Night Rides...

I did two this weekend. 

With my training buddy of course, as I wouldn't have done this route without him I don't think.  

Too freaking scary/high traffic.

A friend of our's was having his bday party in Tampa at his apartment.  I figured it would be a GREAT opportunity to ride at the perfect time here in the Tampa Bay Area.  When it's dark (no sun exposure), cooler, and a bit less humid.

And yea, those factors were fine..and made the ride great. 
However, the route on a Saturday night??  Was a bit terrifying in sections on the way to Tampa.  Not so bad (interestingly enough) on the way back.
We left my house at 10pm (in Largo) and headed to the BaySide Bridge.  That was ok.  Bayside Bridge, the wind pushed it to our destination, which I am thankful for since the ride OVER the COURTNEY CAMPBELL CAUSEWAY was into a headwind, coming from the Southwest with gusts. 
Lucky for us, there's a side road on a majority of that bridge, where people go to fish, enjoy the water, and on Saturday night meet up for motorcycle races on the actual bridge, and cars as well.  It's basically a service road, but I learned it's a huge place for people to hang out with on a Saturday night.  And why not?  It's a pretty view of the Tampa Bay Area. 
The Service Road was not the problem.  We thought that leaving at 10pm would be the perfect lull time..and late enough where most people were at their destination for their drinking/Saturday night fun.
That was/is not the case.  I completely forgot about the people that wait until 10pm to head to Tampa/Ybor for drinking. 
Now, traffic doesn't bother us so much.  We're used to that.  However, the median to get over the two humps on the bridge, are no where near as big as the Gandy Bridge.  So going over that hump with only oh..about 30 feet??  Or less, maybe a little more?? As a Median was terrifying.  My ride buddy was worried as I usually am behind him and he couldn't tell where my headlight was and where the cars headlights were (checking on me as you do with a buddy system). 
When that hump was over, we promptly got back on the service road..and battled the headwind, cursing it at this point.  But at least we were in Tampa by then.

Tampa has provided a new service road called Bayfront or something.  Which takes us to a small trail to avoid traffic and to get us to Memorial Drive. ..which worked out perfectly.  Memorial we stayed on the sidewalk for all of a mile (maybe less) then turned to our friends house.

The party was great. No drinking, but who the hell needs to.  And it was great to see everyone in Tampa as I hadn't seem them in a few months.

The ride back we were dreading.  Bars get out here about 3am..so we knew we needed to get on the road before that, so as not to deal with more terrible traffic.  It was agreed that we would stop if it got to be too much with the traffic..and just enjoy the view from the Causway of Tampa Bay.

We left the party in the hour of two (I think it was closer to three) and we were both dreading it. 
We should not have. 
It was the best ride I have been on in awhile.

We learned that the other side of Courtney Campbell's bridge (the side heading towards Pinellas)'s service road is actually longer, bigger, and easier to get to.
Traffic was practically nothing compared to everyone getting to Tampa earlier.  We were able to cross the largest hump with little or not effort..and only about 3 cars passed us while we were doing so. 
And the headwind we dealt with, became a tailwind.  We were flying.

It was fun!  It was enjoyable, it was nothing dreading about it.
Now, getting back on the Bayside Bridge was a little much for me.  We had a headwind there as on the way there, we did not.  My legs had had enough of tailwind, but at the same time I needed the training.

And the fact that we can cut through a neighborhood (as we can use the exit near my old job whereas it's harder to do that on the way to the party) helped immensely.
Got home about 4am, little or no traffic.  Tired, but felt accomplished.
And got the milage for the day I needed to get done. 
40 miles total for the ride.
I also figured out how to get myself to sleep in...by doing night rides obviously.  Only downfall is that I missed out on Lenny's in the morning, woke up too late and it would have been too busy at that point in time.  Went somewhere else for Brunch and it was still delicious of course, but I had my heart set on FRENCH TOAST.  :D

