It’s the last day of August as I write, and the first of September or after when you’re reading this. It’s a balmy 88 degrees F after dark, but in a couple of days that will be the high with some rain in the forecast. After a 20-mile bicycle ride on a scary section of road, I am gorging on a sweet, succulent nectarine, one of those tasty Texas stone fruits harvested in the hot months. I chase it with some chocolate plant protein powder in water, not as bad as it sounds. Classical music, my usual soundtrack, swells and diminishes. There’s a ton of craptastic stuff I’m dealing with. Life keeps lifeing, someone said recently. In some ways, life is not so crappy. My biking is still a struggle, but I keep on truckin’. Which column do my bike numbers go in? Probably some of both. Let’s find out what this dude’s been doin’.
My weekly average mileage is looking pretty good at 104 per week. That’s especially true considering I’m still doing most days on the trainer to rest my sore shoulder. After about 45 minutes my butt starts getting a little sore, I need to urinate, or time is running out because I tend to go to the gym too late. Subconciously, I might be undercutting myself at the gym, because I’d much rather be out on the road. Except as mentioned in my last post, there are benefits to using the indoor bike. Check out 8/8/2024: The Twelve Days of Bike Trainer. Lately, with the shoulder giving me less trouble, I’ve done some more road rides to try to reach my goal. It’s actually 110 per week, and I’m a little behind.
As summer slowly subsides, and the horrible humid hotness with it, I look forward to weather conditions that are more conducive to cycling. There will be rain, though, so the trainer is more and more a better option than suiting up and riding in the rain. Another fall in autumn would be doubleplusungood, and one gets wet no matter how good your poncho, rain pants, and shoe protectors are. Cycling when the temperature cools down to where you need a light jacket is the best. Northern bicyclist friends and bloggers have already started to feel the coolness. Of course they have the opposite weather, not unlike those in the Southern Hemisphere do now. Whatever your weather, we adjust to the seasons, and can hopefully we find ways to keep cranking those pedals.
My streak of cycling every day approaches a big milestone soon. Assuming I make it, I wonder if I will break it intentionally. I see no reason not to, but there are days when I would not mind skipping riing my bike. Even a mile counts, but given that I’m still a fathlete, with receent weght gain. Stress, I guess, plus stopping a job where I was walking five to seven miles a day. I should be doing weights instead of cardio, but that’s not happening with my shoulder. I’ve been dieting for eight years without success, but I could still make better food choices. Getting a higher quality and quantity of sleep is the best thing I could do.
These things elude me, but I do my best. I’m a work in progress. And I’m pretty fly for a fat guy. This is a fatphobia-free zone. I’ll see my cardiologist in a few weeks and we’ll see how I’m doing. After eight years and eight months, I think I’m doing pretty good. Prettay, prettay, prettay good, as Seinfeld co-creator Larry David says on Curb Your Enthusiasm. As you can see, 3,282.7 miles are in the bag for January through August, 2024. That’s about 13.4 miles a day.
My all time total is 45,494.8 miles, from January 2016 through August 2024. Or, 5,247.4 iles per year on average, or 14.3 miles per day. Reminds me of a quote from Good Will Hunting, where the guy gets the girl’s number and taunts another guy with it. He says, “Hey, do you like apples? What do you think about them apples?” If my Strava stats were fruit, would you enjoy a taste? I guess mixing the metaphor does’t add up. Point is, I like riding my bike and the stats show that.
That’s not to say I think I’m that great; quite the contrary. I’m okay at best. Of course the whole thing of a bike blog (or many sports and fitness ones, anyway) is a bit of an humble brag. But I do this to document my progress for myself, and by sharing it hope I inspire others who are aging, overweight, and maybe have other impediments or challenges. I’ve got it relatively good compared to many, worse than others, but compared to myself, I could be doing a lot better. Or also a lot less. That time may come, by choice or not. But for now, as autumn arrives auspiciously, I will continue to strive to succeed at my Strava stats.
As always, if you made it this far, thanks for coming along for the ride. To quote Joey in Friends: “How YOU doin’?”… with your riding, walking, yoga, running, swimming, etc.?
As always, you may follow me on Strava (even if you don’t use it; it’s free to join).
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A Dude Abikes 