Tag Archives: biking

Welcome to your new life Mr. Bike.

What a gorgeous morning.  It was nice and cool overnight.  I got up and made some banana custard oats with the soaked steel cut technique

Topped with some homemade fluff and peanut butter.  I then took the bowl and my coffee and sat out on the porch to eat.  It was cool enough to need a jacket out there.

I also saw my first hummingbird of the season!  I heard this loud buzzing noise and I was about the freak out at what I assumed was the world’s biggest wasp, but looked up and saw the hummingbird!  He buzzed around the feeder (which had old syrup in it) and flew away.  I quick ran inside to put fresh stuff in there, so hopefully they will be back through.

Today was a long ride day.  This is the first typical type ride with the new  bikes. We loaded up the backpacks since we are still waiting for the replacement bag frames to arrive.  Still have the bike bags, just not the rack to put it on.  1 week ago today and our bikes were stolen.  Still hurts.  Since we got a later start than usual, I had a Luna bar before leaving the house.

It was a gorgeous day.   I swear every Saturday has been so nice this summer.  We didn’t end up stopping for any snacks, as John had a late breakfast and I had that Luna bar.  I did need to stop around mile 15 to put on some more anti-chafing gel.  😳 My bike is so clean.

I need to save this look for posterity.

I don’t know if I will name the bike or not.  I never did name the old one and I had it for almost 6 years.

I’ll have to see if a name comes to me.  Right now I still feel like it is Mr. Fuji since we are still getting to know each other.

20ish miles later and we arrived in Saratoga at the Cupcake Lab!

This is getting to be a habit.  I actually was pretty hungry by this time.  I saw the perfect sammie for me on the menu, which I think was new.   Ham and brie with granny smith apple panini-style.

This was sooo good!  It had honey mustard on it.

John had the mac and cheese.

This was good and very, very rich.

We sat around and chatted and then had coffee and dessert.

This is our coffee being brewed individually:

Of course.  I chose a raspberry cupcake.

It had a raspberry filling in it as well and so delicious.  I think it is my new favorite.

John had a S’mores cupcake.  It was good as well, although hard to eat with the marshmallow on top.

It was cloudy by the time we left for home.  It was definitely cooler today as well.  We stopped at the usual point around mile 30.  I just drank a little water as I didn’t want the same nausea I felt the last time I drank too much at this rest stop.

My bike was zooming up the hills and the flats were easy peasy.  This bike wants to go!  I actually was holding back some.  John was finding his seat to be pretty uncomfortable after 30 miles and started to not enjoy the ride.

This is my seat:

It is not as wide as my old seat, but actually fairly soft.  I think I will keep it for now.  It’s just chafing, which is more of a problem with my shorts than the seat and I do have the Lanacane for that.

I hate my water bottle cage.  I got an adjustable one and it has a sharp edge on it that scratched my thigh when I would get on and off the bike.

I had even more scratches by the time I got home.  That has to go.

After mile 36, we stopped at a drive in  for some coconut water. 

Enjoyed in the shadow of this man:

Finished up:

Total miles:  42 – this is actually not quite right.  I think I have the tire size too big on the bike computer as this ride is actually more like 45.

Top speed:  26.2 mph

Avg speed:  14.0 mph – much faster than the old bikes.

Calories burned: 1339 – woohoo!

I am feeling a lot more comfortable on the bike.  It is just going to take time.  It is much more responsive than my old bike, so I tend to over correct a little bit, which makes me slightly nervous at times.   The brakes are also much touchier, so I have to be careful not to hit them hard and fly over the handle bars.  The first of many long rides in the books.

I have no appetite now.  Not unusual after a long ride.  Had a light dinner of toast with laughing cow and some blueberries:

I’ll eat some chocolate later to get in a few more calories.  Doing 40 miles is like running a 1/2 marathon.

Question:  Did you do something fun today?

Lifting Move of the week – The Face Pull

Off to the gym on my new bike this morning.  It was a fast ride there.  Definitely take some getting used to, I have to say.  I locked it up at the gym and kept looking out the big windows to make sure it was still there LOL!

