Tag Archives: biking

Showing off the bike trainer

Seriously – I love all of you out there!  I was a bit of a whiner yesterday and many thoughtful emails and comments were made.  Funny how you can never meet some people in real life and you just know they have your back 😀

I was up early this morning on the trainer.  Did 1 hour and rode 18 miles.  It was nice because I wasn’t out in the frost, I had tunes on (really weird while biking), and I could ride in just a sports bra if I felt like it (which I didn’t today).  My worse fear was that I would wake John up in the next room, but he sleeps right through it. Yay!

I had eaten some dates before and during the ride for fuel – then it was time for breakfast!

That’s the stuff.  I was thinking about giving myself an extra challenge to do 2 no-added sugar days this week per April’s suggestion.  I started with that yesterday, but then had some chocolate.  So today it was!

I worked today. Although one of my clinics was closed for the holiday, the others were open (or at least had a back log of work).    Thank you to all of the veterans and current serving military for all that you do for us!

Took a lunch break for some nice comfort food!  Baked breaded shrimp and hot sauce, plus a serving of grits!

That is a wedge of laughing cow on there, not a pat of butter, although that would be tasty…

Now that I finally have some pics – here is the bike trainer.  John and I got 2 different ones, as we each bought our own separately.  I went with a Schwinn because the reviews were good and the price was right.  This was on sale for less than $100.

Both set up in the spare bedroom. The towel is for the sweat – I am sure I have mentioned that I sweat.  A lot.  It’s even worse when there is no breeze to dry you off. 🙄

The back tire axle sits in the trainer and screws in.

They supplied an axle which fits this trainer, which was easy peasy to swap out.  Tire didn’t have to come off or anything.  It’s just like a long pin.

The back wheel sits on this roller, and the knob below is how you adjust the resistance.  You can still change gears with the bike and you will change the pedal speed, but not the actual resistance.  That’s nice for variety.

The front tire sits on a block (which was purchased separately for $15.  My block has 3 different sizes for different heights.  I also like the stability of 3 sides.

Nice view at the front of the bike 😀

My trainer is actually much quieter than John’s is.  There will be some friction noise because you have a wheel running on another wheel, but not really bad.  If you have studded or rough tires, it will make more noise.  The weird thing about it is when you stop pedaling, the tires stop pretty much right away.  Not like while real riding where you can lift yourself off the seat to take break and coast or adjust your nether region.  I feel kind of cool because I can now ride hands free like the pros do LOL!

I was able to swap out my bike computer from the front wheel to the back wheel.  Obviously won’t work on the front wheel as it doesn’t go around…  I can actually go a lot faster on the trainer than I can in real life, too.  Not sure why that is.  I really am so glad I got this!  Now I can do more than just run in the winter 😀

Afternoon snack of a latte in the sun:

Not pictured are the pretzel sticks I had.

Was busy with work and couldn’t quite finish before dinner.  Booo.  So, I took a break and fixed a plate.  Standard and easy – gotta love it!

That’s hot sauce at 2 meals today. :mrgreen:

After I finished up work, we headed out to relax a little at Panera – where I am currently posting from.  I would have loved a baked good, but I figured I hadn’t had any added sugar all day, so I would just stick with coffee.

Although in hindsight I supposed I could have had a butter croissant!

I had to take this picture of John.  He didn’t know I did it either.  He was working on a math problem and looked so serious about it.

So serious!  He is incredibly smart.  Other than just for marrying me…

No-added sugar and a new toy on its way!

It was just warm enough to bike to the gym today! Low 40s, although I had to wait until it was light enough to bike safely (safety first!). I haven’t been on my bike since last Wednesday. I miss it.

The iron:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Deadlift 1 set of 10 at 65#

1 set of 8 at 75#

1 set of 8 at 85 #

1 set of 6 at 95 #

 Lower body
Dumbbell Pullover 3 sets of 10 with 25# DB Back
Dumbbell Chest press 3 sets of 12 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Cable Squat to Row 3 sets of 10 at 60# Full body
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Core
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Prone Cuban Snatch 3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders
Triceps Kickback 3 sets of 12 with 15# DBs (30# total) Triceps

Yes! I did a chest exercise today. I cannot do any fly-type exercises yet, but I was able to do a chest press with the dumbbells. It was really easy with that weight, but no pain, so that is good. Any heavier and I felt a twinge. I refuse to push that.  Patience grasshopper…

As I biked on home, I stopped in the little park. The ride home is full of traffic and not my favorite part, but I do cut through this park and enjoy it. The mums are blooming:

I spotted the pink item of the day: flowering kale (which really just says garnish to me and not garden)

The Breast Cancer Site

Today was to be a no-added sugar day.  I started off with almond joy oats (sweetened only with banana and I used unsweetened coconut).

