It's July - and the temp this morning was 73 degrees..with 47% humidity

That is a blessing to us Floridians on days like this.

Even if it gets up to 90 degrees later today (it's actually going to get up to 96), the fact that the humidity is down and there was a slight 'chill' in the air when I was on the bike is just heaven when you're used to sweltering humidity and sun/heat.

The fact that this area is nothing but a concrete jungle only increases the heat when you're own black asphalt. I seriously think I have felt my skin start to burn off my legs when I'm at a red light just WAITING for the light to turn green again.

The bike ride this morning in was nice - the water was peaceful and the chill in the air made for little if no sweating, except where my heart-rate monitor was of course. It felt damn good to be on my bike and not be in my car.

This afternoon will be brutal - the weatherman stated it's going to climb today and fast. The humidity will still stay low (for this time of year) but it's still not going to be a fun day on the bridge over. It never is. I cannot wait for October and the cool days all day long. Will definitely make me want to ride more to work than just once or twice a week - that's for sure :)

Progress of Team Skinny is going well. It's been four days of me waking up at 5am (even my off day I woke up to get used to the schedule). My legs are starting to have muscle soreness from the riding schedule and my brain is starting to become confused due to the sleep schedule and me taking control of it.

The plan was to take Saturday as my next 'Off' day, but that might change due to the weather. Might just not take it off at all. We'll see.

Awesome

There's definitely something to be said for having the wind at your back, pushing you across the bridge in the afternoons.

Made it over the bridge in 45minutes thanks to that. God Bless TailWinds :)

40% chance of rain tomorrow - I think it'll still be good to ride in again...

A view of my ride in and back home everyday for those that were curious

Click on the view larger map link below to see the whole she-bang...you can also click the title of the entry as well to re-direct.



View Larger Map

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".

Winds ESE at 18mph...

Gusting to 23mph....I weigh roughly 123-125...the wind will only pick up when I get on the bridge where there's no resistance (ie. trees, buildings, etc) to protect me. .....I think it was a good decision to turn around and drive in today. Stupid Wind...

Tomorrow is another day..and I will cross the Gandy Bridge this week via bicycle like I have the past three weeks...dammit.

Then there's the pleasure of the early morning ride...

I rode into work...
Nobody bothers me on this long ride. I have yet to be honked at - bitched at, yelled at or even buzzed.
I thought that Tampa and the Gandy Bridge would be horrid - especially since traffic over in Tampa always seems to be just so..Bad...

However, this is the second day I have rode in and had..nothing.
And it made me feel a lot better about stuff...in general.

NEW RULE: Instead of being mopey pants - MUST.GET.ON.BIKE.WHEN.FEELING.BAD.TO.TURN.THAT.FROWN.UPSIDE.DOWN.

:D

Only catch is - when you're feeling mopey - the bike sometimes is not as inviting as it could/should be ya know? The couch seems to call your name a LOT more when you're depressed.
But man does it feel good to be on that bike.
This afternoon however, when I'm riding back over the bridge - I WILL be cursing the wind AND the sun today. LOL...just like I did last week as well. :D

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!

8-9 seems to almost be better than 7-8

Need to ride more.
So decided that even though I couldn't get up early today - I would head to work 9-6 on my bike.

I've always considered that time to be the 'bad' time. People seem more on edge in their cars, even more in a rush than the 7am crowd cause most of them are usually late and the whole 'zen' of the morning traffic is just - NOT.
So I tried it today and...

It wasn't that bad. Yes, more cars passed me - but they didn't seem to be nearly as 'angry' as some usually are and they also didn't seem to mind that I was there. Traffic lights were also a bit more kind to me as well - meaning I didn't need to stop for too long and wait which I like even more.
It's a relief - and now that I know that if I can't get my booty up in the mornings (something I've been having a problem with as of late), I can actually have a relaxing morning and get ready on my time. As long as I leave by 8:20 - I'm gold!
At least until the afternoon showers come in full force. Those usually seem to happen in August, by 6pm everyday. But even still - a slight drizzle in the rain feels nice!

Ride Schedule Change due to Inclement Weather

Pretty much my commuting schedule has changed since the rainy season has finally hit Florida.

For now on, any day (with the exception of Tuesdays as that is my dance lesson @ lunch day) that it's not raining in the morning OR I have no appointments that day....I ride in.

Will be riding the Miyata a lot more too as she has fenders.

Weather...

