I've been bad about updating this blog this year

When you're focused on training and work and living life..you rarely get time to actually sit in front of a computer when you're not doing everything.

Training is going well..I have been updating another blog with life stuff and silliness
http://bikingbettie.tumblr.com


But it's nowhere near as 'serious bike business' as I would like/want this one to be.
Six Gap is less than 50 days away..and I think I'm ready.
I'm also considering doing the Spaghetti 100 up in Tallahassee as well this year.  Or at least going there for that weekend and taking photos.

June 1st Goal: Eat Better

Not saying that I eat..BAD now..but I don't make a point of it to go 'Oh ok, I rode..xyz yesterday, I should probably eat some...(fill in the blank here, carbs, protien, etc).

I have always seen working out and even riding the bike at times as a happy medium.  Meaning..that because of all that activity, I can successfully eat when I want and whatever I want.  But I do think I need to focus and act better with this, cause if you keep putting 'junk' in the 'gas tank', you're not going to be at your best performance level at say... SIX GAP. 

Soooo..I started when I started riding early.  Actually, it was the day I got in the accident (oh yea, guess I need to do a post about that too, ok that will follow here with photos).  I actually ate something (a small breakfast of yogurt, a mini Cliff Bar and a banana) before I jumped on the bike to do my hour ride that morning. That was the first time I have ever ate..anything before a super early bike ride. 
I would love to say it helped me feel better, but..I have no clue as I don't remember due to the accident and concussion that occured that morning while on my ride.
But the 50 miles to Tarpon and eating something beforehand did. :) 
So it's a start, but I need to continue, and also continue into the other meals of the day ...

 I'm also reading the time crunched cyclist and it's broached the subject as well, so I have that as a guide.
And maybe I'll attempt that whole..learning to cook deal as well ;)....we'll see.

Training

Based on the information brought to me by this book

I will be training in the 11 week program it has scheduled out for me for Six Gap.

Which puts my actual nut up or shut up date the week of July 11th.

Now, I will continue to work on my training from now until then...but that is my absolute I better be ready to MOVE it date. 

So in the meantime, I will work and attempt different times to wake up, schedules, and riding as much as I can, when I can. 
Gas prices have made this a bit easier.  I have put forth the effort of if it is 5 miles or less from the house, I will bike it.  I have pannier bags and a messenger bag, and I have carried groceries in those bags and on the bike before.  Yes it means more trips as I can't carry AS many things, but...I also plan on doing a monthly jaunt to the grocery store, Target (I can't carry litter on my bike), and the recycling facility.  So that drive is the drive that I'll get all the bigger items I need that I can't carry on the bike.  

Six Gap will be accomplished this year!

Fell off Track on typing, but not biking.

I've been hardcore riding, and hitting the gym, starting up my ballroom dancing and just all around kicking ass, taking names and doing my life instead of doing my life via computer.

But..I have found a new love/obsession in the biking world...

Meet my new baby...

Gary Fisher Marlin GS - WSD - 13.5 for ME!

That's right - I am in LOVE/LUST with mountain biking.  Granted, I am in Central FL - so there is not very many areas around here to fully appreciate the love of Mountain Biking..BUT...

I have a car, and I have friends in places that have those...so - I will be staying with them, using their house as a homebase and riding the HELL out of this bike!

A new perspective

In searching for a new job - I have concluded that there are none (sadly) within the 5 miles radius from my house that I wanted and hoped to get (where I could ride to work) and b) I need to re-vamp my biking schedule.

Starting tomorrow - I am going to be leaving my car at work - riding home in the afternoons and then riding into work in the mornings, so I may drive home Thursday. 

This will give me a garantee'd 26 miles a day on the days that I decide to do this (4 days out of the week is the goal) and then my weekends won't be such a struggle to make up the extra miles (goal is 150 miles a week - to slowly increase each month by 50 miles give or take).

This will also enable me to - should I pursue a job with another company in the same area be able to store my bike (regardless of if they have a place in the building) on the days I ride in that I know the bike will be safe regardless.

So - goals are updated and changed.  Here's hoping

THIS PAGE HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY YOUR PROVIDER

So while I can't read my blogs at work anymore (BOO cause that's what I did at lunch) I can read them before work...well I can read them..but not make posts..
Meaning that updates probably won't happen unless I actually get up and type in the mornings (Like I'm doing now)...
Anyways
I'm depressed.  It hit around my birthday and no I don't know why.  Because of it - I have not been so ept at getting on the bike, even though it is a new bike (I've only gone on it three times in one week...wah).  I was hoping to knock that out today with the weather being nice, but that didn't happen.  So training is going to start again TOMORROW and I will be biking both days this weekend to make up for it.   It will pass eventually like it always does when it hits...and I have been DYING to take a PTO day and be depressed, but I really just don't have time right now.

