/hr, but I just try walking those days instead of biking and I barely notice it.

Even on the days that I haven't had to go into the university, I've made efforts to get out and do some biking or walking, just for the sake of getting some exercise and fresh air. In fact, I've made a deal with myself: I've put a moratorium on dieting - I am no longer allowing myself any kind of restriction, calorie counting, or food group limitations whatsoever, so I eat whatever I want whenever I want without handicap - with the understanding that I also exercise at least an hour a day, at least five days a week. This is my way of trying to break my lifelong cyclical habit of dieting and bingeing, then dieting more and bingeing again, etc. etc. If I can manage to break free of the scarcity model - i.e., eating as much as I can whenever I'm not dieting because I know I'm probably going to start severely restricting right away - perhaps I can start having a healthier relationship with food. I'm just over a week into this new experiment - I'll keep you posted how that turns out!!

In the meantime, I'll continue making a concerted effort to exercise, and that means a whole lot of biking and walking whenever I can. Given the beautiful weather we've had lately, that's turning out to be quite a blessing. It's only when I'm outside enjoying the fresh air, taking in the scenery of our beautiful river valley or cruising through thoughtfully-designed established neighbourhoods in central and west Edmonton, that I fully appreciate the beauty therein. The hum of my tires on the pavement, the rhythmic beating of my heart and legs, the cool spring air breezing over my skin. "Beautiful," I say aloud under my breath. The parks, the beautiful old houses, the bright blue skies, the children playing on elaborate play structures in neighbourhood schools: "Just beautiful". It fills me with pleasure, appreciation, and great gratitude. This is living.

I don't get that in my car.

Snap, Crackle, Pop!

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!

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 . . .

The Fuzz

WEATHER THERE: cloudy, -5C (-9C with windchill), 9 km/hr cross/tailwinds
WEATHER BACK: sunny, 5C, calm wind

I haven't been on the bike for quite some time, between my three-month-long lung infection and the frigid temperatures and the epic snowfall this year. However, this week is supposed to boast above-zero temperatures every day, so I thought I'd break out the old bike and get back in the saddle again. A couple things about that . . .

FIRSTLY - today is the first time ever - and I mean EVER - that I was actually pulled over by a cop. I'm talking the flashing lights and everything. I've never been pulled over while DRIVING, let alone while on a bike! My infraction? I rode my bike across a crosswalk instead of getting off and walking it. Make no mistake - I understand that this is technically a bylaw infraction, so I guess I can't really fault the guy for calling me on it. Still - I get pulled over for THIS?? At least he didn't write me a ticket! And I guess I'll be a lot more careful that the next time I happen to bike across a crosswalk when there are no pedestrians around and only one car within sight: I will make sure that the one car within sight is not a COP CAR.

SECONDLY - I am out of shape, my friends. I've been trying to lose the weight that I put back on when I stopped biking consistently way back in July, and lately I've been making great strides on that, but it never happens as fast as I want it to. Besides that, because I'm losing weight mostly through diet rather than exercise, when I tried getting back on the bike again today I couldn't believe how much of a workout it was. It was a bit tiring on the way to work, but on the way home it was BRUTAL. You see, all those inches of packed-down snow that evenly coat the residential streets are still frozen in the morning and relatively easy to bike on. However, by the time I ride home at the end of the day they are sloppy and mushy and I sink to the bottom while inches of dense snow pack around my tires. On the main roads I was coasting along at 20-25 km/hr, but as soon as I hit that messy slop my speed dropped down to 12-13 km/hr and even at that speed I was working for it. By the time I got home from work today, I was ready for a big dinner, a hot shower, and a nice nap. Instead, of course, I made a mediocre dinner and messed around on the internet while procrasti-mastering my way out of studying for a big licensing exam. I'm living large and in charge!

What a day!! Here's hoping that's the last time I get pulled over by The Fuzz . . .

Speed Demons

WEATHER THERE: clear, 4C, 28 km/hr cross/headwinds (gusting to 39 km/hr)

WEATHER BACK:sunny, 13C, 8 km/hr cross/tailwinds

"Wow, you're fast!" I blurted out in awe.
"Haha, thanks," my fellow cyclist replied, "I'm not that fast, though - there was one guy who passed me back there going a lot faster than me!"
"Yeah, I saw him too, that was crazy!"
"He must've been in quite a rush."

