21 Days to Pangie

Today I woke up with a feeling I can only describe as my legs craving exercise. I think this first 21-day experiment just might be working!

I am on Srecha again today. Still not 100% after being sick, but well enough to get some biking out of my system. As I type this I am biking and playing online Cribbage with Melalvai (and losing terribly!) I think she’s just taking it out on me that she’s jealous that I’m combining two of her favorite things: Biking and Cribbage.

I am nearing the end of my first cycle, and I got sick! It may or may not be strep. I will be hearing back from the doctor tomorrow for sure.

So with that in mind, I did just a very minimal amount of stationary biking this evening. Something on the order of half a mile. These are the days that I’m glad I didn’t set any real sort of minimum boundaries.

The week doesn’t really feel like it begins for me until the first work day. Sundays feel like the end of the previous week more than the beginning of the new week. So this means it finally feels like I’m in my final week! After today, I have THREE DAYS LEFT. What a crazy feeling!

Today at work I had an asthma attack at work. I hate that, especially when I can’t identify what prompted it. Probably dust or something lame like that. This is another reason I really want to build up my endurance, so that breathing isn’t as much of a problem when I do things.

This evening I went back on ol’ Screcha and paid attention to the mileage and the time. It was approx. 10 minutes and the odometer said 6 miles?! Yeah right! I was pedaling pretty fast, but I really doubt it was THAT fast. Today I will be checking Amazon for a very cheap bike computer to replace it.

I had decided at the beginning of this that when each cycle was over, I would get myself a reward. Last week I saw a purple merino wool undershirt (like Melalvai has) on sale, and the sale wouldn’t last through the end of my 21-day cycle. So, after conferring with My 21 Days, we agreed that it wouldn’t break any of my rules if I ordered it before the end of the cycle provided I don’t use it until after I succeed, and I return it if I fail.

It arrived this weekend, and I did try it on just to make sure it was the right size, which it is. And I LOVE it! I am so excited to finish and then wear it.

Also, I can’t believe I am nearly done with cycle 1. It goes by pretty quickly. Today was Day 21 for My 21 Days, and I started just a couple days after her. Congratulations to her, by the way!

I used my stationary bike again today, and I really think the speedometer and odometer on that thing are seriously messed up. Depending on how high I set the resistance, it tells me I’m going anywhere from 40mph to 60+mph. I highly doubt that! I think it was 21 Days To Me who had suggested I get a regular-bike computer for my stationary bike, and I’m starting to think that idea’s not half bad. This bike is great for my purposes, but if I want to start measuring those things accurately, I need to do something, and adding a computer is definitely the cheapest solution.

It’s cold outside, and it’s really starting to get to me. So here I am on Srecha again. I wanted to run to the grocery store, so I decided to bike on Srecha twice the round-trip distance for me to go to the grocery store to justify me driving. Granted that was only a couple miles, but it still made me feel better!

I know I keep saying this, but tomorrow I’m going to try to go outside. In my defense, though, snow removal isn’t really all that well done yet.

It’s been SUPER cold out lately, and it actually started snowing in the afternoon, so I had just less than no interest in going outside. Instead, I called a friend and did some biking on Srecha while chatting with her. That was kind of fun. It was like biking with someone, only we were inside! And… she wasn’t biking.

If snow removal is sufficient, I’ll try bundling up and heading out on Reva on Saturday to finally go get that book I ordered.

Yes, this means I didn’t go outside… again… and here I am on my stationary bike again. I’m tossing around names for it right now. My naming scheme is that it needs to be a goddess name with the first letter matching what the object is. Usually I’ll have it match the first letter of the brand of the object (such as Reva my Raleigh Route 4.0 or Athena my Honda Accord) but sometimes I’ll just do what the object is called (such as Rhiannon my Router.)

Here’s what I’ve come up with, and I’d love some feedback:

Srecha – (RUSSIAN/SLAVIC) Goddess of fate and also of spinning and household chores. She spun and cut the thread of life.

The goddess of spinning… get it? Aaahahahaha. I’m funny.

On that note, I’ll leave you with this:

Terrible Table

Back on the stationary since I had a lot of stuff to do. I didn’t bother to change or anything, and I didn’t even put on my knee braces. OUCH! My left knee kept wanting to pop, which is weird because my right is usually worse but it did OK this time.

Really nothing interesting to say, haha. I swear I’ll have something other than “back on the stationary!” to say soon.