I committed to doing Six Gap, meaning I registered for it - so I've GOT TO DO THIS TRAINING NOW.

Sharon is moving out today :(...it's bittersweet.  I am going to miss having one of my BFF's right across the hall (D doesn't get the talky talky thing as often as her and I do after work on the weekdays, etc ) but at the same time - I'm GETTING MY OLD ROOM BACK and can start SEWING AGAIN.  So like I said - bitter sweet.  The kitties are also going to miss having her stuff to des---- I mean sleep on :P.a
Dimitrios is having a guys night tonight.  I get the house COMPLETELY TO MYSELF tonight for a few hours.  I have not had that in ...well 8 months for sure ..I should do something crazy like drink a bottle of wine and run around naked, but instead I am going to crash out no later than 10 so I get my ass up in the morning for a ride.  Like I said - gotta go back to the TEAM SKINNY DEDICATION.

Hope everyone else is swimming along ok.

Six Gap, Georgia - End of September

http://www.cyclenorthgeorgia.com/

I have decided that I am going to commit to doing this.

Which means I definitely need to start training for this.

Weather is not fully agreeing with me on this - but I will start as soon as I don't hear rain in the morning when I wake up with the riding.  Including having to ride on Saturdays if I have to.  Those were supposed to be my off days, but with this coming up rapidly - I think I'm going to need to do that for the next two months..

Along with the other things I got going on (sewing for costumes, etc).

I will only be doing Three-Gap (or at least that is the one I am signing up for)...depending on how I feel after three gap, I will then determine if I can keep going or just stay back and enjoy myself/wait for B-Man and D and take photos while I'm waiting...

Fingers crossed I accomplish this...

Week 2 - Team Skinny is still on board

This is seriously the first time I have ever been this motivated to do this in the two and a half years I have been riding. I don't know what has gotten into me, but I hope I can keep the momemtum up.

The past week I have ridden over 50 miles...rode 5 days out of the week and one day for two hours.

This week is already starting off great - as I 'graduated' in the cycling passion.

How you ask?!

For the first time ever, I woke up this morning, got on the bike and had ...NO IDEA of where I was really going (with the exception of having to stop by a friend's house between 8:30am-9am to pick up something).

I just got on the bike and rode ...which ended me up at Coffee Pot Park, and I found other little trails through St. Pete, which I thought was pretty freaking cool.

I met up with other cyclists while on my ride. It felt nice - everyone smiled and waved as I rode past and said 'Morning!" :) Very Good Morning it was indeed.

This week looks like I will be riding to work on Wed/Thurs due to weather.

And me incorporating Yoga into the Team Skinny Goals.

Thanks to two totally awesome ladies who let me borrow a beginner Yoga DVD for a bit, I am getting a great start today with this goal as well.

I only did 10 minutes, but holy crap did I learn a lot in 10 minutes. Such as

I AM NOT FLEXIBLE AT ALL...

But the Yoga will def work that and I'm looking forward to it.

I shall be doing this on my 'off days' from the bike on the weeks and also one extra 'freebie' day when I feel like I could use a good stretch and centering.

If I keep this up - I might actually end up going to Six Gap this year with Brendan and Dimitros..AND participating.

OFF DAY

I had all intentions of waking up and going riding to work this morning (and back of course) - the weather was perfect for it today.
However, since I have kept up with my ride regime for a week now, and was pretty exhausted..my body said NO and I SLEPT through my alarm...
Ah well - today will be my off day and I'll just jump on the bike this weekend. No worries.
I rode for 27 miles yesterday (2 hours) so today should not be abused/taken for granted. And this is the first month of getting back into it - the schedule should be normal by August.
And I made a cycling friend while on the bridge yesterday (another fellow cyclist). Awesome.

Team Skinny Day #3

Yesterday was my 'off day' for the week.
Weather does not look to be very promising for the next couple of days (something about a cold front...or maybe a hurricane...whatever, it's Florida).
Humidity is terrible right now. If I just STOP on the bike to take a breather, it envelopes me and thus makes it where the sweat doesn't dry up.
Meh.
Luckily, Dimitrios bought us a trainer last year...




