My Most Recent Ride 2015 (Part VIII in a series)

I'm jealous of you, Glenn. Really wishing I could start doing real distances.

Somewhere between 5.5 and 6+ miles. I turned my Garmin off to go into the American Food store and forgot to turn it back on for a while. I'll figure out the exact distance once back from grocery shopping.

Hard ride. Feeling very frustrated, but I went out and did it, succeeding at riding every other day this week. Now I'm gonna take 2 days of rest with some light walking and maybe even the gym tomorrow to work my arms.

Terii

 

Saturday's ride was 5.7 miles according to MapMyRide, which sounds about right.

I felt pretty twitchy yesterday. Didn't help it was kind of pretty out and not very cold, but I stuck to my guns and rested while bulking up on protein rich foods.

Jens went off to Copenhagen this morning and an appointment I had was canceled make it possible to head out for a ride. If it hadn't canceled, I wouldn't have been able to go.

About 38 F, dull cheerless sky in a bleak landscape with only a few hints of snow lingering. Very little wind. Loke did his absolute best to run like he was a 6 year old husky instead of nearly 10 and I let him have a little more speed. He loved it.

The first couple of miles were hard for me to tell if there was any improvement. A large part of it is negative slopes and what was flat or gentle uphill grades, Loke pulled determinedly.

Only around mile 3 did he settle, leaving me to actually work a bit. At first, I was disappointed as there didn't seem to be much improvement over the last rides. Yet when I stopped to let Loke mark a tree or waited for traffic to cross roads, I noticed the 'exhaustion' in my legs disappeared very quickly. Then it became obvious my speed was up. Sections I'd creeped along at barely 4 mph, I was rolling at 5.5 or even over 6.

I did a bit of a random toodle through Uppsala, stopping at a kitchen supply shop Jens and I love. We always look there for things first to support the small business owner and they have awesome stuff any way. I bought a cute little cast iron tea pot to support my new tea drinking habit. Sucker is heavy. Could feel the difference in the pedals with it in my bags.

Once I got back to the garage, I felt much better about trike things. My speed took a significant jump and with right at 9 miles, I felt far better than I had with the much shorter rides before. I thought about pushing for another .5 mile to make the ride officially the longest of 2015 and post-stroke, but chose to end on a happy note rather than risk over-doing it.

Faster, farther, and felt much better after. Can't beat that! Yay for high protein diet with 2 days rest!

Terii

 

9.8-ish miles.

Almost didn't go today because I got suddenly sick at the gym early this morning while working on my arms. Came home and curled up on the bed for a few hours before I felt better.

It was absolutely gorgeous out and Loke was harassing me which changed my mind about making today a rest day. Much nicer to ride in sunshine than the rain I had on Tuesday.

I felt dressed about right for the first couple miles, but then it warmed up with my Garmin saying it was mid-50's in the SUN. I think the air temp without sun was lower end of 40's. I'm glad it was on the warmer side of things as the foot warmer batteries apparently ran out of juice.

Stopped by the fabric shop at downtown, but didn't look long. I was too paranoid the 4 or 5 beggars would raid my cycle bags even with Loke right there. A busy store door and a bus-stop within 3 yards of each other, is a dream location for them. I'm sure most of them are honest sorts, but it only takes one...

My final distance back at the garage made this ride the longest since the stroke and for 2015 both. Yay!

It didn't feel nearly as good as Tuesday's ride. A bit slower and harder going, but at least it was pretty weather. I must admit, if my body is going to insist on 2 days rest after every ride to feel good on the next, that's going to get very old very quick.

Now, I just have to decide if I'm going to push for another ride on Saturday or wait until Sunday...

Terii

 

It's 27 degrees outside and I am not riding.

Terii & Buddy, you make me feel like a real weenie!!!

 

That's because we are. It's gonna be a sunny 55 today and sunny 60 tomorrow. What'll be our excuses then?

 

I have plenty of other things that make me wuss out of rides.

