SpokEasy

January 2022

Roller Coaster

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We\’ve got another temperature roller coaster coming up. Last night it fell almost to freezing; and the chill factor was 29 degrees. It was so cold that I didn\’t want to ride, except for a very short trip to a grocery store. This morning it was a few degrees warmer; and there was far less wind. Tomorrow I have to go back to work, so I rode a few extra miles while I still could. Despite double socks, my feet got cold; and my hands felt chilly although I wore my heavy \”wombat\” gloves, and used warming packs. Tonight\’s low is expected to be 50 degrees; then Thursday night, back down to 38 degrees! Honestly, it\’s easier when it\’s hot all the time. With these wild temperature swings, I need to keep multiple layers of clothing at the ready; and of course they take up valuable space. This weather roller coaster is most irksome! This morning I sure piled on the layers; and except for my hands and feet, I seemed to get it just right. My Garmin wasn\’t just right, though. Garmin Woes Last night I was tinkering with it, trying to figure out how to get my heart rate to display as I\’m riding. When I started my ride this morning, I got some kind of workout screen that I\’d never seen before. It was too cold for me to stop; take off my gloves; and try to adjust the Garmin. I had planned to work on my pace; and I can\’t do that any too well if I don\’t even know how fast I\’m riding! Eventually I got a \”Workout Complete\” message on the screen; and then the display screen that came up actually did have my heart rate on it! But this display screen also showed too many things, and such screen clutter isn\’t helpful. I need to find an online manual that can walk me through How To Adjust Your Garmin. Otherwise, as regards heart rate, I\’m stuck on this roller coaster of now-you-see-it, now-you-don\’t.

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Major Changes

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Major changes, they say, should not be made abruptly. Take it in stages; and don\’t expect big progress overnight. Somebody should tell that to our weather. We were getting high temperatures of 80 (or close to it) every day; and last night it plunged down to just above freezing! That\’s major changes, for sure. I\’m glad to see our weather get clear, even if it\’s very cold. I was tired of worrying about T-storms, and whether I\’d be able to ride. It\’s lucky, though, that Monday is off-bikes day. The chill factor now, at 10:00 am, is still below freezing; and that makes for rough riding. I did take a short ride to the closest grocery store; and even that got me plenty cold. Yesterday I got a hankering after cucumbers; and despite the low temperatures, I wanted a Diet Coke. That brings me to another point: don\’t make major changes to your diet all at once. It\’s over a year since I began to work at a prediabetes diet; and I still fall off the wagon often. My lifelong love of sweets is a major stumbling block; but then, if it weren\’t candy that\’s my downfall, it would be something else. I might have a similar love of steak; and as a result have big-time cholesterol problems! Also, it\’s unwise to make big, sudden changes in your cycling. Yesterday I made four 30-second hard pushes into a headwind; and maybe it was a bit much. In the evening, my lower back felt sore. My goal for this year is 5000 miles, but I can\’t do it all at once; and of course there will be times when I can\’t ride. Remember, \”How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.\” It\’s like that.

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Good Start?

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Did I make a good start to Cycling 2022? I guess that depends on how you look at it. I did ride yesterday, but only 11.50 miles; and that really isn\’t much. During December I rode every single day, even if only a mile or so; and that probably explains why my legs felt somewhat tired. There was quite a wind yesterday, too; and that didn\’t help. My goal for 2022 is to ride 5000 miles; and on Thursday I\’m scheduled to have some nerve ending tumors excised from my lower back. The dermatologist says I\’ll need to take it easy with the riding for a while, because I\’ll have sutures; so I want to get in some miles before then. I also want to ride while I can, before I have to return to work! Today, Sunday, is normally long-ride day; but given the forecast, I decided to do a regular, weekday-style ride. It\’s just as well I did! The wind was already 12 mph when I started; and by the time I got home, it was up to 24 mph! I\’m glad I had that wind behind me for the second half of my ride. Less than an hour after I got home, it began to rain on and off. There\’s a freeze warning in effect for tonight; and the wind will still be pretty strong. I bet the chill factor will be in the 20s tomorrow. Time to haul out the warming packs! Always Food! My diet is not off to a good start; that\’s for sure. Potato chips sure don\’t belong in any healthful eating regimen; but I\’m trying to get back on track. Yesterday afternoon I cooked chimifower; except I substituted curry powder for the chimichurri. That makes it cauliflower tikka masala! Constant carb-tracking is tiresome; and often it\’s hard to get myself to plan and prepare the kind of meals I need. Sometimes I plan my meals; and then eat something else, anyway! When I\’m at work, if I run out of the food I carried with me; and then get hungry; junk food is often my only option. When it\’s cold in here, all I want to do is stay parked in front of the electric heater. That, of course, doesn\’t help me to get any cooking done; and if I want to eat healthfully, I\’ve got to cook! It looks like the coming cold snap will be brief; so I won\’t need to sit in front of the heater as much. And I hope to get in a long ride before I must return to work. After all, I want to make a good start on this year\’s mileage goal!

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Resolution

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Here it is, resolution day again already. It seems like 2021 is barely begun; and it\’s 2022! A common New Year\’s resolution is to lose weight. I don\’t need to lose more than a pound or two; but I do need to work harder to keep my diet on a more even keel. Even when I keep a day\’s carb allowance within bounds, I eat too much candy and other sweets! I wonder whether I should rethink my on-bike food. For a long time, I\’ve been using FitCrunch and other commercially available bars; but can I do better? Day before yesterday I was browsing through Feed Zone Portables. I\’ve tried some of the rice cake recipes in the past; but looking at them now, they might be too high in carbs for someone who\’s concerned about A1c levels. For example, there are Swiss Rice Cakes, on page 83. The recipe makes 15 cakes; each measuring 0.6 x 0.8 inches. One cake has 177 calories; and 28 grams of carbs. How many of those rice cakes would I need over a 40-mile ride? Just two of those cakes is nearly the calorie equivalent of one FitCrunch bar; and with far more carbs. I also had problems getting those rice cakes the right consistency. They tended to fall apart when I picked them up; and I disliked the way they stuck all over my teeth. Maybe I\’d better stick with FitCrunch bars. 2022 As I said, I can\’t believe it\’s already 2022 already. Is riding a century this year a good resolution? If I really am going to put in a 100-mile day, when will I do it? Maybe in April? By then our weather might be in a good temperature range. I don\’t want to do a major event when it\’s freezing; but not when it\’s broiling hot, either! If there were an organized century right here, I might spring for that. If I had a definite event to aim for, I might do better at working to improve my pace. As it is, I keep falling short. Is my training off? A resolution to do a big ride on a certain day can fall flat if the weather isn\’t cooperative when that day comes. I had been aiming to do a century this past October; but Ida put paid to that. I lost several weeks of real riding; and only now do I feel like I\’m back to my pre-Ida level. How fast do I want to do that century? If I want to ride 100 miles in seven hours, I need to average over 14 mph; and that doesn\’t include rest breaks. I need to work at riding 15-16 mph; maybe even faster! For short periods — say up to five minutes — I can do 15 mph; that is, as long as I\’m not battling a stiff headwind. And there\’s a big concern of mine for century day. Wind. How well I remember my first century, when I battled the wind all day long on an adult tricycle! Oh, and another resolution: ride 5000 miles this year!

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