Friday, June 29, 2012

Distance vs. Speed - The Interval



Six years of riding, one accident setback and thousands of miles of riding. That's been my cycling story. About a year ago, I read Selene Yeager's book Ride Your Way Lean and learned that eating is part of the equation with cycling to lose weight and riding, of course, is another element. She also emphasizes strength training and stretching too. These are not eye-popping epiphanies. But, the one thing she does spend quite a bit of time discussing is the value of interval training with regards to helping melt more pounds off.

When I was just beginning, I was told that intervals were an excellent way to improve one's speed. Who doesn't want to be a faster rider? There have been times that I thought to myself, what the heck? I never plan to race so who cares if I make it to the bagel line a little later than the others? But there is something to be said about the satisfaction of remaining at the front of the group feeling comfy and finishing strong. (Yeah--it's underrated, giggle). But seriously, I just really didn't mind if I was at the tail end of the group ride.

So when the words of intervals being a key component of riding off pounds, I thought to myself UGH! Really? First of all, I like riding with others. So imposing one's interval training on a group is not going to happen with the recreational groups I ride with. And, I rarely ride alone and when I do, I get so bored that I have to keep self-talking going to keep me in the saddle.

I have been cutting my already healthy diet in half and have been losing about a pound every ten days. It's painfully slow...Adding more miles is helpful and lifting some weights is too. But I'm determined to give this interval thing a try. So today, I rode 11 miles--about half as much as a typical pre-work ride. It was tiring and I was as shiny as slippery trout when I walked through the garage door in the 90-degree morning. I decide to do half-mile increments of full, balls-out craziness and I could feel the fire raging in me as I pushed it remembering to keep my legs circling and thinking about using my whole leg.

So, I don't know if the intervals are going to strip the extra pounds off, but for the next six weeks or so, I'm going to give a go. Stay tuned....



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Bike Stories: March 25, 2012

Who knew when I started this cycling adventure six years ago, that I would stumble into an amazingly broad experience that combines nearly all of life's pathos and ethos, is incredibly complicating and sophisticated, yet also very simple and fulfilling.

Just recently, I began to think of all of the fascinating people I have had the privilege of riding bikes with in these last six years. Some of them, I have met briefly while pedaling alongside of them on a Sunday ride never to see again, some I have become very closely linked with and still others, I run into off and on on the roads of Arizona yet seldom create plans to ride with formally. Thinking of these people one day after a particularly enjoyable ride, I realized how many stories have been shared on these wheeled adventures. It's remarkable how I have learned some of the most interesting things about people I barely know and in many cases, rarely see in any other capacity except while riding bikes. It's true, many of these rides last three, four or more hours, and as social beings, we have the compulsion to share who we are. And the various shapes that takes, is even more compelling!

Today, I rode along with a woman I have known a short time. She shares her time among Arizona and another place that's colder as many Arizonans do. She's an uplifting sort and very kind. Today, in the few moments we rode together, we talked about how so many of us have things to overcome in our lives. Like many of the people I have met while riding, she is a former runner and is now gaining her strength as a cyclist, although clearly, running still courses through her veins as her very first love. She shared with me two very distinct and very personal things. First, that years ago when her son was diagnosed with a chronic illness, she found it difficult to open her eyes in the morning, get out of bed, move through her day, live her life. Second, that a year ago, a hate crime was perpetrated on her son after they believed him and a friend to be gay and decided to beat the hell of him.

I expressed my sincere sorrow at these tragedies. I said I have come to believe that life is hard. So hard, that during the times that it isn't hard, we must drink the full elixir of every moment. She then asked me the question, Why do we think we should be immune to these difficulties of life?
I said I believed we spend those moments that life is good, expecting it to remain that way and that these painful things that come our way will happen to someone else, or not at all. All are but fairy tales that we conjure up and they keep us sane for most of the time.

This lovely woman's son is healthy today and has survived that excruciating experience. She said that while his beautiful face was repaired well, the one scar that mars his forehead doesn't trouble him. She said he told her that maybe it makes him look a little tougher. I thought about that statement today as I moved through my day. Life's trials can make us appear tougher to the people we meet after...It's when those scars we carry make us so tough that nothing can penetrate who we are, that we become damaged by our trials rather than made richer and stronger by them.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Drink some wine with us and help us raise dollars for MS!

It's virtually unheard of to be a cyclist and NOT have heard of the national campaign for National MS Society called Bike MS (Formerly known as MS 150). It was the first organized bike ride I ever did. Each rider is responsible for raising $250.

To help our team reach its fundraising goal, I have arranged a night of fun, wine and food at My Wine Cellar, an Ahwatukee wine bar right across from the Basha's plaza where The Bagel Nosh is. For years, we have begun many, many rides from the Basha's Plaza and paid little attention to the winebar because who thinks about wine at 6 AM?

Zoya, the owner, has arranged for us to have the patio in the back that can seat up to 70 people. For $30, you will receive two tickets for glasses of wine or beer and a ticket for your choice of an appetizer. We will have some door prizes and a raffle to help our donations along.

Hope you will consider joining us. The cost is $30 and you can write off $11 of it.
It would be great to have a nice showing of cyclists since we all like riding together, I think we'd also like sipping wine together.

Hope to see you!

What are you waiting for? Come out and join us...