A Sunny Snail's Pace

I'm not fast and that's okay. Today was a good morning. I slept in until the sun was coming up and got to go out and enjoy a nice sunrise. A few clouds made the sky interesting, but it was mostly blue skies. I took the trike out and thought about how much I enjoy the recumbent ride. I'd like to get a StreetMachine Gte one day, but that won't happen any time soon! It looks fantastic.

Until then, I'll enjoy what I have.

I saw a couple of these snails on the trail and made sure I didn't hit them. I love how the light turns them into luminous beings. Beautiful!

Stars, Moon, and Bare Feet

Yesterday I was tired all day. It was hard to get through the day because I was so tired. Shortly after dinner I sat down to read and fell asleep. When I got up this morning I had planned to go for a run, but still feeling tired, I scaled that back to a walk around the neighborhood. And if I was going to walk, I could try it barefoot. Or at least barefoot part of the way. I took my Xero Shoes along because the road is very rough and I figured I'd want to switch.

Outside the sky was clear. The air was cool, not cold, actually a perfect temperature. A crescent moon hung in the sky surrounded by stars. I don't know all of the constellations, but I recognized Orion. The neighborhood was mostly dark, but there are some streetlights (I took the picture above under one of the lights). A lot of the houses have porch lights on, some more than one. After walking a while barefoot I could tell the ball of my foot was getting irritated. Either my form, the rough road, or a combination, threatening to raise a blister. I stopped and put on the Xero Shoes at that point and continued.

It was pretty peaceful until a car came down the road toward me when I was almost back home. They slowed, nearly stopped, then drove past, turned into a driveway and turned around to drive past again before turning on the street where I was going to turn. I think they were lost because they did turn into a house on that street and park. Otherwise, no cars, no dogs chasing me.

I still feel like I could use some rest, but it was good to get out and walk. I need to do more barefoot walking, I haven't been barefoot outside nearly enough this year!

Morning Mountain Bike Ride

Not a lot to say about the ride this morning. Yesterday we had a bunch of rain and a flood advisory, but this morning the moon and stars peeked through the clouds. A few puddles remained, but not much. It was just a nice cool, dark, morning ride.

Tough Trike Morning

I say tough, but it wasn't really all that hard of a morning ride. The trouble was waking up, hearing the water gurgling down the drainpipe outside the window, dripping from the trees, and playing the mental game. I've got a lot to do, a novel to write, a cover to paint, and have to leave early for work. Maybe it was better to just get up and do those things. Or even sleep longer, that was tempting.

In the end I got up. If I can't spend a half-hour exercising, that's pretty sad, isn't it? Of course it ends up taking longer than that, to get dressed, get the trike out, put it back when I'm done, etc. Still, if I don't have my health, that would be worse.

Running too

It rained last night, but had stopped by the time I got out to run. I woke up at midnight last night and spent the next hour trying to sleep. Giving up on that approach, I went to my computer and worked on my latest novel for a while. It's the third book in a fantasy series, Goblin Alley, about a young runner who discovers that alleys connect to the faerie realm, to the goblin city, and he becomes involved in a series of adventures. Naturally, it ends up meaning a lot of running. I'm relaunching the first book next year, along with the second (unreleased right now) and the third.

I'm out of shape right now. My running has an awful lot of walking in it at the moment. That's okay. I got out there and I did what I could. The app didn't track the time I spent fiddling around to take the picture, but according to my stopwatch I was running for exactly 30 minutes.

Early Ride

It's pretty much back to riding in the dark again. About the only time I have to ride is early in the morning, soon after getting up, and it's still dark. It actually started getting light on the way back but the sun still wasn't quite up. I don't mind so much since I have a good light. The picture looks darker than it seems while riding.

Reboot

I'd like to say I've been riding, and running, and it'd be the truth. I have. I'm at 54.93 miles for the month of August. It's the most I've done since I February and March this year. When I last posted in April I had planned to bike every day and then the impact of doing two jobs hit home. With the longer commute I simply didn't have time. The second job ended in June and I've gradually been doing more each month since.