I am now working on some endurance, so I have lowered the weights and increased the reps a little bit.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Lower body
Dumbbell Chest Press 3 set of 12 with at 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Cable Squat to Row 3 sets of 12 at 50# Full body
Dumbbell pullover 3 sets of 12 with 20# DB Back
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Abs
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 wat 20# Shoulders
Nosebreakers 3 sets of 12 with 25# bar Triceps
Good Mornings 3 sets of 12 with 35# bar Lower back and hammies

Note to self – Don’t be surprised when you do more reps that the workout takes longer…..

I then biked home.  It felt fast.  I didn’t have the computer on my bike yet this morning, so I don’t know exactly what my speed was and didn’t think to time it  (with pre-coffee and all, that isn’t surprising), but it seemed fast. LOL.

I was ready for some brekkie!  I mashed up a banana and cooked it with whole grain cream of wheat and topped with PB and jam.  Breakfast of champions!

I would have had egg whites in there, but forgot those at the store the other day.  I swear my head is just not quite on right lately.

Lifting Move of The Week:  The Face Pull.  No, it isn’t plastic surgery!  This is actually a shoulder move and a fun one to do.  You need to either be at the cable machine or you could also to this at home with a resistance band.

When you pull, think of pinching your shoulder blades together.  That keeps the focus on the shoulders and not the arms. I split my legs as you can see in the video to keep from leaning.  I found that if I stood with my legs together, I was leaning back and using my arms more than my shoulders, but that is just me.  Your mileage may vary.

Lunch time included a bit of everything:

I should quit showing my lunches as they are boring during this heavy duty work phase I am in. I just need quick!

Saw that my choosing a bike post from yesterday has made it onto the homepage of FoodBuzz in the health section!

The dork in me gets excited about stuff like that!

I won’t bore you with the latte and chocolate snack I had.  Groundhog Day anyone?? (I’ve got you, babe)

John left this afternoon to go to another bike shop to look for himself.  Fran had mentioned the lack of bikes now, but up here in the North Country, biking season doesn’t last all year.  Most shops will also sell winter sports stuff, so they aren’t buying new bikes because the season is ending soon (for wimps :mrgreen:  ) and they need to gear up for ski season.  However, that does mean some good deals!

Dinner time was a BBQ chicken salad and a POMtail.

Then I went back to work impatiently waiting for John to get home.  He came home with a Specialized hybrid bike.  I hope he isn’t too much faster than me! That meant we  could go on a ride for this!

How long has it been since you have seen frozen yogurt on here??  Too long, I say.  This was macaroon flavor with raspberry sauce.  Yummers.

It was a good ride.  Definitely faster than the old bikes, which I would hope to be the case!  Broke in the bike with 16 miles today.  Tomorrow we are biking to bagels, so another good ride.  We will see how it feels!

Now I have to get back to work for another hour tonight.

Question: What are your quick go-to lunches?

How to choose the right bike for you.

Biking is such a great activity that burns calories, gets you fit, and takes you places!


I think there are 2 main reasons that people don’t continue with biking once they start.  One is that they buy the wrong bike, and the other is seat comfort.

When you are looking to buy a bike, ask yourself these questions:

1.  What type of riding am I going to do?  Casual, commuter, longer trips, trail riding, races, etc.

2.  What kind of terrain will I be riding on?  Asphalt, gravel, trails, mountains, etc.

3. How much do I want to spend?

There are basically 4 classes of bikes you can choose from.

Road bikes are very light and are built for speed and distance.  These are the bikes you see on TV in races.  The tires are very thin and the posture over the bike is bent over (for aerodynamics).  Not meant for gravel paths or grassy type terrain.

———————————————–

Mountain bikes are big and beefy.  Very heavy as they need to be sturdy to take a real beating.  This is fine and good if you are doing trail riding, but if you want to ride to and from work – it’s really too heavy and you will dread riding it (been there).  The posture is more upright than the road bike, but not as upright as a commuter/comfort bike.

———————————————–

Hybrid bikes are kind of a cross between the mountain and road bike.  They have a wider tire than the road bike, but are lighter than the mountain bike.  The posture is bent over like a mountain bike and will have straight across handlebars rather than curved under (like a road bike).  These are good for distance riding on a variety of paths, but not serious mountain trails.

———————————————————

Commuter/cruiser bikes are really all about comfort for the rider.  The seating posture is more upright, so the handlebars are at a higher angle.  The tires are wider for good stability. The seat is usually much wider and more padded.  The bike will be heavier than a hybrid and more sturdy than a road bike.  It is not meant for really long distances.

