squirrelly on the bike trail

Sitting here with my delicious recovery beverage -- Vita Coco Coconut Water with Pineapple. Didn't have the strong legs today but glad to get a ride in anyway. What a difference warmer weather makes. A little too warm at the end I think. The sad thing today was hitting a squirrel. I really hate that. Why do they spazz out at the last second as you're riding by and jump into your front tire?

~♥~

current biking playlist

I seem to be going through a U2 remix phase.


Current Biking Playlist 

Beautiful Day - U2

Keep the Car Running - Arcade Fire

Calamity Song - The Decemberists

Heavy Cross - Gossip

Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco

Float On - Modest Mouse

Jump - Madonna

All the Sand in the Sea - DeVotchka

Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups

Giving Up the Gun - Vampire Weekend

Even Better Than the Real Thing (remix) - U2

American Girl - Tom Petty

Where Not to Look for Freedom - The Belle Brigade

Helena Beat - Foster the People

Ritual Union - Little Dragon

Pump It Up - Elvis Costello

Run Right Back - The Black Keys

See the World - Gomez

Lucky Guy - The Belle Brigade

Ray of Light (remix) - Madonna

Satellite - Guster

Don't Stop - Foster the People

New Year's Day (remix) - U2

She's Got You High - Mumm-Ra

Country Lane - Telekinesis

I Melt With You - Modern English

Vagabond - Wolfmother

Airstream Driver - Gomez

Soul Meets Body - Death Cab for Cutie

Before the Light Takes Us - Darkness Falls

Bang a Gong (Get It On) - T Rex

We Are All Made Of Stars (remix) - Moby

Naive Melody - Arcade Fire

Down By the Water - The Decemberists

Underneath the Sycamore - Death Cab for Cutie

Back to Me - Kathleen Edwards

15 to 20 - The Phenomenal Handclap Band

What's your favorite song on your workout playlist?

~♥~

I have an idea

The bike trail was pretty deserted this afternoon. Maybe there should be a super bowl every other Sunday or at least once a month.

~♥~

ride on

American River, Folsom California

Almost made it to the 1,000 mile mark on Bella yesterday. Ride started off with some breathing allergy-asthma issues but after a brief stop at a coffeehouse and a quick skinny latte, those problems went away and I felt like I could ride forever. Alas,  ran out of both time and daylight.

Plan is for a long walk today while this good weather lasts. I'm going to listen to Kathleen Edwards' new album.



Hope you're doing well with your new year goals & intentions, whatever they may be.

~♥~

bike trail rewards

Taken with my iPhone from the bike trail yesterday evening. Strangely warm and dry weather here. While I appreciate being outside riding in January, we need snow up at Tahoe.

~♥~

another milestone reached

Belle during a brief stop along the banks of the American River.

My New Year's Day bike ride yesterday put me over the 4,000 miles mark. Yippee-ki-yay!

Monday weigh in: 135.6

~♥~

a life lesson

So, I learned something the other day. See there, you're never too old to learn! Here it is: When you have a little bout of asthma during a ride, that is not the time to push yourself into your longest ride of the year. I did this and it was not good. Very wiped out afterward. Today's shorter ride with good breathing was really fun although it was pretty dang hot.

Think I'm going to name my bike Bella because she's awfully pretty.

~♥~

up at the lake

View of Mt. Tallac from Taylor Creek Visitor Center

Uncrowded & gorgeous bike path near Emerald Bay at Tahoe

Went to Tahoe yesterday with our hybrid bikes in tow. It's worth waiting until after Labor Day to go. No crowds & September is so beautiful with its greens and golds. We biked 21 miles.

~♥~

made it to 3,000

Bykasandra and I have ridden 3,000 miles together! Thinking seriously about getting a road bike now. Any suggestions?

~♥~

adaptations

A couple months ago, I received a diagnosis of osteopenia. I thought it wasn't much of a concern but my PA was all kinds of concerned about it. She talked at length about how I should start buying bones and boiling them to make soups. I was appalled. Not having a poker face, she eventually picked up on this. So, her next thing was to lower my levoxal prescription as there is a relationship between thyroid function and bone growth. She said if it makes you feel bad, well, we'll go another route. I wasn't really sold on this because I wasn't ever sold on the idea that osteopenia is a big deal. And, I'm not a big fan of trying something and waiting to see if it makes me feel bad.

Anyhoo, I just now (this morning!) started the lower dose. We'll see. I'm going to start reading Jillian's book about metabolism for tips to boost my sluggish thyroid through diet to compensate for the reduced levoxal.

Something else on the horizon, a colonoscopy this Friday. Jealous?

In other news, I've been biking a nearby trail instead of the American River Parkway Trail. The local trail is a short segment which means I go back and forth to make some miles. It also has some inclines including one that is about a mile long. It seems like riding 10 - 15 miles on this trail is working different muscles in my legs than the usual 25 - 30 miles on the ARBT.

Sometimes you just have to shake things up a bit I guess.

~♥~

it's a beautiful day

A couple photos from my last two bike rides...love October.

American River Parkway

El Dorado Trail

~♥~

happy

I feel good. And I'm going for a bike ride. That is all.

~♥~

we're back

Went for a ride yesterday. It's been three long weeks since Bykasandra & I have hit the trail. That's way too long a time. Thankfully, it was a great ride...felt very strong and energetic. When I hit the 2,000 miles mark, I rewarded myself with riding gloves and better quality biking shorts. The gloves have really reduced the amount of sun exposure on my hands and the shorts have made all the difference.

