In the fall of 2010 I took a job with Spruce Pine Main Street in the really awesome small town of Spruce Pine. I spent more time in the car commuting than I had in the last 10 years combined. I went from a 2 hour a day work out and 4.5 mile bicycle commute to a 2 hour round trip by car. I killed my car along the way, developed serious back issues, and went from 150 pounds of pure muscle to 160 pounds of pure fat. [click to continue…]
Bicycling
Yesterday I through on my BioWheels kit and jumped on the bike for a 17.55 mile ride from Spruce Pine, NC to Celo, NC. I already logged 17.52 miles earlier in the day coming in to Spruce Pine. I was not sure how I would do heading home since the ast time I had tried this, less than 30 days ago, I felt like I was about to die. [click to continue…]
Today was my first morning commute from Celo to Spruce Pine. I road 17.76 miles in 1 hour 13 min, 1717 feet of climbing with grades exceeding 20%, and burned 1242 calories. Now I get to do it backwards on my way home this afternoon. I hope to make this ride at least 3 days a week.
UPDATE:
The ride home was brutal. My muscles had nothing left to give. I really did not think I would make it. But I persevered through the 1 hour 22 minute 17.13 mile ride of 1753 ft of climbing and 1643 of descents, Heart Rate maxing out at 175 bpm, burning 1459 calories, with grades averaging above 10% reaching as high as 30%.
Next week I am going to try for at least 2 days of riding into work. I would go for 3 but I have some regional meetings to go to.
I have been shopping at BioWheels since their early days next to the French Broad Co-Op. Matt and Eric have been great coaches and support as my family’s biking habits have changed. I have been a huge commuter cyclist since my days in elementary school.
Over the last few years Bridget and I have branched out beyond bicycle commenting to mountain biking and endurance riding. When you go from 20 miles a week to over 100 miles a week on the bike you notice how your body fits to your bike in great detail. Bridget was complaining about significant pain from long rides. She was ready to give it up. I asked the boys at BioWheels about it. They suggested Bridget get a bike fit. As a result Bridget is enjoying her daily work commute better and has seen improvement on her long Sunday rides.
We spent a little over an hour with Eric at BioWheels getting Bridget and her bike fitted. We gained a tremendous amount of wisdom about how your body works with your bike. I’ll post addition clips from that fit session as part of an ongoing series about cycling and developing a solid relationship with your bike and your bike shop.
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