Each class of bike is going to have a range of cost per bike.  Generally, the more expensive you go, the lighter the bike is and the better quality the individual parts are.  As you get higher grades, the differences can be pretty small, so be realistic with your budget.  A really good road bike can set you back several thousand dollars!  Good entry level road bikes are going to be around $600+

I think my best recommendation is to not purchase your bike at anything other than a bike shop.  You can buy off the rack bikes at Target or Walmart, but for just a little bit more, you can buy a good quality bike and get professional advice and a bike fitting (also very important).

When we lived in Colorado, we bought a pair of mountain bikes at Walmart because we were in Colorado and thought that is what we should get.  Plus they were cheap.  Well, I was 220 pounds at the time and the bike was super heavy.  We did road riding, but there were hills and I was completely miserable trying to truck a heavy bike up those hills.  I thought I hated biking.  Years later when I decided to try again, I ended up purchasing a used bike that was a hybrid and  fit me well, and it made all the difference in the world!  You all know how I loved that bike (curse you thief!).  It really felt like an extension of me when I went out.

When you go to a bike shop, don’t be intimidated.  Just go in with the list of the answers to these questions, and they can steer you towards the proper bike.

For example, my answers are:  I am biking for exercise, doing some duathlons, and taking long trips for enjoyment.  I am riding long distances (40 miles on average) and the surfaces I ride are gravel and asphalt.  I have a budget that out of necessity needs to be $600 or less (preferably a lot less LOL).

This puts me in the hybrid category, and more specifically, the performance hybrid.  That means a bike suited for longer rides.  The choice at this point really comes down to price and what I am willing to spend on the bike.

For seat comfort.  I had talked about that already about how time will build up your sit bones.  You also can change out the seat on any bike.  You can purchase a more comfie saddle and install it (or have it installed).  Having a comfortable seat can make all the difference in loving riding!

Hope these help a little bit if you are thinking about a bike (or wondering if the one you have is right for you).

Will bike for cupcakes

Unbelievably gorgeous day today!  It was chilly this morning, though.  I was ready for a warm brekkie.  I had forethought last night to soak some steel cut oats, so they were quicker to cook this morning.  Love that technique.

I did the usual banana custard style topped with some strawberry jam and cashew butter.

My mouth and tummy were happy campers!  I got a chance to catch up on blogs and some emails while waiting for John to get up 😛

We packed up some snacks and got ready to hit the road for a long ride.  I am so happy to go riding!

Headed down to Saratoga today.  It was such a beautiful day for a ride.  I kept saying that until John got annoyed LOL!  (Did I mention it was a beautiful day??)  We stopped around mile 12 as I wanted a snack.  It’s hard to wait longer when I ate breakfast about 2 hours earlier than John did.  Product placement:

This was in the swag bag from the Silk & Satins race. I wanted to see how Craisins did in place of my usual dates.  They did fine.

Does anyone smell ham?  I do:

(He thinks he is so cool now all decked out in the new jersey….)

I started to have chain problems around mile 16.  Uh oh.  I messed with it a little.  There is one link that if it gets the smallest dust speck in it, it tends to stick.  This is after wiping off my hands.  Ick.

It seemed okay after that for the rest of the ride.  After 22 miles, we got to Saratoga.  First stop?  Cupcake Lab!

We wanted lunch and a little something else.  It was nice not to be dripping sweat since the day was so nice.  Did I mention that already?

I love this saying:

Of course, anything that says coffee is all right by me…. My choice for lunch was the breakfast burrito.  I got that forgetting it had sausage in it (I thought it was the local bacon).  They get the bacon locally, but not the other meats.  Not quite sure why that is as the smokehouse they get the bacon from is where we buy all our meat.  Anyway – here is my delicious burrito in a honey wheat wrap with egg, cheese, potato, and sausage.  With a perfect strawberry on the side.

Yum!  I was so hungry that I kind of woofed this down.  Ooops.  Trying to be mindful, but really hard when you are hungry.

We wanted dessert, of course.  How can you go to a cupcake place and not have anything?  Choices, choices.  I wanted a peanut butter frosted cupcake:

We also had the Almond Joy, which I was remiss in gettng a picture of.

And some fresh brewed coffee.