If I can get back into the groove, I'll be hitting the 3,000 mark fairly soon. A tune up for Byka will definitely be in order.

~♥~

But I would ride 2,000 miles!

We did it! Bykasandra & I reached the 2,000 mile mark this afternoon.
Ya-hoo!

Note: you all left such great comments but somehow I did something weird backstage & lost them all. Oh well, I remember how reading them made me feel.
I'm very grateful...

~♥~

Quotable - pure joy

Cycling. I loved it as a child and I love it even more as an adult. By my late thirties, pursuing an academic career, I was getting out of shape and knew I had to start exercising. So I asked myself what was the physical activity I liked most as a kid. I was a visiting professor at Harvard's Kennedy School and I went over to a great bike shop, Belmont Wheelworks and bought a road bike. I lost 40 pounds in a couple of months, because I was having so much fun. Cycling still gives me the same feeling of pure joy I had as a boy. It's pure happiness.

~ Robert Florida, interview with Gretchen Rubin

I'm getting close to reaching a milestone with my cycling.

~♥~

I love my bike

But, if you've been reading this blog, you already know this. For my husband's birthday, he got a new bike. It's just like my bike only for boys and this year's model. We went for our first ride yesterday. I am going to have a hard time keeping up with him now that he has the new bike. We rode for 22 miles.

Here's what I love about riding my bike:

• it gets me outdoors where I can see wildlife (snakes even!) and listen to the birds sing
• it gets my blood pumping and that elevates my mood while making my legs stronger
• I listen to music -- really listen

All three of these things feed my soul.

~♥~

back in the saddle

We finally went for a bike ride yesterday on the American River trail. Spotted this bird nesting box that had been given some extra flair. You can't tell from this photo but the green heart is glittery. A nice touch.

I recovered the daily mile widget that was somehow lost when I changed the blog template. We rode 16 miles and it felt great to be back riding and listening to tunes on the iPod.

~♥~

In these shoes?

Kirsty MacColl would have turned 50 today if she had not been killed in a tragic accident several years ago. It's also my grandmother's birthday. She was an artist (painter), poet and full-of-life adventuress. I usually try to plant bulbs on her birthday but doesn't look like I'll get to it today. Thought about both of these saucy British women during my 30 mile ride on this gorgeous fall day.

~♥~

Fall Food and Fitness

Change in the weather, change in the weather,
Somethin's happenin' here.
~ J. Fogerty

Fall took its time coming to the Sierra foothills this year, but there's no denying there's been a change of season lately. Days are shorter, mornings stay cool, longer, and there's snow on Sierra peaks. I wore a jacket on my last ride. It was a very lightweight jacket but still a wake up call that my usual biking attire (Keen sandals - which have created some interesting looking tan lines, shorts, sports bra & sleeveless shirt) is not going to cut it much longer. I need to figure out what to wear to continue biking in cooler weather.

This video from ABC's guest personal trainer on their morning show goes over some clothing tips and some exercises to do indoors if the weather prevents riding or running. I found it helpful.

Your Guide to Fall Fitness video

Say goodbye to fresh locally grown tomatoes, blueberries and corn and say hello to the Top Ten Superfoods for Fall. Pomegranates and pumpkins, oh my! Looks like I should probably learn to overcome my aversion to beets. Any suggestions?

~♥~

summertime thing

It seems like the heart of summer but for teachers and kids around here, school's going to start pretty darn soon. Still, this song (Summertime Thing by Chuck Prophet) has been on my mind the past week as I've seen tons of people heading to the river with their rafts. Sure seems like the summertime thing to do when temps hit the triple digits. We might take the kayaks up to Tahoe tomorrow for the first time this summer.

My exercise is limited to bike riding and using 5 lb free weights for my arms. Both my arms and legs are looking athletic (we're talking muscle definition - holy kick ass, batman) now. I like it!

Reading "The Tortilla Curtain" by TC Boyle for the neighborhood book club. It's an interesting story and well-written. May check out more fiction by this author.

A while back, I listened to the Fresh Air podcast of Terri Gross's interview with Woody Allen. One question she asked toward the end was something like, what are the films by others that you love or that you've watched more than once. This got my attention because I don't usually watch films more than once or reread books. The number of films I've purposefully re-watched can be counted on one hand. Of these films, it's Allen's "Annie Hall" that I've seen the most times. Anyway, the film he first mentioned was "The Bicycle Thief." This film has been stuck 3/4 down in my long netflix queue forever. I moved it up and we watched it the other night. Great film.

Eating is going well and so is the bike riding. I rode 119 miles this past week. Took my bike in for its free first tune up and adjustment. They also cleaned my bike. This is a nice service from the local business where we bought the bike. Is it my imagination...? My bike seems to be riding even more smoothly than before its tune up. I expected the gears to shift like magic after being expertly adjusted but didn't think it would seem to roll even easier than before. Love this bike.

In other news, there is still some lingering drama involving my husband's family. We're in the process of preparing my mother-in-law's house to be sold. Brother-in-law turns fifty today. He still denies his addiction to prescription pain killers. Is living in his car...the whole family is taking a crash course in trying to understand the difference between help/support and enabling.

Enjoy summer -- it seems to go by faster every year.

~♥~