Wednesday, August 25, 2010

In A Rut.......

Both on the cycling and blogging fronts. My actual riding is ok but my ambition is low. I've been riding well and on a regular basis but have been having trouble finding the motivation to do it and lately I have even been balking at doing longer rides. It is almost as if I am on autopilot right now when it comes to cycling. This however is normal for me this time of year so I will just plod along until everything starts to click again. I'm not sure if it is the coming change in the season, the long miles ridden to this point of the impending hunting season that brings this on.

Even though my motivation to ride is low, my eagerness to ride unridden roads has not. I love the unbeaten path, and over the years I have learned to enjoy broken pavement and the occasional gravel road. "No Winter Maintenance" was the battle cry of a couple good cycling friends of mine and we were always up for the challenge. One has since move away and the other spends all of his time MTB now as he has been soured by the road racing scene. I did one such ride last evening much to the shagrin of my fellow cyclists.

The Road Less Traveled........

For the second day in a row we have chosen to do rides that include the least familiar roads that we can find. Each of us on the rides the past 2 nights have actually been on roads that we have never been on before. And that is saying allot as we have been riding around here forever and have 10,000's of miles logged. Needless to say it makes riding a little more interesting and had made my slump more tolerable.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Riding Allot........

Racing? Well, not so much. I did do on MTB race this year which is more than I did the past 2 years so that is an improvement...I guess. My original plan was to do some racing this year, as I have been unable to due to the Affib, and was really looking forward to it. But the reality of it is I have been just enjoying being on the bike and spending time with the family. Not that racing does not entice me anymore, its just not what I am driven to do right now.
Riding this year has been a blast though. To be able to go out and ride hard and not have to worry about having any issues is grand, and a place I did not know I would ever get to.

My Legs Hurt.......
And I am not sure as to why. I am guessing that I am starting to get a little dehydrated, which I am notoriously famous for. Up until lately I have been doing a pretty good job of staying hydrated but seam to have fallen off of the hydration bandwagon. Not completely off, but like a cowboy being drug behind his horse just barely holding onto the reigns.
Though the signs point toward dehydration I have noticed that the ache in my legs goes away as my HR reaches 160 and up. The higher my HR the better my legs feel....weird. I will have to tale to my E.P. at my next visit and ask him what he thinks.

Beer and Bikes........
So Andy and I were out for a ride today and I was verifying my high heart rate no leg pain theory and this car goes by us with the driver yelling something at us. Andy and I look at teach other, shrug our shoulder and continue on. a few minutes later we hear a car speeding up behind us. In a nervous voice Andy says "Thatss not them again is it?". I no sooner say "I don't know." and thwack...I'm hit with a beer bottle/can, pretty full I would guess as it felt heavy as it hit me. I look at Andy and he is wiping beer from the side of his face and not realizing I had been hit. Unfortunately as a cyclist you have no recourse unless you can somehow get the license number or on the odd occasion the driver happens to stop somewhere up the road. Neither of which happened. Oh well, nobody got hurt too badly so I will just take Solis in that.....That and Carma.