Phun Day Monday Ride...

Today I managed to sneak out of the house for a bit and get some more miles on the MTB. What I really need to do is put some miles on the road bike! I think if I don't soon I risk my wife selling it just to prove a point. Well, 'irregardless' (**That is one of my pet peeve 'words that don't exist, yet get overly used' words). Sorry, ADHD catching up with me. I got out and had a nice ride. Wound up stopping to see the progress at Little Mountain Brewing Company and chatting a while, then getting back on the road. Got back on the bike, rode for a bit, and then tried to ride back home the way my wife drove when I was Racing The Automobile. I took her exact path, and was quite please to complete the two mile, 253 foot climb in ten minutes. Legs felt great, breathing was fast but my chest wasn't tight, it just felt good. Yup... time to get the road bike out.

Racing The Automobile...

So I got out for a fairly paced ten mile ride. That is, of course, until I saw my wife three miles from our home. I thought it would be funny to race her. So, clearly without thinking, I told her, "sync our phones, and let's see who gets home first." Now, let me explain. She is in a car, automobile, vehicle. She is going about two miles, on paved road, with ONE traffic light. On the other hand you have me riding a three mile dirt trail, through a creek, up an insane/poorly graded/falling apart hill, and through the woods.

So, she cam in at nine minutes. I came in at a mere seventeen minutes. I'm going to go ahead here, use my license, and just call it. I won. I owned. My legs were burning, my shirt was drenched and I felt amazing! I need to do some stupid sh** more often.

Back In The Swing Of Things

First off two quick points of business. First off, as a point of cross promotion, I was featured for The Art Of Brew (my other blog) on Drink With The Wench. Both AMAZING blogs, if I may say so myself.

Also, my buddy rich is almost completely through Virginia on his 4500 mile cross country ride. He is raising money for LiveStrong, and is accepting donations for LiveStrong on his LiveStrong page. He is now officially more that 500 miles into the journey, and it's day 10. More to follow as I hear more

So it has been about ten days now since my last post, but at least it has been for a good reason. I've been managing to get out on the bike and log some miles, and have been putting myself into a world of hurt working out my core. It's one of those weird things that my body is hurting so much that it feels so good.

I've also been making a point to eat a lot better. Skipping wings with the guys from work, eating a lot more raw, and veggie, and even being suckered into my wife's vegan habit. I have to admit that I could likely be persuaded to go vegan if I didn't have to give up cheese... Or chocolate... Or bacon. OK, I could give up bacon, but it's SO good.

Anyway, I think this is going to call for a July ride in Cleveland. Likely the Towpath once again. So if you're in the area, or want to be, drop me a line and you can meet up with us.

Cheers, for now!

Possible Winds Of Change?!

If you missed yesterday, check out the post about my buddy Rich who is riding from VA to OR and raising money for LiveStrong. If you can, please consider donating a few buck (or more) to his LiveStrong page. I'll keep writing about his journey as I get info from him on his ride.

WHAT?! This is the third post in a week. I got two rides in, in that time. I've started a (minimal, but still...) amount of core building. All in all, I think this might just turn out OK. I have spent the last year feeling like my life has fallen apart, but suddenly I've seen a light at the end of the tunnel. NOTHING I has seemed to go the way I planned, but now it looks as though a ray of sun is breaking the clouds.

Let's take today as an example. I had a crappy day, turned good day, turned uh-mazing. I took the anger of the day and turned it into cranking out a hilly seven mile ride, like I've never killed it in the past. I think I ride much better when someone pisses me off. It's like I need an assistant to just piss me off before I ride so I can hammer that much harder. I am in HORRIBLE physical shape right now. I've decreased in fitness, increased in weight and am 180º opposite of where I was in 2008. But today was different. I threw on my iPod (I know, I DID write about how I hate people riding with iPods), gritted my teeth and just killed it. It felt so good.

So now I sit here eating a few peanuts and some watermelon, legs burning, with a GIANT smile on my face. Turning point? Dammit, I hope so!