Manda's Century: Night Rides and Snow

I did pretty good this week - I was able to almost do two 10 mile rides for my short rides.

Night Ride
It is getting dark out earlier. Good thing I have lights! I realize I am not suppose to be out on public grounds after dark - what with the zombies, werewolves, teenagers and vampires - but I need to book my miles and rushing home from work to make it out on the road by 5:30pm can be a challenge.

I haven't resorted to seeing how many pieces of clothes I can take off in the car to prepare to get my winter gear on without looking suspicious.

Anyhow, this is my ride:

Glowin'

I think part of me would be sort of proud to be that weird biker-chick who gets pulled over by the police for being on public grounds after sunset. Until I see the fine.

Stealth mode activated!

I got it together and got myself out again for another 9 mile ride. I was ok with it. I thought I had gone farther. No matter, I will take a good 9 mile ride!

Zoom!

Snowy Weekend
Well, Saturday is my normal long-ride day. It snowed here. Not enough for me to feel a compulsion to buy French toast ingredients, but, it's strange to have any amount of snow here in October. A frost, sure, a snow? Not so much.

I'm not wrong, by the way, snowfall statistics in the record books show 3 dates with measurable snow in October:

• October 30, 1925 (2.1").
• October 19, 1940 (1.4"). 
• October 19, 1972 (1.2").

My car was stopped when I took this

Since it was a mix of snow, sleet and rain, I took this weekend off.

Toasted almond coffee and stove popped popcorn

Lessons Learned
First, I am horrible at judging my own size. Here is the extent of my stupid: I have been going into stores, pulling out stuff I like, estimating my size, buying it and trying it on at home. Why? Because I have issues spending money and unless it's free, I will talk myself out of buying anything - regardless of need.

Thanks, sickness, for teaching me financial super-anxiety. Since I had to pay for about 40% of my medical (maybe about $100,000) out of pocket, I made it a game with myself to see how little I could live on - $10 a day for food or $100 a year in clothes.

But, I digress.

I slipped int Dick's Sporting Goods and grabbed some winter gear figuring I'm a medium. Thanks, super-fit population, I am a large. Not like "Oh, I'll be modest and get a size up so the cloth won't touch me." I mean. . "Wow, did I grab an extra-small when I meant to grab a medium? I can actually see my rib bones and adorable fat rolls tearing holes in this fabric. . ."

Ok, I'm a large to extra large.

Another important lesson was that booking 15-20 miles total for my short rides does take a toll on me. I was much more tired and felt a little more run-down than normal. I stayed pretty good with my booster-meds (check out my Adrenal Fatigue page) but it's something that seems pretty consistent.

I am going to first see if I can work through this by trying to book 15-20 miles total for my short ride for a couple weeks in a row. If I keep slipping backwards, I will have to do something else. I already have some ideas:

• Interval training.
• More hills, less distance.
• More shorter rides - 4-5 times a week.

Manda's Century
You can follow my biking adventures by checking out my Mandas Century Ride page. It lists (in conveinent bullet form) the lessons I have learned and has links to each of my biking related posts.

Yes, I know this has nothing to do with dating. Shove it. I own this blog.

Credits

Stat for October snows from menafn.com. 

Manda's Century: Winter Chills

We're about at the end of October. I remember a year ago I was heading into a massive relapse. Ahh, October 2010. You were easier than October 2009 when I was on IV therapy again.

Anyhow, this week has been a short of weak week - I got a 10 mile ride in on Tuesday but missed Thursday. I had to do laundry. I wasn't wearing underwear, that's how long it had been since I last did laundry.

For my long ride, I got in a 21 mile ride and got some much needed time with my bike-buddy. She had been MIA since she hurt her ankle around the time we did the Buck's County Covered Bridged Ride.

Movin'

Yes, I wanted to do 40, but it was important to make sure my bike-buddy wasn't going to overdo it or hurt herself. It was a nice ride with all the leaves changing color and less weirdos out on the path. We even got two "Happy Halloween!" calls because of our altered helmets.

I know I should be buckling down harder for this century ride. A hardcore athlete might have said, "Hey, bike-buddy, I am doing 40, suck it! Gotta keep it movi'!"

Ew. Can you imagine? Brutal.