Saturday - wussed out because of 25-30+ mph, COLD winds that would have had my toes falling off even with foot warmers and shoe covers in spite of 40 F temps. Wind chill is ugly. Besides, it was within the 'two consecutive rest-day' pattern.

Today, 4.4 miles. Was gray, but about 50 F when Jens bullied me out the door. Same winds. I told Jens if a tree fell on me it was his fault. Also said it was going to be short because I wanted something left for Monday which is supposed to be almost 55 F, with half the wind and cloudless.

I went without the whole 'winter shoe' arrangement. It was sooooo nice to just shove my feet into the cycle shoes and go.

The wind was scary. Creaking trees, thought it was going to snap my flag pole. It reminded me how awesome my 'new' helmet is. The Da Brim tugged around and vibrated occasionally, but not once did I feel I was being strangled or have the whole thing, helmet and all, flapping around off the back of my head.

About half way, the sun broke through and 10 minutes later there was hardly a cloud to be seen. Suddenly my thin wool base layer was too much.

It wasn't a bad ride. I felt much stronger than anticipated, even right into the wind. I can feel I did some moderate exercise after which is a marvellous change from 'utterly wiped' that 4.4 miles did me in for 2 weeks ago. So wonderful to finally feel improvement!

Terii

 

I guess, I've finally made it over the hill. Or 'a hill'.

After yesterday's 4.4 miles against savage winds, I surprised myself with 14.3 miles today.

I couldn't help myself. 50+ F, the wind didn't seem as harsh as the last ride. The sky was flawless. The prettiest day in ages. So, out through the countryside we went and then through Uppsala for the longest ride since the stroke and for 2015.

My knees were painful for the last mile and my legs quite tired. After an hour's rest, I feel a bit worn, but not flat so all is good! A perfect way to spend 3+ hours on such a glorious day.

Terii

 

5.25 miles today. Another pretty day. A colder, carbon copy of Monday actually. 42 F instead of 50-ish F, but cloudless and breezy.

Loke did much better after our rest day. More than me. He was full of vim and vigour, pulling lots. I appreciated that. My legs still felt exhausted from the Sunday/Monday double whammy. The wind did not help.

In spite of not being recovered from the other rides, I did pretty well for me. Average speed didn't dip hardly at all. Maybe even up a bit, but I've not downloaded the stats from the Garmin yet.

It's been a long while since Loke and I last did the full river-side extension of the River Loop. Loke seemed eager for it at first, but then decided he didn't care for it much. I even had a moment when I flinched and ducked... from the sound of gun fire.

The land on the opposite side of the river there is owned by the Uppsala Garrison for one of the branches of Swedish military. Army, I'll guess as we're too landlocked for Navy.

I'm accustomed to hearing gunfire from target practice there. Sometimes can even hear it at the apartment, but instead of the muffled, muted 'pop, pop', it was clear and close, 'CRACK! CRACK!' The first ones made me and Loke both jump and me get my head down. Glancing across the river, I could see a pair of people playing dead in the grass. Loke kept giving worried looks and hurried us along.

I find it ironic the only time I've flinched and ducked from gunfire has been in Sweden, one of the safest places in the world from a gun stand point.

As we did the out-n-back about 5 fighter jets did low altitude fly-bys which Loke really hated.

Staggered back in to the door, feeling a sense of accomplishment, but also so very ready for my double day of rest. Let's see if I can not go out the door though. The next 5 days or so are supposed to be more of the same gorgeous weather. Makes it hard to stay in.

Terii

 

My excuse is I am in Tampa to speak and I didn't take my bent on the plane with me.

 

Yahoo! shows at least five recumbent bike dealers withing a few miles of central Tampa. Hard to resist a bike rental where it's 80 deg. and average elevation gain of near zero.

 

Rode Saturday and Sunday.

It was very cold Saturday morning. 24 F when I woke up. Clear though. Jens bugged me about when I was going to ride for couple hours after he got up. I finally headed out about 10 am. By then it was a tropical 39 F.

The original plan was just poke around here, but Jens bugged me to do something else. The man practically strong-armed me into doing something he would have to pick me up for. I resisted at first because I'd no clue where I wanted to go and felt too stressed to take the time to decide on something. Then a light bulb went off in my head.