I had this conversation at a red light today on the way home from work. I felt compelled to comment on this fellow cyclist's speed because I had been clipping along 100 Avenue at what is probably my top speed on a flat stretch of road - 27 km/hr - when this guy blew past me and quickly vanished out of sight around a bend in the road. I caught up to him at the light a couple blocks later and started the above conversation with him. He seemed like a nice guy - it's always nice to chat at red lights, it's one of my favourite things about bike-commuting!

Yesterday, the same thing happened (minus the red light and the conversation). Along 100 Avenue, while I was making personal land speed records for myself, two guys passed me at a speed I guesstimate to be around 30-35 km/hr - likely even faster! That is unheard of to me! How the hell do they do it? They're not even in spandex. It kind of blew my mind, and made me feel like a chubby slow-poke.

I missed bike-commuting last Friday because that sore throat I had at the beginning of the week turned into a sinus infection that really knocked me out by the end of the week. I wouldn't have gone to work on Friday if I didn't have two important things to attend to, so I drugged myself up with daytime sinus medication and hauled my sick, sorry ass to work in my car. Yesterday was my first day back to bike-commuting after being sick, and my third day of bike-commuting after returning from Mexico. So, basically, I haven't done a lot of biking over the past two or three weeks.

The illness and the vacation and the lack of exercise have left me feeling kind of out of shape. This feeling has been really driven home by how many people who keep passing me at such extraordinarily greater speeds than I'm going. I mean, these people aren't just passing me, they're leaving me in the dust! And it seems like it's everywhere - those guys on 100 Avenue two days in a row, a middle-aged lady on the High Level Bridge yesterday morning, even some dude riding on the sidewalk without a helmet was going faster than me the other day! What gives?? The weirdest part about all this is that according to my bike computer, I'm going as fast or even faster than ever. I usually top out at 21-22 km/hr on flat stretches of road, and the past couple of days I've been managing 24-27 km/hr along certain parts of my commute (in particular, the High Level Bridge and 100 Avenue). I've been a regular Speedy Gonzales!! So why are there so many people who seem to have come out of nowhere who are apparently rocket-powered?

Go figure. I guess I should just be grateful that there are so many cyclists still out on their bikes at this time of year. It is, after all, November, and it's been beautiful weather. Perhaps I should focus more on that - and also on my record speeds (yay me for hitting 27 km/hr today along 100 Avenue!) - and less on comparing myself to other people.

I daresay that's good advice in all aspects of life, not just biking.

Recovery Period

WEATHER THERE: sunny, 3C, 8 km/hr tail/crosswinds

WEATHER BACK: sunny, 14C, 8 km/hr head/crosswinds

Last Friday:

"Are you ready to get your ass kicked?" my friend asked me as she helped me collect two pairs of hand weights, a floor mat, and a step with two risers.

"I was born ready," I responded. We set ourselves up in one corner of the gymnasium, surrounded by 33 like-minded people trying to get fit over the lunch break. We only had forty minutes, so every moment would have to count. I felt ready, I felt prepared.

I was not.

In fact, nothing could have prepared me for this. It was gruelling - the only moment that we stopped from doing squats was to switch it up into lunges. We did all this while doing presses, rows, and curls with the hand weights. The instructor further demanded that we then lift one leg, and do it all on one leg and then the other, to really drive home the punishment - oh, and I guess also to engage our cores. My eyes stung with sweat. My friend and I would stare at each other with horror and disbelief - and even a touch of anger - clouding our faces as we sat out repetitions fifteen through twenty. My entire body was jelly by the end - and my poor, large, inefficient thighs got the worst of it.

I figured joining a resistance class once a week over lunch would be an excellent work-out addition to bike-commuting three days a week. Three days a week I'd get in some cardio, and one day a week I'd do some weights training. Sounds well-rounded, doesn't it? It didn't occur to me that the resistance class would be like a bootcamp. I also didn't realize it would be a whole lot of lower-body resistance work, which can be problematic for me with my bad knees. And not just that - it can interfere with my bike-commuting, as I found out this week.