When I do a no-added sugar day, that also means no stevia (and I don’t use Splenda anyway).  I do allow myself fruit and dried fruit that is not sweetened.  Got right to work today.  I keep looking around for a job that I can do and move about as all this sitting is getting to me after 2 years.  Even just a part-time where I am doing more movement.

Lunch break!  You must try this – I mixed a wedge of laughing cow with 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa.  So good!  It made the quinoa creamy and cheesy (duh).  Tasty.  Roasted turkey breast on the side from the smokehouse.

We are getting a weather warmup this week.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 68 degrees!  I really want to bike, but I have a run on the schedule as I am supposed to do a 5K this weekend.

Speaking of missing the bike, I ordered a new toy that should be here in a month or so:

A bike trainer!  We are bringing the bikes inside and setting them up on these trainers.  There is also a block for the front wheels.  That way I can pedal away to my heart’s content and not have to use the stationary at the gym (which I dislike very much).  John is getting one as well, so we can still ride together on weekends, although not to cupcakes unless they are homemade (which they might well be).

Afternoon protein latte and a red pear for a snack:

With lots of cinnamon.  I eat cinnamon in copious amounts just because I love it.  Kind of like hot sauce.

Speaking of hot sauce, I incorporated that into dinner!  This was a Morningstar chick’n patty.  I stopped eating meat analogues a while ago, but John had bought these and it sounded kind of good to me, especially buffalo style!

Blue cheese laughing cow on that patty with hot sauce.  Pretty good!  I do have to say that I hit my sodium quota for a week today!

So today ended up quite a good food day overall in the plan.  No-added sugar and weight loss portions (as Steve likes to say).

When I want something sweet on these days, I go to a standby of dates.  That will be tonight’s snack with a few almonds.

Tomorrow I will post the recipe for quinoa cakes.

Question:  What indoor exercise do you do in winter? loaded question, yes…)

Along the cupcake trail.

Saturday is bike day!  Sunny, but windy today.  I wanted a nice warm breakfast to fuel up:

Plus 3 cups of coffee :mrgreen:

After it warmed up a little, we headed on out.  I was actually a little cranky at first because it was chilly and windy, which are 2 conditions I don’t care for.  The older I get, the more I just want to stay toasty warm.  We thought about just hanging around the area, but then I just sucked it up and we went.  I knew it would be fine after a few miles and I had warmed up.

We decided to ride and not stop, just to go for a longer ride.  Only a couple stop lights, but we trekked on down.  The wind was not quite at our backs, so we weren’t going all that fast.   I felt pretty good.  My legs are a little tired just because it is the end of the week for my workouts.  21.5 miles and we arrived at Saratoga for lunch!

We stopped at Esperanto first, where I had the falafel with hummus pita.  Yum!

The hummus really made it.  After lunch, we headed for the real reason we biked all the way down here:

We had some fresh brewed coffee and then each got a regular cupcake and a mini:

Mocha espresso:

and my mini was cookies and cream:

I really like this one – it tasted just like a soft oreo!

After sitting for a while, John said he wanted another cupcake.  Gotta love what the biking miles do to you!  We decided to share the raspberry cupcake.  This was fresh out of the oven, so it was light and fluffy.  It had a raspberry fruit filling in it as well.

Yu-um!  I haven’t had a cupcake in 3 weeks!  Then it was time to hit the road home.  The wind was more into our faces, but sort of swirling around, too.  It was slower on the way home.  We stopped at mile 32 just for a breather.  No need to fuel up as we were still being powered by cupcakes!

Colors are going to get close to peak pretty soon.

Can you see that sugar thrumming?  Not sure if I was supposed to get bunny ears there or what…

Another 10 miles to home.