It is hard to motivate myself to get outside to bike when I don’t have a specific destination and it’s below freezing outside! So, here I am on the stationary bike again. I think I’ll need to work on daily biking destinations until it gets nicer outside.

Nothing much else to report. Still working on getting the adjustment of the stationary bike seat just right.

I really needed a night at home after this weekend away, so I didn’t go out biking at all today. I am on my stationary bike right now utilizing my terrible table. I promise I will get pictures up soon, and I am sorry I haven’t done so before now.

My real bike is definitely more comfortable than my stationary bike. I wonder if there’s something I can do about the seat on this. Any suggestions, Melalvai?

Nothing much of interest to say today I’m afraid. Hope to have a more interesting post tomorrow!

I was determined to finish out my Bismarck riding despite the snow this morning, so I geared up and headed out! It was SUPER windy out there. I didn’t bike very far and then I turned around and headed back. It really wasn’t as bad as I expected! There was a fair amount of snow. Nothing huge, maybe half an inch to an inch, but still. Also, my dad and I posed for some rockin’ biker pictures in our respective biker gears in front of our bikes. Aren’t we cute?

Family Bikers

My original plan for today was to go biking after running some errands with my mom. Right before we were going to leave, though, she told me it was snowing. I looked outside and sure enough, there’s that fluffy white stuff falling on the street where I’d be biking! So I told her I’d just do a very short ride today and not worry about all my usual gear. I put on my gloves, face mask, jacket, and helmet and headed out. I told her I’d just loop around the cul-de-sac until she was done getting ready. I was doing about 8 MPH since it’s all turning, but I was out there for about 4 minutes. So I did get half a mile in today at least! It was my first time biking in snow. Granted it was just a light dusting when I was out there, but it’s a start! I think I would like to get some fenders soon-ish so I don’t have to worry about snow-splash if I do this again. I looped around the cul-de-sac probably 15-20 times, and I felt pretty silly doing it.

I am in Bismarck right now visiting family for the holiday. Fargo is flat. Fargo is VERY flat. Someone asked me if Fargo has much for hills, and I couldn’t stop laughing. Bismarck, on the other hand, is fairly hilly. Not extremely, there’s nothing even remotely resembling a mountain or anything, but there’s a lot of up-and-down. Wow what a difference that makes in biking! I took another loop around my parents’ neighborhood on Friday, but took a different route that would avoid the dog from the last entry. This led me to going down and then up a hill. Wow, what work-out! It was fun knowing I could handle it, though. It wasn’t any huge hill by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a fun start. There is a path around a golf course that I would like to try at some point that is very hilly, and I would like to try that one out this summer. I’ll have to watch out for stray golf balls! I was doing about 7 or 8 MPH up the inclines, and 14 or 15 MPH down. That was pretty fun!

I biked from one end of my parents’ street to the other and back after Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. It’s a short street with cul-de-sacs on both ends. There’s a street that branches off of their street with another cul-de-sac, so I looped in there on my way back. It wasn’t a long ride since I had somewhere to be after it, but I did have my first dog-related freak-out. I was biking in the evening, so it’s pitch black out, and there aren’t many street lights in this residential neighborhood. I hear a loud dog out of nowhere, and I immediately started panicking about the horror-stories I’ve read about trying to be faster than the dog at your heels. I finally muster up the courage to look back and saw that the dog was just exceptionally loud… and still in his kennel. Phew! Panic over! It still wasn’t pleasant biking past him on my way back, but it wasn’t too bad since I knew he couldn’t get me.

(Sorry for the late post. The holiday messed up my blogging time.)

Wednesday I finally biked to work! I left about 40 minutes before I usually do, and was ready for work (after getting there and changing and such) 10 minutes before I usually am, so I’d say about half an hour should be good. the majority of that is changing, which is kind of odd. That will decrease as the weather warms up I’m sure.

It wasn’t bad for the most part. It’s in the street the entire way, which is a bit nerve-wrecking, but I think I did well. I think it also helps that traffic is low that time of morning since I left so early. The worst part is crossing 13th, though. It’s a 6 lane street, one of the busiest in town. This is half a block from a few interstate off-ramps. I was worried I wouldn’t even make it across during the light! I made it, but I was huffing and puffing a lot when I was across. Same thing on the way back, too. I even pulled into a parking lot to catch my breath after crossing on the way back. I think until I’m more comfortable with that, if the traffic is busy when I’m nearing 13th, I’ll pull over to the sidewalk and walk across.