- Has been great this week. No ridicously cold, no humid/icky warm. I've rode into work three days out of the week (wanted to do four, but not going to beat myself up)...it's been a good week.
- Dimitrios is doing a race this weekend in San Antonio. I'm pretty excited for him.
- I started riding home actually ON East Bay/Roosevelt now. Still a little scared in the mornings to try that (especially as I would have to cross three lanes of traffic in order to get into the turn lane for our street, so I'm still sticking to the sidewalk for now on Roosevelt, but I might actually try and go into the neighborhood behind the building and take the 'back way' ....it would give me more mileage and a change of pace even :-).
- Need to work on getting over my fear of the 'group ride'. Just need to go one afternoon when he goes (or one Saturday morning) and go with the small group. He says I can keep up with them, and that they're ok to ride with. Just gotta give it a try.
- Also considering parking my car where I can no longer see it RIGHT.IN.FRONT. of my door. This way, I'll conclude to ride instead of walking all the way to my car (note - I will need to put it REALLY far) and maybe give me more incentive to do this.

Weekend Post and Plans

Biking this week has been wonderful. I will admit that I did not ride to work all four days (Crapped out yesterday), but that's ok, as that only means I will add those miles to tomorrow's ride, making for a nice 30 mile ride tomorrow morning. I WILL get up early and get those miles out of the way too :-).
Sunday will be a 10 mile ride.
Monday is off, as I have my ballroom dance lesson at lunch and will for the rest of the year.
Got to also try some new gear today. My sweet new all finger gloves and my windbreaker. Having a windbreaker OMG makes you so much warmer not having that wind cut into you. Awesome and great.
I've also been using the handlebar bag to store things and THAT is helpful as well. That is definitely a bag I don't think Dimitrios is going to get back at this rate.
Sticking to this schedule, with the weather, doesn't seem to be a problem thus far. And I like the fact that I'm keeping my current weight, if not loosing more.

Day off for the week so a recap

Rode into work two days this week. Today is a drive day as there is a 60% chance of rain and I also have lunch plans.
Tomorrow and Friday will be two more ride into work days.
I'll admit - it's been hard keeping up this regime. It's been three days straight of riding, and yesterday morning I *ALMOST* didn't make it.
But my new 'placing the bicycle right in front of the door' before I leave every morning has also helped motivate me to ride in.
By the end of this week I'll have accomplished 90 miles on the bike.

Next week, off day = Monday for my ballroom dance class. And I'll make those miles up the following Saturday :-)

Oh, and it's been THREE weeks since I have filled my car up with gas. And I still have half a tank. Awesome.

Week Review

Rode last week three days out of the week. Can't complain. The weather has been cold, but I like these cold rides, even if it hurts my hands a little bit.

This weekend, Dimitrios got the Miyata together with her new derailer and I took her out on a spin on Sunday to Lenny's (our favorite breakfast spot) and Target. She rides like a champ and is pretty comfy too. No clips on her (as she is the beater/commuter) but I've got 'rat traps' and those work just fine with tennis shoes. Now we just need to get the rack on the back and she's good to go!

This week we'll be doing lots of trails and riding on Friday/Saturday/ and Sunday up in Tallahassee, FL. I cannot wait!

Toodles!

Week Review (11/10-11/16)

Week was good. Best thing to talk about this week was my ride on Sunday to my friend Melanie's house.

Melanie lives about 10.92 miles from my house and I figured instead of having a bazillion cars at her house for moving purposes, all she really needed was arm muscle (plus, where to park all those cars in DT St. Pete where there are alleys and such?). So I work up - started my ride at 11am and got to her house by noon. It was a nice brisk ride and no honking horns or rude people whatsoever.

That ride made me realize that I can, in fact, ride pretty much anywhere and everywhere if I just take the time out for it. That's the catch - you have to prep for rides, bring a change of clothes, etc. And depending on what you're doing, it's not a bad thing, but if you were going to the symphony - for example, you might want to rent a car...but yea, it's doable. Totally.

Didn't ride in this morning as I have a headache and was pretty worn out from the ride yesterday, but this week's commute schedule is Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (possibly Wednesday too - we'll see if I'm up for it). I brought clothes changes today so that I could if need be on Wednesday even . So yea, looking forward to it.
And next weekend. We'll be in Tallahassee with my good friend Brendan and we plan on doing a nice ride through my mom's neighborhood and possibly all the way up into Georgia if we can. Awesome.

The new derailer for the Miyata is on it's way. I cannot wait to get that bike up and running and ready for commuting!

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.

Haven't posted in awhile...so let me sum up.