Luckily that class was on a Friday, and I had a whole long weekend to recover from the horrors of those damn squats and lunges. I managed to bike home Friday afternoon, but the healing of the thigh injuries hadn't fully begun at that point. By the time I woke up Saturday, I couldn't walk without locking my knees to prevent putting any weight on my thighs. Sunday, it was even worse. I stretched and massaged my thighs daily, but to no avail - walking, going up and down stairs, bending down to change my daughter's diaper, even the act of sitting down were all made virtually impossible by the pain I was in. On the holiday Monday I started being able to unlock my knees, but just barely. Tuesday, I decided to skip out on bike-commuting for the day because I was still hardly able to walk, and I know that cycling uses a whole lot more thigh power than walking does.

Finally, today - five days after the original trauma - I got back on my bike. It was okay - I felt a bit out of shape, a bit rusty, and I made sure to cycle one gear lower than I usually do because my regular gear scheme was too much for my still-aching thighs. I made sure to do a bit of extra stretching once I got to work. Oh, my poor body! What have I done to you?

I keep reminding myself that the good news is that all this pain means that I'm building a lot of muscle in those thighs, and that will give me added power in my cycling efforts. Maybe hills will become less daunting now. Maybe I'll start walking around with proper cycling thighs - massive, muscular, intimidating. Hmm . . . yeah, maybe that last part is less desirable . . . but still, there IS an upside! I'll just keep my eye on that upside while I wimper and massage cooling gel into my aching thighs tonight.

Update

This is me taking a MEC "Desire" bicycle out for a test drive. Can't say I was a big fan.

It's been too long, my friends! It's been far too long.

Now that it's nearing the end of August and I haven't written a blog entry in weeks, I thought it's about damn time to give you a little update about what's been going on in HealthyBiker Land. The truth is, HealthyBiker hasn't been so healthy lately.

First of all, Mike the Bike has been out of commission since the last blog entry I wrote. So has Eastwood, my $50 mountain bike. I've been hemming and hawing about whether I should get one or both of these bikes fixed, or just buy a new and much better bike, or whether I'd even be biking again come September. A lot of those decisions couldn't be made until I knew what my plans were going to be for the upcoming school year - how much money would I be making? Would I be working full-time? How much time flexibility would I have? All of these factors would impact whether I was biking or walking and what my bike budget might be.

The truth is, it's August - fucking - 24th and I STILL don't know what's going on! I had an interview today for a potential job, I have another one scheduled for next week, I've already had two others (this is all on top of working full-time and being a single freakin' parent to The Tantrum Queen). And as of this moment I am no closer to knowing the answers to any of those pressing questions. This, despite the fact that September is ONE WEEK AWAY.

I can't say that I handle this uncertainty well. In fact, this is the kind of thing that causes me to stress out so much I develop Irritable Bowel Syndrome (that's a fact, my friends: I did actually develop a one-time, months-long bout of IBS while I was waiting to hear whether I was accepted into the PhD program a few years ago - which is, I guess, marginally better than having an intestinal parasite).

This is also the kind of thing that causes me to overeat . . . and by that I mean binge. Hard. That utterly useless coping mechanism, combined with a complete absence of biking and any other form of exercise for that matter, has left me feeling like all the health benefits I gained from the hard work of the past 11 months of bike-commuting has been completely erased by the last six weeks of shitty living. I know I've gained weight - a distressing amount, in fact, given the short time I've gained it in. I feel remarkably unfit. I know all this has to stop - I need to get my eating habits back under control and get back into some kind of exercise routine, like, say, getting back on the freakin' bike already!!!! At the same time, I feel just as stuck about my decision-making abilities today as I did six weeks ago.

While waiting for time to provide me with some much-needed answers, I've been dragging my ass slowly and bitterly to the finish line of my internship (which has been a truly fabulous experience, and also utterly exhausting). Today I spent some time cleaning out my office in between seeing some of my clients for the last time. It's kind of sad because I have to end these relationships, yet it's also kind of triumphant because so many of my clients are doing so much better than they were before that it feels like I'm watching formerly wounded birds fly back into the wild again after a full recovery. It's emotional, and rewarding, and altogether stressful.

I couldn't take the waiting game anymore. I contacted BikeWorks, the awesome do-it-yourself bike shop run by the Edmonton Bike Commuters Society, to see if they would be able to fix Mike the Bike for me. They said they don't operate like that - that a volunteer mechanic could help me fix Mike, but that I'd have to do the work. Since I work full-time and have my daughter on my hip every moment I'm not at work, that's something I just don't have the time to do, but the lovely and helpful Anna from BikeWorks got me in touch with one of the volunteer mechanics who would be able to fix Mike the Bike for a much more reasonable rate than a bike shop service department would charge. So, daughter on my hip and Mike the Bike stuffed into my trunk, I drove Mike out to this mechanic's garage and got a quote - the $300 fix-up quoted by the bike shop was now going to cost me $100. Done deal!

