Go to http://www.e-griff.com/ someone has agreat sense of humor about a middle age fella
on a bike trying to get fit (Sounds familiar eh ?)
Cartoon copyright to John Griffiths
After finding various excuses for not doing my Saturday morning rides all of this month, I finally just said "to heck with it". All the reasons I have had were just excuses not to haul my ass out of bed at 4:30am to eat and get myself down to Palisadoes to ride to Port Royal and back.
Last night I blew off some co-workers who wanted to go for an after-work drink (they ended up cancelling anyway) dragged my carcass to bed by midnight and was up at 4:40am just before the alarm went off. I had put my bike in the car already and just needed to eat, dress and head out. I left 15 or so minutes too late as Australia was batting in the second ODI v India and I got caught up.
At the intersection of Old Hope Road and Mountainview Avenue I saw about 25 or so cyclists setting off for Port Royal and I continued on, making one stop at the gas station at Harbour View to pump up my tyres. Wilson arrived 10 minutes after me and I rode off before him knowing that if I was going to try and do over 10 miles today, I would have to pace myself. I had half of an orange and some water before taking off, I need to carry a banana and oranges next time to help keep the energy levels up.
The ride was great, there were two rather fetching young ladies on mountain bikes ahead of me and I sure as hell didnt want to stop hacking and wheezing anywhere near them - oh the embarrassment would have been devastating. Wilson caught up with me after the first mile and we talked as we rode on and on. I followed his advice of riding slow and steady as he was of the opinion that I was being too aggressive just starting out and needed to give my body time to adjust to the workload. We kept up a decent pace, passed the rather fetching young ladies and to my delight made it all the way to Port Royal without stopping. It felt great !!
We spent 5 minutes, with me catching my breath, sipping on water and gatorade and then we started the journey back. The sun was up in all its glory and the heat was getting fierce. The ride back was challenging, mostly because some pressure is placed on the arms, hands and shoulder when riding a road bike. On reaching back to the starting point we just continued onwards towards the airport. Now that was an experience - the road is relatively new and smooth like my wife's ......... er, smooth like a baby's butt (yeah, thats it !) and I was able to really sprint down towards the roundabout. Another quick stop for water and to check the if the sausage and beans were ok after being squashed all morning on the seat, and it was back to the vehicles.
Clocking the distance revealed that I had ridden for a total of 12.3 miles over the course of about 1 1/2 hour which works out to 7.31 minutes per mile (inclusive of 2 water breaks). Now that I have finally conquered Port Royal and back I will try to increase my speed a little more every week until I can do it relatively easily, then it would be time to increase the workload.
A quote from the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (604 - 531 BC) says "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", my quote is "The Journey to Negril of 142 miles begins with this initial 12.3 miles)
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October 2009
Last Ride - 12.3 miles
Total Ride for month - 19.38 miles
Target Miles for November 2009 - 60 miles
Last night I blew off some co-workers who wanted to go for an after-work drink (they ended up cancelling anyway) dragged my carcass to bed by midnight and was up at 4:40am just before the alarm went off. I had put my bike in the car already and just needed to eat, dress and head out. I left 15 or so minutes too late as Australia was batting in the second ODI v India and I got caught up.
At the intersection of Old Hope Road and Mountainview Avenue I saw about 25 or so cyclists setting off for Port Royal and I continued on, making one stop at the gas station at Harbour View to pump up my tyres. Wilson arrived 10 minutes after me and I rode off before him knowing that if I was going to try and do over 10 miles today, I would have to pace myself. I had half of an orange and some water before taking off, I need to carry a banana and oranges next time to help keep the energy levels up.
The ride was great, there were two rather fetching young ladies on mountain bikes ahead of me and I sure as hell didnt want to stop hacking and wheezing anywhere near them - oh the embarrassment would have been devastating. Wilson caught up with me after the first mile and we talked as we rode on and on. I followed his advice of riding slow and steady as he was of the opinion that I was being too aggressive just starting out and needed to give my body time to adjust to the workload. We kept up a decent pace, passed the rather fetching young ladies and to my delight made it all the way to Port Royal without stopping. It felt great !!
We spent 5 minutes, with me catching my breath, sipping on water and gatorade and then we started the journey back. The sun was up in all its glory and the heat was getting fierce. The ride back was challenging, mostly because some pressure is placed on the arms, hands and shoulder when riding a road bike. On reaching back to the starting point we just continued onwards towards the airport. Now that was an experience - the road is relatively new and smooth like my wife's ......... er, smooth like a baby's butt (yeah, thats it !) and I was able to really sprint down towards the roundabout. Another quick stop for water and to check the if the sausage and beans were ok after being squashed all morning on the seat, and it was back to the vehicles.
Clocking the distance revealed that I had ridden for a total of 12.3 miles over the course of about 1 1/2 hour which works out to 7.31 minutes per mile (inclusive of 2 water breaks). Now that I have finally conquered Port Royal and back I will try to increase my speed a little more every week until I can do it relatively easily, then it would be time to increase the workload.
A quote from the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (604 - 531 BC) says "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", my quote is "The Journey to Negril of 142 miles begins with this initial 12.3 miles)
----------------------------
October 2009
Last Ride - 12.3 miles
Total Ride for month - 19.38 miles
Target Miles for November 2009 - 60 miles
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