There were hills... all around...
... and we probably climbed up all of them.
I finally had a chance to go out with the cycling group I mentioned. Four of us started at 6:15 AM today and rode for about an hour and a quarter, then stopped for iced coffee before heading home and preparing for work.
Boy, am I not in shape for this. The others have been doing this for three years and managed the hills with relatively little trouble (compared to me, that is - the daily cyclists in their standard riding gear blew past us). I had a lot of trouble. Not only am I out of shape, my ancient 12-speed seems to be more of a problem than I had anticipated. It's heavier and clunkier than theirs, but worst of all, the chain slipped several times as I downshifted to go from downhill to uphill, jolting my knees severely and making me dismount to fix it. A trip to the bike shop is indicated - I just hope they don't laugh too hard when they see what I want them to fix.
My knees, which are crap anyway, are aching, especially the right one. I took three ibuprofen and hope the pain will subside soon. The next bike trip is scheduled for Sunday, and that won't be just an hour or so. Worst comes to worst, I'll see if I can borrow a spare bike from somebody - at least one of the guys has replaced his recently and might still have his old one.
The guys did not leave me behind, BTW. They were very encouraging, and circled back several times when I lagged. Others have apparently gone out with them and given up their first time; that's not going to happen with me, I hope. This is going to be how I get back into shape and lose some of this excess weight.
BTW, for those interested, the Act it! results for round 12 are up. I will post about it later today, but am holding off to avoid spoilers.
I finally had a chance to go out with the cycling group I mentioned. Four of us started at 6:15 AM today and rode for about an hour and a quarter, then stopped for iced coffee before heading home and preparing for work.
Boy, am I not in shape for this. The others have been doing this for three years and managed the hills with relatively little trouble (compared to me, that is - the daily cyclists in their standard riding gear blew past us). I had a lot of trouble. Not only am I out of shape, my ancient 12-speed seems to be more of a problem than I had anticipated. It's heavier and clunkier than theirs, but worst of all, the chain slipped several times as I downshifted to go from downhill to uphill, jolting my knees severely and making me dismount to fix it. A trip to the bike shop is indicated - I just hope they don't laugh too hard when they see what I want them to fix.
My knees, which are crap anyway, are aching, especially the right one. I took three ibuprofen and hope the pain will subside soon. The next bike trip is scheduled for Sunday, and that won't be just an hour or so. Worst comes to worst, I'll see if I can borrow a spare bike from somebody - at least one of the guys has replaced his recently and might still have his old one.
The guys did not leave me behind, BTW. They were very encouraging, and circled back several times when I lagged. Others have apparently gone out with them and given up their first time; that's not going to happen with me, I hope. This is going to be how I get back into shape and lose some of this excess weight.
BTW, for those interested, the Act it! results for round 12 are up. I will post about it later today, but am holding off to avoid spoilers.