But this has caused a new...craving in me.
I loved how I felt on the bike late at night, I loved how it looked outside, I loved how energized I felt and how I wanted to keep going ...that feeling that doesn't happen too often during the day as the heat, humidity and sun just get to you on the bike, and can make it brutal in this area. 
So I think, I am going to start riding at night now...one night a weekend instead of focusing all my attention's to early morning rides. 
And then, that will also enable me to sleep in on a weekend as well. :)

13.6 vs 21.9

Tried another alternative today. I parked my car at a shopping plaza 6 miles away from the house (A Publix, off of MLK/9th and Roosevelt if any of you know the area), kinda of a ..middle ground for the ride. Dimitrios was a bit adamant on me doing this - as me going down Roosevelt during 5pm traffic and near the I-275 Interstates during that time makes him a little nervous. I still have yet to fully experience it, but I can see why it would be sketchy just riding through it on the few mornings that I have. Even with hardly any traffic, cars are coming off that exit at a pretty fast pace (rightly so - they just got off the Interstate), so yea. This might be the best alternative that I found so far.

Parking the car and then riding the rest of the way is still going to save a good bit on gas so I'm ok with it. Anything at this point. Also another reason why I'm looking at bus routes as well. One of these days I'll get the courage to do that. Maybe during the summer.
It's not so much the 'courage'. I guess that's the wrong word. It's more of the anxiety of 'IF' I miss the bus, I have to wait for the other, which will in fact, put me 30 minutes late. And I hate being late...to anything. Anxiety issues that happened from a young age, what can I say. Unfortunately, I can't even 'test run' the bus route on the weekends as the routes that go over to Tampa DON'T RUN ON THE WEEKENDS (yes, our Mass transit is retarded).
There's also the fear of someone jacking my bike. I know this is probably HIGHLY unlikely, as the bus driver will hopefully be paying attention on who's bike is who -but still - you never know. Again, I know I can just keep an eye on it from the bus, but there's still that...anxiety of it happening.
But I'm sure I WILL have to take the bus one of these days over. Even if it's just one way home in the afternoon.

I still love the mornings here in the Tampa Bay Area. Riding over the water is so relaxing compared to being in the car. It makes me like where I live again. And able to tolerate it for just a bit longer.
Cyclist's aren't joking when they state "The World looks better on a bike".

Updates

Dimitrios and I have been biking a lot more now that the weather is pleasant. We took our steel frame/commuter bikes this Sunday and rode to Target and got items we needed (put them in our pannier set), had a nice lunch and then rode back. About a 10 mile ride for the day. Dimitrios is also riding for everything now. His car has not been moved from the parking space since November 7th, when we got back from our Atlanta/The Jesus Lizard trip. It's been pretty cool. And it's not like the miles are going on my car, cause my car has pretty much been parked with the exception of the usual 1-2 days a week I drive into work.

We also rode to his mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. That was really nice too. Ended up getting a night ride in (as it was about 11pm when we left her house), and the roads were dead. Very different and very odd for a Thursday night in Largo; but very beneficial for us as we weren't bothered by any motorists. People driving that did pass us didn't even seem to be in a rush, which is a nice change.

Rode the commuter bike to work as it was Monday and I didn't want to work up a huge sweat. D then suggested we go to his mom's for Turkey Soup (which was delicious). I suggested he meet me at work and so we rode from my work to his mom's - had a nice dinner and left about 8pm, we headed home and a mile away from the house, my pulley broke on the derailer, causing no inertia/pull. D went back to get the pieces and then pushed me the mile left that we had home! Got home and ordered the part - thank goodness only a 4 dollar part. So, my commuter bike is out of commission for a bit - no big deal. Should be back in working order by this weekend.

