still the craziest

[topaz]

OK. New rule: stupid-long bike commutes maybe once a week. Not twice a week. Definitely not twice a week. Once a week.

I think I did pretty well, in fact. I could tell very early on this morning that I was still a little tired from Monday's ride. Still, the trip in to the city went smoothly, I got to work in a neat 90 minutes, showered and went on with my day.

When I headed home at 5:30, it was clear right away that all the riding was taking its toll on me. I figured out that I needed to pace myself carefully if I wanted to make it home at all. This is normally very difficult for me. When I ride, I ride as fast as I can; I settle into the fastest pace that I can maintain comfortably and stick to that. I can rarely manage to slow myself down to conserve energy -- my body just keeps wanting to speed up.

Tonight, though, my body knew better, and kept me to a sensible cadence. I got home about 20 minutes later than I'd planned and quite worn out, but not completely and totally depleted, as I often end up after a long ride.

86.8 miles since Monday. That may be a personal record.

Things to take away from today:

• It was good that I pushed myself to do something I'd never done before and wasn't sure I could do.


• It was even better that I paid attention to my body and figured out how to pace myself so that I could make it all the way home and still have energy for the kids.


• When you see someone struggling with a flat tire by the side of the road, without the proper tools and know-how, stopping to help him fix it is a wonderful thing to do... and yet, you might want to consider being the good Samaritan someplace other than the side of a Carlisle road, at dusk, in May.


• A very hot shower has a theraputic effect on a thousand mosquito bites.

Yeah.

Comments

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

"A very hot shower has a theraputic effect on a thousand mosquito bites."

As does an epsom salt bath (ref: my recent posting). Might help those sore muscles.

I live to therapeut. :)

See you at Charlotte and Sebbo's tomorrow eve, perhaps?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

As does an epsom salt bath (ref: my recent posting). Might help those sore muscles.

Hmm, nice idea. But tonight it's too late for me to try futzing around with that. I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning. :-)

See you at Charlotte and Sebbo's tomorrow eve, perhaps?

I hope so!

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Just in case you haven't discovered it, Afterbite is my favorite non-toxic thing that really works for bug bites.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendation. Ellen says she thinks we have some in the upstairs cupboard -- the bites actually aren't bothering me now, but if they start getting bad I'll dig around for the stuff.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Doing the things you weren't sure you could do is one of the best parts of life. That's one of the only things I believe very firmly.

---

I still struggle with pacing myself, but I think I have it downpat for biking by now. Set me off doing something else, though (running, skating, even indoor biking) and I go nuts and drive myself into the ground. Well, whatever; in the end, I figure out how to listen to my body, and learn to skirt the edge of depleting my reserves without actually doing it. Anyway, it sounds like you have the same problems I do. Good luck to you in figuring out how to stay sane and still keep doing crazy shit. Be sure to give yourself time and slack to recover.

And be sure to revisit that "once a week" rule by the end of the summer. ;)

[microsteph.livejournal.com]

A complete and total stranger dropping in here, not even sure how I got here, but if you don't mind . . .

1. Rubbing alcohol eases the itch out of ant and mosquito bites. Seriously. It's cheap and effective.

2. Kudos on doing something new an��� the 86.8 miles. That's terrific!

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Yay for strangers! Welcome!

I'll keep the rubbing alcohol in mind. Strangely, the bites haven't been bothering me that much today. Maybe I've begun to earn my vampire healing powers (http://www.livejournal.com/users/moominmolly/192312.html).

2 bits of advice

[mr-privacy.livejournal.com]

1) Gu! Before, during.

2) Beer! After. It's a relaxant.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Gu! It's magic.

I'm such a wimp

[mizarchivist]

I just bought a new seat for my bike, and I loathe it. When I took a jaunt down towards Arlington, by the time I got part of the way home, my leg was falling asleep! Geez!
How do you deal, or is it just the luck of having a smaller butt? I'm seriously considering taking the seat back and getting a granny seat. I don't go very far, but I'm really not that kind of a masochist at all.

Re: I'm such a wimp

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Most of my experiences with seat pain have been the result of a poorly adjusted seat -- too high, too low, or tilted too much one way or the other. Your tuchus is really sensitive to tiny adjustments this way. Even tilting it forward a couple of degrees can make a huge difference.

Your sitbones should bear most of your weight. The seat should be positioned in such a way that when you're sitting on it, you're sitting on those bones and not putting a lot of pressure on your soft tissue, which can pinch nerves, crush blood vessels, etc.

In general, sitting on the bike should not cause pain. When I get back from a long ride my sitbones are a little sore, but my extremities do not feel numb. If the seat is causing you pain then something's wrong. It could be the seat itself but I would bet that it's just tilted a little too much the wrong way.

The split seats with the little comfort grooves down the middle are supposed to be pretty good, from what I hear! And you shouldn't worry about whether you're getting a "wimp seat" or anything like that. The seat should not cause pain.