Saturday, February 07, 2009

This Week

I thought about taking another picture of the thermometer in downtown Liberty today, but decided against it. I thought it might be a little discouraging to those battling snow and ice. But, it was 74 with bright sunshine and winds at 5 to 10 mph. Not a bad day to ride, and tomorrow is supposed to be identical. It's a little hard to believe that we had two days of no school due to a dusting of snow and days that didn't get out of the 30's.

Last Sunday was in the 40's and I got in a 38 mile ride. I felt good, but it was Super Bowl Sunday and there was a lot of non-nutritious food to prep and cook, so the ride was a little shorter than I wanted. In case anyone is interested, Alton Brown's (Good Eats - FoodTV) chicken wings were well worth the effort. I made a double batch of them and coated one of them with a Ranch Dressing concoction that was good, but needs a little work. Alton's coating was right on. I was rooting for the Cardinals, simply because they beat the Panthers, and the Cardinal is the state bird of NC. It was a good game, anyway.

Tuesday I set up the trainer and did 11 miles. I thought about pulling out the Spinerval dvd, but common sense prevailed. I found that The Who's Live At Leeds is not a bad choice for pedaling music.

That brings us to today. What can I say? How much better can February weather get? I was going to wash my bike before I left, and it would have had a wonderful cherry odor (see twitter update) but, I just went for a ride, instead. About 20 miles in I met up with Dave, another Liberty rider. He hasn't been riding a lot lately, and is starting to get back in shape. We were going in opposite directions, but I decided to turn around and ride with him. He was a little concerned that he would slow me down, but, I think it's fun sometimes to just slow down and ride and chat with someone. By myself there is a tendency to go as fast as I can until I blow up. We rode together for about 10 miles. It was nice. I finished up with 49.8 miles at 16 mph. Not a bad day.

I totaled my January miles and was surprised to see I'd gone about 40 mile further than last January. I was feeling a bit discouraged because I thought I was riding less. I am not.

3 comments:

Glenn_in_MA said...

You are too kind! :)

As you know, those of us up north have a double whammy to deal with...first the snow/ice...then the sand covered, pot hole littered roads. So even when the warm-up is permanent, we'll still have two more months of lousy road conditions!

amidnightrider said...

It's been a month since I have commuted. Could be any day now though.

2_wheels said...

Uh, I hope you get to. Since I grew up in NH, VT, and MA, I understand the winters. I am so impressed with everyone up north that find ways to ride during the winter, whether it's on the road or on the trainer. It helps when my motivation slips. I don't regret moving to a warmer place, but I miss N.E.sometimes.

Hope you get to ride.