Weight Drags Me Down

The trouble with getting back into exercising regularly, and eating better, is that I've put on quite a few pounds this year. I'm back up nearly at the heaviest I've weighed. It's like I've picked up a big bag of dog food and am trying to get out and run or bike lugging that around. No wonder people end up in a cycle of gaining weight and exercising less, which leads to more weight gain, and so on until getting up off the couch is a chore.

I'm not making as much progress as I'd like. I've tracked my weight since June 30th and it has gone up and down. In the end? No progress. I'm going to start figuring out what I want to eat, based mostly on a paleo/primal approach, and ease into that. I'm also getting back into riding, running, and aping around again (using the Gorilla Workout). In addition to tracking weight changes, I'm going to take weekly pictures of myself to compare how things change.

Today's Ride

I went out for a loop around home on local streets. It started on the Yelm-Tenino Trail and then went out in a loop that took me out around us and back up through town to the trail again, and then home. Along the way I saw this little donkey in a field. He ran along the fence wanting to get a good look at this strange person on a trike with flags waving. He came up and got a good look while I took the picture. Didn't seem scared at all. Fun ride, some good hills that took some effort to climb (really not in shape). Cars on the road gave me wide berth, there wasn't any shoulder or anything on these roads. 

I'd like to think I'll be more consistent about this going forward.

Riding Again

Back in March I signed the pledge at the 30DaysofBiking site to ride each day in April. I've sort of participated before, without ever finishing riding every day. I usually do a few days, start missing days and lapse into my usual habits again. I thought that this year I might make more of an effort.

Then I was asked to take on an additional job at my day job, starting in April. The additional duties means an extra hour out of my day each day in increased commuting time. And its too far to commute by bike, so that means driving. I figured that was the end of this year's attempt!

Instead, I've gotten up each morning this month and I've gone out for a ride. Sometimes when you're busy, it is more important than ever to exercise. I'm not making any promises that I'll keep it up, but so far it's helping.

Bike Bus Bike Commute

Transit Option

In looking at going to Transportation Advocacy Day, I realized that I had an option to commute to work by adding the bus into my transportation tool kit. Seems obvious, but I hadn't realized it was an option.

Years ago, I biked, walked and rode the bus all the time. I didn't own a car. That wasn't an option to get around. Other than renting a car for vacations, I didn't drive. Then we got a car and driving became the rule. In fact, hardly a day passes when I don't spend time in the car! 

Time in the car gets you where you're going. That's about it. I know some people listen to talking books, I tend to tune those out. Mostly, time in the car is sedentary, maybe enjoying the scenery, except it passes by so fast. And you're isolated from it, enclosed in the car.

Riding to work means a ~17-20 mile ride each way depending on the route I take. Ten miles down the Yelm-Tenino trail, and then another ten down old highway 99. Or head down the Chehalis-Western trail and then over on Waldrick to 99 again, or down the CW trail to Yelm Highway and over. Nice rides. Except then after work I have to turn around and do it again, and it's uphill going home!

That's a harder distance to ride. I've been building up my strength, but riding back from Olympia the other day wore me out, and that was only one way!

Finding out that the Yelm transit route ran more than I thought, however, opened up another possibility. Ride to Yelm (which is weird, because I'm going away from work) ~4.96 mi, catch the bus (bike on the rack) and ride it down to Boulevard in Olympia (closest stop to work), and then ride to work ~3.7 mi. In all it adds up to about 17.47 miles, as tracked by my Endomondo app. About the same distance as it'd take to ride one way.

As far as the time it takes, well, it works out essentially the same as if I had ridden to work. That is, the time it takes to ride to Yelm, catch the bus, ride the bus to the nearest stop, then ride to work, is pretty much the same amount of time it would take for me to ride all the way to work from home. There's no time savings there. 

Yet, it cuts the daily mileage down to ~17 miles instead of ~34-40 miles. And the mileage is broken up into four shorter segments that pass quickly. 

Added bonus, on the bus ride I can read! That's at least 30 minutes each way when I have time to read. Between work, writing and everything else, it can be a challenge finding time to read. So I spend an hour and a half riding the bike, and at least an hour reading each day. 

Cost savings

I'm considering getting a monthly bus pass next month. Each day I don't drive the car saves ~$4, just in gas costs. If I was getting mileage reimbursements for driving it'd be more like $23 a day. Just figuring the $4 in gas, though, means $20 per week, up to $80-$100 per month. A bus pass is $36, a savings of $44-$64 dollars a month if I didn't drive to work.