Training Summaries by Mileage/Calories Burned:
August: 82.80m/1,444c
September: 79.60m/2,331c
October: As of today, 65.36m/1,776c

Weather:
Weather has been ok. The signs of fall appeared the first week of October which made me think that the weather was going to get nice enough to ride daily, but it has now warmed up. I'm still riding 3 times a week to work and then somewhere on the weekends. It's been great.

Moments of Annoyance:
Two weeks ago, someone decided they thought it would be awesome to slam on their horn for about 60 seconds while driving behind me and The Greek on 66th. We were a) in a construction zone with no area to get out of their way, b) following all traffic rules of the road and c) really?! Do you think that does any good. The Greek and I just continued on our way as fast as we could. When they passed, they did NOT give us the 3 foot as required by law. If I didn't have clips in, I would have kicked the side of their car. Being rude like that is just...NOT COOL.
Other than that, no major annoyances from other drivers. Be it car, or bike.

Skills:
Learned how to change out a tube on a tire. I think I will actually have to use that skill tonight as currently, my tire was flat when I woke up this morning. Kind of bummed me out as I was hoping to ride into work everyday this week since my gas allowance is a little low (ran too many errands the weekend before). Hopefully just the tube is the problem. I filled it with air this morning to make sure it will be empty by the time I get home. I'll go to the gym this afternoon to make up for it.

Gear:
Used a pannier for the first time yesterday to get some objects I needed at work at work. It wasn't too bad. Feels a little awkward having stuff hang off the side and you do have to consider it when turning, etc...but it is a nice way to transport things and not have it on your back or bag causing you to sweat up a storm.

So that's that. Still riding, hopefully even more when I get back from Vacation (this weekend and next weekend) as the weather will be starting to cool off for the year. Really looking forward to this. Trying to get it where I only drive the car at the most, once during the week to work and once during the weekend (if necessary) for trips to Tampa, recycling, etc.

Beginnings of fall are here and my ears are cold to prove it.

Got on the bike this morning for my commute to work!
Man! Was it brisk out! Really makes you look forward to the day!
Hardly any sweating on the entire ride. Awesome.
Hopefully it stays this way! It was fantabulous riding into work this morning.
If this keeps up, I'll only be driving in one day a week (maybe two if I have doctor's appointments. Which - that time of the year is coming up...)
Riding tomorrow too. To make up for the days I didn't ride this week due to a migraine.

Ride In...Drive Out

Rode into work on Thursday. The Greek and I both have hair appointments this afternoon so it makes more sense for him to come pick me up in the afternoon instead of taking two cars.

Today I learned how to get resistance training in a relatively FLAT area. Ride AGAINST the wind. HA ha. Seriously. The ride in even took longer than usual because with how windy it was...it had slowed me down to about 12mph!! That's rough!

The Greek bought me a new battery for my cat-eye wireless. Awesome. I can now see how many MPH I'm doing - what's my average speed, track my mileage for trips, etc. Makes riding fun again to see your progress while you ride.

Speaking of -- when I first started riding in Feb, my average pace was 12mph. Now, my average speed has moved up to 17mph. I think that's pretty impressive. At one point on the ride in on Thursday, I was going as fast as 19mph and it didn't even wear me out like it used to. Hopefully with the weather cooling off, I can start the training rides again soon (right now I'm mainly just commuting to and from places).

Work Week Update: Only today has been screwed up

Rode into work and home on Monday. The weather was nice for the most part. HOT!! But nice.

I'm concluding my ride in is fine. Sure, I get sweaty, but no where near like when I come home. There are TONS of areas on my ride that are not shaded AT ALL. Plus waiting in traffic at 5pm on black asphalt with no shade is just...UGH. I get home and all I want to do is collapse. But that's no good either. Gotta walk around just a bit so I cool down and then jump into the shower.

Today (Wednesday) ...normally the day to ride in, but the rain chance said 60% and Hurricane Ike is looming around us (you can see the bands occasionally). So no riding today.

Tomorrow, I ride in the am and then Dimitrios will pick me up at 4 so we can commute together to our hair appointment(s). Possible dinner with some friends in Oldsmar after that.

The rainchance...with the exception of today this week is 30%. I'll be riding the rest of the week...for sure.

Last Week

Was awesome.
I rode three times last week and drove the car twice.
It felt good, to get back into riding again. I was more focused at work and it made me happier throughout the week.

This week coming up - Wednesday and Friday to ride...unless of rain, of course.
New Decision based on weather...if the rain chance is 50% or less, then I'm riding...anything more, not riding.

Total Amount of riding: 30 miles this week (10 miles a day)