Archives for 2007

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I did it!

Today I rode my bike all the way to Wrightsville Beach! It was wonderful!

I crossed the bridge that had earlier caused me to think I would not be able to make this ride and then rode to one end of the beach, back to the other end, and to the center again to cross the bridge coming back.  I’ve changed my previous attitude of thinking that there are NOT good roads around here to ride on, to realizing that I can bike absolutely anywhere.

I will definitely go to the beach again as it’s so beautiful and the whole ride there is really nice as well.

In total it was 32.3 miles (Wow! I can’t believe I did that – who knew?!) and it took me 2 hours and 53 minutes. Not a bad workout, eh? Next on my destination list is to go the other direction from my place, hitting Carolina Beach. I believe that ride is supposed to be about 30 miles, so now I know that I can do it.

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Starting this month I am logging my cycling adventures around town. I have one of those cyclometers on my bike (handlebar) that tracks distance and speed. (it also has a clock)  I’m going to record where I’m riding, the distance cycled and the time it takes me. I plan to go for miles to begin with and will also be working to get some bench marks for myself as far as speed goes.

In general, I am roughly riding about 12 mph which I’m feeling pretty darn good about! 😉

Last week I rode a total of 84 miles so I am definitely going to start pushing myself on the bike. My record ride to date is 26 miles and I would love to make that 30 or so before the end of the month.

I’m going to attempt to ride to both major beaches (opposite ends of town) before too long and I’ve really been studying a map to see where else I might like to ride to.

This is fun stuff!

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Wow! I can’t believe that I rode 26 miles yesterday! It felt amazing.

I discovered this great place to ride called River Rd. There’s not too much traffic, no lights or stop signs and there is a bike lane – one of the few in town. So far, I love it. As you would expect, the road goes alongside the river (Cape Fear River) and at the end there is a big bridge that leads to Carolina Beach. My next goal will be to bike all the way to the beach and after today’s ride I think I’ll be able to do it.

I’m discovering a part of myself that I really didn’t know existed – physically, that is. I never knew that I could push myself this much and it’s feeling really wonderful. I can feel a competitive sportier me coming to the surface that existed back in High School.  I’m actually starting to entertain thoughts of biking trips, races, and things like this that I could not have imagined myself doing a year ago.

A big dream would be to do a bicycle trip oversees – I LOVE Italy, so maybe this will make it into my travel plans for the near future. 😉 That would be so amazing!

I’m feeling stronger, my endurance feels better and I’m pushing myself a lot harder than I had been while walking for cardio. Next month, I’m going to really start doing some serious cycling and begin a log of my miles and times. This is fun stuff! AND I can feel myself losing more weight (or at least inches) since I started biking.

WooHoo!

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I’ve been doing more and more biking…really just trying to get used to riding in a bit of traffic and for longer periods of time. Starting next month, I’m really going to make my way around town and try to find some great rides. I’m still loving it and sometimes it’s all I can do to keep from going on a few rides a day. Who knew exercise could be this much fun! 😉

I really encourage you to find something that you enjoy doing for exercise if you haven’t done so already. I think this makes all the difference in the world. It’s not fun to exercise if you have to drag yourself out of the house to do it – not saying that we shouldn’t make ourselves even when we don’t feel like doing it – I do believe this.

I’m starting to think about additional gear that I might need for my bike. I really want to figure out a way that I can comfortably carry groceries and heavier items, but for now the back pack is working fine. (for shorter distances) Most of the rides I’ve been doing have been nearby and I would say that I am averaging 10 miles or so – I try to go for at least 40 minutes which I think is a pretty good cardio workout. It feels like 40 minutes for me on the bike is a much better workout than 40 minutes of walking. (I guess I could also stand to walk a bit faster and push myself more here.

Rock-n-roll!

🙂