Been riding three weeks now two days a week an hour before I am expected to go into work. It's been nice. I think next week I might bump it up to 3 days a week. Mondays are just going to be commute only days; as I can't get my @$$ up to save my life on Mondays.
And I came up with an 'epiphany' this past weekend while staring at my car parked in the parking spot. I think on the days/weeks I have appointments I'm just going to drive the car into work on Monday mornings and keep the car in the parking garage at work all week and just bike to and from work. I mean...why not?? That way on my lunch appointments I can drive to them and make it - and IF it rains, then at least the car is here for me to use and I don't have to try and find another alternate route/plan (even though 75% of the time I just ride in the rain cause I like to). Then on Friday, just drive the car back home. Easy Peasy. And I will still be able to get most of my riding in during the week.
So that's the update ...I'll get better at posting on this now that I'm riding more often. And I'll be sure to post my stats as well soon as I haven't done that in awhile either

"Cold Front" Starts here tomorrow

Which means the biking starts back up to and from work during the work week.
And maybe some group rides with the Skirts, as I do miss them.

Hell - YES

Hiatus is almost over

I'm sorry, but the heat and humidity for the month of August pretty much killed any ambition I had to ride to and from work - or even just to go and get the mail.

We went to Colorado for a week - it was..AMAZING!!! D did some mountain biking and had a good time.
Just got back from an Atlanta/Tallahassee visit this Labor Day. That was fun, and the Silver Comet Trail in Atlanta is really a nice trail that we enjoyed. Shaded, nice - and EVERYONE KNEW HOW THE HELL TO RIDE, walk, and jog on the trail (unlike here in the 'Burg, where the Pinellas trail is filled with morons and walkers who take up the entire trail....Sigh).
D went with Brendan up in Tallahassee to a Chaires ride...i bailed on riding as my rear is sore from the ride on the Silver Comet. Mainly because I haven't rode in over a month and my booty's gotta get used to my seat again.
I have come across a conclusion however....

My bike is too small for me. It's something I didn't...WANT to admit - but let's face facts...I have a stem on it that's ridiculous (150-200), I have spacers to get the stem up where I need it in order to fit me correctly (about 4 or 5 spacers...which is a LOT). its' just too small. It's a 47cm, and I probably need one up - (49 or 50). so I'm biting the bullet and looking for a bike now. When I get it - I'll sell my Trek and that will be the hardest thing. Since it was my baby - my first REAL bike and her and I have shared many memories.
W
I've got time and like I said - The Trek fits for now..but it does still hurt sometimes...so bigger would be better as I can't really keep stretching it out when it's gone as far as it can go.
So that's the plan with that...

As for the biking - the plan right now - depending on the weather - will be to ride into work tomorrow. Here's hoping it's not disgusting - as one month without biking is like going north to sound on my arm with a razor blade!

Weekend of Blah..

Thanksgiving Weekend ended up not being to great. We were rained out 3 out of the four days, and were only able to ride about 20 miles. Dimitrios got a flat tire, and the replacement tube was the tube from hell and had two freaking holes in it. Needless to say, we were both pretty on edge this weekend as the plan to ride 80% of the time we were up in Tally, was ruined. Had I known it was going to be like 110% chance of rain EVERYDAY except for Thanksgiving, I would have just suggested that we ride to my grandparents and back...that would have gotten our ride in and been awesome.

HUMPH.
Anyways...
Have rode in 3 out of the five days this week. Thought a doctor's appointment was one day, which it was not. Actually it was the next day. But I did ride to the grocery store and back with Dimitrios on Monday to make up for the missed day.
The '<10>

I have also decided that I have to ride AT LEAST 10 miles a day every day (with the exception of two days a week, not consectutively). Since I cancelled my gym membership, this will help make up for the non-exercise, me thinks and I will also start the hundredpushups challenge this weekend for upper arm strenth (and also do crunches while doing that). Doing all the milage I have done these past two months has been great. It put me back at my weight that I was at when Dimitrios and I started dating (I had gained some weight due to trauma from my two surgeries this year. Not a lot, but enough that I noticed it and it did not make me happy (about 10lbs). If I keep this up, I'll be doing stamina and training rides in no time.

Next week - I won't be riding on Monday, Wednesday (possibly because of the rain chance) ...those will be my off days for the week. If I ride on Wednesday due to no rain chance, then I can take Saturday off if I like. We shall see.

HURRAY for Cycling!

