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Isn’t It Interesting…

09.21.2014 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

Only two other B riders showed up for our club ride Sunday, and we decided to head to Creedmoor. This staple of our Sunday routes had been forgotten lately; in fact, I hadn’t ridden it since June. The others were looking forward to the ride, too.

After not riding a route for awhile, some changes are bound to crop up. Most of the ones we ran into had to do with road construction. Our main way east out of our neighborhood narrows to a two-lane, unstriped, country-style road for a short stretch. Then, at a T-intersection, we turn left, and then pick up that road again at the first right.

The city is eliminating that zigzag. It’s adding a curve to the road, and the new route will meet the old at that first right. But it’s not ready yet, and while they’re working on it, the two lanes are quite narrow. I debated getting up onto a new sidewalk that has been put in along the road, but at 8:30 in the morning, there’s not a lot of traffic here. We got to the T-intersection without a problem.

A similar diversion is going in about a mile farther east, as the city straightens out another zigzag route. This time, the road was blocked by large barricades, but there was just enough room for a bike to get through. We were feeling good that bikes could get through where cars couldn’t.

Creedmoor is about 16 miles from our starting point. After a pleasant trip, we wheeled in for a breather at the convenience store stop we always use.

“Isn’t it interesting,” asked Maggie, “how easy that ride is now? Remember when we used to do this ride?”

I remembered. There were times I’d get to the store and want to stay for an hour, just to unwind. This time, a ten-minute stay seemed a little long, and we got back on the bikes for the return leg.

The ride is easier now, for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve been losing a little weight. Not much, mind you, but enough that I can tell. It feels good to have to fasten my belt to the last notch on some of my pants. The other is that I’m stronger. I credit mountain biking for that. It’s beefed up my legs. Hills are never going to be my strong suit, but by powering my way up short, steep climbs on the MTB, the longer, less steep climbs on the road bike aren’t the struggle they used to be.

Now, all I have to do is attend to some bike maintenance again. Isn’t it interesting that a chain can start skipping some cogs after a two-hour plus ride, when it was shifting smoothly at the start? I see a new chain and cassette on the horizon.

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Categories // fitness, Rides Tags // B ride, fitness

It’s Amazing How Fast You Get Out of Shape

02.13.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Rode this afternoon with my wife. It was my first ride in a week. In fact, it seems that the only riding I’ve been doing for the last month has been on the weekends, and this week, I didn’t even ride Saturday, because of a day trip out of town.

All that time off the bike is finally catching up with me. Man, am I out of shape! The out of town trip was to visit some relatives, and four of my cousins were there – so we took the obligatory cousins pic.

I’m not running it on the blog, out of deference to them. Suffice to say, it shows five American males in their mid to late 50s, all with substantial girth. In a couple of cases, the gut hangs over the belt buckle.

My wife looked at it, and said, “Well, you have the skinniest gut of them all.” Her definition of skinny differs from mine. I ain’t skinny. I suppose I am the least rotund.

My weight, which usually goes up in winter anyway, is true to form.  I’m about 10 pounds over my good summer biking weight.

That contributed to the way I felt on today’s ride. Oh, I felt good enough – but it seemed that I was putting much more effort into the ride than I normally would.

Disirregardless, the ride served as a needed wake up call.  I know I can get back on track by doing two simple things:

Riding more.

Eating less (junk).

All the nifty organized rides that I want to be on have opened registration. Time to start signing up. Time to get back in shape.

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Categories // fitness Tags // fitness, weight

Mixing it up

07.18.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

As I’ve mentioned before, I used to be a runner. Actually, I was never fast enough to be called a runner — I think 10-minute miles are more in the realm of jogging.

Anyway, I gave it up a couple of years ago because my knees just couldn’t take the pounding anymore. That’s when I started biking.

Biking’s been great for me, fitness-wise. I’ve got better endurance, a lower resting heart rate, and my waist size is down two inches.

But biking has some disadvantages, too. It’s not a weight-bearing exercise, so although my thighs and calves look like those on a 20-something, my upper body looks like it belongs on a 58-year-old. Which I am.

But I stick with biking as my only real exercise. Lots of folks I know mix it up — they run, or swim, or lift weights, or do something in addition to biking.

I don’t.

None of those other activities excite me much. Weight lifting is a turn-off, swimming bores me (not that I’m much good at it anyway), and although I enjoy golf, come on, there’s no way that qualifies as exercise. By the way, I walk the entire 18 holes and carry my bag, too.

Do you supplement your biking with other forms of exercise? What do you do? Do you do more than one other activity?  What’s the mix of biking vs. that other stuff?

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Categories // fitness, Uncategorized Tags // exercise, fitness

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