Ride stats:

Total mileage:  43.7

Avg speed:  12.9 mph

Top speed: 24 mph

Calories burned: 1350 – hello cupcakes!

Even though it was windy, it was a very pretty day.  After we got back, we didn’t want to eat dinner yet (depressed appetite from mileage).  So, we decided to make up lattes in travel mugs and do a little leaf peeping.  We drove up around Lake George on the non-tourist side.

Can you imagine having this view from your porch?  There were houses on the other side of the road with this view.  It would be my dream to live in one of them!

In a week or 2, this will be even more beautiful.  I love fall!

After we got back home, it was time for dinner.  I cooked up a small potato and topped it with laughing cow, cooked chicken and BBQ sauce.  It was really good.  My appetite had returned by this time (evidenced by granola munching).

An evening of movies tonight!

Pink item of the day: My slippers!

The Breast Cancer Site

56 miles to Ireland and back

Absolutely gorgeous day.  Again!  Our Saturdays have just been amazing all summer and into fall (although it technically is still summer).  The plan was to bike down to the Irish Fest for the early afternoon.  You do know it is halfway to St. Patty’s Day, right? Started off the day with some pumpkin oats.  These were made with fresh pumpkin that John cooked up the other day with a pie pumpkin I brought home.

1 tsp of molasses, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 cup fresh pumpkin, topped with apple cranberry jam (that I made last month) and almonds.  Pecans would have been better, but we are out.

Nice relaxing morning waiting for the fog to lift and the temps to warm up some before heading on out.   After 11 miles, it was a stop for a quick snack. Pear power!

22 miles to lunch. Avoiding the festival $food$, we stopped in Saratoga at our favorite Cupcake lab!  I had a breakfast burrito that was super yummy.

It really helps when you are hungry.   Of course, that was just the prelude to the real reason we stopped in:

This was a green tea chai cupcake, which John and I split.  Needed more cardamom flavor.  I actually think this cupcake would be good as is with an apple filling.

I had my own Pistachio cupcake.

I love pistachio gelatto, so I quite enjoyed this one.  Lot of frosting, which is always a good thing.  The cupcake itself was green 😀

Gratuitous cupcake shot.

This was John’s Almond Joy.

With a tummy full of cupcake goodness, we headed on another 6 miles to the fairgrounds.  We actually biked this last year for another reason and using Google, it said it was 25 miles there.  Using actual odometer this year and it was actually 28 miles there.  Longer ride than anticipated today!

Lots more fest happening today and a lot more people. 3 different music stages for different types of music:  Traditional, up and coming, and rock/contemporary

Many imported Irish things:

Plus the usual fair junk.

And some alpacas.

Biker dudes in leather and kilts:

What does a complete dork get?  Porridge!  LOL.

I can’t wait to try these  (aren’t you all surprised).

We listened to some more music and then the real reason we came – Lunasa.  If you don’t have a CD of theirs, you should get one.  Go now.  I’ll still be here.

One of my very favorite things to have at any kind of fair is the fresh squeezed lemonade.  I don’t know why I love it so, but I do.

John also picked up some Irish soda bread so that we could get few carbs for the ride home.  So much for not eating at the fest…

Unfortunately, Lunasa got moved back in the schedule, which meant we could not stay for the whole performance as we had a 2-hour bike ride to get home with no real stop for any kind of dinner.  And we left at 5:00! As it was, we really pushed it past the lightness buffer.

We did stop around mile 45 for some coconut water and dates.

I felt so rejuvenated by the coconut water.  I don’t know if Gatorade does the same thing, but it is amazing to me.

Pushing home and my legs really felt good.

Can you see my odometer? The garage light is on.  That is how dark it was for the final mile or so.  Kinda scary. We don’t ride at night for safety reasons – even if I had lights on my bike, I don’t trust the cars.

Ride stats:

56.9 miles (damn close to 57!)

Top speed:  29.9

Avg Speed:  13.2 mph

Calories burned:  1720  (sweet).

This is the kind of long ride I like.  Leisurely with stops and yummy food in the middle.  Riding with my buddy:

I felt like I could have ridden for another 10 miles.  A lot different than the charity ride last week!  My legs are so awesome – I just love them! 😀  It’s one of those times where I am feeling in great shape (last 10 pounds be damned!)

