What I've learned from the 30 Days of Biking

During the month of April I made the pledge to go out for a bike ride everyday.  I did on fact bike almost everyday, but I did fail miserably at blogging about it or checking in on social media.

Here is a list of what I learned from this endeavor:

1. I love to go riding in a bicycle.
2. I love all my bicycles.
3. Riding puts a smile on my face, no matter how tired I am before I start the ride.
4. I love riding clipless, and I regret not doing it sooner.
5. Spandex is annoyingly and disturbingly comfortable.
6. Spandex makes me more aerodynamic, and therefore, Faster.
7. Muscles being sore is not the end of the world.
8. I learned to love climbing hills.
9. There is more time to ride than I previously thought.
10. Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I just wont have time to ride.
1. It's ok. I can always ride tomorrow.

 Be safe and Be Green.

I'm not out yet...

I signed up for 30 Days of Biking and 30 days of reporting it.  I'm still biking everyday. I may not be talking about it everyday, but I'm still out there...

Some days it suck to get on the bike, and some times I look forward to it.  Every single day after my ride, I feel happy...

Be Safe and Be Green

Day 2

Somewhere between the four mile walk on Saturday, the fifteen mile ride on Sunday, the 8 mile errand bike ride, and the night swimming lesson, both of which where on Monday.  My will seems to have gone with the sun.  Completely gone for the day.  Normally, I'm quite cheery on gloomy days. It's the sunny days that get me down. Don't ask, I'm just as confused as you are.

After dinner, we watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones while our stomachs settled down.  As we were watching our show, I could hear the rumble in the distance.  Rain was coming.  Begrudgingly, I put my wind vest on. I put all the lights on my trusty steed, and out there door I went. I didn't have a destination or a determined number of miles I had to ride. I just had to ride to get day two out of the way.

Ten minutes later and 1.58 miles later, I was home again.  Gasping for air, and my head cap drenched in sweat.  No more than 30 seconds after I walked in the door with my trusty steed by my side, the heavens spoke and unleashed a torrent of rain over my neighborhood.  I chose a good time to go out and come back home.

Even though I was tired and I didn't want to ride, I found myself going as fast as I could.  The words from our swim coach seem to echo in my ear.  "Pace yourself Zeus!"

Be Safe and Be Green.

Day 1

Right before leaving the House on my trusty steed.

The whole weekend, I meant to pass by my local office supply store to print out and laminate the spoke cards from 30 days of biking.  I really wanted to roll the whole month with a little bit of bling on my bike, yet somehow the weekend ended and I never got a chance to go.

As fate would have it, the very first ride for my very first 30 days of biking was to run an errand, on behalf of 30 days of biking (say that three times fast).  The trip to the shopping center was nothing new. Last week I found myself going to the same shopping center to buy dog food.  To get there and come back, it's a hair under 8 miles (7.93 mi if you want to be exact).  I do have to cross a major highway to go there, but I pretty much have to cross that highway to run just about 75% of the errands I could run on my bike.

At the moment, I find myself thinking that I should perhaps take a picture of said highway intersection since I will probably be going past it more than usual in a bike this month. Past the highway I cut through a neighborhood to get the shopping center.  Nothing too bad, I'm slowly learning to negotiate suburban streets.  The few pedestrians that I encountered gave me a warm smile, and I even got a couple of thumbs up from a couple of motorists.

Considering April just started, and that there are 29 more days to ride, I feel great.  I'm looking forward to what the rest of the month will bring.

Purdy

Be Safe and Be Green

I just had to ride...

Lately, I've been a little impatient.  I just want to start the 30 days of biking. I'm very curious to see if I can bike everyday for 30 days.  Even when I plan to go out on the weekends, the plan falls through the cracks and I find myself wondering where the weekend went.

Today, after writing out some bills that have to be mailed in.  I was about to start looking for my shoes to go to the post office box in the corner when the thought hit me.  I don't have to be at work for another 2hrs. Surely I can get my new road bike and head out to the actual Post Office.  It's only 3.2 miles away, and there are two brutal 50ft climbs in the way.  One on the way there, and one on the way back (Reminds me of grandpa's story. "It was uphill! Both Ways!").  It's 50°F outside, with the wind blowing 10+ mph. Sure, I got this.

35 minutes later, I was home.  I was cold, my nose was red, my feet felt like they were frozen, but I felt great.  I biked 6.3 miles to drop off one letter.  It beats driving any day, and I even got my daily exercise done.

Next Monday, day 1 starts... I can't wait...

 Before you go off to see your regularly scheduled program, watch this short video.  Maybe you can join me for the 30 days in April.



As of 3/25 1:20 P.M.  I'm still the only one from San Antonio to do the 30 days of Biking pledge...

Be Safe and Be Green.