(no subject)
I've been commuting to school by bike regularly since Friday last. I missed Monday due to rain, but, altogether I've ridden about 60 miles since Friday morning last week. It feels good; I'm awake and alert when I get to school, and I get to enjoy being outside and feeling a little more connected to the world. I've found myself getting up earlier and going to be earlier. In fact, I've been getting up 8 to 8:30 without an alarm lately. Of course that's probably because I usually get up at 7:00, and my body is confused about why I'm still asleep. My Spanish class is not happening this week, and it's the first one, so I get to arrive much later than I normally would.
I was riding a lot when I was living in Chicago; I'd often go out and do fifteen or twenty mile rides along the lake front trail. But never this consistently. This is about a 7.7 mile route, and I do it twice a day in about 45 minutes each way, which tells me I'm going about 10 miles per hour. Slow for a nice street bike, but on top of me being relatively new to this again, I'm carrying a backpack full of school books too. I expect my time will improve.
The only problem so far is that bicycling is aggravating my wrist injury from a decade and a half or so ago. It actually comes from riding the self-same bike. I had become kind of fascinated by the fact that a bike leans into a turn, and I wanted to see how far over I could lean while making really sharp turns. Clearly, I discovered the limit to that phenomenon. I broke my wrist when the bike slid out from under me and ended up in a cast for several months after wrist surgery at a hospital in Milwaukee. It's bothered me on and off ever since, especially when doing a lot of typing. Sadly, I've realized it's bothering me while bicycling too, even if I wear a wrist brace.
This morning, I think I'm going to bike out to the local bike shop and ask about alternative handlebars. I'm riding a Giant Option, which is a hybrid and has typical straight mountain-bike bars. I think it would help a lot to have bars that are higher than seat level (mine are currently not) to keep me from putting much weight on my hands. I'd prefer to put that weight on the seat. It's not the most aerodynamic position, but I don't intend to be out racing; I just want to get to school and work.
If I had the money for a recumbent, I'd probably go that way, but I don't. Nor do I have space to keep one in. So I'm going to make do with what I have. I'm sure there's a way to make this work; I just have to figure out what it is.
I'm not exactly going to be saving money by using my bike. The gas saved comapared to things like buying handlebars is going to take a long time to even out. Even just buying the little reflective velcro strap I use to hold the cuff of my jeans to my leg so it doesn't get tangled in the gears cost as much as two days worth of gas to drive to school. But the fact that I'm getting about an hour and a half of exercise every day without having to devote any special time to it is worth the expenditure for me. I've been worried for some time about how little exercise I really get. I have aches and pains that are new over the past few years, and I know that my blood pressure was edging higher when I still had insurance and when I was donating plasma. I'm hoping that regular, significant exercise will start addressing all of those issues.
Plus it just feels wonderful to be out on a bicycle every day!
I was riding a lot when I was living in Chicago; I'd often go out and do fifteen or twenty mile rides along the lake front trail. But never this consistently. This is about a 7.7 mile route, and I do it twice a day in about 45 minutes each way, which tells me I'm going about 10 miles per hour. Slow for a nice street bike, but on top of me being relatively new to this again, I'm carrying a backpack full of school books too. I expect my time will improve.
The only problem so far is that bicycling is aggravating my wrist injury from a decade and a half or so ago. It actually comes from riding the self-same bike. I had become kind of fascinated by the fact that a bike leans into a turn, and I wanted to see how far over I could lean while making really sharp turns. Clearly, I discovered the limit to that phenomenon. I broke my wrist when the bike slid out from under me and ended up in a cast for several months after wrist surgery at a hospital in Milwaukee. It's bothered me on and off ever since, especially when doing a lot of typing. Sadly, I've realized it's bothering me while bicycling too, even if I wear a wrist brace.
This morning, I think I'm going to bike out to the local bike shop and ask about alternative handlebars. I'm riding a Giant Option, which is a hybrid and has typical straight mountain-bike bars. I think it would help a lot to have bars that are higher than seat level (mine are currently not) to keep me from putting much weight on my hands. I'd prefer to put that weight on the seat. It's not the most aerodynamic position, but I don't intend to be out racing; I just want to get to school and work.
If I had the money for a recumbent, I'd probably go that way, but I don't. Nor do I have space to keep one in. So I'm going to make do with what I have. I'm sure there's a way to make this work; I just have to figure out what it is.
I'm not exactly going to be saving money by using my bike. The gas saved comapared to things like buying handlebars is going to take a long time to even out. Even just buying the little reflective velcro strap I use to hold the cuff of my jeans to my leg so it doesn't get tangled in the gears cost as much as two days worth of gas to drive to school. But the fact that I'm getting about an hour and a half of exercise every day without having to devote any special time to it is worth the expenditure for me. I've been worried for some time about how little exercise I really get. I have aches and pains that are new over the past few years, and I know that my blood pressure was edging higher when I still had insurance and when I was donating plasma. I'm hoping that regular, significant exercise will start addressing all of those issues.
Plus it just feels wonderful to be out on a bicycle every day!