They brew each cup individually with a filter, which I adore!  I got a coffee called Witches Brew.  Very smooth coffee. I would probably brew this a little stronger, but everyone I know says we make our coffee too strong. 🙄

Then the owner brought out a new flavor cupcake to us to try on the house.  How nice is that?  She actually recognized me from my blog.  First local recognition!

This was a coconut cream cupcake.  Vanilla cupcake with coconut cream filling topped with buttercream.  It was really good.  Very coconuty.  Again, I like this size of cupcake because it isn’t monstrous in size.

John proclaimed the almond joy to be his favorite.  I like the peanut butter frosted.  I like anything nutty anyway.

After this, we walked around town.  Big horse.

Saratoga is horse town, as the track runs during the summer.  It is track season now, but downtown was surprisingly uncrowded.  Guess everyone was at the track itself.  Stopped in to Borders just to see if Caitlin’s Operation Beautiful book was there, but it was not.  Boooo on Borders.

We were trying to let our cupcake babies settle for a bit.  I was a little full.  Hopped over to the bike store and got some much needed chain lube.  Chain all better now!  Yay!

Then we rode home.  My legs felt quite good.  After 30 miles, John asked if I was warmed up yet.  Hardeehar.  Such a comedian.  After 32 miles, we took a break for some coconut water.  More product placement!

Maybe Zico would sponsor my Team Challenge ride?? (I wish!!)

Long road behind us.

This is the entry to someone’s driveway.

It’s all gravel.  That has to suck in winter time LOL!

We hit a big hill right after this and I think I drank too much water and coconut water, because I was getting a side cramp that lasted for about 3 miles.  Ugh.  Then I felt fine.

It was an awesome ride today!  Great weather can make all the difference in how a ride feels.  I could do the 62 mile Team Challenge ride tomorrow.  Well, maybe not tomorrow since I did 45 today, but I am ready now.

Ride stats:

45.6  miles

3:25 of actual ride time

Top speed:  24.8 mph

Avg speed:  13.4 mph

Calories burned: 1440 (good thing after those cuppicakes!)

I have to say that I feel so strong right now.  I still have work to do on my leg, but I don’t think I could ask to be more in bike shape than I am right now.  The scale is just a box with a number on it.  It does not tell me that I am strong and beautiful.  It does not know that I can bike 100 miles in a day.  It does not know that I can squat and deadlift in the weight room with the guys.  And I don’t care what it doesn’t know about me – because *I* know it 😀

Snack parade

Okay, I don’t know where to start, from today or last night?  I guess I will give you a little recap from yesterday.  John chose Pizzeria Uno for his birthday dinner.

Little known blog fact that we lived outside of Chicago for 5+ years.  We loved the deep dish pizza there.  So, that is what he wanted.  I actually decided I didn’t want pizza and I was really surprised at all the wonderful things on the menu!

Here is John’s pizza:

Yum.. Nothing like that buttery, crispy deep dish.  I decided on a warm goat cheese salad with blueberry pomegranate dressing.  The goat cheese was coated in crushed nuts and it was fabulous!

I would so get this again and again!  We then hit the theater to see Inception:

This was quite a good movie.  I enjoyed it a lot.  Not quite as good as Memento (also done by Christoper Nolan), but better than a lot of other movies out there!  Dinner and a movie.  That is the kind of date night we just never have anymore.

Fast forward to this morning and I could not make myself go out in the humidity to run, and I didn’t feel like going to the gym and treadmilling it, either.  I can get pretty lazy at times, too.    Actually, it is just the running thing.  I am having trouble getting really back into it again.

Anyway, I made breakfast and started working.  Here is the other new bowl I got the other day.

I like small bowls because they make my breakfast look even bigger, which makes my eyes happy 😀

I have to say that today I am really feeling the pressure of the 2 jobs.  I feel like I have been working all day.  Well, okay, I have been working all day.  Not to mention that this week has felt a little crazy, too.  I broke for lunch:

Then came the snack parade.  I had some blueberries:

and the last cupcake:

No latte today because we were out of coffee (I can’t even believe I wrote that!!!).  So without the latte, I managed to have some granola:

Count that bowl a couple times.  Pixie was like “Are you going to stop eating already??”

I think some of it was stress from working and just feeling a little out of sorts.  Finally at dinner time I took a break from work.  I did manage to not snack while making dinner :mrgreen:   At least that habit is going well LOL!  I had some Buitoni pasta that we received a coupon for from Foodbuzz.