One of the best trainers on the market actually.
So he set that up for me last night - in front of the computer.
I can happily watch Hulu now in the mornings and catch up on my TV programs I like to watch while getting my hour in the morning.
And 30 minutes in the afternoons.

Team Skinny Take 1

I did good this past weekend. I had plans to start on a training schedule and was worried that going out of town (I had planned to start it on Monday) would screw with my schedule (meaning I would be lazy and not get my @$$ up and ride the bike that I dragged all the way to Jacksonville/Orange Park). But luckily, my aunt has Banty Roosters who decided that 4:15 was the appointed time to start crowing at the sun (that wasn't out yet) and since I'm not used to them, it woke me up. I could be annoyed/pissed at this, but I actually saw it as a 'Thank you', as I got up and did my hour and a half ride..and got to see the sunrise on my ride (one of my favorite parts of my biking)





Today is my 'off day' but for the rest of the week I have to be on the bike for at least an hour to reach this goal I am attempting. The weather here in Florida, has..for lack of a better term, sucked monkey balls this past week and it sounds like it is going to continue to do so (it's been like Portland down here...meh). So I am going to set up the trainer tonight so I can at least ride in the morning should it be icky/unacceptable...
I am also going to seriously look into doing yoga. Stretching is good, and would probably benefit me by a lot.

Orange park for the weekend..biking for a day?

This fourth of July weekend I'll be visiting my aunt in Orange Park. The original plan was for us to visit both her and some friends of our's in Jacksonville - however, they are out of town and thus, it's just going to be me hanging with her from Saturday-Monday.

I am excited for this trip as I love hanging out with my aunt.
BUT - I did determine that this week would be the week to start biking (as fitting in with The Tour De France)...
So I created a route to go to from my aunt's house...it's nothing fancy - and it's only about 11 miles..I'm concluding that if I see something while on the ride that peaks my interest, I'll veer in that direction and see where it takes me. So a simple 11 mile ride could potentially turn into a 21-30 mile ride as well.
I'm pretty excited as this is one of the few rides where I have just hopped on the bike to ride, and not 100% know where the adventure will take me. Usually I feel more..accomplished if I have an endgoal..but all I have with this ride is the determination to wake up about 7am and be on the bike and back at her house no later than 10-11am to enjoy the pool for the rest of the day.

Goals...

The problem with making goals - is that if you don't meet them, it can be a little disenchanting.
The problem with my goal, is that I don't want to 100% do what I have to do in order to get there:






I would kill for those legs..and that body.
However, that takes training. Hardcore training. Like, change my diet entirely and my schedule and don't even consider including photography or dancing as a past-time training (ok I might be able to do those a little bit, but not how I do them now).
It's not a matter of not being able to do it. I could totally do it. And did do it by about 90% complete-ness when I was younger and was a swimmer (the only thing I refused to give up was chocolate back then). It's a matter of getting rid of a lot of good things (that are bad for you) in order to get there.

Then again, maybe I could also see it as a 2011 New Year's goal...

Apologies

My life has been a little hectic as of late:
- I finished school and will be graduating in two weeks
- I acquired a heart-rate monitor and can thus track my training a lot better. Got ready to make training goals and then:
- I was laid off from my job (which was only 5 miles from my home)
- I had to put off cycling for about 4-5 weeks while job searching (save for some small trips here and there to enjoy myself)
- I did a cycling adventure vacation up in Jacksonville with The Greek and had a great time
- I acquired work four weeks after being laid off over in Tampa
- Which makes for a 21 mile ride to work, ONE WAY
- AND I WILL BE DOING THIS 2x a week and commuting BACK over the Gandy Bridge every week (Weather permitting of course)

I already sucessfully did the commute one day this week. Dimitrios rode with me as he had mapped out the way for me through Tampa. The ride in? Kick ass - it was nice and cool super early in the morning (takes about an hour and a half to ride to work), and the water being on both sides was great. Hell, we were even passed by another cyclist who was booking it while we were going 23mph.
The ride home? HELL (LOL). We went from having the wind at our backs to fighting the wind, and being in the direct sunlight while going over the bridge. The wind was up to 20mph and we were going 11mph just fighting it.

It was still worth it though - and still awesome.
And so much worth riding and waking up 2 hours earlier than normal jsut to be on the bike and do soemthing that I love so much.

So I will be updating more here in the future. After my graduation ceremony in two weeks - expect weekly updates, status and comments on my trip over the Gandy and my commute as well as reports on my Project: Buff this year.

Ciao! for Niao!

