Lots going on

The New Toy
My love bought me a Garmin Edge 705 for father's day.  It is really the shit!  It comes with a cadence and heart rate sensor.  Shaina knows me well and new I had reservations about buying this and she didn't give me an option.  She took me to buy it and I thank you Shaina! There are so many aspects to this thing that I am going to start a new page on just the device.




The Ride
Rode to work last shift again and Bill wanted to ride the next morning, so he picked me up from work and we did a 30 mile loop around the grass farms.  This was a really fun ride.  I can ride around Kingwood, but you have lots of side streets and cars to deal with.  Out there, we could ride long straight distances and only had probably 6 cars pass us for the entire trip.  Practiced a little with drafting too and forgot how scary that can be.


Medical
So, I have been a really bad boy and haven't been taking care of myself medically.  I havn't been taking any meds for the last year and haven't seen a doctor either.

Started off with podiatrist and he recommends orthotics.  Gonna wait a little while on this one til I figure out the insurance stuff.  Then saw my regular doctor and he placed me back on Lisinipril for BP and Levoxyl for thyroid.  After my ride with Bill yesterday, I saw my urologist and he has me going to get a CT scan for my kidney stones.  Hemituria confirms my suspicion that they are still there.  Not looking forward to that whole process.


Bill took a new pic of me on my new bike riding and it is now my blog pic up top.

Need to eat

I keep forgetting to eat before these rides.  I was doing pretty good this morning and then just felt drained all at once.
All in all though, I averaged 14.1 mph. Little better than average, but I had very few stops this time. 

Moved my seat forward one cm and seemed to really help with the comfort level. I also adjusted my rear derailer yesterday at work.  It has been needing it since I bought the bike and I am glad that I did.  I am really getting good at that and it was really easy.  I like it when I can do something and see an instantaneous result. 

MapMyRide.com - General Road Cycling: General Road Cycling on 06/13/2010

MapMyRide.com - General Road Cycling: General Road Cycling on 06/13/2010
Nice ride to work this morning. Able to keep my legs spinning most of the time and also kept my cadence up. Getting easier and easier.

Good ride wtih a friend

On my way home from work, I was thinking road biking. But then Bill called and wanted to mountain bike the trails.  Sure, this will be easy!  Ended up with 23 miles and 3-4 of that on unimproved trail. 

Need to always wear my cycling shoes.  My feet kept falling asleep.  Also, the crank brother pedals I have also have a platform so that you can wear regular shoes.  But, every time I ride through a mud puddle, my feet can't get any grip.

We saw a bald eagle today on Lake Houston.  It was really sweet.  Wish I 'd of had a camera.

Today's loop

So, yesterday's weather prevented any riding.  I got up early this morning to beat the rain.  Nice little ride.  I think my cleat adjustments are right on.  Thinking of moving my seat forward just a little.  Been reading a lot on KOP technique, or actually the fallacy of it.  I think it works for general set up, but then needs to be tweaked.  Shaina's seat is way forward of this and it has helped her tremendously.  I am pretty close, but not quite there.
Also, had some reinforcement today on needing to take the lane sometimes.  I was stopped at a light to go straight and moved to the side of the lane.  As I started to go, the car behind me started to turn right into me.  I don't know if he was trying to scare me or didn't see me, but it wouldn't have been possible if I was in the middle of the lane. 

lots of traffic

Went for a nice stroll with Shaina this morning and there was a lot of traffic, but the good kind.  Saw at least three different people riding road bikes on the same route that I was.  Saw one guy like 5 times, he kept lapping us.

Back in the saddle

So, we took the weekend to go to the river and play.  It seems like a short break in your routine will become a large break if you don't watch it. Here it is 8 days later that I finally got a descent ride in.  I havn't even ridden my mountain bike around the trails. 

I did try to ride two days ago, but every time I go about a mile from the house it would start raining.  I am not scared of the rain, but I am scared for my iPhone to get wet.  I tried twice with no success.  I then played with my pedal cleat adjustments, something I have needed to do for a while, and then rode another mile or two to check them out.  All in all, I probably got in about 5 miles total. Not productive enough to consider it a ride.

So I am proud of my almost 10 today.  Not much, but at least I am back in the saddle.