End of October

The end of October had me not cycling as much.
Riding Stats for October are as follows:
Total Distance for the Month: 65.20 miles
Total Calories: 2,158
This does not show the rides we did in Portland however, add about 40 miles to this and we're set.
(note: All information is logged on the http://www.mapmyride.com page under the name Ritapita or bikingbettie@gmail.com

There was a vacation to the Portland, Oregon area planned, and it was a blast. We did lots of commuting there via bicycle and walking (thanks to the lovely Seth and Kaya for letting us borrow their bicycles on our days there). Bottom line: I loved it there. And am going to try as hard as I can to get up there to move. Starting at the beginning of the year, the wheels are going to be put in motion to get up there.

Had a 'equipment' failure right before we left for Portland. One of the rear bicycle lights broke and the clip for it is no longer attached to it. Bummer, but fixable.

And I have a new addition to my family. Her name right now is unknown (still can't think of one), but she's a 1988 Miyata Road Bike. Got her on Craig's List for 100 bucks:
She needs some work and some TLC. The wife hadn't ridden her in about 10 years. So the tires are dry-rotted. But I think I can put about 40 bucks of love into her and sha-zam! I will have a commuter bike for the work week. Complete with a rack and lock holder. I am pretty excited about this. The Trek I can then spruce up and do some cool stuff with to make it more of a 'race' bike and this one can be used for errands or going downtown, to work and/or the movies.

Today is the beginning of November. Ride schedule to and from work is every 5 days for now on, weather permitting of course. I will be riding this week from Monday-Wednesday. Driving in on Thursday with clothes change and then Friday-Wednesday the next week. Riding will probably happen a lot more as the weather is staying cooler and nicer.

Weekend in Review

Friday night: Rode to my friend Beverly's house and back (about 3-5 miles away). Got home REEALLLY late and was riding REEAALLLY late...but it was awesome riding home at 3:15 in the morning. There was hardly anyone on the roads and the people that were, didn't even bother or taunt me.

Now I honestly want to make a point of it to go to bed super early on the weekends (say...Friday nights..) and wake up super early (like 3-4am) and go for rides! Something to consider...

Sunday we rode to Dimitrios's uncles house in the afternoon for a cookout. Left his place by about 10:00 and again, night riding = AWESOME. I really enjoyed it.

So not too bad. This weekend I think we're going to shoot for riding to Country Inn Pizza on Friday night for our dinner outing, Lenny's in the morning on Saturday or Sunday and maybe even try to do a training ride on Sunday evening...
Kick ass.

Saturday...in the park...

The boyfriend's birthday.
We rode our bikes to our favorite breakfast diner (Lenny's on US19) and back.
Also stopped by the hardware store and picked up some supplies and the post office.
Found an excellent path between Gulf to Bay and Nursery Roads too that doesn't put you on US19.

Total Ride: About 10 miles.
Feelings During the Ride: A little shaky early in the morning (needed foods I think), but after eating, just fine. Still note: I need to get new Capri's that are black.
And a commuter bike. Cause while I do love my Trek WSD 1000. I do not like leaving 'my baby' out of view.

And so it begins...

This all started for a number of reasons:

• I started cycling this year and love it.
• I'm sick of paying out the @$$ for gas and it's prices.
• The exercise alone for cycling is amazing.
• It's good for the environment AND my health.
• I'm planning a move to Portland, OR in four years time (or less...depending on life) and need to get acclimated.
• My car, which will be paid off next month (September) is starting to have problems that will cost more than she is worth to fix (she a 1998). And soo....

I want to be ready to be completely car free when the expense gets too much to fix her.

I thought about going cold turkey, but the though of not having 'my car' (yes, I will admit it's a control thing for the most part) and feeling like my freedom is being taken away just like THAT, scares me.
So this weekend, I will start the 'baby steps' process. I will prepare throughout the weekend by starting to buy the needed items (will post those later), resources for transit (also another post) and making routes to cycle most of my life for now on.
And next week... I will attempt to go completely car-less.

Stay tuned. Daily progress will be recorded starting on Monday, August 18th.