Loke and I set off from the garage to head off past the mosque and across the old E4. From there, we linked back up with the road that leads by Gamla Uppsala. The entire area is a mess thanks to rail work. They're going to put the line under ground. There's been a a 30+ foot deep 200+ yard long pit there for the better part of a year.

Working past the construction chaos, we headed off on the cycle path along the Vattholma Road toward Storvreta like we did when the entire region was covered in snow.

It was slow going. I was pretty peeved that after 2 days rest I didn't feel stronger or energetic. Our pace was moderately sluggish and I actually felt weaker than the last ride. Still, it was a pretty day. Clear, breezy and had warmed to 45 F.

About 5 miles out, I turned onto a gravel road and Loke perked up quite a bit. He wanted to run and I accommodated him as much as we could. In the distance I could see the grave mounds.

I photographed them from a distance, covered in snow on the ride to Storvreta a month or two ago. Research on them made me very intrigued for a closer look, so that's what we did.

There wasn't anything to see really, but it was a pretty area. Fields with a blustery wind before the lane turned to run parallel to the Fyrisån river. A hare bolted from cover as I stopped to photo the river. At the mounds, Loke and I climbed up and wandered around it a bit.

Nothing to see except scenery from on high, but what was found under the soil there is amazing. Ships. Not stone ships, but honest to goodness Viking ships. The people buried in them had an amazing wealth of goods. 2 nearly pristine helmets, swords, beads, spears and more.

After that, it was just a couple very slow, miles more before we arrived at a nature reserve. I decided Jens would pick us up there rather than pushing on to Storvreta. Not like there's anything in that town really. Not even a church or random runestone. At least the nature reserve was a nice place to walk around while waiting for Jens.

Sunday's ride was unpleasant. I felt pretty sluggish, but was determined to do the 2 days ride in a row in prep for the 1 day rest, ride and two days rest. That might have been jinxed.

Less than 5 minutes Into The Ride, my throat itched. By 10 minutes, I might as well have gargled battery acid. I felt weak and lethargic. My left leg in particular had no strength and that hip hurt. It was a Challenge for me to just push through 3.75 miles.

I guess it might explain why I didn't feel stronger or improved on Saturday's ride too. I was already fighting a cold.

So, my ride schedule is on hold until I can kick this cold. At least it's the first one I've had in ages. Probably because my body decided I'd taken enough abuse the past few months what with the stroke and all.

Oh, on a more upbeat note, I'm down 20 LBS from my pre-stroke weight. That should help blood pressure and cholesterol.

Terii

 

Bummer that you are getting cold, but good job on the weight loss. That is definitely something to be proud of.

 

It was 80 degrees and sunny. Absolutely gorgeous weather. I only saw one recumbent (Tour Easy) the whole time I was there.

 

First ride since March 15th. The cold just would NOT go away. Easily the worst one I've had in years. Some days of it, I was barely conscious... when I wasn't coughing hard and long enough to turn myself inside out.

The past 3 days or so, have been playing tag with bad weather and chill temps while fighting the last of the cold.

Today finally quit drizzling and warmed up a bit so out I went.

4.33 miles. With just shy of 2 weeks with minimal exercise, I expected it to be ugly. It wasn't. My speed was unexpectedly solid for most of the distance, my breathing good. My stamina was down a bit, so I kept it short. Not to mention, my right knee started bothering me slightly, I think from loss of stability thanks to decreased muscle strength from too little exercise the past weeks.

I think I'm going to take a rest for tomorrow and make an effort to change the trike's tires. We may still get a snow, but it would be downright freakish for it to happen at this point.

Terii

 

Finally got my fat a** out for a ride. This year has been a hiatus from cycling which is causing me depression. It has been so bad that AD is ahead of me on Bike Journal!!! :yikes:

But today it was sunny, beautiful, 73 degrees so out I went for an EASY ride. I have got to get my bent legs back in shape.

How are the rest of your doing????