diddlee

Here I am back at work. I'll have to do my work with the spinning bikes this week. We are expecting cold weather for the entire week.

This morning I went spinning again. I got in 45 minutes with Sara McGuffin leading. Right now I am a little tired.

Yesterday I went riding on FR 600 and met Hugh Hickman, aka Solo, who was working on the extension of the Pinhoti from Porter's gap to Bull Gap. I was riding my usual ride there. I believe I got in 9 miles. I forgot to reset the odo so I can't be sure. The road had been scraped and nad turned a lot of the downhills into boggy sandy messes that reminded me of the trail in the Bankhead National Forest. That ride really took it out of me. Today I went spinning. After the overnight rain, I was sure the mountain roads would be waterfalls. They were bad enough yesterday. I got in a 45 minute spin. There were two others there. One little woman really went at it hard. Surprising.

I got up in time to hit the spin bikes at 6am. I thought the second class met at 6am but I was wrong. They meet at 8am. I guess I am going to have to get over there for the 4:45am class. I pedaled for 35 minutes. The classes run 10 minutes longer. I am trying to build an aerobic base. I had hoped to get in a ride today once Nikki picks up the boy. We are having some rain showers and that plan may not come to fruit.

I made a ride up the training hill yesterday after work. I was panting the whole way. I don't know if I was working extra hard or if I have slipped a little because I haven't been for a week or more, or if I am just tired after this work week. The road has been scraped so it was gooey in places. The ridges in the road from the tractor treads made the ride vibrate. Maybe I can do another this evening. Maybe not. I have to run by church to do nursery duty. Crap! Always something. I didn't adjust the clips on the new dual duty pedals. Guess what? The shoes wouldn't clip on!

Tonight with any luck I will get a chance to do a spinning ride. I have missed all week. Who knows abou tomorrow. But Monday I am gonna ride. I got in about 30 minutes of spinning. It was difficult. I will have to work at it to be fit enough to ride hard in that class. Typically the class lasts 45 to 55 minutes.

I believe I have finally put drug lit 1 to rest. Please lord let it be so. Today I get the ATB out of the shop and perhaps get to do that spinning class. I need to get on with the program. Next week I have to make some progress.

I got the bike down to the shop last night. I didn't have much time to go spin. Had to do the remainder of the Drug Lit stuff. I hope I can get done this time.

No time left for riding today. I will have to get the bike down to Vicious Cycle pronto to get the brakes tuned up. Then later I can go up to the gym and do a little spinning maybe.

No riding today. Got up at 5am to get to work by 6am. The fitness place has spinning classes. Soon I can do them in the evening. Morning class begins at 4:45. Not enough time to do it before work. I have the mountain bike ready to go to the store for adjustment. A little tweak to get the noise out of the rear brake.

I took a 9 mile ride this morning. The weather was a little cool but I had to get back in the saddle. I don't know if I can see myself riding on and on like this. Just enough to get fit for the spring ride then retire those old bicycles again. Road biking strikes me as crazy. I made that short ride down 148 the other day and the zooming cars passing at 70+ was a little unnerving. And the less busy roads are populated with dogs that can harass you. I may be a little over sensitive about those dogs. Alabama is a little backward about bicycling. Not enough riders to impact policy about roads or pets.

I rode a long flat stretch of 148 today. I got in 10 miles. A modest start at road riding. The soft saddle wasn't very comfortable. I'll switch and do better later.

I am here at Fort Walton Beach with Bev and David. There isn't any chance for riding. Not too much chance of exercise period. The hurricane destroyed the fitness center here. Walking on the beach is limited to the distance David can walk. Looks like lots off rain back in Alabama so not much chance if I were there either.

Today being Monday, I didn't get in a ride. I fixed the flat on the bike for a second time. I rode up and down the drive to see if it would hold up. This week while in Florida, I have to find a source for fitness.

I went to the Talladega Scenic drive to do some road work. I got in a few miles but was plagued with a bumping in the rear tire. After a quick 1.5 mile downhill, the rear tire was flat. I had to walk it back up the steep mountain. So much for my first road ride.

Friday I spent 3 hours riding 13.22 miles on the Pine Torch Trail in the Bankhead National Forest. The trail was wet, sandy, muddy, horse pooped, and anything else you can name. At times I was churning my bike up sloppy slopes or bogging down in wet marshy pits made by horses. I believe the 13 miles was almost as much as I could have managed. I was incredibly tired after. That 13 couldn't be harder than 40 on the road. I had planned on taking only 2 hours to make the loop. The trip up to the trailhead took longer than I expected. It was as far as I could go. Those last 2 miles were very tough.

It was a cold day today. I didn't ride because it was raining periodically and windy. But the fitness gym has installed spinning bikes. I rode one for 30 minutes. I didn't get to stair climb because of people who wanted to chat. Better luck next time.

This afternoon I was pressed for time again. I went to the valley road parallel to the mountain. No hard climbs so I really rolled out. I was doing 20 mph downhill and 9 to 10 mph uphill by standing in the pedals and running on the middle chain ring. I feel like I am really making progress.