Taking that out further, considering mileage reimbursements. That's not only for gas, but overall operating costs of the vehicle. If I'm driving the car less, that reduces our other expenses related to that also. I'll still drive it for errands, but that's usually one trip a week instead of the six days a week I've been driving.

What about health? We're talking about making health a priority in our state DOT policies, shouldn't it be a priority in our own personal transportation policies too? If I'm riding to work, with or without the bus, I'm going to be healthier and in better shape, and hopefully then less healthcare expenses. 

Moving forward

At least looking at the option of combining bike-bus transportation gives me another option when looking at how I get to work. It isn't that I have to ride the entire distance each way. If I'm tired, if I want to read, I can take the bus. If I'm just in a mood to ride, I can ride the whole distance. Or take the bus in the morning and ride back in the evening. Or the other way around. It just gives me another option.

This next week I'll probably do that at least one of the days, maybe more, but it's a short week. A week from today I'm heading down to Oregon for a writing workshop and I'll be off work until March. If I get the bus pass then I'll have that next month and may put in quite a few more miles!

Transportation Advocacy Day

Yesterday was Transportation Advocacy Day. I usually feel too busy to volunteer for various causes. Like many people I get so caught up in my daily life that I don't tend to stop and think about this sort of thing. When I heard about this, however, for once I thought about it.

I could take the day off, and spend a day advocating for something I feel is important. Safer streets, health as a priority when we think about our transportation system in this state. Maintenance of our existing transportation structure. It isn't all about riding bikes. It's transit and sidewalks, and road design.

If I was going to spend the day advocating for this sort of thing, I also wanted to see how our current system locally works.

Option A. Ride my bike to and from the event. I wasn't sure I was up for that, so I picked Option B.

Option B. Ride my bike to Yelm, catch the bus down to Olympia and reverse on the way back.

Option C. Drive. I didn't really want to deal with parking and everything else downtown, and I'm trying to use the car less.

I rode the bike to Yelm and got on the bus fine. There was one other bike on the rack, no issues there. After looking at schedules I realized that this might be an option to get to work. Ride to Yelm, bus near work (<4 miles), ride to work, and then reverse going back. It'd be about 16 miles of riding each day. I'd also have time to read on the bus. Something to consider.

The day went well. I went around with two other folks from my district to talk to our representatives and senator, which ended up meaning that we talked to legislative aides and dropped off material. That was fine. The breakout sessions at the event were informative and interesting.

I finished up at around 3:00 PM and went to catch the bus. I'd lost my pass earlier, so I stopped first at the bank to get change. Then I waited for the bus back to Yelm. When it came the bike rack was full already.

That was the flaw in the plan. The next bus was an hour later. It was chilly. I could have killed an hour downtown, except I didn't really want to do that. I decided to ride out to Yelm Highway, and see how much longer it'd be until the bus came along. I headed off, through Olympia, and riding up the Woodland Trail. It was nice to ride the trail again. I haven't done that in a long time. I took it up to the Chehalis-Western Trail, and from there out to Yelm Highway.

When I got there I still had over a half-hour to wait for the bus. If I caught the bus (if the bike rack wasn't full this time), I'd still have a five mile ride home from Yelm, plus it'd take at least a half-hour to get to Yelm. So that'd be another hour, at least, plus the half-hour ride home from Yelm. And Rainier road was right there, just down the street. If I rode I could be home probably before I would get home if I waited for the bus.

That's what I did. Set off riding home. There's quite a few hills. I wasn't sure I could make it, given that I'm still healing from the surgery and haven't ridden this much in months. Of course once I was on my way there wasn't a good bail-out option. No buses to catch on this road. No one to call to get a ride. Pretty much committed at that point.

I kept going. Slowly. Slow does it. I made it home. I'm not sure it was faster than waiting for the bus, but it was fun all the same!

Build Up

First Thing

I want to get back to riding to work at least three days a week. Actually, that's not right because I hadn't been doing that before the surgery. I'd ride one or two days, but inconsistently. So I guess I really want to build up to riding three days a week. That gives me alternate days to rest, run, or do other exercises. 

