Hit the trails.
January 3rd, 2010
I was itching to get out… feeling my heart get fat, and me getting slow, so today I went out and walked on the trails. It was fun. Very fun. Didn’t ride the bike, but I did have some new trail running shoes to try out. Salomon Speed Cross 2. They handle the trail very nicely. I think they will be great trail running shoes, too. If I ever make the change from trail walking (hiking?) to trail running.
So, no biking still, but I did hit the trails, and that was very rewarding. Once I get over this head cold I hope to go through the “Couch to 5k” plan. I have the “Cto5k” app for my phone. I look forward to giving running a chance, again. I hope it will make my knees get some strength back too…
We shall see. I am open to tips. (running, shoes, and or Couch to 5k).
Also I find that my hands often need just a little bit of cover, and was thinking about these: http://www.rei.com/product/766531 Manzella Silkweight Windproof gloves. Anyone recommend?
Filed under: mountain biking | 1 Comment »
OTB (Off The Bike).
December 1st, 2009
Confession. I have not biked in just under two months.
I miss it, but not as much as I should.
Back in early October, I hiked a little over in North Georgia. It was very near the Appalachian Trail, but I didn’t actually make it to the AT itself. Here are some pictures from the trip.
I ended up hiking about 12 miles the first day, and my knees completely gave out. The next day, after having camped by a forest service road, I bailed, and called a “hiker shuttle” and got out of there. It was not the way I wanted to go, but it’s what it is.
In any case, whatever the problem was (believed to be problems with the iliotibial bands) needs time to get rid of the inflammation. I have given it time (minimum one month completely off the bike, since IBS is a typical bike injury) and now keep thinking I’d like to bike again. I just never pull the trigger. I have walked some, and intend to “get back in shape” by walking more.
I welcome ideas on how to get back to biking, and also (more importantly) how to not have this problem any more.
Sidenote about the two dogs in the photos above. The black one is my hiking buddy Seth’s. The white one was a random campsite dog that took to me, at least through the night when it was raining. She got under my rainfly when it was raining, and then stayed right outside my tent for the remainder of the night. I would love to have picked her up and kept her, but for various reason (none of which are compelling, in retrospect) I didn’t.
Filed under: Photography, appalachian trail, commuting, mountain biking, road biking | 2 Comments »
I’ve been tracking calories.
March 4th, 2009
Yes, this is actually bike related.
My lovely wife has been tracking her calories for a couple of weeks, and since I have to do everything she does, I started as well. Probably the fair truth of it is that I wanted to show her how much easier the Livestrong app (itunes link) is than the one she’d used, called Lose It (itunes link). Devious of me but I still maintain that the Livestrong one is better. Mainly because it can be interacted with on their website, which can make all the data entering vastly easier. I will say that the interface for Lose It is easy enough to make the previous point about Livestrong app moot. But whatever. 
In any case I have been tracking my calories for a whole three days. I haven’t found out too much, aside from that I eat a lot. I haven’t been just terribly hungry all the time, and I’m pretty much hitting the target (that, according to Livestrong and my profile, would have me lose a pound or 2 per week). Throw some exercise in the mix, and I should be good to go. Exercise is something that Lose It couldn’t handle, so it’s nice to use the Livestrong app for that reason alone.
Going on. I have glanced over the clearly representative set of data from my eating pattern. And come to this conclusion. I eat. a. lot. of. salt. I hit 149% of my goal today. That is 3 and a half grams of salt. I’m not sure if you know how much salt that is. I do. It’s a lot. And my first day was 122%. Yesterday was much less, but then I didn’t enter all the foods I ate, and incidentally they were some of the saltier ones (canned beans x 2). I will have to go add that data.
Now. The part that relates to cycling. I have shed a few pounds lately, and that’s very needed. I hope to hit 175 by the time I do any serious group rides. And by that I mean races. But will include any ride where I don’t want to feel like a tool at the back of the pack, sweating his winter weight. Fortunately the lovely wife is on my side this time! It’s nice for her to be counting calories too. Nice for me, I mean; she’s beautiful any way, of course.
Now I wonder if Rold Gold make slow salt pretzles. If they don’t, they should. (duh).
Update: Yesterday’s properly updated salt (yes I mean sodium salt) was 134%. Also not good.
Filed under: Reviews, gadgets, mountain biking, road biking | 1 Comment »
2009.01.17 & 18 MTB
January 19th, 2009
2009.01.17 So I braved riding my bicycle again, but this time it was actually cold. This is a mixed blessing. If it’s cold enough, the trails will be frozen. Of course if it’s that cold, parts of my body will be frozen too. For that reason, fortunately it wasn’t that cold. But unfortunately, the trails weren’t frozen, and there were some slippery muddy parts here and there, even though the trails were generally dry.
