Winter Riding Thoughts

I was hoping to get back outside on my bike again this weekend.  Last weekend, with a bit of spring like weather, I rode all three days including the President’s Day holiday.  Winter was back this weekend, so I stayed indoors.

That means riding my stationary bike in my family room.  It’s boring and the scenery doesn’t change, but it keeps my legs moving, gives me an aerobic workout and is better than nothing.  To beat the boredom I park it in front of the TV whenever there’s something on that will pass the time.

My Schwinn exercise bike

 As I was considering whether to brave the cold I thought back to a time when I rode 6 days a week, cold or hot, rain or shine, even in snow, sleet or sheets of ice.  When I delivered newspapers there wasn’t any option to stay indoors out of the weather.  I’d bundle up with my long underwear, heavy winter coat, extra shirt and socks, full face mask on my head and go through the coldest days of winter.

Of course I was a bit younger then.  It was also my source of income.  No paper route meant no spending money.  So I rode.  But, maybe I’m also getting soft as I age.  One positive thought about these recollections from long ago – it IS possible to ride a bike in almost any weather.  I’m sure there will be days this summer when the weather is less than perfect.  I’ll try to think back to the worst weather I rode in back in those days and be encouraged knowing it probably won’t be as bad as that.

But right now I’m ready for Spring!

Time to start training

A bit of spring came early so I was able to get out and ride today.  It was a brisk 43F when I started and a balmy 50F when I finished.  It was also sunny which helped a lot.  I did 20.6 miles, avoiding any major hills though very little in eastern PA is entirely flat.  It was good to get everything moving again, though I’m clearly not ready to take on the TransAm yet.

Ready to ride - 2/18/2012

Introduction

I've created this blog to document a bike ride which I will undertake from May to August, 2012.  The ride is a cross-country trip from Virginia to Oregon.  Other pages of this blog give more details.  The ride and route is described here.  The bike I will be riding is described here.  I plan to include some information about my fellow riders here.  A bit of personal background information is here.  A personal reminicense of bikes I've owned in my lifetime is here.

I first learned about this van-supported TransAm bike trip offered by Adventure Cycling Association a few years ago.  Then in the summer of 2010 I found three blogs written by riders doing the trip that year.  I owe a special thanks to John and Dawn, Robin and Lucille and Jeff whose blogs inspired me to do this ride.  Their descriptions of the daily rides and activities helped reassure me this is something I can do.

I hope that everyone reading my blog will find it interesting.  I don't claim to be a great writer, but I hope to be informative.  I plan to describe our day to day rides and activities and give insights into our trip.  Hopefully my blog might inspire someone else to take on a ride like this someday.

If you have questions or comments regarding any of my blog entries please add them on any of my daily blog entries.  I will try to respond as I have time throughout the ride.

If there's anything you'd like to ask or discuss outside of the public forum of the blog you can e-mail me at  mikesbikeride2012@gmail.com.

I'm something of a stickler for correct grammar and spelling.  I know I won't be perfect, but I'd like to set a high standard.  If you see spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors in any of my entries feel free to point them out and I'll correct them.

I'll try to add a few blog entries before the start of my ride, then look for daily entries (or almost, depending on internet connectivity) when the ride starts on May 19, 2012.

Thanks for stopping by.