I started biking again largely inspired by teaching my daughter, and mostly for fitness purposes, but I've got to admit these early morning rides are a blast. Just flying along the trail (the road riding is only fun when there are few/no cars around)... It's quite a feeling.
We'll see if I keep it up, but I've gotten some cold-weather clothes on sale, lately, so I'm prepared for winter biking. I must admit to being scared of the possibility of lots of snow, however; I'm not sure how to handle that.
One thing I did see this morning, that was kind of amusing, was someone that had four lights on their bike (three of which were directed... poorly, and the fourth was blinking) and another on their head. I understand wanting to be seen, but that's just begging to blind people going the other direction.
I'm wondering what to do with my light, actually. I have it directed only about ten feet in front of the bike, but I still do see a few people covering their eyes. And I go fast enough that even having it aimed that close can be problematic (I had to slow down several times this morning because I couldn't see far enough ahead).
I wish there was a bike light with some sort of baffle that would allow blocking the light (hopefully redirecting more downwards) that would shine into people's eyes, while allowing a good amount of brightness on the ground. I'll have to look around, I guess.
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
20140910
20140905
New appreciation for pro cyclists
I've switched to a longer bike ride in the mornings, which takes me up a steep hill about a mile from my house. The hill's only 74 feet tall, according to strava, but at an 8% grade. One of the segments covering it is called the 'Williamsburg Soulcrusher'; slightly over the top, I'll admit, but I'd call it the Legcrusher without a second thought.
It's made a bit worse by having a quarter-mile or so of slight incline leading up to it, where you can see it coming. Ugh.
Anyway, it gives me a lot more appreciation for the Tour de France riders, who regularly face inclines that steep that are far, far longer than that. I certainly don't envy them those climbs.
It's made a bit worse by having a quarter-mile or so of slight incline leading up to it, where you can see it coming. Ugh.
Anyway, it gives me a lot more appreciation for the Tour de France riders, who regularly face inclines that steep that are far, far longer than that. I certainly don't envy them those climbs.
20140813
Back to biking
I can't say as I've biked nearly as much as I would like, but I have done a bit more biking over the last couple weeks. Cyclemeter is very cool, and I like the additional (and more precise) data coming from the heart rate and speed/cadence meters. I wish power meters weren't so freakin' expensive, though; I read an article this morning on why they're so expensive, and I believe all the reasons, but it's still as much as a decent bike. I'd love to have the data, but it isn't worth nearly that much to me.
I still haven't done anything over four miles, though, and most bikers would barely consider that a warm-up (it's mostly been due to time constraints that I haven't done more).
I should get a much longer ride in tomorrow, and will probably start looking at bikes soon. I'd like to get an actual road bike; I think that'll help quite a bit. But it probably won't be for a month or two. I've done a lot of research, and am ready to start test-riding. I probably won't buy anything until the end of the season, however; I'll spend a pretty penny on it, but I'd like the additional value.
Plus, I think I want to get a display for the bike that will continuously show speed and cadence; I might go with the Wahoo RFLKT+. I was trying to avoid something like that, but I don't like the phone display turning off. And I don't think I'd like the battery effects of having that screen stay on.
We'll see, maybe I'll try the phone display, and see how much it chews the battery. I'm pretty sure it's a lot, though.
I still haven't done anything over four miles, though, and most bikers would barely consider that a warm-up (it's mostly been due to time constraints that I haven't done more).
I should get a much longer ride in tomorrow, and will probably start looking at bikes soon. I'd like to get an actual road bike; I think that'll help quite a bit. But it probably won't be for a month or two. I've done a lot of research, and am ready to start test-riding. I probably won't buy anything until the end of the season, however; I'll spend a pretty penny on it, but I'd like the additional value.
Plus, I think I want to get a display for the bike that will continuously show speed and cadence; I might go with the Wahoo RFLKT+. I was trying to avoid something like that, but I don't like the phone display turning off. And I don't think I'd like the battery effects of having that screen stay on.
We'll see, maybe I'll try the phone display, and see how much it chews the battery. I'm pretty sure it's a lot, though.
20140731
More tiring than expected...
Teaching my daughter to ride has gotten me back into biking a bit (or at least got me interested; it is a bit early to say that I am or am not "into it", I guess).
My front derailleur cable was recently almost pulled out of the shifter when it fell off of most of the hangar it was on, and was caught completely by that cable. Luckily, that was the extent of the damage. And thank goodness it was caught, because it was hanging above my car, so the car would have been damaged as well.
Anyway, after getting a bicycle repair book, which was actually an impulse purchase when getting my daughter a new helmet, I managed to mostly fix it. It's a three-crank device, and now goes from inner to middle to outer, but only back down from outer to inner. One of these days I'll get the two adjustment screws right for that, but it's workable, so I'm leaving it for now. It's easy to work around.
Having that fixed, I decided to take my first (semi)serious ride today, and figured I'd just loop around several of the local roads. I must admit that I hadn't appreciated just how hilly the roads are; I got an app which tracks, among other things, altitude, and the altitude graph is a lot rougher than I'd've guessed.
