Reason No. 4 to Ride

Reason number 4 to ride your bike is that you save $$$.

Using a bike instead of a car just one day a week, the average American would save $609 in gasoline, maintenance and depreciation costs per year, reduce emissions by 24 pounds per week, and burn an extra 1315 calories at a 12mph pace! (Bicycling Magazine)

Reason No. 3 to Ride

Reason No. 3 to park your butt on a bike and pedal, pedal, pedal is the incredibly clear thinking you get.

This year has been one of change. Change in the way I think and act. I owe it all to the PCH. During my time on the bike a tremendous calm overcomes me and I become very clear thinking.

Without my time in the saddle I would not have had the clarity of realizing just how unhealthy a long term relationship I had was, and how untrue to myself I was being.

Without that same time in the saddle I would never have been able to continue my thoughts and sort out my professional path, changing roles between our two businesses and following the one more fulfilling.

Reason number 3 is what you feel inside when its just you and the road.

Staying off the Insulin

I’m totally committed to not ever having to be on insulin. But my blood sugars aren’t so committed.

All those energy drinks and protein bars can keep you from fading or if you are a diabetic they can set you up for a blood sugar crash and burn.

Reason No. 2 to Ride

Reason No. 2: Burn calories, not gas.

Yup, we’ve got the tree hugger perspective here. You are doing something good for the planet, two fold. 1) you are taking care of yourself, which means we’ve one more person on the planet to help cure the common cold and 2) every pedal you push saves that much more of our natural resources. (anyone else hear Emily Katella asking Chevy Chase to save our “National Racehorses”?)

Dead Man Walking

The last couple of weeks have not seen my fluffy white tush on the bicycle seat. In fact, since my brother’s funeral, my tush has mostly been in bed with in frequent attempts to return to civilization. Saturday morning was one such attempt.

Reason No. 1 to Ride

First in a series of “Reasons to Ride”.  Reason No. 1 is the battle against breast cancer.

Factlet: 3.8 hours of exercise a week decreases your risk of breast cancer by 40%

This little factoid made its way into my knowledge base around the same time I heard of cycling with Team in Training to help raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I thought, “hey, I can do that” without realizing just how hard it would be to get to 100 miles or that I would fall completely in love with it.

There really is no I in TEAM

Quick recap of my Team In Training schedule since my my brother became ill in August: 1 ride. Yuppers, I dropped last season to be with Jack in Cancun and have only ridden one whole time with the new team on their first ride, 9 weeks ago.

These people have no idea who I am other than a name on the email list, and yet, when my brother passed away last week, they sent words of love, support and even attended the funeral.

I was tremendously touched but more importantly, I saw that there is truth in the old phrase, “no man is an island”. We need the support of each other, not just in times of loss but out on the road, working together.

Easing back in

Thursday was a great ride. 42 miles of beach ride and mist. Thank goodness for arm warmers. Those of you not in Los Angeles are most likely amused at our concept of cold.

Ramon and I decided we could take a little time off work if we headed back and caught up in the afternoon. Since I have not been on my bike on my usual TNT training schedule and he has been off since Honolulu (Sept 30th) we were in agreement that we both really needed this.

When we were discussing routes, he actually asked ME for an easy one! Of course, later when he put on his coaches hat, he told me I need to pick more challenging routes (the brat).

We left from the house and rode up Olympic, crossing over to Pico where it hits the beach, north to Will Rogers then turn around south to somewhere about 10 miles past the Marina and then back to Venice for lunch. All in, all, a very good way to get back in the swing of things. Left us each feeling that it was worth our time and that we could do more.

The beach path can force you to ride fairly slow in some places, which was good for us on that day and also give you opportunities to open up. I was pleased that I maintained 33KPM for a while, without passing out or wishing I would. Admittedly, there were very few places we could ride at that.

I think the best thing about having a riding partner is the ability to check in and see if we are working efficiently in terms of our pace and effort. What we work towards is being about to put effort into the biking and still be able to carry a conversation. If my words are coming in gasps and pants I may be working too hard and have to learn to tackle that particular challenge.

Our next ride together will most likely be the same route I did on the Tour de Foothills. Its got a good steady climb and will work us out fairly well without kicking my ass. After that, I’m going to have to force myself back to Encinal Cyn just to get my ass kicked. From what I understand, a lot of the rides I have yet to do will have bodacious climb.