It was shrimp and lobster ravioli.  John had some the other day and the garlic cream sauce was sooooo strong that I decided to leave it off and just use tomato sauce on the raviolis (which were quite tasty).

Then we decided to go for a ride.  I needed to decompress and get some exercise in today – so we hit a 12 mile ride.  John’s new jersey!

With his jersey and me in Rosie, we certainly are not a subtle couple on the roads LOL!  We hit up the frozen yogurt place.  It is so sticky and steamy out.  I had butterscotch yogurt.

Cool and refreshing.

So, there was a less than stellar eating day.  Actually, if I blank out the time between lunch and dinner, it would be fine LOL!

I am posting this and getting back to work.  I have a little more to do and really feel beat.  Gotta finish up to watch Project Runway!

Biking and chilaxin’

Woke up to the most gorgeous morning, although it was very chilly. We hit an overnight low of 43 – can you believe that? 😯

I wanted something warm and toasty, so I made protein waffles and topped with an apple cranberry topping.

It was good enough that I am going to write down the recipe and post it next week!

I was cold waiting for coffee to brew.  See my short hairs?

Very short!  Now I might start growing it out again….

Even though the low was 43, the day was about as picture perfect as it could be, so we decided to bike up to the lake.  We went a different route.

First up is a little bike maintenance:

Some nice scenery on this road:

Date snack!

I had 2.  Isn’t this a pretty little church?

This route had some seriously hard hills! After 23 miles, we arrived at the village and were ready for lunch!

As we love to do at Lake George, we stopped at Taste of India.  I think they have another location, but this one is right on the edge of the Lake and is sort of the casual beach type place.  We had a coupon for buy one/get one, too!  John ordered a Mango shake to try:

It was really interesting.  Not like a lassi, because there was no yogurt in it.  I swear there was condensed milk or coconut milk in it.  Good, but quite sweet!

My choice was aloo gobi.  Aloo means potato.  This dish is a potato caulifower dish that is yummy!  Maybe gobi means cauliflower?

It is a drier type of Indian dish and not fatty, which is a good thing 😀

John had paneer palak, which is cheese and spinach dish:

Paneer is sort of a cheese curd/cottage cheese type thing.  It does not have a strong flavor and it is firm and does not melt.  It’s quite good.

Served with rice and some puri – which was basically fried!

Think we will stick with naan or roti bread.

After lunch, we strolled around town.  Gotta love the wax museum:

I wondered where Frankenstein was, but then I saw him!

Wandering around the street.  Guess that is what monsters do around here.

We headed over to Shepards Park to have a sit and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Relaxing in an Adirondack chair:

The lake was a bit chilly for swimming, but there were some people in the water.  Lots of sunbathers, though.

It was so wonderful to sit and enjoy.  It almost seemed like a September day, not the end of July!  Mid 70s and perfect.  I really do appreciate living around here.

It was time to head home, but we decided to take the regular bike path back home.  The trip there was nice, but the shoulder wasn’t really wide enough for comfort.

You all know what is on the way home, right?

Honey almond yogurt with marshmallow topping.  Yum!  I was feeling very strong on the ride home.  Funny how it takes me 20 miles to really get going.  I don’t know what is up with that, but it is kind of funny.  Just when John starts to get tired, I get moving.

Finished up the last 7 miles to home:

Ride stats:

Mileage: 39.3 miles

Average speed:  12.7 mph

Top speed:  28.1 mph (hills – wheeee!!!!)

Calories burned: 1208 (sweet).

What a wonderful day!  I feel a little tired right now.  Pixie is laying in my lap as I am writing this post.  She is in full cooler weather lap mode!  We have more chair sitting and relaxing in store tonight. 😀

Hope you are all having an awesome weekend as well!

Burgers and bikes

Thanks for all your thoughts on my comparison post yesterday.  In reading the “Savor” book, I realize that there is nothing necessarily wrong with me having those feelings, and acknowledging that they are there doesn’t mean they are true.  The nice thing about acknowledging that is that I don’t feel driven to eat out of feelings.  I actually have to say that I have really not had any snacking disasters for a few weeks now.  My snack habit energy is waning right now.

