Catch Up

I haven't written in a while. That's because nothing significant has really happened to me.

Fall season has come on full storm. And by the word storm, I mean that almost literally! Tuesday and Wednesday morning I was unable to ride my bike. You see, it was raining. Now, rain doesn't bother me. Really. All I have to do to adapt is wear some clothes that I don't mind getting a little wet. But, when there's cold WIND to go along with cold RAIN, that's where we have the problem. Cold wind/rain mix bugs me because there's a risk of catching a cold and/or pneumonia. Not only that, but I've heard that hypothermia sucks and I'm not really looking to try it out myself :)

I was finally able to ride to places yesterday afternoon. I rode everywhere, including my chiropractor's appointment. He thought I was crazy when I told him I rode my bike there, but that's probably because of his location at one of the busiest intersections in town. I'd like to reiterate that I never ride on busy streets, just side streets and bike paths only :)

Today was a fun experience, too. We are on fall break at our school, but I had to report for work. I had to report at 8:00 this morning, and I wanted to ride my bike. So guess what I did? I got the bike out at 7:00 this morning! It was freezing cold, with no rain, but I got there safe and sound. Riding at sunup is so different from riding during the normal daylight hours. There's a significantly smaller amount of traffic than there is during the normal daylight hours, therefore I am not as nervous when I'm riding.

Intense Workouts

Today I was fully prepared to make the journey to class. That, however, changed when I realized that it was too windy for me to make it to class on time. I hitched a ride with my boyfriend, who drives a pickup truck, and I just rode to class from his parking spot.

Leaving my class presented me with an odd choice. I usually have two kinds of workouts that I focus on: distance workouts and time workouts. If I'm going for distance I try to ride 20 miles and if I'm going for timed I try to ride one hour at a rather brisk pace.

This presented an issue for me: I didn't have the time to do either kind of ride today, as I had errands to run before I had to drive to my afternoon/evening classes. (I drive to my evening classes for reasons of my own personal safety. WSU is in a dangerous area!)

I remembered something that my mom said that I kind of took to heart. She said that sometimes it's not the length or the time that matters, it's the intensity of the work. I was riding with the wind going back, so I said what the hell. I put my bike in the 3rd and 5th gears and just let loose.

There were several points in which I looked down at my bike computer and saw that my bike speed was at 17 mph. I was turning corners faster than normal, which was scary as hell, but the little kid in me screamed "WEEEEEEEE!". I got home out of breath and tired, like I just rode 30 miles or something! My mom was correct, intensity can matter just as much as anything else in a workout.

My average speed was at 11.1 by the time I got home. The only reason it wasn't higher was because of the school riding I did where I had to do lots of slow riding to avoid hitting fellow students on sidewalks. That was disappointing to see, but I'm sure my average speed on the bike path was at least 13 mph if not more.

So the moral of the story: intense rides can be just as fun as distance rides and you'd get just as much of a work out in a shorter amount of time if you just pick up the pace a bit.