Views from the ride:
And the results! Yes, I realize people run faster than this, but they don't have to stop for traffic or probably eat as much good food or drink as much beer as I do.
Views from the ride:
And the results! Yes, I realize people run faster than this, but they don't have to stop for traffic or probably eat as much good food or drink as much beer as I do.
Going up hill with Zach far in the lead while I was walking up the hill and munching a granola bar.
Zach and I both had long weekends this past weekend, so we took off for the Trapper Creek and Talkeetna areas to do some fat tire biking and cross country skiing. We tried out the snowmachine trails around Trapper Creek on Sunday and learned that fat tire biking is fun but hard work. While on biking the road its not much different than regular biking on pavement, but once there's any softness to the trail, it's a lot of pushing. I think I walked at least 1/3 of the time we were on the first trail. Later we were pointed to a harder trail and I wish we would have started there as we didn't go far before we were both beat.
Usually, during my lunch hour I sit at my desk and eat my lunch while continuing to work. Today I just couldn't. All of the problems we try to solve at work just got to feeling insurmountable, so I stepped away. Instead, I indulged in two of my most recent addictions, berries and biking.
Today I took Zach's old Raleigh road bike and turned it into a single speed. Zach helped, of course, but I learned a lot more about how bikes work. The first picture is of the refinished bike. The others are in-progress pics.
Today is bike to work day in Anchorage, but my personal goal is not bike to work from May 1st through the end of the summer with the only exception being the days I have to go to court when my boss insists I drive. Yesterday I took biking to work a step further and biked to work, then to a mid-day training then home then back out for a birthday party and home. All in all, a day without driving netted me about 25 miles on the bike. It's interesting to know how many miles I traveled since I don't pay much attention when I'm driving. Actually, I'm surprised how many miles I covered. Today I biked to and from work and plan not to get in the car unless its absolutely necessary; of course the beautiful weather helps make that easier. Let's see how long until I need to get in a car again, maybe not until next Wed. when I have to go to court. That would be nice.
So after the initial test ride on Thursday, Friday I biked to work. It took about 40 minutes and I was quite fortunate that the sidewalks on my route were plowed. I had a couple of close calls, but didn't fall. Surprising, I wasn't cold, but later in the day biking just about 4 blocks, I froze. I think figuring out the right outfit is crucial to winter biking success. Here's a picture of me before I headed out Friday morning.
This new activity has taken some planning and will take a lot more practice. Yesterday I purchased studded bike tires. Then I learned how to change my bike tires, something I probably should have learned long ago, but at least now I can do it. Tonight, fortified with beer and pizza, I took the bike for a spin in the snow. Spin really is the operative word; the back tire has little traction and the bike tends to go where it wants. Nonetheless, I didn't fall and probably biked a half mile, all told.
I've got lofty ambitions to bike to work in the morning, but the half mile took a lot longer than when there isn't snow and its ALOT more work. Maybe if I leave at 7 am I can bike the three miles before 8am, but that may be wishful thinking as well. The really question is, if I bike to work in the snow, will I have enough energy leftover to work? Well, at least tomorrow's Friday, so maybe expectations will be low.
Zach and I did our usual Saturday grocery shopping this morning, but decided since it was so nice out that we'd go by bike. While we've run errands to the store on bike, we've never done full fledged grocery shopping. Zach hooked up Frodo's bike trailer and off we went. About two and a half hours later we were done, only about a half hour additional time with the biking (we also stopped to eat some spring rolls by the duck pond at the library). If you read Zach's previous post from our food blog, here, about our grocery shopping habits, you'll see why it took so long. Today we went to Natural Pantry, mainly to comparison shop organic veggies vs. our CSA box, New Sagaya, the new eastern European market, International Market and finally Fred Myers.
Last night I had another Pilates class, but was feeling pretty tired and thought that biking to class might wake me up. It's only about 1.5 miles away, so no big deal really. But, it was getting dark and I knew it would be dark when it was over at 9pm. I biked anyway and it was nice. I can't believe it's taken me over 2 years since I bought a headlight for my bike to finally use it. The most challenging part was to make sure I was lined up on the curb cutouts when crossing streets. My night vision isn't the best and the last thing I wanted to do was a flip over the curb, which from experience, sad to say, really sucks. I think this was a good test for biking to work, if the weather continues to hold, since its still dark when I have to head out, even when driving.
