Reflections on my time away from cycling


Edomondo mileage report by month
Next month will be the one year anniversary of the most traumatic event of my life.  I was cruising the Internet relaxing today and was looking at my mileage for the last few months.  In March 2014 I was on target to break the miles that I rode in February 2014 when I was hit on March 17.  For the next 8 months I hardly rode my remaining mountain bike.  Starting on December 2, 2014 I started bike commuting my new bike.

One of the key successes that I can attribute to my quick recovery to getting my miles back up on my bike so quickly is that my wife +Sylvia Wormley has taken excellent care of me.  I decided to let her manage my diet and health during my recovery from the accident.  She is my crew chief when it comes to keeping me on a path to better health. During the 8 months off the bike I did not gain back the weight that I had lost the previous year.  I cut out all of my consumption of products with corn syrup.  I eat a lot of salads with protein.  I take vitamin and mineral supplements.  I am consulting with a functional doctor.  All of these factors have helped me to remain healthy so that when I am out on my bike I can fully concentrate on the bike.

My new motto for this year is "Ride Like You Mean It".  This is not to say I am not going to enjoy myself on my cycling adventures.  This is to say that I am going to be focused on my cycling adventures. Never again will I take it for granted that I will always be able to ride a bike.  Being off the bike was not a show stopper for my life, things when on and I made it through.  What cycling does do for my life is add the icing to the cake.  Cycling is the cherry on top of my life.  So every time I put on my cycling gear and get on my bike I am going to make sure that I have the best ride of my life.  I am going to ride and leave nothing to be said that I did not do on that ride.

In 2014 I wanted to ride 10,000 miles, I only rode 3,094 miles. Riding 10,000 miles is my goal for this year too, but I am also adding some extras to my cycling goals for 2015.  I want to ride 100 miles with 15,000 feet of elevation.  I also want to do a 200 mile ride and ride for 24 hours without sleeping.  When I set a goal of 10,000 miles in one year I have to add some fun into the miles so that I will enjoy accomplishing my goal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1999 Serotta Rapid Tour

Image
I wanted to capture some of the information on the Internet written about my bike, a custom 1999 Serotta Rapid Tour (SRT).  I have about 10,000 miles on this bike.  This year alone I have 2,500 miles on it.  I have 1,000 miles so fare in April on this bike.  I have can only remember one major tune up done on this bike. Here is an interesting discussion that I found about my bike on the Pace Line Forum .  Here is a quote about the bike that I own and love "Rapid Tour was Serotta's version of a bike that would fit reasonably sized tires with fenders, and could carry light luggage for credit card touring. In a word, "sensible" and not just a fair weather toy for let's play racer. There's nothing "low end" about that." ~ palincss 05-01-2010 03:33 PM I think that I have upgraded my components from what was on the stock SRT.  My SRT has Shimano Ultegra derailleur and the stock SRT has a Shimano 105 derailleur.  Here a photo of a stock SRT.
Read more

Go to a whole new level

Image
Cycle Thunder II I am recovering from a near death experience that happened on March 17, 2014.  I was hit from behind on my way to work and could have died, but I did not.  I could make up all sorts of excuses of why I should never get on a bike again, but that is not who I am. Cycle Thunder I was sitting in my living room this past week in front of the TV and my wife was napping beside me.  Out of nowhere I starting sobbing and tears flowed freely from my eyes.  Was I mourning the lost of a bicycle?  I went to work for two days this week and I carried my bike in the back of my truck.  I have not had the heart to take it out since getting it from the Dougerty Police Department.  I guess I am having a hard time of letting it go. Before I had this accident I had already made up in my mind that this 1999 Serotta Rapid Tour was the last bicycle that I would ever buy.  I had already decided that I would only ride just so fast and that I would never be able to keep up with
Read more

Strava Segment Madness

Image
I did not set up the segment.  I did not want to participate in the segment.  I found myself looking at my results and wondering who was number on on the segment leader board list and then I was hooked. There are not too many hills in here in SW Georgia, but one of them is near my job.  This segment is on the final approach to the ASU campus.  The grade is a measly .7% to 1.4% (54M to 64M) over a distance of about 2 KM.  The record was held by  Edward Picolo  at 4 minutes and 3 seconds.  When I started bike commuting in September 2012 I was generally tired at this point of my commute.  When I started using Strava in January 2013 I discovered the segment and I was a bit stronger in my endurance and I was always making an effort to finish strong up this hill. Only 5 riders appear on the leader board since 2012.  I have been competing against my best efforts for a few months until yesterday when I decided that I was going to beat 4:03 on the segment. I finished at 3:48 and I was am
Read more