At any rate, the cold day was set aside for riding the new trails at Whirlpool. I’d ridden part of the new one, but it had since been finished. The first half is pretty twisty and … not “technical” but not just terribly fast. So maybe the best way to describe it is “slow.” Fun, but slow.
Then there’s a clear change, about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way in. It become fast. Flowy, swoopy, and very fun. There are some technical features, but most of the trail is open, and begging for speed. To be fair, it’s a different kind of forest, too. The slow part is a lot of pines, and a bunch of smaller trees. I say smaller to indicate there’s still a lot of competition among them, and they cover the area. It’s what I’d call secondary-growth forest, although that could be wrong. The fast trail is in old growth forest. There are a lot of big trees, so the cover is higher, and so less ground level competition. Which means a more open forest. Which means a more open trail. Which means speed. The first picture below is actually where the change is made.
Cross this (usually dry) ditch, then everything just sort of opens up.
This even follows in a low area, so it’s pretty flat to boot. There are hills, in fact a little ridge similar to what’s in “The Junkyard”, this is just the next ridge to the West. This trail goes up and comes down that ridge, to much enjoyment.
The most “wait, what was that now?” section is this tree pair, on a sharp steep uphill section. You have to hit this with speed, but too much and you’ll probably eat it. Too little and you won’t roll up the hill. And you’ll amost surely have to roll, because these trees are close enough that they’ll either be happy to catch a pedal on your downstroke.
Then we actually go get on The Junkyard and ride out. It’s reverse from the normal direction, but it adds miles (maybe 2) of singletrack compared to fire roads.
11.75 miles, 4.9 (!!!) mph (like I said, 1/2 of the new trail is slow.
2009.01.18 Temperatures were excellent today. Called for shorts and a windproof jacket. Pictures only:
12.19 miles, 6.3 mph.
Note that I’ve nearly figured out how to do what I want to do with the pictures. If (what amounts to) the nested images pass muster with everyone, I’ll stick with that format. It’s not too difficult to set them up that way.
Filed under: Canon SD870, gadgets, mountain biking | 1 Comment »
2009.01.12 First Bike Ride of the Year.
January 16th, 2009
Almost 2 solid weeks into the year and I had not ridden my bike (recreationally) even once. Last year, at least I got out on New Year’s Day. (Though in my defense, I was not in town and with my bikes on NYD).
So I got out for a little spin on the twelfth. Finally. I didn’t have in mind a route, but I was somewhat limited in time. Being that I get done with work at 3:30 (conveniently) and it’s not dark until 5:30 or 6, I figured I could play for a while. I did. I rode sections that (to my knowledge) do not have names yet, and on to what I call “The Junkyard.”
Beavers clearly got a hold on a few trees out in this area beside the “lake” (barely a lake, but bigger than what I call a pond). It’s pretty cool seeing their work. But then, beavers, why cut a tree and leave it? I guess they’ll get around to it. Wonder why they cut 1-2 feet up off the ground, too. I put my hand in one of these for scale. Beavers are determined little creatures. I wouldn’t care to chew through a tree, thank you very much.
It was pretty uneventful. It was very fun, though. It helped me realize how out of shape I have gotten — something that needs to be fixed post haste. A secondary goal for the “first ride” was to get some good in-the-woods pictures of my bike. Which I did:
That’s a 2005 Scott Scale 10 (frame)… Technically the “10″ specifies the build as well, but in this case, I built the bike from ground up. So it’s a “10″ in a sense, but in reality, not really. Having said that, the parts I chose are at least as good as stock Scott Scale 10’s. I have only about 100 miles on the bike as of now, and I love it. I have been through bikes, and never got comfortable, but this is not the case with the Scale. It’s just right.
One of my goals after a pitiful performance last year (about 2500 total miles) was to do something like a Century a month. The goal was never too specific, or set in stone, or anything. And these early months of the year, an organized century might be hard to find (but we’re close enough to Florida…) Even so, training would prohibit that.
So I’ll hope to make it up later in the year. Let’s say average a century a month. Any takers (even for the trips?)? I would merely ask for help in planning.
Sidenote: I’m still getting worked out how I want to display pictures and whatnot. This is not exactly how I want it. We’ll see. And I just noted that the rss displays the images differently than the site. Will work on.
Filed under: Canon SD870, Photography, design, mountain biking | No Comments »