Bike Goal Met
As stated on Facebook and, my goal for the summer is to commute to work via bicycle an average of two times a week for May, June, July, August and September. I was doing great at the end of July and August, and I'm pleased to say that I finished September strong and ended up commuting exactly 42 times in 21 weeks, starting with May 5 and going through today. This includes several weeks where I was on vacation that I made up by riding 3 & 4 times a week some days.
I've racked up 805.3 miles on the summer, with 754.6 of them specifically on commuting rides. The weather continues to be awesome, so my stretch goal is to is to ride twice a week through November 9. Why November 9? Because even if I only commute from here on out, I'll clear 1,000 miles on the year if I do 2/week through then, and I like odometer numbers.
The bike itself has held up fine. Apparently I grip the handlebars very tightly, because twice now I've had to go in and get the grips readjusted because I'd spun them or nearly pulled them off the frame. The guys at the bike shop said that if this continues to be a problem I can buy grips that lock in place next summer. Other than that, I've had no notable problems. Well, I did break a reflector off the one and only time I put the bike on the pavement, which happened when I failed to appreciate how high a curb was. Fortunately, I was unbroken and super glue corrected the reflector's lack of structural integrity.
Last summer all the running I did didn't really help my health numbers. I wasn't expecting much difference with the biking. My attempt to not eat junk food at work lasted pretty much to the end of July before I fell off the wagon, which makes it difficult to tell if my weight loss was from biking, dieting, or more likely, both. Still even with some junk food back at work, my weight has been consistently in the 210-215 range, a solid 10 pounds less than it was at least year's health screening. Would the other numbers follow suit? In a word: no.
My blood sugar continues to be on the threshold of pre-diabetic, despite all the exercise and the dramatically reduced sugar intake this summer. Obviously BMI went down with less weight since my waist was much smaller. My other numbers were stable except my bad cholesterol, which plummeted 60 points from a value that was already in the healthy range. The screening doctor was stunned; he never sees improvements like that.
So biking improved cholesterol! That's good, right? Except why would biking knock down cholesterol when running didn't? The "no junk food at work" diet mostly removed candy, not high cholesterol items. Oh wait. You may recall that last year I was working at a cheese shop. I find it completely plausible that my quitting the cheese shop in January led to me eating so much less cheese that my cholesterol would drop 60 points. After all, I went from "mostly free and some discounted" to "all discounted by a lesser amount" and "eating cheese very week" to "eating cheese once a month or so." So I'm inclined to think that my incredibly low cholesterol number had nothing to do with biking at all.
On the whole though, biking was a win. I lost some weight and the rest shifted into denser configurations. My cardio health is fantastic; I rocked ultimate frisbee this summer even on the hottest days. I'll keep commuting by bike until it gets too cold (or more likely, too wet) to continue comfortably. At that point I'm heading inside for workouts. I'm debating the 100 Pushups and considering CrossFit, but I'm really leaning toward yoga. We'll see what happens.
I've racked up 805.3 miles on the summer, with 754.6 of them specifically on commuting rides. The weather continues to be awesome, so my stretch goal is to is to ride twice a week through November 9. Why November 9? Because even if I only commute from here on out, I'll clear 1,000 miles on the year if I do 2/week through then, and I like odometer numbers.
The bike itself has held up fine. Apparently I grip the handlebars very tightly, because twice now I've had to go in and get the grips readjusted because I'd spun them or nearly pulled them off the frame. The guys at the bike shop said that if this continues to be a problem I can buy grips that lock in place next summer. Other than that, I've had no notable problems. Well, I did break a reflector off the one and only time I put the bike on the pavement, which happened when I failed to appreciate how high a curb was. Fortunately, I was unbroken and super glue corrected the reflector's lack of structural integrity.
Last summer all the running I did didn't really help my health numbers. I wasn't expecting much difference with the biking. My attempt to not eat junk food at work lasted pretty much to the end of July before I fell off the wagon, which makes it difficult to tell if my weight loss was from biking, dieting, or more likely, both. Still even with some junk food back at work, my weight has been consistently in the 210-215 range, a solid 10 pounds less than it was at least year's health screening. Would the other numbers follow suit? In a word: no.
My blood sugar continues to be on the threshold of pre-diabetic, despite all the exercise and the dramatically reduced sugar intake this summer. Obviously BMI went down with less weight since my waist was much smaller. My other numbers were stable except my bad cholesterol, which plummeted 60 points from a value that was already in the healthy range. The screening doctor was stunned; he never sees improvements like that.
So biking improved cholesterol! That's good, right? Except why would biking knock down cholesterol when running didn't? The "no junk food at work" diet mostly removed candy, not high cholesterol items. Oh wait. You may recall that last year I was working at a cheese shop. I find it completely plausible that my quitting the cheese shop in January led to me eating so much less cheese that my cholesterol would drop 60 points. After all, I went from "mostly free and some discounted" to "all discounted by a lesser amount" and "eating cheese very week" to "eating cheese once a month or so." So I'm inclined to think that my incredibly low cholesterol number had nothing to do with biking at all.
On the whole though, biking was a win. I lost some weight and the rest shifted into denser configurations. My cardio health is fantastic; I rocked ultimate frisbee this summer even on the hottest days. I'll keep commuting by bike until it gets too cold (or more likely, too wet) to continue comfortably. At that point I'm heading inside for workouts. I'm debating the 100 Pushups and considering CrossFit, but I'm really leaning toward yoga. We'll see what happens.