Anyway, I got up a little before 7.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to run or not today.  I decided I wanted breakfast, instead!  I haven’t had waffles in a while 😀

So good.  I wonder how the protein waffles would be with greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese?  Hmmm….. possible experiment some time.

I got to work right away and worked steadily all day long.  Quite the productive day, I have to say.  I took a lunch break and wanted something fast.

Greek yogurt, strawberries and Kashi Berry Crunch (aka crack on steroids).  I had a sample of this months ago and was so glad the entire box wasn’t in the house.  When we were shopping the other day, John pointed out that cereal and I told how wonderful and good the sample was.  Guess I somehow managed to not give him any of it…..  Anyway, he said I sold him on it, so we got some with the caveat that it go up high as soon as we got home.   I wanted some with lunch, though.

Afternoon latte was paired  with a couple cookies from the Silk & Satin swag bag.

These are very nibbleable (yay for new words!).  The box is in the freezer, but they don’t take long to thaw.  The rest must leave to John’s poker buddies tonight.

Last file of the day was exhausting.  It was a 33 minute dictation!  I don’t know who was more tired at the end, me or the doctor.  It took almost an hour and half to do this one with some breaks.  Phew!  I was glad to be done, but felt quite exhausted.

Dinner was a 3 oz burger topped with laughing cow and some caramelized onions on a small wheat bun.  Country Kitchen lite – only 80 calories and no sucralose!

Those are some of the tiny plums we got at the farmer’s market, too.   They are so good and fun to eat.

Take that Red Robin!

I needed to get out of the house for a while tonight and decided to bike instead of run.  So, Rosie and I decided on an easy yogurt run!  The path is full and green with all the rain we have had this year.

These parts of the path are one reason I hesitate to get a real road bike.  They are a crushed cinder, and I don’t know if road tires would be a good thing to take on them.

Yay for yogurt!

I chose creme de menthe tonight.  Minty and frosty.

I think the blue from my shirt is reflecting onto the yogurt, because it was green LOL!  Very tasty.  I can imagine this with hot fudge on it some time.  Would need a lot longer ride for that, though!

Gonna do some porch sitting and relaxing tonight.  I heard the first  dog day cicadas the other day.  The sign that summer is peaking and going to head for fall!

Question:  Have you heard katydids or cicadas yet?

Tour de bagel and 7 steps of mindful eating.

Off to the Tour de Bagel this morning!  I had a protein drink and we biked it out on the roads to Panera instead of the path.  Really set a nice pace today, too.

I was ready for that bagel today!  Asiago cheese.  Num.

We chatted for quite a long time.  It was nice not having to grocery shop  afterwards like we normally do on Sunday.  Then we pushed it again on the way home.

Ride distance: 16 miles

Avg speed:  13.5 mph.  Nice pace.  On the rough path, we are usually about 1 mph slower.

Had the Tour on while I got settled in to work today (job #1 very busy today).  Poor Lance.  Not the way to end his comeback for the Tour.  My thighs were burning in sympathy for those guys at the end on the climbs.  I don’t know how they do it.

Guess the heat relief was short lived.  Hot again today, but maybe not as humid.

Lunch break!

Made some egg salad on a Tomaxico wheat wrap.  These are good and have a better texture than the Smart Carb wraps.

I haven’t weighed myself since July 1.  I go through periods where I weighed every day and then periods where I would weigh once a week.  I did it to note the number, but the fluctuations stopped bothering me a while ago.  It has now been 10 days since I stepped on the scale.  I actually don’t really think about it that much as of yet, although I was a little curious after the 100-mile ride as to what the scale said.  It’s funny how yesterday morning I was feeling thin and fit and I thought that maybe because I was only relying on my eye and not a scale number?  Then last night I was feeling chubby, so maybe not LOL!  My brain is so weird.

My barista is back, so he made me a latte today and I had some blues with it.

I just love the color of these berries.  I am smitten.  They are almost gone now.  Might have to pick again on Friday 😀

More review of Savor includes the 7 practices of a mindful eater:

  1. Honor the food. Meaning to think about where it came from. I am taking time to think about this before each meal
  2. Engage all senses.  Notice the visual appeal, the textures, the smell, etc., not just taste.
  3. Serve in modest portions.  You can always go back for more.
  4. Savor small bites and chew thoroughly.  I could do better with smaller bites.
  5. Eat slowly.  Really need to work on this one.
  6. Don’t skip meals.  Never, ever a problem here.
  7. Eat a plant-based diet.  Vegetarianism is not for me.  I do have days where I don’t eat meat, but not going to happen all together.  Eating locally produced meat is important to me.  I want to be an ethical eater.

