Another nice day on tap here. Yesterday was Hot!! Mid 80s. We are going from 0 to 60 around here with the weather. And back again. The tulips are popping, though. Good color for Friday’s post 😀
I had a good lifting workout at the gym this morning. Yesterday I was pretty tired from the weekend riding. From Friday to Sunday, we put over 70 miles on the bikes. Plus I did a lifting workout on Sunday. All I did yesterday was light walking and stretching. Felt good.
After I got back from the gym, it was breakfast time! 1-minute muffle with apple cranberry topping.
Very good. This was the sugar free version, but I used pumpkin instead of applesauce as I had the can open for my protein shake this morning.
Anhyoo, here are a couple FAQ answers on biking that have been asked lately.
1. Are you sore after long rides? Normally, no. Right now, yes. It’s early in the season and Saturday’s ride was pretty long. When we biked to breakfast on Sunday, my sit bones were complaining a bit. Not too bad, though.
2. What do you do about potty stops? I stop drinking liquid about 1 hour before we leave for long rides. When I first get up, I drink extra glasses of water to make sure that I am fully hydrated and get rid of the excess (so to speak). Once you start long rides, though, you really don’t need too many potty stops. I can go the 23 miles to Saratoga without needing to stop, but we always have in mind where a Stewart’s is or fast food place we can go to if need be.
Once at our destination, we use the restroom wherever we eat or use public ones. Again, my body pretty much uses up all liquid I consume during the ride. It is very rare that I ever need to stop on the way home.
3. Do you lose weight on the long rides? I don’t like to weigh myself for a couple days after a long ride. I actually always gain a few pounds from rides, which is mostly due to water retention from a lot of hard work of my muscles and eating foods that I normally don’t during the week. The only time I really concern myself with weighing the day after a ride is if it was really hot. If I don’t gain or even lose weight, that means I am dehydrated and need to fill up.
On to lunch! This should be filed under the “don’t get too close” category. Not too attractive, but tasty. I cooked up ground turkey and added in some rice and BBQ sauce.
Work was quite busy today (and yesterday as well). Good for the wallet! Yay! I also got finished in a timely fashion as well.
John made up lattes today – cheers!
And on another note, I noticed this afternoon that those stupid comments are back in the google feed again! Grrrr!!! They just stopped for whatever reason and now are back.
So, more fish eating for us. Last night we had some salmon, which we grilled. I am getting more used to it. Tonight was flounder. We got a bacon fill coated flounder and baked it in the toaster oven.
It was pretty good. I think I like the fattier fish, though. I didn’t taste any bacon with this. False advertising!!
While I was up practicing guitar this evening after dinner, John was getting up to all kinds of trouble in the kitchen. He made up these cookies for his poker night tomorrow.
Chocolate chip made with some peanut flour. There was a broken cookie (you can see it in the back), so we had to taste test! Very good.
I am out of here for the night to escape the cookies and be social. 
Those are great questions and answers. For me, I’m sore when I take the winters off from riding–like last year. That meant I was starting over and I’d have saddle soreness (even with cycling shorts) and my neck and shoulders would be in horrible shape! But going to spin class once a week as made that issue go away. We went cycling a few weeks ago for the first time since October and I had no soreness at all the next day.
The trainer has helped a lot with early season soreness the last couple of years, but I don’t ride it for 40 miles inside LOL (Boring!!!).
Interesting answers to the questions. One for your next round–how do you avoid um, “chafing?” I’m afraid I couldn’t be in the house with a fresh batch of cookies either. I have to say that even just seeing the picture has my tastebuds all revved up!
Good bike shorts, going commando and using an anti-chafing cream if needed. I have to say commando is the best way to prevent chafing.
Ah! Thanks, I’ll try that!
I don’t bike that much and when I do and the ride is a bit longer I definitely have pain in the butt 🙂 Reading this post I am reminded I need to use my bike more for the small things I need to do in my village.
Those cookies look jummie. I would have to escape the house too because I love home made cookies, can’t hardly stop eating them, that’s why I don’t make them that often.
I think there’d be no word in the english language for how SORE I WOULD BE! 🙂
we’d need to create one…
I wonder if long rides have the same affect that long runs do on the body’s systems. I can run a whole marathon and never stop to use the bathroom. It’s as if once I get going, my body is utilizing the nutrients and fluids so that there really is no excess.
Weren’t these last couple of fake summer days lovely?!
I think it has a lot to do with not just sweating, but breathing. Heavier breathing uses up more liquid. I was thinking about that during the ride and how dry my mouth got in the wind.
When we ride the trails near me, there are a few potty stops along the way if I need to go. Some are porta-potty’s by the trailheads and I try to avoid those at all costs! Yuck. If I start thinking about peeing, it’s all over. I admit that I ration my drinking and drink most at the end of my ride. Ah, sometimes I wish I was a guy.
I love hearing about all the baking John does for poker night. Most guys run to the store for chips or pizza. Loving the creativity – even if it makes it more challenging for you Lori!
Once I’m done with the move I want to get back into biking. My bike’s older and it puts tons of pressure on my shoulders but I don’t want to invest the $$$ until I am back biking and know I’ll keep it up. Hopefully soon.
They love him at the game for bringing the stuff, too!
I was wondering about potty stops too! I always have to know where a bathroom is & especially more so with age! 😉
COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
I love all your posts! My question is: how do you work your long bike rides into your strength-training programs? When I follow a written training program, I struggle with being flexible enough to work in other activity. To be honest, I struggle with inflexibility in every part of my life, LOL! But I *love* my long bike rides in the summer, so I want to find a better way to schedule my strength and other cardio around them.
Well, I am going to be judging this as the program goes on. Right now I lift 3 times a week. When we are heavy into biking, I drop down to 2 times a week. Otherwise it is just too much. I don’t really do too much other cardio, so I just bike. I love my rides, too, and those always come first!
I hope you get lots of sunny and warm spring days there!
I can’t imagine how you can do such long rides on your bike. I’ve just taken my bike out and taken a couple of short rides and pedalling feels like too much hard work.
I have one of Cynthia Sass’ earlier books on my Kindle. It’s pretty much similar to the book you wrote a review of/for. Interesting recipes but I didn’t like the idea of the 5-day cleanse either.
Today is FBB day, so I gotta go 🙂
The long rides have been several years in coming. It’s my sport and what I really train for. Kind of like distance runners. I can’t imagine running 10 miles a day, but biking to me is very easy now. It was a lot harder when I first started.
Biking is to you as walking is to me. 🙂 On mild, sunny days like today, there’s nothing like it!
For me, going commando is just one big invitation to get hit by a car so that I have to go to the hospital. I’m pretty sure that mother’s early-years advice to always wear clean underwear carried with it an implication to always WEAR underwear. 🙂 If I ever take up seriously longer rides (ones without a lot of breaks), I’ll reconsider commando, but for now, my drawers go where I do.