As you can imagine, we were ready for food when we got home.  It was way past dinner time and that was quite a calorie burn.  I was totally craving veggies, as my diet has been deficient in them the last day or 2.  I made up a stirfry of cauliflower, broccoli and chick peas sauteed in coconut oil and some ginger stir fry sauce.

It was really good and cured the veggie need.  However, still deficient in calories.

The cure for that?

John made pumpkin donuts.  He had the dough rising for the last 2 days and I made him do them so I could take advantage of the long ride 😀

With some decaf coffee it was delicious.  Who doesn’t want a fresh donut (or more) at 10 pm?

This was a most excellent day.  I am going to miss these long rides in a couple months.

Camp Challenge 62-mile ride update!

I made it!!  I had a great ride today.  Let’s take a tour, shall we?

I woke up at 5:50 and packed my bike bag while breakfast cooked.

I was a little over prepared 😳

I fueled up with steel cut oats (banana custard style) topped with jam and PB.  This has become my standard long ride brekkie and it holds me in good stead:

Sorry for the lighting, but the sun wasn’t up yet…

John took me to the Double H ranch to see me off.  What a supportive hubby!  I registered in and got my t-shirt:

They had a super breakfast spread set up for us.

They had so many bars.  There were giant bins of bars.  Must have been hundreds of bars!  I didn’t really want more to eat, but I did have some fruit and snagged a bar for my bag.

Lining up:

Rosie was quite popular – I got a lot of comments.  It ended up being a little warmer, so I wore this with a jacket (which I ended up just keeping in my bag).

I have to say I was pretty intimidated by the other 62-mile riders.  There was only 1 other hybrid bike besides mine.

Serious riders today.  I figured I would be in last place, but that wasn’t important.  We had a safety check and then we were off.  It was pretty cool at the start.  I have never done a group ride, and it was so much fun being part of a pack.  I was in the middle and doing some drafting for a bit.  It was a very fast clip to start, much faster than I would ever go normally.  I think it might have been some adrenaline.

Then the bikers stretched out in an accordian and I began falling to the back of the pack.  My plan was to stop at mile 20 and have a snack.  I realized I was going quite fast.  There were 4 of us at the end that swapped places quite a bit, with the very last person just in front of the sag wagon.  I was right in front of it for a few miles and it was really annoying, I have to say.  I felt like it pushed me to go faster than I might have.  I also wanted to stop and have my snack, so I signaled that I was pulling over.  Of course, they asked me if I was okay.  I just needed a snack!  I had to fuel up before the monster hill.  Then I felt very pressured, because they waited for me, so I just opened up the bar and started going again while eating.

I averaged 15.8 miles an hour for the first hour.  That was fast for me!  Then I hit the 5-mile hill.  It was brutal.  Maybe not as bad as I was thinking it might be, but it was a slog.  5 miles up uphill with varying inclines.   The hill (okay, a mountain) climbed from 650 feet to 1250 feet.  😯  A few more riders came back into sight and I passed some people on this hill.  Thank you so much for all your strong leg vibes!  They really worked!  I did not have to stop or walk up the hills today.

At mile 28 – it was a rocket down hill.  I hit my top speed of 32.8 mph before I panicked and hit the brakes.  I was terrified of that speed.  It was also exhilarating in a scary way.

At the bottom of this hill was the rest stop.  There was one at mile 7, but that was way too early in the ride.  This was at mile 31.  I have never ridden 31 miles without taking a longer break.  I was at the 2-hour point here, which was much faster than expected.  A volunteer took my picture.

Used the portapotty (surprisingly clean) and had another bar plus a coconut water and some regular water.  There were a number of bikers at this rest stop.  One woman said she was done.  I think the hill might have injured her or something because she said she didn’t want to risk hurting herself anymore.

I took just a short break – maybe 10 minutes.  I wanted to head out way in front of the sag wagon, because it irritated me and I wanted to take a break later without feeling pressured.

Onward into the headwind.  That sucked LOL!  I was looking forward to some flat riding and it was windy.  Oh well.  The scenery in the Adirondaks is just beautiful, though.  I stopped at mile 45 just before the next set of hills for a granola bar.  I was going to eat a Larabar, but realized the fat content of that bar would slow absorption, which I did not need at this point.  This was where I stopped:

Note how cloudy?  It started to rain shortly after that.  I slogged up 2 more sets of hills and my thighs were complaining loudly by that time.  They were saying “What happened to the cupcake break?  You always have a cupcake! And where was that relaxing lunch?”