That is one thing that is bugging me about this book.  The pushing of vegetarian and vegan way of life.  There seems to be no distinction of purchasing local farm meat products and factory farming.  Otherwise, I am learning some good things from this book.

In keeping with being mindful, remember how I mentioned my habit of snacking while preparing meals?  I decided to really try to not do that today.  Lunch is always easier than dinner, and I had no problem there.  With dinner, I had Altoids come to my rescue:

I put one of these in my mouth while I was in the kitchen to keep from nibbling.  I don’t even want to nibble on what will be on my plate because I want to get rid of that habit all together.  The ginger mint (I really love these, btw) really helped me with that.  Then it was gone and I almost reached for something on John’s plate and had to catch myself.  A lot of habit energy to divert, that is for sure.

What I did eat:

BBQ shrimp!  3 oz of shrimp looks a little dinky on the plate.  My eyes don’t like that portion size.  Really tasty, though!

I am done with job #1 today – yay!  Going to relax and enjoy a couple mindful pieces of this:

Question:  Are you a fast or slow eater?

End of the heat wave and Date night!

The heat finally broke!  Lots of rain rolled through and it was much cooler this morning, although still a bit humid.  Cool enough to have breakfast and  coffee out on the front porch this morning!

Early mornings are the best time to sit out here because there is less traffic.  We live on the main road through town, so all the trucks and cars go by.  That will be a big bonus when we get our new windows in the house – less street noise.

It was a nice relaxing morning of reading after breakfast, then catching up on blogs and watching the Tour de France without interruption!  Another good stage today.  I can’t believe how long they go without any breaks.  So many miles day after day.

Lunchtime involved a chicken bbq wrap with laughing cow.  Really good!

After goofing and making sure the rain was gone for the day, we decided on a bike ride.  Just a short 17 mile ride today.  It’s amazing after doing those long rides that 17 miles is really nothing to do.

It’s all about perspective.  17 miles used to be a big deal!  Anyway, 10 miles into the ride, we stopped at the Chocolate Mill for an afternoon snack – delicious display case:

There was a little tart in there made just for me:

Would you like a closer look?

Delicious.  Enjoyed outside with a glass of iced tea!

Another of the Adirondack decorated chairs:

We walked around downtown a bit. Then we biked home.

John wanted to take me out to dinner as a thank you for all my hard work this week watching the business and doing my jobs.  I wasn’t going to say no to that!  Decided to make it a date night and look nice 😀

We went to Wholey Crepe for dinner:

Sat outside on the patio because it was the perfect night.  Cloudy, so no sun, cooler, and no breeze.  Just perfect!  It is so nice to be able to spend time outdoors again without melting.  I had the Oscar special, which was a locally made chicken and pesto sausage in a crepe with peppers and onions.

Delicious!  Of course, when going to a crepe place, you must have dessert.  John and I split the s’mores crepe.

Filled with marshmallows, hershey’s chocolate and graham crackers:

Dang this was good.  I can’t imagine eating a whole one, unless it was as a dessert only with no meal… and after a long bike ride….

John said the nicest thing to me during dinner.  He said I looked so happy and that I was the definition of radiance at age 42.  Awwww…..

And to show me an even better time, he took me grocery shopping after dinner!  Yay!  :mrgreen:   We didn’t need much and I want to bike to breakfast tomorrow, so we picked up stuff tonight.

Here is another shot of Pixie awake:

There was a neighborhood cat under our car and she was having a fit about it.  She used to run around outside when she first came to us, but not anymore.  Indoors only.

More time to spend on the porch on a beautiful night!

100 mile ride recap

Happy Independence Day everyone!  Woo Hoo!  I actually am working today, but sneaking in a picnic.  Long post ahead, fyi.

So, the 100-mile ride yesterday.  Surprised?  So were we!  The plan was for 85 miles.  We started the day with a good brekkie.  I had banana custard oats topped with some extra almond butter and fluff.  I wanted to boost the calories a little bit.

