My Most Recent Ride 2008 (Part I of series)

Re: My Most Recent Ride

My guide is a book by Dr Agatha Thrash. It is "Diabetes and the
Hypoglycemic Syndrome". It works well for me when I follow it
and things go to **** in a handbasket when I get off course.

I dropped 45 pounds then stalled out at 180 and have been there
since 2006. Now I'm back on course and headed for 145 which is
not bad for 5'8". She (Dr Thrash) tells me in the book that all of
my type II symptoms will go away when I get on the lean side,
so here I goes.

Going to ride my bicycle right now. Clear blue sky and dry at 39.

Lots to be thankful for.

For those interested, here is where to find the book.

http://www.ucheepines.org/

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

I rode yesterday and I'm getting out on P-38-T before
the rain hits

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Put an hour on the P-38-T before the rain hits. Thirty eight.
My hands froze in the cotton gloves on the cold handle bars.
Well, didn't really freeze, but hurt while warming back up in
house. I'm down to 2 layers and a light jacket and no face
shield for these mild temps. You can get use to it Dave. Try
it, you can.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Gee Buddy, I went back to cut a load of wood. It was pretty nice too. Then it started spitting a few snow flakes. That turned into more, and more, and more. Time I got to the house with the wood, Judy said I looked like a snowman. It's snowing pretty good here yet.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Dennis, I'm sure you've

seen this, but here it goes again.


Diary of a Snow Shoveler

Author unknown
December 8: 6:00 PM. It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!
December 9: We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the Whole World? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life.
December 12: The SUN has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man I'm glad he's our neighbor.
December 14: Snow lovely snow! 8" last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish I wouldn't huff and puff so.
December 15: 20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.
December 16: Ice storm this morning. Fell on my a** on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like ****. The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.
December 17: Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. God I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.
December 20: Electricity's back on, but had another 14" of the stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Snowplow came by twice. Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying.
December 22: Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white stuff fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to ****. By the time I got undressed, ****ed and dressed again. I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he's too busy. I think the a**hole is lying.
December 23: Only 2" of snow today. And it warmed up to 0o. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she nuts!!! Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's lying.
December 24: 6". Snow packed so hard by snowplow, l broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the son of a b*** who drives that snowplow, I'll drag him through the snow by his toes. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at a 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been! Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas Carols with her and open our presents, but I was busy watching for the snowplow.
December 25: Merry Christmas. 20 more inches of the !=3D*x*!x!x1 slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. God I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot. If I have to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to kill her.
December 26: Still snowed in. Why the **** did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.
December 27: Temperature dropped to -30o and the pipes froze.
December 28: Warmed up to above -50. Still snowed in. THE B**** is driving me crazy!!!!!
December 29: 10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?
December 30: Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for a million dollars. The wife went home to her mother. 9" predicted.
December 31: Set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.
January 8: I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Buddy... the abominable recumbent rider...

Has a nice ring to it!

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

This is nice weather for riding. I like it better than 90o.
Been doing an hour or two each day. Then at night, I
wrap up good and get another hour on the Funny Farm
trail.

God bless you all, now get out there and ride.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Hey, Buddy,

It was pretty here today, over in our neck of the Woods. So yes, I'll join you and get out and ride! I've been thinking that when the temp is in the upper 40's to 50's, I could handle that, especially since I have some cold weather gear to put on. I'll probably ride Friday and/or Saturday.

I hope everyone's doing well. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Blessings,
Larry Hendricks

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

I got in a 23 mile ride yesterday after work. I did keep an eye on the clouds as we had been expecting rain starting about noon yesterday. However, I got my ride in and it wasn't until about 8:30 that it started to rain.

Oh, and the horrible part was I had to take my sweatshirt off after about 3 miles as I was getting too warm. I think the temps were in the high 60s.

May all of you have a great Thanksgiving. And even though it's raining here (yes, it does rain in California, usually right after a fire storm!) I realize that I have more ridable weather than anywhere else in the US.