Let me tell you, biking fast in the rain isn’t a lot of fun.  I was in excess of 20 mph and the rain stung my face!  It only lasted about 10 miles, though, so that wasn’t bad.   By this time, I was talking out loud to myself quite a bit.  I realized I was doing that and would check around to see how close the nearest bike rider was 😳

I was pepping myself by comparing how much ride I had left to distances from home that I knew, like “This is just like going to Panera Bread and back.” or “This is just a ride home from Cool Beans”  – to which my other self said “Yeah, but I didn’t just eat a bagel.  Geez how I want a bagel.!”

Around mile 58, I really began to hit a wall.  I was feeling a little emotional and tired.  My thighs were aching at this point, as I had pushed them pretty hard.  Plus I was really missing John as my biker buddy.

I almost cried at the last hill. It was just a small one, but I didn’t think I had any hill left in me.  I just put my head down and ground it out.  I wasn’t walking at this point in the ride.

Down the home stretch – I am the little dot just above the 3rd cone.

Crossing the finish line at 63  miles. I am going so fast I am a blur! (haha)

I did not come in last, there were about 4 others riders behind me by probably 5 or 10 minutes.

The happiest rider:

What is up with the thumbs- up sign today??  My bike was propping me up at this point.

I was exhausted.  I could barely walk after getting off the bike.  Even though I have done this distance before (and 100 miles), the pace was much different.  I am used to more leisurely rides with meal stops and relaxing.  This was all business. Hilly, fast, and furious!

I did a 13.2 average pace, top speed of 32.8 mph and a 2,000 calorie burn!  The ride time was 4 hours and 45 minutes.   That is the equivalent to running 20 miles, thank you very much.  I could not take in enough calories during this ride.  That is really hard to do.

The Double H staff were so friendly.  I have to give props to them.  At every intersection they were pointing the way and cheering us on.  Plus there were signs along the road with inspirational saying on them to help keep us going.  This was their first time doing a ride and I think they were very well organized.

John had me walk around a little, which was difficult, but he is a smart man, because my legs loosened up a little bit.  There was a BBQ afterwards, and we had some cookies and coffee before heading home.

I showered and foam rolled and now am watching some football with a latte.  We will see how I feel tomorrow.  Right now I feel so satisfied and couldn’t be happier about how the ride went.

Not to mention that John is taking me out for dinner!

And a huge thank you to all of you!  We raised $397 for the camp!

Down by the river side

I was up early again today.  Supposed to be hot, so I wanted to get a bike ride in.  My upper body feels like it was run over by a steam roller, though, thanks to yesterday’s workout.  My legs are fine.   In fact, my legs are solid like trees right now!  Yay thighs!

I had 1/2 of a Larabar for a snack.

Dinky. 🙄

It was cloudy and in the low 60s this morning.  It started to rain a tiny bit and I almost turned around and went home, but it stopped.

Wouldn’t want to melt, you know…

The road itself isn’t very exciting, but this is the bike lane and it is nice and wide and pretty well maintained for the most part.

After 8 miles, I took a break for some water and some scenery viewing.

Purdy.

The water was like glass:

Must take this same picture when the foliage has turned.

Then I cranked home.  16 miles at an average of 14 mph this morning and I am feeling good!  Hungry for brekkie!

This was an excellent breakfast.  Did you see the honey fluff recipe I posted earlier today?  I am going to try to post a recipe every Tuesday, I think.  😀

Lunch break – I chopped up one of the turkey muffins for an open-faced sammie today.  This kiwi was extra good, too.  Or maybe I was just extra hungry.

Fairly busy day working today.  I need to do some catch up lines, though, as yesterday was not quite a full work day.

John made me a latte:

which I paired with some mint chocolate.

I really, really wanted more chocolate.  I did not have any, but something has awoken my sugar monster.  Mayhap the cupcakes over the weekend?

I made a return to childhood cafeteria for dinner today.  Fish sticks!

The box calls these extra large.  I would hate to see the small.  I probably couldn’t see the small…..

