Category: Cycling

Biking is Easier

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Exercise, HealthLeave a comment

Riding the bike is getting a lot easier.  I rode the bike from my house to Oak and Palm before realizing I didn’t stop for water once so naturally I stopped for some water.  I got all the way to the park in 19 1/2 minutes this time which is I think 3 minutes faster.  Probably because I didn’t stop to take a water break so many times.

I also didn’t sit on the picnic table for that long either, on Monday I think I sat there for 20 minutes before heading back home and this time I think it was like 10 or 15 minutes.

When coming home I didn’t turn right on H st. going on 21st st.  Instead I went further down to Chester Ave. because H st. has no bike lane in downtown Bakersfield but Chester Ave. does.  I think it’s easier to ride in a bike lane than cause an accident, don’t you?

So, I went a further distance and it was only 40 minutes this time.  The last time it was 45 minutes and this time I went a further distance which tells me that 1 I’m going faster and 2 my legs are getting more used to riding that I don’t have to stop to take a break for them.

I can remember not too long ago that I could only ride up to California Ave. and back and that was like 12 minutes and when I came home I could barely walk because of the stiffness in my legs.  If I am able to go faster and further than that just means that I will start to lose weight a lot faster.  I can already see it in my face that the fat is starting to come off.

If I can just keep doing this 3 days a week it wont be long before I’m thinner.  Oh and I need to start following the SparkPeople food plan again if I’m going to be successful.  The food they have is low-calorie and very good for us especially for Darrin because he has borderline diabetes now so whatever I make for myself I can make for him too then before you know it he will be losing weight too (but just on food, he doesn’t want to exercise).

Tomorrows Goal

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Tomorrow morning I’m not going to wake up to an alarm clock telling me that I have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to go bike riding.  Instead I’m just going to wake up when I wake up then I’m going to have something to eat, maybe a bowl of corn flakes, then wait a little while maybe an hour, they say to eat 1 hour before exercising.  I wouldn’t want to give myself a cramp.  Then I’m going to do some stretches for my legs and then get on my bike and go to Beach Park.  This time I have a goal to get there and then collapse onto the grass and rest while listening to my music for a bit, maybe call Darrin and tell him I made it.  Give my legs enough time to rest so I can make it all the way back home.

I think this is a good strategy.  See the reason I haven’t made it all the way there yet is because I kinda figured I’d get there then immediately go home without stopping and it was just too much for my legs.  But all I have to do is think about it in a different way and then I can do it.  I need to do this.  Then I can say hey I made it all the way to beach park and I collapsed on the grass and gave my legs enough time to rest before getting up, I looked at how pretty it is and I looked at the bike path but I will save the bike path for another time.  Yeah, that’s what I’ll say.

The one thing I need is encouragement to do it.  Well, on that note I think I shall go to bed and rest up for tomorrow.  This is good because it’s only 11:12pm and not 2am lol.

Getting Ready For Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Just a couple more hours before Sergio, my neighbor, comes a knocking on my door to go bike riding to Beach Park.  I’m positive that I can make it all that way but once I get there I have to stop and rest before going back home.  I’m actually looking forward to actually making it all that way.  I really don’t know why I always punk out when I do go on my bike ride.  I mean, it’s actually a very good idea to go all the way there, this way I can stop and lay down on the grass for a bit to give me the energy I need to go back home.

I bought a new pair of sunglasses at Walgreens this morning for $10.  They are the wrap around kind, the sports sunglasses.  I’ve had 2 other pair but both have broken and I’ve ended up having no choice but to throw them away.  It’s my own fault for breaking them though so this new pair I plan to keep with my helmet and only wear when bike riding.  This way I’m not  having to hold them while I’m at the store and accidentally break them lol.  That’s what happened to the last pair.  Oops.

I’ve been doing laundry last night and today so I have clean clothes to wear.  Normally when I go on my bike ride it’s in the morning and I don’t ride with anybody so I just put on sweat pants and my hoodie sweater along with thermal underwear because when I go by myself it’s usually when the sun is coming up.  But since it’s a little warmer in the daytime I had to wash and dry my shorts and since I can’t wear my hoodie then I need a nice clean shirt that isn’t too tight, isn’t too loose.

Going to have lunch now before I go.

Edit:  I waited until 3:15 because he said he would come to my door but never did so at 3:15 I went to his house and he said he just woke up and had to get in the shower because a friend called and is on his way so the bike was a no go hehe.

Scheduled Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Tonight I tried out my new light by riding over to the neighbor’s house, it’s like 5 houses away so it allowed me to see the lights turn on without having to go too far.  He was outside on his porch so I stayed for a few minutes and chatted.  He told me that we should go on a bike ride tomorrow at 3pm over to Beach Park.  Well, all I can say is good luck to him and his goal hehe.  I’m not quite sure I can make it that far but we will see.  It’s actually not that far from the point that I usually just turn around and go home so here is to keeping a goal.  If it works out I will blog (uh, duh, I blog about everything lol).

Light Set for Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

My light set finally came today.  I bought it exactly a week ago on Saturday and it came today which is a Saturday hehe.  That’s ok, I wasn’t too impatient… NOT!

I installed it immediately and almost right away I ran into a huge snag.  The headlight could be installed in 1 of 3 locations.  2 places on the handlebars, the screw on top that you use to adjust the handlebars but that screw doesn’t come out.  You unscrew it and it is connected to the bottom of the pipe to tighten the handlebars so when you adjust it to go up or down it tightens.  Then there is a screw in the middle of the handlebars in the front that you use to adjust the handlebars to tilt them up or down.  That screw comes out but it was too thick to go into the hole for the light bracket.