To help make it happen, I think I need to get out first thing. It's dark, often cold this time of the year, but too easy to put off otherwise. And it is a great way to wake up. This morning that's what I decided to do. I got ready and went out right away.

Recovering

Since going to the doctor's and confirming that, even if it hurts some, I'm not going to create a problem with the surgery site, it's easier to ignore the pain. I'll still watch it and back off if it gets too much but it wasn't that bad this morning.

Distance

My commute is at least 17 miles, possibly 20 miles, depending on the route. One way, meaning that any commute day is ~34-40 miles long. I'll need to build up to that, so going out first thing gives me more freedom to do that too. I can get up, spend the time, and then come back and get ready. It's hard to fit in everything I need to do with exercise and health, but oddly it seems like the more I do it's easier to get focused on getting things done. I've installed the free version of Rescue Time too, just to see what it can do to help. I do a lot of work on my iPad so it'd be better if there was a client there, so that it tracked things while I switched between devices. I believe they're working on that.

In any case, I'll be building the distance until I feel comfortable with being able to go to work and back without feeling too wiped out.

License to Ride

Yesterday I paid a visit to the doctor, to ask if the pain I was feeling from the surgery was normal or not. It was a good news, bad news answer. Yes. I suppose anyone that's had surgery knows that recovery can take quite a while. Nothing's wrong, it's just going to hurt as I increase my activity level. Eventually it'll stop, but not right away.

At least what I'm doing isn't going to mess it up, which was my main concern.

So with that news I'm getting back on the bike. And the trike. And running. And body weight exercises. I'm not, however, going to try to do a streak or any of that. I want to get back up to riding the bike (or trike) to work, so that's my goal. I'd like to get to the point where I'm riding to work more often than driving. If I get too sore, though, I'll have to take rest days off. I'll just see how it goes.

The other good news from today's ride - my business license for Glittering Throng Press came through! The website is being revamped so that we'll be able to sell e-books and print books directly to readers. Stay tuned!

Deleted, Restored, Renamed

After my last post I became frustrated with being in pain and thought I'd remove the blog for good. I deleted it, but Blogger gives you a 90 day recycling bin. After a few days I decided to restore the blog and changed the name. Why the name change? Mostly because I started "Read Leader" when I was doing the Thurston County Bicycle Commuter Contest, and since I'm no longer participating in BCC, it didn't seem to work any more.

Fiction Rider worked better for me, playing on fiction writer.

Yesterday I went for a short ride out and around town. It wasn't much, but it was nice to get out. This next week I'm going to see the doctor, and make sure that I'm healing normally. I think so. I think it just isn't as fast as I would hope.

In the meantime I'm not going to do any streaks or challenges. I'll ride and run when I can. I'd like to get to a point where I'm commuting regularly by bike and I'd like to take up some of my challenges to ride to the libraries and state parks.

Short Streak: Resting

I've got to take a rest day. At least. I hate to do so, I just can't ignore the fact that the surgery site has gotten more painful as the week goes on. I started to do the gorilla workout this morning and there was no way I could get through even two rounds of the exercises, and it was supposed to be 10 rounds! It just hurt too much. I can take ibuprofen to help, but that doesn't mean that I'm not pushing it too much. It's frustrating! I'm trying to get in better shape and this keeps dragging me back. I'm going to give it today and hopefully go for a ride or something tomorrow. I really want to build back up to riding my bike to work again, I don't know how long that'll take.

Streak 4: Gorilla Time

This morning I made it through the Gorilla workout, and decided not to go out for a run as I'd considered.

Streak 3: Warmer!

I'm going to track my exercise streak, renumbering if I miss a day. I do something similar with my writing (I've written every day without fail for the past 70 days). Counting from Monday then, that makes today the third day. Adding the Gorilla Workout exercises makes it more likely that I'll keep the streak going. This morning I did the Gorilla workout first thing in the morning when I got up, and then went for my ride on the trike a bit later.

The temperature this morning was a balmy 34°F! It makes a difference. My layers handled it just fine (actually got a little too warm), it's when it gets down under freezing that I have more of an issue. Particularly my feet. Even with the shoe covers my feet eventually start freezing. Today I went up around through town and tackled the biggest hill there is nearby — not much of a hill, granted. The trike has a 3-speed hub, so I went into the lowest gear and pedaled on up, stopping to take a picture looking down on the town.
 