I didn’t bike very far, maybe about a mile total, but I biked to the grocery store which is about half of my path to work. It’s a path where I have to bike on the street the whole way, so that was conquering a new fear! It wasn’t as scary as it seemed, of course. (I know, Mel, I know. ) I decided once I got there that I could get WHATEVER I wanted! I got some candy and some sugar-snap peas along with what I initially needed. Yummy! It all fit very well in my little basket, so I didn’t need to use the backpack I brought, which was good. Up next will be biking to work!

I have a basket on the front of my bike. I told my mom that I got this, and her response was, “And your little dog, too!” Today, Mandee and I were biking and she looked over at me and said something along the lines of, “You’re sitting up really straight. You kind of look like the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz.” I replied, “And your little dog, too!” I spent the rest of the bike ride occasionally humming, “doot do doot dooo doooooo dooo.”

We went to Scheels today to exchange my gloves and get me a coat and some goggles. All of this was accomplished, and I also got a skull-cap and a Camelbak water bottle that will fit in my bottle cage. I am such a sucker for Camelbaks. It’s 2.1 miles to Scheels (and back, obviously) and it felt like nothing compared to my first journey to Barnes & Noble just two days ago. It’s amazing how quickly I’m getting accustomed to this.

My friend Mandee rode her bike over to my place and we went for a ride together! She also explained her lack of phone answering Saturday. She lost her phone! I told her about how I tried calling her for a ride and she felt bad, but I explained that it was actually good, because I made it.

We rode to TJ Maxx, which is just a little bit past Barnes and Noble, so lightly longer than my right Saturday. It went a lot better than Saturday’s ride. I think the weather was a bit better, maybe less wind or something, but I think the big help was having Mandee with me. We chatted the whole way and I wasn’t really paying attention to how much work it was. We agreed that we should do this at least once a week together, because it was a lot of fun.

We initially were going to just ride around my neighborhood with no specific destination, but after we left I suggested we stop at TJ Maxx because my friend Matt said they have ski goggles there, which would be helpful to stop my glasses from fogging up every now and then. Of course, this was decided after we left, so once we got there Mandee said, “Oh, would your bike lock fit both of our bikes?” Then I realized… I didn’t bring my lock either! So she said she’d just wait by the bikes and I’d run in and check for the goggles quick. Except, I didn’t bring my purse either! Well planned. So I ran in to check it out and see if it was worth coming back. It was, so we rode back to my place and drove back to TJ Maxx because we were running low on time.

It was a very fun day!

I took Reva outside for her maiden voyage this afternoon! I had a couple books waiting for me at Barnes & Noble, so I hooked up my basket and rode the 1.4 miles there. It was bike path for nearly the entire way, save half a block from my place to the beginning of the path, so I didn’t have much traffic to worry about. It wasn’t easy, but I did it and I am proud of myself! It was a little below freezing, so the weather wasn’t too bad. I really hate my coat for biking, though. It’s a pea-coat, which is a terrible idea for biking. It’s great for looking pretty, but it’s too bulky and doesn’t breathe well for biking. My thighs ended up pretty cold, kinda numb, but the rest of me stayed warm.

I learned quite a few things today:

• It takes me a long time to get ready for biking.
• My leg muscles are not very strong.
• I am very out of shape.
• It’s a good idea to bring a hairbrush when biking somewhere where you would like to look at least moderately presentable.
• A quick-release basket is, like, the greatest idea ever.
• Biking into the wind is really hard.
• I am totally happy that I am starting this in a dreadfully flat city.
• People in cars stare at bikers.
• I don’t think my gloves are the right size and shape for my hands and I’m going to try to exchange them tomorrow.
• Biking in a street isn’t as scary as it sounds when the street is totally not busy.
• I bike backwards from my bike guru. She said when she stops, she keeps her right foot in the pedal and puts the left foot on the ground. I do it the other way around. This doesn’t surprise me though, since I skateboard goofy-footed.
• My bike doesn’t have a top tube, and I am very grateful for that today. My knee braces make it difficult to bend enough to get on and off very easily, and the top tube would only make things worse.
• My friend Matt is right: I need ankle straps. My pant leg was flapping in the breeze and hit the chain guard a bit.
• If I am feeling discouraged and want to call someone for a ride, call Mandee! She never answers. If I actually legitimately for real need a ride, call someone else.

More tomorrow!