20140827

Keeping up

Haven't had a lot of time for writing lately; been biking early and going to bed early.  Only downside is that I haven't been doing the Quick4 workout, but definitely having fun with riding.

It's kind of funny, going on cycling boards, as most people talk about hundreds or thousands of miles; I wonder how they manage (unless they're young and single).  I've only managed 112 miles this month, but that feels like a lot to me.  And my longest ride in that time was just over twelve miles; mostly a lot of 6-10 mile rides.

I didn't much feel like getting up to ride this morning, but did it.  Glad I did; I averaged 16.5mph over my 8.5-mile loop, which is about .75mph better than my previous best (even over shorter rides).  I thought it was interesting that the top-end time wasn't much different than previous rides over that "course", but the bottom end didn't go nearly as low.

And I've been using my cadence to set pacing; probably power would be better (starting to wonder if a power meter is, indeed, worth the (very high) cost).  One thing I noticed this morning is that it makes a really big difference to maintain a cadence, rather than letting it drop and then getting back up.

One other small note; I've learned that doing exercise before breakfast (and not skipping breakfast) maximizes the weight-loss benefits.  And that's what I've been doing.

I'm not below where I've been before, from exercising (I once worked my way down about five pounds lighter than where I am now, but it took an immense amount of work, especially as I didn't do anything about attacking it from the input end), but I'm lighter than I've been in several years.  I'm hoping to lose close to another ten pounds.  We'll see how that goes.

Update: Forgot to mention.  My bike had a seatpost with a spring in it to soften bumps a little bit.  With it, I couldn't put both my reflector and my light on there, so I replaced that with a plain post.  Man, is it a pain to install a saddle on a post.  Especially my old saddle, which didn't have a lot of space between the bars and the seat.  I got it on, but it was a pain.

But I also replaced the saddle, just yesterday, with an "anatomic relief saddle".  I'm not sure I didn't want a saddle a centimeter or so wider, but definitely thumbs up on the anatomic relief part.  I'll decide in the next week or so about the width, I think.

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