I want to take a moment and send a big thank you to everyone regarding my Charity Ride on Sunday.  Whether you sent a donation or gave me encouragement through email (or even in person) – I am floored by how much support I have gotten.  We have raised $377 as of the writing of this post to support the Double H Ranch!  You are all awesome!  I have my fingers crossed for weather this weekend…

Biking and Bettie’s Cupcakes

Ahhhh…. glorious coolness!  Wonderful breeze coming in this morning through our new windows 😀

I was up early, as per usual, but John was sleeping in after a poker night.   Normally on Saturdays I eat when I get up, then John eats a couple hours later and we go biking.  I would get hungry really early in the ride.  So, I figured I would eat a snack and have a later breakfast.

Toast and jam!  Yum.  I am loving this bread I’ve been eating over the summer.  Doing endurance things really makes me crave carbs (cause I need them).

I poked around blogs and puttered around outside for a while.  Then John got up after a couple hours and I made brekkie.  I am all about the pumpkin after seeing those yesterday! 😀

Pumpkin custard oats topped with some light cream cheese mixed with powdered sugar.  I threw in about 1/4 cup of frozen cranberries while cooking the oats.

This bowl is sitting by a couple pie pumpkins I picked up yesterday.  John said I was taking oats to a higher art form.   Did you know it is National Better Breakfast month?

Packed a few items and headed out to Saratoga.  It was really windy today.  Strong headwind on the way down to the tune of 15 mph.  That adds a *lot* of resistance to the ride.  We stopped around 10 miles in for a little snackie.

I was trying to take a picture of the date I was going to eat, but the camera was focusing on the date I was with 😀

John took some action shots of me:

I look like a badass, but I am really not.  I just play one on the internet.

Just passin’ by! Bike shorts just aren’t flattering.

After 20 miles, we reached our destination. We were going to go to the Cupcake Lab as per usual, but they were closed for the weekend!  Ooops.  So, we headed to our other favorite – Uncommon Grounds.

I had a banana walnut bagel.  (Coffee roaster in background). Yum.  We walked around a little, and John ended up buying a ring to kind of match mine (since he has lost 2 wedding rings now).

It’s a little nicer than mine, what is up with that?  Anyway, 3rd time is a charm for rings, right?  Good thing he doesn’t go through marriages as fast as he does his wedding rings….

So, you didn’t think there wouldn’t be a cupcake on this ride, did you?  We stopped at Betties – which I believe is going to be on the Great Food Truck Race on Food Network.

Sorry Shelley – I know you are seeing these everywhere!

I had trouble deciding, so I got a peanut butter/chocolate cupcake and a mini thin mint.  The small ones are about the size of a bon-bon.

Very good.  Very dense, too.  The frosting at Bettie’s is much more rich than at Cupcake Lab.

With cupcake power inside (sitting like a rock), we headed home.  It was cloudy and started spitting some rain on us – yay…..  At least we had somewhat of a tailwind!  Stopped after mile 30 to have some coconut water.

Then the last 11 miles home.

Ride stats:


Distance: 41.6 miles

Avg speed: 13.3 mph

Calories burned: 1275

Awesome! I was feeling great.  My legs feel strong.  I didn’t have any chafing issues today (sorry).   Next week’s ride will be tough, but I know I have the distance in me.

I have all of this energy after that ride.  I think it is the cooler weather or something.  The heat just saps out so much energy from me.

I headed on out to the Smokehouse to pick up meat.  I love buying local!  Boneless chicken breast for $2.89 a pound.  Can’t beat that.

John cooked up chicken and I had to make my classic.  Need some veggies/protein after that carb fest I had earlier today.

Tonight is going to be porch sitting with my hubby and drinking some coffee (decaf).  Starting to feel like fall…..

August roundup and book winner!

I was up early for a pre-heat bike ride today.  With temps expected into the low 90s, I knew I had to get it in early.  I had some toast and jam pre ride:

I zoomed along pretty fast.  I was on the roadway for the first 6 miles, then I hit the path.  Noticeable difference in the quiet.  Lots of other bikers and joggers, too, which surprised me this early.  It was getting hot already.

I stopped for a moment to take some pictures and have some coconut water.