Daily Challenge 9: Proof

I haven't been getting out with the cold weather. Today it was up to 34°F when I got home from work, and the sun was just setting, so I took a quick ride! First time on the bike in almost two weeks. I didn't bother with my bike gear, for the most part. I pulled on my light-weight pants over the pants I was wearing for another layer and wind-break, put on my bike sandals, strapped down the pants legs and got my helmet. Then I was out, getting on the bike and riding up into town. I took a quick run to the post office and picked up the proof of the new edition of Dark Matters, the first book in my Moreau Society series.

I'm happy with the proof. It looks pretty good, I think, and is an improved edition. Soon I'll relaunch the second book — The Gingerbread House — and then the new novel in the series, Past Lives.

Daily Gorilla: Day 2

Two days of doing the Gorilla Workout app has reminded me how very out of shape I am! It's one thing to be able to ride the bike for my commute, that works few muscles. I'm out of shape in how poorly I move! Today's exercises in the tiny ape, easy level 1 settings, were 'superman' and 'deadbug' exercises, both movements that shouldn't be that hard to do. I did the exercises, poorly.

Take the superman exercises. On your stomach, arms out above your head along the floor, lift arms and legs so that you're 'flying,' supported on your chest. That was a struggle, just to get my arms and legs up a tiny bit. The deadbug exercise has you on your back, lowering an arm and leg to the ground. Yeah, if I'm on my back, my arms don't move back that far.

My joints are stiff from inactivity. My muscles are weak. So it's a good thing that I'm doing this. It makes a good addition to the other activities. Time to rebuild and get into shape.

And it's 20°F outside right now. My bike gear doesn't work for temperatures that low, so still no riding. Next winter I hope to be better prepared. In the meantime, I can work on other muscles.

Daily Gorilla

Tiny Ape Workout

I am so out of shape. Not good when I want to do things like ride the Tour Divide, or run an ultramarathon. I'm forty-one, and both my day job, and my work as a writer/artist, are essentially sedentary jobs. I like getting out and riding and running, but even that isn't a complete workout. I've been wanting to get started doing body weight exercises, and hadn't found something yet that helped get me going in that direction. Finally, I figured I just had to do it and picked up the Gorilla Workout app.

It is simple. Very basic. On the main screen you choose your fitness level based on the number of push ups that you can do. This is where I swallowed my ego and picked the tiny ape, level one, 0-10 push ups. The screenshot above essentially shows how the app works. Each day you are given a workout. If you want more information about  how to do the workout, you tap the name and it shows you a detailed text description, with a button at the bottom to watch a video demonstration.

When you're ready, you work through the exercises. There's not a lot more than that to the app. I did a short break between each round, and then went on to the next. After you finish, you tap the Workout Complete button at the bottom. No animations, stickers or anything like that, but it does popup an option to share to Facebook and Twitter.

Yes, I'm out of shape and doing the tiny ape workout. Public reporting is a good way to stay on target with goals like this, so I'm sharing my progress. There may be better options. I don't know. I didn't spend a ton of time looking. This seems like it'll work, and get me doing more exercise. It's also nice to be doing something. With the freezing cold temperatures outside I haven't been out on the bike. My weight is still going down, thanks to diet at least!

Daily Challenge 8: Drenched

Last night there was a wind advisory. I woke up hearing the wind howl and the rain pounding down. No way I was going out in that. I'd be crazy.

Yet when 6:00 AM rolled around, I was ready to head out on the trike!

It was pouring. The wind had let up a bit. It was dark. I pushed on anyway, and rode off into the downpour. The dread of the weather is often much worse than the weather itself. Out in the stormy weather, it's actually exhilarating! Still, I didn't have much time, and it was very wet, so I limited myself to a short loop up through town. It was fun!

Daily Challenge 7: Trail

A few sprinkles today, but mostly a nice cloudy day. This time when I went out to run I went off on the undeveloped trail right from the start, and followed it up into town. It's a nice break from the paved trail, if a bit overgrown at points. It obviously gets used, since it isn't completely overgrown.

