Warm Fall Days

I love these warm fall days. It was 65 degrees today, and although it was overcast and I was a little cold at first, I warmed right up. I chose not to wear the beanie under my helmet, but I think would have ended up taking it off mid-ride if I had chosen to do so. I wore my L.L. Bean fleece zip jacket, which is a great garment for this temperature.

I wore my leg warmers and I think I like these better than bib-tights at these temps. It gives you the option of taking them off if you start getting warm. It's much more important to keep your trunk and arms warm. The legs warm up just fine because of all the heat generated by muscle action. The arms and trunk are just sitting there not doing any work, so they tend to get cold.

I rode about a half an hour from 107th and Roe to Watts Mill. I'm consistently amazed at the effect riding has on blood sugar. It was about four hours since lunch, and the ride dropped my blood sugar about 100 points.

Short ride due to time issue.

Riding For Fun

If I had to classify my riding, I'd say about 90 percent of it is training rides. Training for what? The next group ride, event ride, whatever.

I need to do more riding for fun. Instead of firing up the Ford, I should be hopping on a bike and riding up to Quick Trip or down to the coffee shop. I used to do these quick runs on the scooter (Note to self, get the scooter running). Riding instead of driving is a lifestyle choice. These short rides are just the kind of thing that makes you healthy. Kind of like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking at the far end of the parking lot. Right now I have my wife's voice in my head chastising me for parking two spaces from the handicapped parking. Hey, I can't help it, I've always been lucky that way.

I suppose a fixie is the best sort of bike for this thing. There are no hills between here and the grocery stores, Starbuck's, fast foot joints, bike shop, convenience store, etc. I liked the Townie, but I always wanted just one other gear. I suppose if you have 21 gears, there's always a 22nd that you would like.

A Globe Daily or a Trek Belleville would be the hipster alternative. Pretty cool looking bikes and functional too.

I think back often to those rides I used to do with dad and Mike Smith, this guy down the street. We would ride up to Avila College or The Barstow School. What a sense of freedom. There is nothing better than a dad asking his child "where do you want to go?" and then going there. I love that feeling of freedom when you get on the bike and just go wherever your mood takes you.

Glad I did it

I've been off for a while. It's been a crazy busy week. I didn't feel like riding very far, but I slogged my way through it and I'm glad I did.

I cannot believe I've been off for 10 days. I was starting to feel the effects of not exercising both mentally and physically. I felt it a bit in my legs and core today when I was on the bike.

It is easy to lose conditioning, but it's also easy to get it back thankfully.

I did 8.62 miles in 42 minutes today.

Next Year's Goals

This year I have enjoyed doing the 15-mile routes on the event rides such as Sunflowers to Roses and Tour de BBQ.

In 2012, I want to up my participation to the 30-mile routes and I want to add a couple of rides.

Of course, Tour de Cure is close to my heart being a diabetic for almost a year now. The event is in June and starts out at the Kansas Speedway. I want to do some major fundraising for this event and get a Red Rider jersey.

I suppose Sunflowers 2 Roses will have a place in my heart because it was my first event ride. It's in August and they have a cool jersey.

The big event is Bike MS is September. This is a two-day event, and I think there is a 37-mile route each day starting in Olathe and ending in Lawrence the first day and coming back the second. I'd also like to do fundraising for this one.

October is the fun event. I did Tour de BBQ (another cancer ride) and enjoyed it, though I didn't get much BBQ on the 15-mile route.

There are a couple of other things I want to accomplish. I want to do a couple of rail-trail rides - maybe 30 miles on the Prairie Spirit Trail and two days on the Katy Trail with the family, maybe 30 miles each day. I also want to do a long ride on the Johnson County Streamway. Maybe an out-and-back loop along Tomahawk one way and Indian Creek the other.

Finally, I want to do my first half-century. A 50-mile ride, perhaps to Lawrence in Back. This would be a good thing to do in July, with event rides in June, August, September and October.

Ramble around the old neighborhood

I thought it would be fun to ramble around the old neighborhood today. It is cool, and it's not too far from the start of school. I started at my son's daycare and rode up to my elementary school. Yes, I'm a Red Bridge Roadrunner.

After that, I rode back to our old house on Washington. I discovered - and I don't know how I did not know this - that our driveway was exactly 1 mile from the circle drive at the school.

The neighborhood has not changed much. It's still a great neighborhood. I would like to move back there some day, but we live in the town just across the state line in Kansas that simply has better schools and better services. I feel guilty about not living in Missouri, but in order to be close to my parents we would have to live too far away. Living in Kansas City is difficult if you are already settled in a community that does not have the problems Kansas City has.

I noticed during the ride that I had developed a rattle. Sure enough, after the ride I discovered that I had gone flat. Time for new tires, I think. The Specialized Mondos are not up to the kind of riding that I like to do.

Mileage versus timed riding

Today I tried something different. I wanted to practice hand positioning and climbing out of the saddle, so I planned a 30-minute ramble around the park.

I had so much fun not concentrating on speed and mileage. I really relaxed and worked on my skills. So much so, that weather permitting I am going to do another, longer timed ride tomorrow. I am going to go for 50 minutes, which should put me at 10 plus miles. The focus is on time, not speed. I managed an 11 mph plus average speed, so I only dropped a few miles per hour.

There is a big smile on my face right now.

Lazy

Well, the Oklahoma Joe's we had for dinner killed my drive. I will have to move my training schedule back a day. I was planning a thirty minute ramble around the park, but there is no way. That is going to put off my ten-mile ride another day. I might only get one in before the S2R event next weekend, but I am not too concerned about it. The important thing is to get back on track tomorrow.