Gotta stop and appreciate when you can, right? There was a headwind on the way home.  It seems like I am always going into a headwind.  What is up with that?  Anyway, I did 22 miles today with some hills and it felt really good.  Good thing I did hills because my charity ride is *Hilly*.  Note the capital H. I will post a graphic of it tomorrow or Thursday.

Brekkie and I wanted to shake things up around Team Radiance today!

Protein pancakes topped with a dollop of vanilla greek yogurt, plus I couldn’t resist that drizzle of chocolate sauce (that was the bike ride talking 😀  )

Yum!!

The winner of Edward Ugel’s  “I’m with Fatty” is

Nancy

Just read Klondike Tales by Jack London

Congrats Nancy!  Please contact me at javaqueen01 (at) yahoo.com with your address and I will send that out!

Lunch break was standard.  So much for shaking things up 😀

So – here were my goals for August.

  • Compile my recipes into a cookbook, which I am going to give to anyone who sponsors my Team Challenge ride.  Done!  This took longer than expected and I am still distributing the copies.
  • Continue working on the no snacking while preparing meals.  Doing pretty well with this.  I still snack at other times, though.
  • Again, no weight goal this month, just being mindful of what I am eating.  I am going to weigh myself when I want to, though.  Weight remained stable for the month – yay!

Things I learned in August:

– I don’t need to record my food each and every day anymore.

– Just because you lock up your stuf, that doesn’t mean someone won’t steal it.

– Working 2 jobs is not for me.

My goals for September are as follows:

  • Team Challenge Ride on September 12.
  • Concentrate even more on mindful eating.
  • Do more brick training after the charity ride to get ready for the duathlon in October!
  • Experiment more with not recording my food every day.   Although, I pretty much can keep a running tally in my head of calories, so not sure if this is really ground breaking in any way.

Afternoon snacks:

Plus some sea salt Lindt.

I had to laugh at this.  Do ever fear when moving furniture about what you might find behind the couch?  We moved the couch away from the window for the new windows coming tomorrow.  At first nothing appeared, then all of the sudden we saw this:

These are all of Pixie’s little rolled up balls of paper LOL!  She just jammed them all under the couch.

Who me?

Thank goodness there were no mousie bodies under there….

John cooked up some dinner tonight.  Pork burgers!

I dearly love our local smokehouse.  Good quality and good prices and local.  The best of all worlds.

We shopped for my niece’s birthday tomorrow and had some success.  So of course, we had to stop for some cafe – decaf…

And a snack size pb cookie.

Yum.  I like how places are actually making things smaller sized.  Do you find this happening as well?

I am off to catch up the google reader now!

Bikes and classic cars

It’s long ride day!  I was up early and came down to make brekkie.  It was 47 degrees out when I got up.  Can you believe that?  That’s what mountain area does.  It did warm up to 80 degrees, though.

I put on a big pot of coffee and made some banana custard steel cut oats that I had soaked overnight:

Missing from this pic is the drool I wiped off my mouth!  This bowl was tasty.  I need to figure out something to do for long ride days, though, as John sleeps a couple hours later than I do, so I eat too early.  Maybe I should have just a small snack and then a bigger breakfast later.

I puttered around in the garden and got stuff ready for the ride.   We decided to pack a lunch today to save a little money and then just spend on a couple snacks.

Fabulously gorgeous day!  It seems every single Saturday has been nice this summer.

15 miles later and we ended up at the lake:

The sky was so clear and the water was so blue.  Nature is the most amazing thing.  The classic car show was going on today.  Always something happening during tourist season.

Delorean – made out of stainless steel.

A Triumph with wooden dashboard panel and a beautiful cranberry color:

Old school mini Cooper:

And a pic for my dad, even though I don’t think he  reads my blog – a Road Runner:

We ate lunch in the park, which consisted of chicken salad and a piece of the bread I made yesterday.

Nice view of the lake:

Hmmmm…. closer look.  Is this man naked?  You be the judge:

We didn’t go around to find out.  Back on the bikes and we continued northwest to Warrensburg.  First time up this way and there was a long slow climb of probably 4 miles.  I was dripping sweat, but didn’t have to stop at all.  Warrensburg is a small town, but cute.

We stopped in at Willow Bistro because we had a BOGO coupon.

It’s very tiny and cute inside.  I would love to open a place like this.   I had a latte and a scone:

Hooray for carbs!

