Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Fitness Update 198

Well, looks like the 198.5 reading was a fluke (probably came from being too dehydrated after a ride), so I haven't officially hit the 200lb target yet (maybe another week or two). No problem, I'm perfectly happy as long as I feel that I'm making progress overall and that my fitness level is improving.

I did go riding yesterday (even with dinner plans). Things were a little stressful today at work, trying to keep on top of things and dealing with the new car issues (first you tell me I'll get it Wednesday, now you're saying the shop needs until Friday to get it ready?); and I had a good bit of anxiety from first date jitters. So I figured it would be a good idea to go for a hard and fast 10 mile ride right after work to get rid of some of that stress (take it out on the trail) and to be nice and relaxed for the evening. Going down I did the ride in 22 minutes and came back in 21 minutes (13.95mph) which was under my target of 45 minutes (13.5mph) for the ride but above my (current) dream time of 40 minutes (15mph).

Took a good pratfall at one of the road crossings though. Usually, it's enough to just slow up, check for (mostly non-existent) traffic and then charge across the road crossing. No such luck yesterday, right as I rolled up to the crossing there were cars coming in both directions so I had to do a quick dismount. Now, I wear toe-clips that are not tightened (I have big feet that barely fit in the toe clips as it is so I don't have to tighten the straps) so it should have been perfectly simple to pull the right foot out and lean to the right when I came to a stop, neh? Ha! As soon as I lost momentum, I made the mistake of steering left instead of right and leaned the bike over (as in, laid it down with me on it) on the left side (where I was still strapped in). Fortunately, I managed to get away with just scraping off some skin cells with the path gravel. But you feel like a clumsy idiot doing it and picking yourself back up (I was saved the embarrasment of being witnessed by any passing cyclists, just had to endure the glances of a few passing motorists).

On a side note, I had a really good time at dinner last night...

posted by Wuphon's at 6:46 AM