My Cycling Evolves

The other night on my commute home, I stopped at the gym. It was raining and I was in the locker room taking off my rain gear. An acquaintance at a nearby locker comments "you even ride in the rain!". I responded "it don't matter." He then ask me something that kinda caught me off guard. "How many miles do you ride a week?" I actually had to stop and think and even then all I could give him was a general estimate.

In years past, I would have been able to spout off the exact distance to the nearest tenth of a mile, as well as a plethora of other stats including avg speed, max speed, cadence and min/max/avg heart rate. Interestingly enough, those things no longer interest me. Don't get me wrong, I still have a passion for riding. In fact I ride my bike more than I've ever ridden.

However, now a days:

I'm more likely to adorn my handlebars with thisInstead of thisI'm more likely to wear thisInstead of thisI'm more likely to lean my bike against thisInstead of thisI'm more likely to ride thisInstead of this

Another Advantage to Riding

This past Saturday, I was riding home from the gym when I noticed up ahead a slow moving SUV, with its rear hatch door wide open. As I drew closer, I could see that the back of the SUV was packed to the gills with cases upon cases of Girl Scout Cookies. Involuntarily, I reached for the brakes and indulged in yet another advantage of riding my bike.

An Advertiser's Dream

My wife says that I'm an advertiser's dream. An allegation that is all too true. That's especially true when it comes to beer commercials. Combine beer and bikes and I'm - out the door - on my bike - bringing the brewer a magnificent return on their investment!

Crescent Moon Companion

I rode home in the dark tonight. Something I seem to be doing a lot lately. Normally, on nights like tonight, I ride alone, my only companion - "my thoughts". Tonight though, I had a riding partner that kept pace with me - pedal stroke for pedal stroke.

A Grocery Run

Bikes are awesome.

Bikes are fun.

Bikes are good for you.

True! True!! True!!!

BUT?

Bikes are more than that!

Bikes are a practical and viable mode of transportation!!

I had to go to the grocery store tonight. It was drizzling. It was windy. It was cold. My truck beckoned for a nice, quick, leisurely, dry, warm and comfortable trip. With my New Year Resolution resonating in my mind "expand the practical use of my bicycle", I walked in the garage, donned my gear and rode my bike.

Here be the fruit of my labor!

Snow Sucks!!

Oh how quickly our (my) perspective changes. The beautiful snow that I previously blogged about here, was transformed (thanks to warm days and freezing nights) into thick slabs of ice that covered the roads and rendered cycling, without studded tires, a slip-sliding dance with death. My helmet is off to all you die-hards out there who do battle with snow and ice all Winter long!! I - on the other hand - am obviously a "snow-wuss" and parked the bike for the first three days of the week. However, I am happy to report that my CLI did not suffer, cause I took the bus to work.

The roads cleared sufficiently in the latter part of the week for me to pedal once again. On Friday, more inclement weather moved in and I was forced to ride home in a mix of heavy wet snow, sleet and freezing rain. All in all, it made for a messy commute for myself and my beloved Roadster.

Snowbiking

Last Saturday I awoke to the silence of gently falling snow. It continued all day and by the time it abated, 6" of it carpeted the ground.The following Sunday morning, I took down the mountain bike and decided to go on a reconnaissance ride to determine how my commute to work the following day would be impacted.The snow had been tightly packed by passing cars and I was pleased at how well the knobby, mountain bike tires gripped.I took a slow, smooth, silent, 15 mile bike ride and enjoyed the beauty of it all.