Daily Challenge 6: Proof

I went out for a quick ride this morning, just up to the post office. The proof for my book Downland arrived! I actually released this book years ago, but this is a new edition with more fixes, better formatting, and original cover art. The ride itself was cold, windy and dark, and fun!

Daily Challenge 5: Trail Running

Off today, so I waited until I had already spent some time writing and painting before I went outside for my run. I've been reading Eat & Run: My Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek (checked out the e-book from my local library). I've been enjoying it so far. Something he said caught my eye. It wasn't anything I haven't heard before, but maybe with enough repetition it'll sink in. He talked about running slow. Walking as needed. Not worrying about time and distance. All good points. The key for me is that I need to put in the time out on my feet. Not run down the street and back, huffing and puffing, gasping for air and call it good after fifteen minutes! So today I set out to do a loop up around through town. I figured even if I walked much of it (which I did), it'd take less than an hour. Mostly because my time to exercise is usually limited. I might have an hour set aside.

It worked out pretty much as I expected. I got too hot, I ran as I could. I left the paved trail for a dirt trail that more or less went the same way, and that was fun. I'd really like to get out more on trails, but to get to most of them I'd have to drive somewhere first. That's usually not an option.

In anycase, it was a nice run/walk. I'm slowly building up my strength and endurance!

Daily Challenge 4: Afternoon

I enjoy my early morning rides. Even the dark and the cold. It's nice, however, to get out in the afternoon when I can see the world around me. This was a good afternoon for a ride. Cold, not freezing. Cloudy, not raining. Not exactly a summer day, but still a nice change from most of my recent rides.

I weighed in today, down 2.5 pounds since the last weighing in December. That's a good way to start the year! With my surgery a couple months ago, and the recovery after, I've gained quite a few pounds. Nice to see those start coming off. I'm still a good 25 lbs heavier than I'd like to be. I've been eating better lately, much more leafy greens and vegetables, little junk food. It isn't quite primal/paleo, because I am eating some grains, pasta and bread and it isn't a raw food diet because I do have cooked foods and meat in there too. I'm taking things from both of those approaches, with an emphasis on raw plants, some meat and allowing some degree of grain-based and cooked foods.

Daily Challenge 3: Icy Trike

I didn't have time to post yesterday about my ride on the trike. I went out at 6:00 AM, as usual, and it was freezing! Even colder than the day before, down to 20°F, everything frosted. Beautiful, though, with a half-moon and clear skies.

I bundled up with multiple layers, and even my shoes covers to help keep my feet warm. At first I was really toasty riding down the trail. I was having so much fun that I decided to go all the way to the connection to the Chehalis-Western Trail before turning around. I hadn't planned on going that far, but it was too much fun.

By the time I was heading back home my feet were like two icy, painful blocks attached to my pedals. Partly, I think, because of the position on the trike. Blood doesn't pump as well to your toes with the feet elevated like that. My fingers, with two glove layers, were pretty warm except a couple finger tips. And my eyelashes kept trying to freeze together.

Still, fun ride. Slow! The last three days made themselves felt in tired muscles, adding to that to the weight of the layers and the trike. I'm taking today as a rest day, planning to get back out on Saturday.

Daily Challenge 2: Freezing Fog

I went out for a run this morning, down to the trail and back. I bundled up before going out. It was 25°F, cold, but not too bad. It was also very foggy (see above), and everything was frosted. No barefoot running under these conditions. Instead I wore my Vivobarefoot Breatho shoes, which are nice. I'll start incorporating more barefoot work when the weather improves!

Daily Challenge 1: Dusting

First ride of the New Year! Partly cloudy day, but cold. I bundled up and headed down the Yelm Tenino trail. I've gotten terribly out of shape and want to build back up to riding to work. That's twice as far as I rode today, each way! So I only did a quarter of what the commute takes. I can cut that distance down by 3-4 miles, depending on the route taken. It's still a good long day of riding.

I wasn't expecting it, but along the trail were areas that had obviously gotten snow yesterday. It snowed when we were in town but I didn't see it sticking anywhere. I guess it missed us!

I'm starting over with the numbering of the challenge posts. I don't know that I'll go out every day, but I'll be curious to see how many days I get in something this year!