So, Mike is now officially in repair. My front porch seems so empty without his presence. In the meantime, my fingers keep drawing me to the new and improved Revolution Cycle website where they have a list of bikes on sale. It is a very good time of year to buy a new bike, isn't it, my fellow bike-commuters? I have a very good mind to say "fuck it all!!" and just get Mike repaired for use as a beater bike and invest some money on a brand spankin' new general purpose bike. When it would appear that I can get a pretty decent bike for under $800 at Revolution Cycle right now, why the hell not??

I wish I could tell you something about the job situation for the coming year. I wish I could tell you more about what bike I'm going to get. I wish I could tell you when I'm even going to get Mike back. But I can't. So I'll check out the bikes on sale at Revolution Cycle, I'll keep in touch with the awesome bike mechanic, and I'll keep trying to get my life in order for September. And I promise, after that several week hiatus I just inflicted upon you, I'll be very sure to keep you posted from now on!!

Week 46 - Day Three: Rained Out/Mechanical Failure

Yesterday I didn't bike because of the rain. When I drove to work in the morning, I felt small pangs of guilt about leaving the bike at home as I saw a couple cyclists out braving the mild rain that was falling. Throughout the day, as the rain turned into overcast skies, I felt worse. Should I have just braved it myself? Then came the drive home: it was raining hard when I first left work, and torrential downpours came in fits and bursts. There were moments when the rain pelted my car sideways because the wind was so strong. There were moments when I could barely see beyond the hood of my car, even with my wipers going full-speed, because the rain was coming down so hard and fast. There were no cyclists out, no pedestrians. I didn't even see people waiting at bus stops. It was insane. That ride home made me feel perfectly justified in taking the car to work.

Yesterday evening, I spent some time on my bike preparing it for a bike-commute for today: I tightened the headset, filled up the tires, and lubricated the chain, as the last rainy ride washed off a lot of the lube. During this preparatory period, I noticed I had a loose spoke on the back tire. I wiggled it, and it came off - another broken spoke. That would be #7 on that rim. Out of 24 spokes. Now, I knew when I bought that bike that one comment in the reviews was "it's not a curb-jumper", and I've tried to go relatively easy on it as a result. A broken spoke here and there hasn't surprised me. But seven?? Come on!!

I'm right back to that point where I have a serious dilemma on my hands, just as I did a couple weeks ago that last time a spoke broke on me. Do I replace the spoke, as I eventually did last time? Do I refurbish the whole bike (i.e., replace the chain, replace the back rim, give it a tune-up and a thorough wash, etc.)? Do I replace the whole bike with a better, more expensive one, especially if I'm going to continue bike-commuting for the foreseeable future? Or do I give up on bike-commuting for the time being?

This dilemma is more complicated than it might seem. Starting in September, my internship will be over and my time will more flexible because I'll be exclusively working on my dissertation. Given that flexibility, I'm planning to walk-commute to school instead of bike-commuting because I no longer need the time-efficiency of the bike and I prefer walking as a form of exercise. Further, I *may* be moving to another city as soon as January 2011, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to bike- or walk-commute wherever I end up. ALSO, I'm facing the expense of having to buy a laptop so I can work on my dissertation from a school-based office, so I'm not sure how feasible it is to buy an expensive bike and a laptop around the same time. After all, I'm still a student and a single parent, so money is always an issue.

I need to consider this more thoroughly. As much as I'd love a new bike, I don't think I can justify an expense like that at this time. Even good used bikes are not cheap. Should I repair my current bike and finish off my year of commuting with it, even if it might cost a couple hundred dollars to do that and I might not use it much anymore beyond the end of August? And what if I can bike-commute wherever I end up after I move, then shouldn't I wait and just invest in a better bike?

Any thoughts, my faithful readers?? Your input would be most helpful!