So my only alternative was the brakes.  As soon as I took the screws off the brakes I messed things up.  The diagram shows that you have to remove the brakes and put the light behind them so it’s all the way in the back which I was able to do no problem.  But when I went to replace the brakes and tightened the nuts the brakes wouldn’t work.  They were locked in place.  I didn’t put it back on right and the way the spring is on there you cannot put something behind it.  It’s just not done.  So I had to take the light off and figure out how to get the brakes back on right which I eventually did.  I got the manual out but couldn’t find it in there.  It then occurred to me to look at the back brakes to see how they are installed lol DUH.  Anyway, I got them back on and put the light in the very front of the brakes.  It’s all good now.

The generator got put in place and so did the back light.  It all works.  Although I can’t really tell in the daytime, I have to ride it when the sun goes down to see how well it all works.  From what I remember when I was a teenager and having this same light system the lights aren’t very bright when you are riding a normal speed which I guess is 10mph.  When you are going down hill the lights turn on bright because you picked up speed.  So it makes sense that when you go faster the lights go brighter.  And of course as soon as you stop the lights turn off.

I’m just glad to have it finally so I was able to check that off my wish list for the bike.

Proof of Ownership

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Ok.  You are going to laugh.  I went to Albertson’s on my bike and I have one of those locks that is like telephone cord that is curly and it has a 4 number combination that you can set the numbers for and when I got to the store I went to lock it and as I was pushing the lock together I felt and heard a clicking sound and as I was pushing it in I knew I messed up big time.  I immediately tried pulling it out and it wouldn’t budge.  I started freaking out.  I started trying different combinations because I thought that I turned the dial to set it then accidentally turned a number as I was pushing it in, which I have done before.  I had no luck.

I went into the store and told the lady at the information counter (she sells lottery tickets, cigarettes, electronics and does the photo stuff) and told her what happened and she called Jim to call her and told him what happened.  This other lady came up and I told her what happened and she said that she knows I come in here a lot but how do they know it’s my bike.  Luckily, I have the paper work with the serial number and the manual with the model of the bike on it as well as the receipt and I even took a picture of it.  WHEW!

So Jim finally came to the front with bolt cutters and I showed him my paper work which he didn’t actually look at because I think he figured if I took the time to get someone to bring it to me and I was showing it to him then he believed that it was indeed my bike.  So, he tried cutting it and it was really hard for him to cut it but eventually he did get it off.  It made me feel good that he couldn’t get it off because I knew I had a good lock.  But on the other hand…  I wanted my bike back lol.

He told me that if I didn’t have this proof of ownership then it would’ve sat there until someone tried to claim it and then eventually they would’ve had to call a company out to get it and auction it or something.  So I’m very glad I bought my bike at a store and not at a thrift store with no manual and no receipt.  And I’m especially glad that I took a picture of it too.

Here are some pictures of the lock.  The first one is where he tried to cut but it just wouldn’t cut then the 2nd one is where he finally got it cut.

Light System

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, DoctorLeave a comment

I checked the tracking today from USPS for my light system for my bike and it was brought there to the post office on Monday but they didn’t ship it out until today.  So basically they sat on it for 2 days.  That’s fine though because it did say 2 to 9 days and it is the post office and not UPS or something so I don’t expect it right away.

I am actually glad it isn’t going to be here tomorrow because we both have doctors appointments.  Darrin is going in to find out what the new tests for his diabetes will be.  I’m afraid that it might come while we aren’t there and they are going to leave it to get stolen.  So, hopefully I’ll get it Friday or Saturday instead.

Mini Pump

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

When I got my Dell DJ battery, pump and bike frame bag in the mail on the same day I blogged about how none of them were the right size, the mini pump was the right size, it’s just that the gauge wasn’t working right.

Well, last night I was pumping some air into my tires and I was looking at the numbers on the gauge.  I was thinking that the needle was going to up a lot, near the red but that wasn’t the case at all.  The number 20 is like really close to where the needle starts and I only need to put in 20.7 psi and the needle was at the 20 mark.  I thought I had to make the needle go near wh ere the red was lol.  I guess I was wrong, way wrong and the pump does what it is supposed to do.  Thank goodness.

Bidding For Bike Light

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I’m bidding on a Bicycle Generated Light System for my bike.  It’s starting bid is only $4.99 and my max bid is $10 so I hope I win.  It’s basically the same as the other one I talked about yesterday but just a different person is selling it and it’s probably a different brand.  It looks brand new because it looks like the packaging is still in tact.  This is what it looks like…

Update:  I won this item for $6.74, shipping is free.  It was $4.99 but in the last half hour of the auction someone made it go up to $6.74, my highest bid was $10 which is why I won.  But I have a feeling that this seller created a 2nd screen name on eBay to raise the price for shipping purposes.  Which is fine, I don’t care.  It says on the page that shipping is free and it says local pick up so I have a feeling it’s free if you are in the same city but if you ask him about it then he raises the bidding amount to cover the cost.  I did ask him about it (or her, I don’t know) but got no response.  I sure do hope I get a response.  If it doesn’t show up in the next week then I can give negative feedback but I have a feeling I will get it because this person has 100% positive feedback.  He/she wouldn’t do anything to ruin that.

Rain

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Well I’m sure glad I went out early hehe.  It’s sprinkling a little.  When I left I noticed there were a lot of rain clouds in the sky but I didn’t think anything of it.  If I were stuck in the pouring rain I would’ve been pissed lol.  Although, it would’ve given me the chance to get out of the rain and let my legs heal a little before riding some more.  Good thing I was wearing my hoodie sweater.