This was around 22 miles or so.  We then headed back the way we came, which was nice going down that 4 mile hill!  Except for the headwind.

We kept going in a really large loop.  At mile 38, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some ibuprofen since John was getting a headache.  Perfect time for some coconut water!

Nice tip – we froze these overnight  so they would thaw out during the ride.  They were slushy and delicious!!

I was really feeling good at this point.  I wanted some yogurt, though!  We biked off to Cooper’s Cave, which we reached at the 46 mile point:

We parked our bikes next to a Trek and a Giant.  With John’s  Specialized and my Fuji, it was a pricey rack full of the who’s who of biking.

I got something special!  A Mexican sundae with yogurt, which is peanut butter sauce and chocolate fudge on top.  With whipped cream (no cherry as I don’t eat cherries ever).

It. was. so. good.  I jumped around a little after the first bite because it made me so happy.  I think my body really wanted the glucose rush from it.  I was going to get ice cream, but I decided since I had the scone earlier, I would get yogurt.

Then we biked the last bit home.

Ride Stats:

52.9 miles (may as well say 53)

Ride time (not including stops) 4:12

Avg speed 12.6 mph

Top speed 27.5 😯

Calories burned:  1625

Either I am getting used to the seat fast or the anti-chafing gel is amazing because no problems and I know I have another 10 miles in me for the charity ride in 2 weeks.  Of course, I won’t have the breaks like I do on our rides LOL!  I was saying to John at how I was feeling lazy biking today.  Like 53 miles is being lazy!  This was quite a hilly ride.  Good practice for the duathlon in October, and I have no idea what the course is for the charity ride!

The day is almost over.  I get one day a week where I don’t work and it goes by so fast.  I feel so fortunate to be able to spend the day with my best friend doing something I love and eating some good food!

Ridin’ solo

I was excited to get up to ride this morning.  I think I have an addiction to biking or something.  😯   I had to wear a backpack with spare tube, pump, tools, etc, which I don’t like, but that’s the case until the racks arrive.  I fueled up with a Zone bar:

Then I hit the road while John was still sleeping.  I went south down the main road, which has a nice wide bike lane.

The other nice thing is that the bridge connecting this road with another main road is closed, so there was almost no traffic going through, which is awesome.  It’s fairly flat, so I was booking along and pretty excited at how fast I was going.  Turned around after 11 miles and straight into a head wind. D’oh!  That was a tough slog home.  I stopped to take a few pictures:

I am smiling before coffee.  Who knew?

22 miles in the books in 1:30. Not too shabby!  I was famished when I got home.  I was thinking I was going to go 15, but ended doing an extra 7.  Probably should have brought at least some coconut water, as the Zone bar didn’t quite get me through to the end.

Nomf!! It almost looks like yin and yang, doesn’t it?  But that is PB and J in a nutshell anyway.

Loooooong workday today.  It’s one of the 10-hour days, which is basically Mon-Thurs right now.  I am so glad I don’t have a commute, although I guess my ride this morning could qualify for that.  I almost felt guilty about going for a long ride this morning because I should get right  to work, but then realized that is crazy.  Nothing comes before me and my health.

Lunch break!

Ahhhh…. the excitement of tuna.

I had a dictator today that drove me crazy.  He was eating while dictating, which a lot of doctors do, but he was totally chomping on food and talking with his mouth stuffed full and lipsmacking.  And it was over several different reports.  I was so grossed out after the 3rd one.  Sometimes the doctors forget there is actually someone on the other end of these things.  One MT told a story about how the doc forgot to turn off the recorder and took it into the bathroom.  Ewwww…..

Had to take a break!

I also had a couple Dove promises that got snarfed before I remembered to take a picture.

Dinner was all about the fast today. I did a quick microwave scrambled egg with laughing cow on a bun.

Hot sauce destined to be on the sammie!  Dinner ready in 10 minutes, ate in 5.

Made a fun snack.  I had the homemade fluff, which I put on a graham cracker and used one of those torch lighters to toast my fluff and sprinkled on a few chips.

Outstanding.  S’mores without the smoke.

I apologize on being behind on blogs.  These long days are temporary, thank goodness.  Back to work after this, but probably only for another hour or so.

Lifting move of the week tomorrow.  Can’t believe Wed is coming up so fast!