MONTHLY CHECK-IN

WEIGHT LOSS THIS MONTH: -3.5 (which is a 3.5 lb gain)
WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 36.5
DAYS BIKE-COMMUTED: 14 (though some of these were only one-way commutes because my boyfriend picked me up or I chose to walk one way)
DAYS WALK-COMMUTED: 2 (both ways)
POTENTIAL COMMUTING DAYS MISSED: 4
BREAKDOWN OF EXCUSES USED BY COMMUTE DAYS MISSED:
Taking Tiggy to the Spay Clinic for Snippety-Balls (aka, neuter surgery) - 1
Mechanical Failure - 1
Something Right After Work - 2

I didn't expect epic weight loss this month because I got some rides home from work here and there so I didn't get as much commuting in as usual. I was expecting something like the five pounds I managed to lose last month, not the 12 pounds I lost in January. But a 3.5 pound gain? Really? How disappointing.

Perhaps I've come to that point in my weight loss journey where I'm either going to have to kick it up a notch with the exercise or really dial down my eating habits. And, quite frankly, I don't think I have much more time for exercise in my single-parent-working-full-time lifestyle than the five hours a week I already spend on it. So, what option am I left with? Sigh . . . changing eating habits.

A few months ago I lent a friend at work my South Beach Diet books. She describes herself as "serene" while on this diet because it reduces her cravings for sugar and other carbohydrates, her Achilles heel. As much as she doesn't enjoy eating as much as she would otherwise, she does find she feels much better while "on The Beach". I'm not sure that's what I want to do, exactly, follow a diet that restrictive - but perhaps the principle of eating more lean proteins and fewer simple carbohydrates is a generally good one to follow most of the time.

But, as my friend noted, eating a naked slab of chicken breast just isn't as fun as a pretty pastry from Duchess Bake Shop or a delicious Slurpee. I know it doesn't have to be one or the other, that there is room for some balance in my nutritional landscape, but I can't say the prospect of eating lean proteins excites me on any level. Not remotely. Ahh, well, no pain, no gain . . . right??

Week 44 - Day Two: Slowing Down

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 24 min.
WEATHER: clear, 15C, 15 km/hr headwinds there; clear, 25C, 17 km/hr tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga capris, t-shirt
NOTES:

On the way home yesterday, I eschewed my usual summer residential-road route in favour of my winter main-road route to see if I might get home faster that way. I pedaled like a maniac, motivated by the speed of the cars whizzing by so close to me. I panted and sweated while my thighs and lungs burned, and I managed to get home in record end-of-the-day time (I've never done 22 minutes home, only in the mornings when I hit fewer lights). The downside was that between the exhaust I was breathing, the degree to which I was pushing myself, and the heat and humidity of the late afternoon, I was starting to feel nauseous by the end of the ride.

So, today, I've decided to take 'er easy. Not that I had much of a choice, mind you - this morning I felt so worn out from eating too little and biking too hard yesterday that I felt completely incapable of going any faster, even if I wanted to. I cruised to work and I cruised home, getting around at a comfortable speed and making pretty average time. It was significantly more pleasant that way. I sure prefer cycling at that kind of pace rather than the higher speeds I'm capable of hitting when I really push myself.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's just about getting there. I'm a commuter, not a competitor, so I don't need to ride faster than everyone else on the street or beat my own record time. I don't need to push myself until it hurts. I don't need to turn myself off of bike-commuting for the sake of a faster ride. I just need to get there, and get back - ideally in one piece. And when I think like that - taking the competitiveness out of it - I appreciate cycling a whole lot more.

Week 43 - Day One: Walkin' Fool

Last Thursday I managed to murder Eastwood. Since then, I've been faced with a conundrum: do I work over my lunch hours to make up for the extra time it would take me to walk, or do I spend $14 a day in parking and drive? Also, it begs the question: when the Hell are you going to get your damn bike(s) fixed??

I ended up walking last Friday and today, opting to work over my lunch hours (which is, admittedly, stressful and not the best idea given the high rate of burn-out in my profession). It's been lovely because the weather has been gorgeous, so it's given me the opportunity to get some fresh air and sun and really take in the river valley as I book-end my days with a lovely de-stressor. However, I don't see this being entirely sustainable - especially the working over lunch bit - so I need to get at least one bike fixed, and soon.

Mike's broken spoke will likely be much cheaper to fix than Eastwood's broken cassette, so I'll concentrate on that. I took the back wheel off last night and put it in the car so I'm reminded that right after I pick up my daughter from daycare I need to swing by the bike shop and get it fixed. Hopefully by tomorrow I can go back to biking. As much as I like walking, I'm starting to miss the speed and exhilaration I get from biking. I'm also afraid that the more time I spend away from biking, the weaker my thighs will get, consequently making it more difficult to return to the saddle when I finally do.