Plus 2 cups of cafe au lait!  We then headed out at about 9 am.  We headed south this time on a nice bike lane for the first 25 miles.  Saw an Osprey, too – how cool!

They put a nest box on the top of telephone pole, and it got put to use!  Yay for being green :mrgreen:

After 15 miles, we took our first snack stop:

There was a lot of food consumed on this ride, I will say….

More long road.  It was nice and quiet today, too.  Must be the holiday weekend.  This is looking behind me, not ahead.

We were feeling pretty good, but I was starting to get hungry around mile 30.  We knew it would be a while before we hit lunch, so we stopped and had more food.

I love pears during biking.  I always get a boost from them and say I am powered by pear!  Ate this while waiting for a train to pass.

Never had that happen before!

I was really fatigued around mile 38 or so.  I actually was wondering about how to get through the rest of the day at this point.  40-ish miles tends to be some kind of sticking point for me.  It also was longer than we normally go without a larger meal.  This wasn’t totally planned to go this far without lunch, but there was no place to eat!

We finally arrived at Clifton Park at mile 42 and hangry for lunch.  We just happened to pass an Indian restaurant featuring a lunch buffet.  Perfect!  I knew I could eat just as much as I wanted without worrying about how big a portion was.

My plate:

I had another plate like this and a bit of rice pudding.  I tried to have mostly carbs and avoid anything greasy or oily.  So good!  I wish this place were closer to home.  (Mom, you need to come to this buffet).

After lunch and a carb fill up, we picked up a few snacks at the grocery store.  We forgot to get coconut water (booo!) and this store didn’t have any, so we got some vitamin water.  Not bad, but not my coconut water.  We headed through some nice towns and on some bike path for another 20 miles to Saratoga.  We knew we wanted to hit the Cupcake Lab again, so that is where we stopped.  With a giant iced coffee!

This was at mile 63.  I inhaled that coffee.  Amazing how much liquid you consume on these long rides, and yet no potty needs!  The nice people at this cafe filled up my water bottle with filtered water, too.  I look surprisingly fresh here after 60+ miles….

While eating the cupcakes, we started making noises about going for the whole 100 miles during this ride.  We were 20 miles from home, so that would have been about 85 anyway.  This ride had hills, but not as many as some of our previous rides, so we were feeling really good.  Plus the nice wide bike lanes we rode and the ones we knew coming up were very relaxing to be on.  We decided to assess a bit later.

Top of a big hill (again looking back).  Our stops started to become more frequent just to get a little more fuel:

By this point, I really wanted to go all 100 miles.  I had my 2nd wind at this point, I was feeling good.  Not to mention the thought of going out and doing this *again* with more miles was enough to make me want to keep going.

John wanted something a little more substantial to eat, so we hit up Mr. Bills (drive-in type place) around mile 85 or so.  He had shrimp and fries, but that was so unappealing to me at this point.   I had my 2nd pear of the day (pear power!) and nibbled on some of his fries for the salt factor.  We solidified our decision to do the whole ride here:

Note the late setting sun.  We were a little worried about running out of daylight, so no dawdling now!

We pressed on and I started singing and generally really enjoying myself.  Was that delirium? I don’t know….

Here is a little video from the path

You can’t hear me very well, but I was babbling on about being tired and seeing through time.  The odometer was reading 7 hours and 15 minutes and the distance was 89 miles.  So close at this point!  We’ll just ignore the safety factor of biking and taking a simultaneous video….

We finally rolled to home taking a few loops to get to 100 miles.

John super happy!

Ride stats:

Distance:  100.2 miles

Time:  8 hours and 9 minutes of ride time (not including stops)

Speed:  12.4 mph

Calories burned:  2975 – Holy frijole!

Assessment:  This was hard, but funny that the 70 mile ride we did a couple weeks ago seemed harder for some reason.  We had perfect conditions today and going that extra bit just made sense to us.  I am so proud of both of us.  Amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it!

Would I do it again?  Maybe.  I certainly could.  However, it just takes up so much time.  8 hours of riding plus stops and we were gone for about 12 hours.  Can’t do much else on a day like that.  It will be nice to settle down to lesser distance rides.  I think 40 to 50 miles is enough for me.

Oh, we walked and had some ice cream at 10 pm last night LOL!  My legs are a little tired today, but really not bad at all,  although  my butt hurts today :mrgreen: