Day 4

[chargirlgenius]

Tomorrow is bike to work day, so I rode in today! There’s a chance of thunderstorms today, but this morning was just cloudy and cool, so I made the trek anyway. It’s really just day 3.5, as the last time I rode in Jeff picked me up in the afternoon. If it’s storming this afternoon, that’s what we’ll do again.

Jeff was out of town last week (even aside from the rain) and he had off site meetings the first part of this week so I had to pick up the boys. I’m hoping that in the next couple of weeks I’ll be able to ride almost every day, so I have more energy for all of that walking in Belgium.

There are a couple of local people that bike in all of the time. One of them works in my building and he is BAD ASS. He rides, every day, rain, shine, or snow. During the last snowstorm, I followed his bike tracks into the office. This morning I turned onto the main road just a few hundred yards ahead of him. I stayed ahead for a bit, as I blasted down the hill, but going up the other side, he breezed right by me as if we were on flat. He wasn’t the least out of breath as he greeted me with a cheery “good morning!”

I’m in awe.


I know that as I do this more I’ll get stronger and it’ll get easier, but four rides doesn’t cut it! I have to start somewhere, but there’s no reason in the world why I can’t do that. Soon, this ride will seem like nothing at all.

I do need want a new bike. I’d have made it up that hill a little easier if my gears hadn’t kept slipping. My chain slipped right off of the gears twice this morning – luckily I was able to get them back on by shifting and didn’t have to stop. The shifters slip gears all of the time, though. I’ll go up or down what I think is one gear, and it moves twice. I lose a lot of momentum trying to get it fixed or moving back into the appropriate gear.

Tomorrow, a bunch of people from the office are going to ride in. I’m sure they’ll leave me in the dust, but whatever. I’m not proud. We’re all going to meet in Indian Head at the official pit stop, get our free t-shirts, and ride into Stump Neck. One guy is just doing it in the morning (a few people are riding over in a truck with the bikes in the back). I’ll ride the 10 miles in from IH, then home 7 miles in the afternoon.

If it’s raining? I haven’t decided yet.

I was just about to post, but I remembered one thing that’s a bit weird. Once I get in to the office, I’m just not hungry. I eat a few bites of something before I leave the house, but certainly not a full breakfast. But now, it’s almost ten, and I just haven’t felt like eating yet. I remember the mornings on RAGBRAI (ride across Iowa), I’d usually get a good 20 miles in before stopping at some farm for a pancake breakfast.

Comments

[chickenhat.livejournal.com]

w00t!
*high five!*

You're making my wimpy little 3 mile jaunt look like a cakewalk. :-)

You can probably fix the cable stretch that's making your gears and chain slip. No need for a full tune-up, just some derailleur adjustments.
You can Google for a wiki-how, or use http://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html or maybe ask the good morning bad ass if he has the intuition for a quick adjustment.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Or I need a new bike. :-D I think it's 15 years old. But I'll have to give it a shot! One of my other coworkers works at Bike Doctor - my seat needs adjusting and I'm wondering if he carries tools.

Thee miles sounds really nice about now, but I'm sure after a few months of that I'd be wishing for something longer. Just gotta do it!

[ladyaneira.livejournal.com]

You go!

Yeah, I've found the same thing to be true about exercising in the morning: decreased appetite throughout almost the whole day. Too bad my schedule doesn't allow for morning workouts right now.

[thornbury.livejournal.com]

I hear you. I dearly miss my 0700 racquetball games.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Let's see how I do through the afternoon... Afternoon for me isn't about hunger, it's about being deadly bored at work.

[leofwynne.livejournal.com]

And boredom for me, breeds ravenousness. At least, that's what my body/mind thinks.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Yep. Me too. Although I suspect that I don't actually feel hungry.

[thornbury.livejournal.com]

I do miss being able to bike to work; I haven't done it in a couple of years. My bicycle is about.. let's see... ex-wife, four houses ago... I'm guessing about 18 or 19 years old and all I really want for it is a new seat. At present, commuting down the toll road and around the beltway doesn't lend to a bicycle. You're lucky that you're able to ride every day.

Sadly, once I do get assigned clients here, I'm likely to be fairly mobile, traveling from site to site during the week, if not during the day. We'll see I guess.

Anyway, good for you for riding. It's so easy to sleep in, take our gas guzzlers five miles to the office and back home and then just park in front of the TV. Your actions are beneficial on many levels. Go Char!

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

It's so easy to sleep in,

In whose world? ;-)

Actually, I don't get up any earlier than I do when I drive. I skip the shower at home, and don't spend time eating breakfast. I shower here after I've cooled down for a half hour or so, and make myself oatmeal when I get around to it. In the mornings, it's a 30-40 minutes of exersise without really impacting my schedule at all. In the afternoons, it makes a bit of a difference, but not as much as one might think.

Your comment reminds me, I've had people at work tell me that they're jealous. Of what, the fact that I made the choice to do it? I've offered every single one of them the opportunity to park at my house and ride in, and nobody's taken me up on it.

[ladyaneira.livejournal.com]

Jealous of your motivation, probably. Lots of people want to be ambitious but few really are. :-)

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Including me, ususally! :-D

[thornbury.livejournal.com]

Well, ok.. nobody with kids sleeps in. ;-)

I didn't realize it was only 30-40 minutes; that's not bad at all. When I played before work, it was an hour on the court, plus half an hour to shower, shave and change. It's a substantial time commitment in that even getting out of the house by 6:40 I didn't make it to work until 9:00. I'm trying to find ways to do that again, but if I pull it off, it'll just move my games earlier. We'll see. I still get my games in at least twice a week in the evenings, but it's not enough.

Why are they jealous, you ask? Because it's an action, not a dream. You're not being lazy and you're taking control of your health instead of just cratering into a car seat or a sofa. Of course they're jealous. Just wait a few months when they see your progress, and they'll be even more jealous.

But keep it up; maybe one of them will join you in the future.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

They should be jealous of the wind in my face, and that I saw an eagle dive and come up with a mouse this morning on my ride in. :-)

Can you park a few miles from work and bike back and forth from there? It would add a bit of time, but if it's only part of the commute that you aready take it doesn't feel like quite as much time. You could start 3 miles out, and gradually work your way up. Naturally, it helps if your office has a shower.

Bike to work...

[rurik-lebedov.livejournal.com]

...heh...not me...it's a 90-mile roundtrip and it's all interstate. ;-D

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

Let's see....assuming I were in shape (other than round), that my bicycle were in operable condition, that there were actual bike lanes or people here willing to respect the road rights of cyclists, it is about 25 miles each way to work for me (by Interstate).... I don't think I'll be cycling *anywhere* for a while. 8^)

However, good on ya'!

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

That's the ironic thing. As you know, I'm very pro-walkable neighborhoods and all of that. I live in the boonies where we have to drive pretty much everywhere. But I *do* live within a bikeable distance to work. Granted, it's about the only place that I *can* bike. Town and the grocery stores are too far away, and even the road to the general store 2 miles away is too dangerous for me to think about riding on.

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

When I was a teenager, it was nothing to hop on the 10-speed and cycle a couple of miles to the rural "convenience" store for candy and/or baseball cards every once in a while.

When I was at CMU, I made the weekly walk down Forbes Ave to downtown with my friends to go to the comic shop or just to get away from campus for a while.

When in grad school, I tried to bike into school at least once a week (I usually got up too late to be able to do that), and did 12-25 mile long rides with the local cycling club each week.

I got out of the habit when I started working full-time. Which goes a long way towards explaining why my shape is more round than it used to be....8^)

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I just bought a bike so I can learn to ride it (never had a bike as a kid). It's a bit far to bike to work (15 miles), but I could take the bus & bike part way, plus just bike for errands on the weekends.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

It's great if you live within reach of convenience stores and all of that. A few miles here and there, and you get used to it fast.

Good luck learning to ride! I hope you'll enjoy it!

[lorebubeck.livejournal.com]

Never been a big fan of biking. Got blown off my bike by a car once as a kid and it left me terrified of being hit. I love to walk though - especially with someone I can gab with so lunch time walks w/ Rose are nice. Now I get up at 5am and get on my treadmill with my book. Gives me more time for two things I don't usually have time for - exercise and reading. And the book makes the exercise seem so much shorter!

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

I love walking too. Even though I rode in, I still took my lunchtime walk. I left my book at home, though, so I just walked without reading. Usually, I love that it's a way to kill three birds with one stone (fresh air, exercise, reading).

[karolines.livejournal.com]

this week they've been focusing on biking to work in the local paper. an they had an article (but unfortunately i think i recycled it) that included info on tax credits for those who bike to work. maybe something to look into?