God bless you all,
Curtis

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Hello, Curtis,

I was in San Diego this past summer, in June. What a beautiful city. So much bright sunshine. You're right--you've got a lot of "ridable" weather.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Well, just got back from my 13.5 mile loop. The snow is mostly gone with just a few patches left where's it's been packed down almost too slushy ice and all on downhill slopes on the cycle paths, so it was more a white-knuckle-through-it control issue rather than a slip, slide and finally just DRAG the trike up the hill.

It was 33 F when I started, and 35 F when I got home. It was supposed to be partly sunny, but the sun never emerged. It was probably not entirely a good idea to ride today. It turned out to be very foggy. Visibility down to less than a 6th of a mile. Even with my blinkie LED lights, I'm kinda dubious about how visible I really was.

It made the ride very eerie in one regard. Gave a feeling of solitude and isolation. It muffled sounds of traffic and since I go past fields mostly, it was like the world sort of ended just a few yards away from me. I even startled a group of deer out of the road at one point.

Still it felt good to get out and I cycled about 19 miles total. 5.5 mile quick run for the dog with my 13.5 mile loop immediately after I dropped Loke off at the apartment. I'm a bit aggravated that the distance felt significant this time. In October, I could do what I did today and not even feel like it was exercise. I guess I really need to get a trainer so I don't lose so much of my condition. 1.5 hour of swimming a week (if I can grit my teeth and swim laps even THAT much) is just no comparison to 15 + hours a week of cycling. Even if I only get in say 5 hours of trainer time, that's better than swimming. I can watch Swedish movies while I do and try to expand my Swedish Langauge skills some.

But at least I did it. Hopefully I can get another ride in maybe on Wednesday and a few more still before the ice returns.

Terii

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Well Terii (Buddy too!), you finished your ride and I just finished plowing snow. Well, as finished as I can for today. We got such a heavy wet snow that there are limbs down all over the place. I could not get down our lane at all because we have so much witch hazel and it is all bent over touching the ground. Can't even walk down the lane right now. We're hoping for a light wind to knock the snow off before it freezes on totally. Boy, am I ever thankful I don't have to shovel this stuff! It is heavy.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Took a bike ride, no big deal, that's what I do. This day was special because it is December 1,
and the temperature was 33.oF with a wind chill down to 30.oF. This was a test run for a face
shield that I installed on the "winter" bike helmet. A winter helmet doesn't have as many
cooling vents as a summer helmet. The wind was a steady 20 mph with strong gusts that
could easily take a bike with fairing off the road. This was the slowest ride I've taken in
years. It took an hour and ten minutes to pedal 8.39 miles. The bike computer recorded the
average speed to be 7.2 miles per hour, with a maximum speed of 29 mph.

All that said, to say, a face shield works much better than a bicycle fairing that I've used
winters past. I'm ready to ride all winter with this set up. My finger tips got cold, but not
unbearable. That can be corrected with some Harley Davidson mittens that I have

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Buddy,

You are getting to look like Darth Vadar now!!!

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

First, Jon, Buddy doesn't look like Darth Vader; he had the 100% black outfit. Buddy looks like Boba Fett, the bounty hunter. Right movie, wrong character. And we all know what a character Buddy is.

Second, Buddy, as I've said before, you're a better man than me to ride in this weather. According to NOAA's wind chill table, 33 deg.F at 20mph is effectively 21 deg.F. Riding 10mph into same wind equals 18 deg.F. When it's that cold, "numbers" don't mean much... it's just "numb."

Thirdly, we've had slower rides. Of course that was climbing Whitetop Mt. on the Creeper Trail and the monster mountain back up toward Fancy Gap's campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But the downhills were fun.

BTW, I assume Mary took the pics. Was she laughing at you defying the weather, or taking last pics in case you froze up on the road?

Yes, I am becoming a bitter old man. Haven't been cycling now in 21 days. Have forgotten how.

Dave