So - back to biking tomorrow? That's the intention. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy every bouncy step of my walking today.

Week 42 - Day Three: Quarterhorse

BIKE: Eastwood
TIME THERE: 56 min. (walking)
TIME BACK: 32 min. (biking, including a fruitless stop at MEC on the way home to get a replacement spoke; sadly, they don't carry them, so I'll have to go to Revolution Cycle for that)
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 13C, 7 km/hr wind there; overcast, 19C, 9 km/hr crosswinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants (oh my GOD I need shorts!!), t-shirt
NOTES:

Gather round, children: let me tell you a little something about breeds of horses.

The American Quarterhorse is a muscular, agile horse traditionally used for herding. They are built for quick turns, stopping on a dime, walking all day with the herd, and galloping fast over short distances. They are often found on working ranches, at trail riding facilities, and rodeos.

The Thoroughbred is tall and elegant horse, with long legs and lean muscles. They are built for athletics: they are fast, have great endurance, and are among the most elegant breed of the species. Given their builds and the rigorous early training they often endure, Thoroughbreds are prone to injuries in their legs. They are often found in elite sports stables, such as those at racetracks and jumping facilities.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a Quarterhorse. This is something I've concluded recently, after adding yet another piece of evidence to the pile. The most recent evidence I have for this is that I've realized I love sprinting. And I can be pretty fast for someone as overweight as I am. At my current fitness level, I really can't keep up my top speed for more than a block or so at a time, but I love me some of those start-and-stop sprints. And, strangely enough for someone who has a long history of hip and knee joint pain, I've found that jogging irritates the hell out of my joints but sprinting doesn't. In fact, sprinting feels great!

This sprinting evidence is added to the other information I already have about myself that points to me being a Quarterhorse rather than a Thoroughbred: I'm muscular, I put on muscle and fat quite easily but lose it with some difficulty, I've always been fast over short distances (I even managed to represent my school at track meets for the 100-metre dash despite being obese as a kid!), and my body does very well with walking as my main form of exercise. Combine that with my new-found love (and ease) of sprinting, and you've got yourself a genuine Quarterhorse!

The problem as I see it is that I suspect things like running and road biking are sports for people who are Thoroughbreds. Sports like football and mountain biking are more suited to Quarterhorses. Perhaps this is the reason that I feel more and more drawn to trying out mountain biking as my interest in road biking (like doing that upcoming triathlon in September) declines. This may also be why I've been having such a great time alternating walk- and bike-commuting instead of bike-commuting all day every day. Maybe I should go back to riding through the river valley, but take more mountain-bikey routes instead of following the paved path. That might be a lot more fun, and a lot more suited to me. Ooh, now there's a thought . . .

So, what are you? Quarterhorse or Thoroughbred?

Week 42 - Day Two: Drove

My second kitten, Tiggy - an adorable, if skittish, long-haired tabby with a face like a jungle cat - has hit the ripe old age of six months. To celebrate, I'm getting him neutered.

So, I had to drive today. I dropped Tiggy off on the way to work in that narrow timeframe between when my daughter's daycare opens at 7:30 and before my workday starts at 8:00 am. With a tight timeframe like that, I definitely needed to drive. That poor cat. He's already scared of everything. I think after today's surgery he'll be truly traumatized.

Given that I didn't have any built-in exercise today in the form of bike-commuting, I opted to spend some time over lunch doing something. Usually on Tuesdays I meet up with a couple friends and we go for a walk, or occasionally a wog (a walk-jog), but today without my hour of biking I wanted to do something more substantial over lunch. So today I left a few minutes early and spent 40 minutes on the following: I did a brisk walk to the northern edge of campus, then I jogged along the edge of the river valley, jogged/walked into and through the river valley, climbed a pile of stairs back out, then did intervals of sprinting and walking on the way back to work.

I returned from my adventure dripping with sweat, and though I felt stressed out that I didn't get enough time to eat lunch and properly dry off before I started seeing afternoon clients, I felt soooo gooood all afternoon. Usually I'm barely awake for my afternoon clients, but today I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed! Ahhh, vaso-dilation, you've never felt so good.