Safe As Milk

Caught an easy 14+ miles after work today. Man, it feels really good to be out on the bike on a late Summer evening. Shadows were long, the air was warm but not hot, and the road was relatively open.

I need to get some more of these in before winter gets here. And then I need to get a hat so I can get some more.

I was lucky to have all 3 days off this Labor Day Weekend and I took advantage to get some nice bike rides in. I had big plans on Saturday to ride a loop from home down to the George Washington statue in our State Capital square and back. I got there okay but caught a flat tire about 1/3 of the way back. Being the complete road riding n00b that I am I had no patch kit, no replacement tube, and no pump even if I had one of those two. I was at least s-m-r-t enough to bring along my mobile phone so I could call for a ride home (thanks Ronan - ed).

Today I plotted out a longish (20+ miles) ride from the Capital building to the Fort Hoke/Fort Johnson/Fort Harrison part of the Richmond National Battlefield Park. I was feeling pretty good when I left the house so I figured I would start a couple of miles from the capital to really make a ride of it. As it worked out, between the detours I had to take through downtown and my experiments to find a reasonable path back, I added almost 10 miles to my overall ride. It was a monster. Well, it was a monster for me. And I rode it with confidence because I had a spare tube in my pack and a pump attached to my frame (look at him learn! - ed.).

Add in a couple of hours at the pool, some meager yard work as a result of the first rain in more than a month, and a cookout and I am happy to report a wildly successful Labor Day.

Cheers.

I just didn’t make enough time to do a lot of it this weekend. I knocked out a quick loop down to Arthur Ashe and back on Saturday morning before I left town for the day (for my fantasy football auction) and then I rode to the pool yesterday. I can’t really count that as “a ride” since it almost takes longer to drive there than to ride there, but I will score the points for not firing up the old Mercury.

I’m trying to get a ride plan for next Saturday morning. I’d like to do something in the 20-30 mile range. Ronan and I are looking at riding from Short Pump Town Center to the George Washington statue at Capital Square. It’s 13.5 miles and completely do-able. I’ve also heard that there is nice road heading East from downtown into Varina. It will be cool to either see all of Broad Street from a bike or ride off along the banks of the James River. Win-win, right?

I read Michael Pollan’s New York Times piece: “Unhappy Meals” back in January and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (Amazon link) is his new book.

The subtitle “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” is probably a terrible plot spoiler but it’s the solid, common-sense-flavored sort of idea I like. This is also important knowledge to me as a parent, as I try to shape the eating habits and the opinions of food of my daughters. I’m not looking for a food bible, but I like to read informed opinion and have some science as a foundation for my argument against sugar substitutes and non-dairy creamer. From the Amazon description:

“Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues. But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused, complicated, and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists-all of whom have much to gain from our dietary confusion. As a result, we face today a complex culinary landscape dense with bad advice and foods that are not “real.” These “edible foodlike substances” are often packaged with labels bearing health claims that are typically false or misleading. Indeed, real food is fast disappearing from the marketplace, to be replaced by “nutrients,” and plain old eating by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals.”

Pollan also wrote The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Like every other fatty-boombalatty I’d like to get a little smaller. 1by365.com is a dead simple mileage tracker put together by a couple of the Whiskerino-related folks to record the run/jog/walk part of the Reduction Plan.

I finally got my first mile in today. The first of many, ideally.

Well, I’m officially riding the damn thing. That was my route this morning. I took a shorter one yesterday that I didn’t keep a map of. Today’s took about half an hour with a water stop at the 3.5 mile mark. It was probably more of a “Don’t Barf” stop, but I took a little water, too.

I prefer to get my exercise done first thing in the morning. That way I don’t have to think about it for the rest of the day. It also forces me to cut back on the cocktails in the evenings, which is allegedly a good thing.

…I am on the road.

Ronan and I went for a starter-kit bike ride yesterday morning.

This Google Map should show you where we went. We went 18 miles and I felt great until the last 2, when my decision to skip breakfast and just get by with a decent night’s sleep and plenty of water came back to haunt me.

I’m very pleased with the bike so far. The only real trouble I had was with getting my shoes into the clips. That will get better with practice (I hope!).

I’d like to fit in some riding on weekday mornings before work so now I am looking for 5-10 mile rides from my house that won’t expose me to too much traffic. I’m still really new to riding on the road so if any of you guys that ride have a favorite route to recommend I’d appreciate it.

The Handsome Mechanic hooked me up with assembly and some maintenance tips. I rode it around the block at his house last night and then again on the street a little when I got home. Weird how smooth the whole thing is.

The shifters are going to take some getting used to along with riding with my hands so far below my body. Oh, and I need shoes. These are not regular flat bike pedals.

Still, I am mostly excited to log some miles.

Hopefully I can get it (professionally) built in the next week so I can start riding by next weekend.

Michelle and I ran in the Monumennt Avenue 10k this morning. Neither of us had done hardly any training so we’re happy with our time of 91 minutes.

Next year we’re running the whole thing.