I ended up going 3.57 miles over 15:36, which is roughly half what I'd planned, although at a higher average speed (that's 13.7mph; I'd've guessed I'd be closer to half that). I didn't expect to be pretty near wiped out at that point, but I was. And I'd've definitely guessed that that was more than 150 calories.
Be that as it may, I'm glad I finally got out, and I'm looking forward to getting a heart-rate monitor and speed/pedaling monitor for more accurate data (I looked into getting something like a Garmin bike computer, but I think these, along with Cyclemeter (or maybe Wahoo's own app) will do a better job, cheaper. And hopefully give me fewer batteries to keep track of.
Most importantly, hopefully I can keep with this. The Quick4 is a pretty decent exercise (and short enough that I've been able to keep up with it almost six days a week over the last several months), but does about nothing for aerobic fitness.
My front derailleur cable was recently almost pulled out of the shifter when it fell off of most of the hangar it was on, and was caught completely by that cable. Luckily, that was the extent of the damage. And thank goodness it was caught, because it was hanging above my car, so the car would have been damaged as well.
Anyway, after getting a bicycle repair book, which was actually an impulse purchase when getting my daughter a new helmet, I managed to mostly fix it. It's a three-crank device, and now goes from inner to middle to outer, but only back down from outer to inner. One of these days I'll get the two adjustment screws right for that, but it's workable, so I'm leaving it for now. It's easy to work around.
Having that fixed, I decided to take my first (semi)serious ride today, and figured I'd just loop around several of the local roads. I must admit that I hadn't appreciated just how hilly the roads are; I got an app which tracks, among other things, altitude, and the altitude graph is a lot rougher than I'd've guessed.
I ended up going 3.57 miles over 15:36, which is roughly half what I'd planned, although at a higher average speed (that's 13.7mph; I'd've guessed I'd be closer to half that). I didn't expect to be pretty near wiped out at that point, but I was. And I'd've definitely guessed that that was more than 150 calories.
Be that as it may, I'm glad I finally got out, and I'm looking forward to getting a heart-rate monitor and speed/pedaling monitor for more accurate data (I looked into getting something like a Garmin bike computer, but I think these, along with Cyclemeter (or maybe Wahoo's own app) will do a better job, cheaper. And hopefully give me fewer batteries to keep track of.
Most importantly, hopefully I can keep with this. The Quick4 is a pretty decent exercise (and short enough that I've been able to keep up with it almost six days a week over the last several months), but does about nothing for aerobic fitness.
20140603
Getting the most out
I mentioned, a while ago, using the fitness app Quick 4 to get myself doing exercise on closer to a daily basis. It has certainly helped my metabolism, although I can't really tell how much more than that it's done.
I haven't really lose weight (maybe a few pounds) in the intervening weeks, though it's possible body fat has gone down (I tend not to lose weight when exercising heavily, just to get more muscular. Dunno if that's a personal weirdness, or a symptom of how I exercise, or something else).
But since it only lasts four minutes, I have done some thinking (and experimenting) with how to make it more effective (burning more calories, at least). There are eight exercises, so here are my thoughts on each of them:
Running in place: lift knees up higher and swing arms more
Jumping jacks: keep arms straighter and spread legs wider
Push-ups: keep back, all the way from feet to head, straight; never rest weight on ground
Jumping squats: go all the way into a crouch, don't pause, go as close as possible to straight up
Bicycle crunch: be sure to pull with abs, not shoulders; have arms hit as far above knees as possible
Burpees: actually got nothing for this one
Mason twist: keep feet off ground, but move knees as far as possible; keep hands next to torso
Mountain climbers: arms and back straight, back parallel to ground, keep shoulders behind hands
All of them, of course, also increase impact by doing them faster.
I've also increased it by sometimes doing the Quick7 workout as well (a couple hours later).
I haven't really lose weight (maybe a few pounds) in the intervening weeks, though it's possible body fat has gone down (I tend not to lose weight when exercising heavily, just to get more muscular. Dunno if that's a personal weirdness, or a symptom of how I exercise, or something else).
But since it only lasts four minutes, I have done some thinking (and experimenting) with how to make it more effective (burning more calories, at least). There are eight exercises, so here are my thoughts on each of them:
Running in place: lift knees up higher and swing arms more
Jumping jacks: keep arms straighter and spread legs wider
Push-ups: keep back, all the way from feet to head, straight; never rest weight on ground
Jumping squats: go all the way into a crouch, don't pause, go as close as possible to straight up
Bicycle crunch: be sure to pull with abs, not shoulders; have arms hit as far above knees as possible
Burpees: actually got nothing for this one
Mason twist: keep feet off ground, but move knees as far as possible; keep hands next to torso
Mountain climbers: arms and back straight, back parallel to ground, keep shoulders behind hands
All of them, of course, also increase impact by doing them faster.
I've also increased it by sometimes doing the Quick7 workout as well (a couple hours later).
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