Gear Upgrades

Got a new blinky back light for the bike. Dimitrios was awesome and attached it to my frame on the right lower side. Makes it more visible to traffic on the road for me. That works out just fine.
Got a new seat. It's Dimitrios's old seat, but it works a lot better than the factory seat that came with the bike.
Also, got a new stem. This made the top tube, drop area (if I'm saying this correctly. I learned this lingo from this website: http://www.vimeo.com/848558
a bit longer for me. Which is good. My bike is a 47cm, but it actually would be more comfortable for me to be on a 49 or 50...so we just added the inches with a stem. It's helping. When I go into the drops, I don't feel as scrunched up on my legs and when I go to push with my legs, I actually have some leverage now to go faster. The stretch is making me work some muscles I didn't work before, but that's ok. Probably the ones I should have been working all along.
On the ride this morning, it felt good.
Man, I <3>

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.

Fall go BOOM! Loose a light too (*Frown*)

Did the usual weekend ride to Lenny's. All was said and fine. Until we got on the trail we came across (the trail runs parallel to US HWY 19 so it's a lot nicer to take that than getting killed on 19.).
Got to a stop sign. I didn't clip out fast enough. Down I went.
Again, I think my ego was bruised more than anything.
I can't seem to get this clip situation resolved/figured out. I do so well...but I've had this clips since what...May? And still, I fall. Is this normal? Shouldn't I have figured this stuff out by now.

Anyways, get up, brush myself off. The rest of the ride is fine. However, my handlebars are now eff'd (well the tape is anyways). Finally broke it. Nothing electrical tape won't fix.
We get to a main intersection and I get ready to turn on my back light that's usually attached to my saddle bag.
Except it's not there.
Which sucks.
We keep going to Lenny's. Ride back. Can you believe in an hour's time, somebody had already found the light and taken it home with them (bastards). Sucky.
Those lights aren't cheap (LED awesome). And I got mine as a set for a really good deal via amazon.com. Now I'm going to have to go and buy one seperately, which means that one will probably cost the same amount as the two. Poop.

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.

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.

Riding this week has been postponed due to Womanly Failure

Yea, getting on a bike today would be a bad idea for personal reasons (that, thankfully only come every three months).

Riding on Friday will be safe, so I will ride that day and probably Saturday and Sunday as well to make up for it. Thinking of maybe doing an actual 'training' ride on Sunday and not just a commute ride only (ride will probably be a 30 mile to the beach and back).

Weather seems to be holding up for the most part when the hurricanes are not in effect (there are three right now they are watching), which makes me think the rainy season of the year is over and the riding more than three times a week will be in effect as well.

This tri-monthly situation however, is making me wonder...what can I do on days like this if I am carless?? Will need to figure out a solution soon cause when the car dies, I am going to go completely carless for at least six months. OR if I move to where mass-transit is savvy, then I will be selling the car. That's for sure.

This weekend rides have been postponed due to Gustav

Was able to get in one ride today to Chick-Fil-A and back. That was even kind of hard for me to get into.
The weather was rainy all weekend. Which meant me being pretty non-motivated to do any riding, or anything else this weekend for that matter.
But the ride today helped get me back. And I'm sure I'll sleep good tonight because of it.

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)

And to this it was almost ruined...

Dentist office called me this morning to tell me my cleaning appointment will be tomorrow.

However, they no longer provide for my new insurance company that I have (thanks new job).

So..no appointment tomorrow morning. Bicycle Riding will continue as scheduled :-).

Awesome.

Wednesdays Biking Lesson: Sunglasses

Five years ago, my best friend Brendan, bought me these sunglasses.

They are the most expensive pair of sunglasses that I have ever owned or have. Because of this, I hardly ever would wear them for fear of them breaking, getting lost or someone just getting eff'd up.

The cool thing about these glasses, is that they come with interchangeable lenses. And it came with two other sets (one set being yellow, the other being orange). I had no idea what each of the colors did, so I never really did anything with them and always have just worn the DARK glasses.

I needed eye protection while riding, so just out of curiousity today, I took the Dark lenses out and put the yellow lenses in.
WOW! Does it brighten morning up!! I had no problems seeing things while riding before the sun came up! It was awesome. so I look up what the color lenses do on the web-site:
"Vibrant lens that increases visual acuity in low light or flat conditions."
It was awesome. I might start even wearing them when I drive at night. LOL.

So I see that Brendan bought me these glasses (from his bike shop) for a purpose I guess.
Now I'm just going to be more paranoid about loosing them because the power of 'awesomeness' they hold. :)

The Plan: Week 2 - Three Days and Gas Reduction Plan

This week - Ride Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (Wednesday and Friday I have appointments at lunch so I will need the car).

Weekend we'll ride to Lenny's at some point. Car will be used for our Orlando trip on Saturday for the show (My Morning Jacket) for the Greek's last birthday present.

I also decided to knock the gas fund down everypaycheck. I had it where I was getting $30 dollars a week in gas...now it is down to $30 a paycheck. That should motivate me to ride the beast even more.

This morning to work wasn't bad. As long as I leave before the sun comes up, the sweat factor/heat/humidity isn't too bad. Added the rack on the back today so that IF I did go through some water, I wouldn't have a dirt trail up the back. Helped out.
I'll be riding home too. :-)

Sunday: Different Ride, Different Time

So, I paid off the car on Friday. What a feeling of relief that is. Hello Rags to Riches... (ok well not really..but it is nice to have that off my plate, after five years).
The weather has been ....evil lately. I've been wanting to ride, but while Fay is still around (tropical storm JOKE, if you ask me), the rain, not raining has been a bugger. And I desperately need to get a commuter bike. That will be a definite search after the Portland trip.
So the only riding I have done (no thanks weather) was today. Woke up early and did our usual commute to Lenny's in Clearwater. I decided to try something different: Ride Casual. Meaning, casual clothes (But with biking shorts underneath), and NO CLIPLESS SHOES. I just rode with my polka dot slip on Keds.
Oh, what a pain in the ass that was. The streets were wet..and with no rack on the back of my bike, the water just went all up my butt/back area. Then because everything was wet, my shoes kept slipping off the pedals. So that is something I definitely won't go without ever again. They make the biking shoes for a reason, so I learned today.
But we rode there and back, getting a little wet both ways. It wasn't too bad.
I do plan on riding everyday this week to work except Wednesday when I see the personal trainer at the gym.

Edmunds.Com

The book shows you a website to go to that has a 'True Cost to Own' link. There you can enter in your information of your car and it will tell you how much your car is REALLY costing you. Not just the price amount you paid, but in gas, depreciation, etc over a certain period of time.

http://www.edmunds.com
(Click on the 'True Cost to Own' link)

The only bad thing? The dates for the used cars don't go past 2003. So I will have to do the worksheet in the book I mentioned before today. When I do, I will post the results.

No biking today. Tropical storm has put rain in the proverbial forcast for the next couple of days. I also have an appointment at lunch. Curses.

No Hurricane in sight, but I did get my book

In the mail today:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Well-Without-Owning/dp/1580087574/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219256734&sr=8-1

Amazing feedback. I would seriously suggest everyone read this if they are considering taking ANY type of journey, challenge without a car....