Pass Lessons Applied
I do have to admit, one of the lessons being sick taught me, especially when I started to get better, how much I wished I could be sick again. Part of me actually wished I would relapse because I was more accustom to dealing with being sick, medications and the fear of dying than being "normal." To me, it was more scary dealing with the freedom of choice - when I was sick, didn't matter what I wanted to do or if someone invited me to do something or if I had dreams. . .the answer was always simple - I had to deal with the illness first. It made all the decisions for me. The idea of having a choice was totally alien to me.

Part of this century ride is the journey, is the training. It is easier for me to be working toward something than accomplishing it or, as sickness taught me, breaking down and having to forget about it. Perhaps I will find myself "self sabotaging" my own training in order to stay in training. What happens when you hit you goals and accomplish a dream, normal people? I never was able to set a goal for myself or a dream and accomplish it in my life.

Next Step
So, Monday-Tuesday I want to hit my 10 mile mark again. The long rides are good, but, I need to make sure I am not losing focus of my hilly short rides. Life, like biking, isn't all smooth, flat land so I need some practice with hills and cars and giant pot holes.

I also did notice I gained about 4lbs and I have a bit of a belly. I am hoping to get that back in line though I don't eat that badly. Always something.

I also need to actual invest in some winter biking gear. When you are riding a bike in the chill, it gets a lot colder. Probably should get a coat or something. I see all the summer stuff is on sale, but, maybe I can find some cheap, good winter gear. Nothing over $10 would be nice. . .

Manda's Century
You can follow my biking adventures by checking out my Manda's Century Ride page. It lists (in convenient bullet form) the lessons I have learned and has links to each of my biking related posts.

Yes, I know this has nothing to do with dating. Shove it. I own this blog.


Be Part of the Adventure
Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.

Manda's Century: 40%

After a nice ride last weekend at the Central Bucks Bicycle Club (CBBC) 31st Annual Covered Bridges Bike Ride, I knew it was time to up my game.

I had a bad week - as far as riding - only booking about 3 miles until the weekend. Since I was pretty well rested, I figured it was time to hit the 40 mile mark. I figured, I would lose some pace doing it but had a route mapped out in my head.

I failed biker math. Totally. I did circle after circle toward the end, waiting for my Droid to tell me I hit the magical 40 mile marker and it never happened. I finally gave up checking and trying to add up the mileage  and going back and forth on the same legs of the path and stopped at my car. My final stats:

I managed to cut off about 11 seconds on my pace even though my mileage was (ahem) 10 miles more.

To celebrate, I did update my Facebook page to read:

Had a 40% survival rate. . .now 40% to my Century Ride. Or. .39.13%

Feels good. I'm looking forward to doing an honest 40 miles next weekend and also doing at least 10 miles for my short ride.

Manda's Century
You can follow my biking adventures by checking out my Manda's Century Ride page. It lists (in convenient bullet form) the lessons I have learned and has links to each of my biking related posts.


Be Part of the Adventure
Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.

Manda's Century:Columbus Day Post

Hello! For the first time in my 31 years - I have off on Columbus Day. Nope, didn't prepare anything. I'm just going to toot my own horn about my bike riding adventures!

Yes, I have tiger ears on my helmet

Yesterday, I had an awesome day at the Central Bucks Bicycle Club (CBBC) 31st Annual Covered Bridges Bike Ride. I did about 30 miles with my bike buddy. The only bummer was I couldn't eat anything after the ride. AH!

Well, I had some string cheese and applesauce. I couldn't eat the sloppy-joes because I can't have vinegar (which is in BBQ sauce) and I couldn't eat the veggie burgers because they were laced with beans and soy.

However, it was a beautiful day and I feel more confident in my endurance riding. I feel like I could totally pump up my routine and do 40 miles next. Almost half way to a Century.

Of course, I couldn't have rocked the ride without my bike buddy. She was a real trooper since she hurt her foot a little dancing at her friend's wedding and then couldn't sleep past 3am. Poor girl. She was right by my side, though, and of course getting all types of compliments on her little devil horns.
As she told me, we are totally going to be doing the MS bike ride next year. Holla! I am going to start training now.

But, seriously, did you see how awesome my tiger ears are?

Manda's Century
You can follow my biking adventures by checking out my Manda's Century Ride page. It lists (in convenient bullet form) the lessons I have learned and has links to each of my biking related posts.

Be Part of the Adventure
Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.