2010 - New Year New Motivations

I have one more week of school - ONE.MORE.WEEK - - after that - training is going to be in full force with the biking, dancing, and every other thing that has been compromised while in school.

Got new shifters for the Trek - I have now moved up in the world to Shimano Tiagra's, which also meant a new cassette on the bike as well, so the Trek is now a 9 speed on the back. Woohoo - I got's more gears. That, I never really get to use since we live in FLATLAND (meh) but that will probably change here soon as I have requested that we make the trek out to San Antonio, FL to ride on hills so I can get acclimated to them for when/if we move out of state. If that does happen, it's going to start happening pretty fast.

The biking schedule has increased even though my mapmyride for the last two months hasn't shown it - just stopped logging it and I can't remember what I rode for certain - memory is being retained right now for school stuff and my finals this week. But I'm riding more to work and for errands and driving less and it feels pretty great!

In the market for a heart-rate monitor now. If I want to train and I want to train right, those are key to learning while training. Will update when I have one of those as well.

Need to get my schedule back on track - super cold weather didn't stop me from riding (yes I was riding to work in 35 degree weather - what of it?) but the dance schedule has. Along with my ballroom dancing I am now taking up belly-dance as well and those classes are on certain nights that mess up my early night for bed so I can do my before dawn/work bike ride. I've been waking up late and that's not good. So I think I need to change my schedule around to do the before dawn bike ride on Mondays, Fridays and every other Thursday. We'll see if that works.

This week's ride schedule will be M, W, TH, F - Ballroom is usually on Wednesdays, but I haven't heard anything from Joe/My Instructor...so I'm actually starting to get a little worried.

Welcome to 2010!

SHOOOOM!

Cold Weather
New Wheels
New WheelSet (thanks to Dimitrios - happy birthday to me! The Hubs finally came in and he made my wheelset all last week and this weekend) :D

Makes for a faster/happier ride into work
This weekend - starts the weekend rides again and the training. I'm excited!

Green Stats and Month Review

Not as much riding as I would have liked, but still in the hundreds for the month and that's what I'm aiming for until October (when I'm done with school and can focus more on riding)

Green Stats

Total Workout Days: 151
Distance Traveled: 1,727.94 mi.
Gas Saved: 96.00 gallons
Money Saved: $334.07
Carbon Offset: 1,858.5 lbs. of CO2

May 2009 Stats

Total Distance:165.73 mi.	Total Calories:1,495 (kcal)	Weight Change:4.0 lbs.
Average Sleep:n/a	Average Morale:n/a	Min. / Max.:123.0 lbs. / 127.0 lbs.

'Resting Pace' increase

Hopped on the bike this morning and started going my usual route to work. I don't usually pay attention to speed or anything at this time as I figure it's my warm-up/resting pace or whatever. Today, I looked down though on my computer to see what it said.
I was up to 17mph and not even breathing heavy.
...

I can remember like a few months ago where it would kill me to be that fast. I can remember when I started biking my 'resting/getting started pace' was only 12-13mph.
So after one year of the sporadic riding that I've been doing (basically just meaning that I'm not able to ride as much as I would like cause of school etc) I have increased that much.

Ego-Boost = WIN!

Things that are awesome in May (so far)

* I got to ride in Tallahassee on hilly/canopy roads.
* I'm riding the Trek more.
* I have a Tuesday night group ride with "The Skirts' that I get to look forward to every week.
* Riding into work 4x a week
* Riding to friends houses if they are close from now on.
* GOT A CO-WORKER MOTIVATED ENOUGH TO RIDE INTO WORK AS WELL! His distance is way farther than mine (17 miles) and he still did it! WoO HoO! We will take over the company as cyclists! :)
* Awesome bike schwag coming in the mail left and right
* I now own a car that can hold bikes for road trips/excursions on the bike, AND she'll start reliably as well (unlike my previous car).
* Dimitrios got a mountain bike
* Turning the Storage room by the Patio into a 'Bike Room'
* Planning on doing 200+ miles on the bike this month.
* Chris and his Swine Flu awesomeness (<---).

April Stats

Since riding my bike/using Map My Ride:

Green Stats

Total Workout Days: 143
Distance Traveled: 1,587.69 mi.
Gas Saved: 88.21 gallons
Money Saved: $306.95
Carbon Offset: 1,707.6 lbs. of CO2


Now, for just April's info:

Total Distance:172.05 mi.	Total Calories:609 (kcal)	Weight Change:2.0 lbs.
Average Sleep:n/a	Average Morale:n/a	Min. / Max.:125.0 lbs. / 127.0 lbs