High Seat

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

When I came back from my ride the day before yesterday I raised my seat up a lot but I guess not enough because today I rode my bike and I was still in pain when I got home and I noticed that my leg was still bending as I was riding.  Your leg is supposed to extend fully when it gets all the way down.  If your seat is too low it can cause an injury to your back and/or legs.

Well, when I lowered my seat I lowered it all the way then I realized how to raise the handlebars but I never raised the seat again.  Big mistake.

So anyway, this morning I thought it was high enough but it wasn’t and I came home from my ride in a little bit of pain in my legs.  Not as much as before but I raised it even higher and got on it and it was perfect.  My legs straighten completely.  Hopefully tomorrow I can keep going past California Ave instead of turning right.

My goal is to get my muscles strong enough to where I can ride the bike for long periods of time but having my seat so low was counter productive to my progress.  The longer I am able to ride the more calories I will burn and then I can just go back on with my life.  When I was a kid, teen and young adult (in my 20’s) I was very active.  Either running from bullies (junior high) or riding my bike to and from school, to and from work, to and from Hollywood via North Hollywood, to and from Simi valley via Canoga Park.  Point is I was active and active means skinny.  I never gained an ounce.  I could eat and eat and eat and believe me, I was a hungry guy and I never gained any weight.  So, hopefully, I can keep my eating habits but exercise it all off with the bike.

I also wanted to add that I am so excited to have my Dell DJ back.  I went too long without it and I’m so excited that I got that battery for $10 + $7 shipping.  I nearly bought the same battery from another retailer for $25 and another was selling the same thing for $50.  I almost gave up until I went on eBay.

Sanctuary

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

I was just watching a commercial on Sci-Fi channel for the new show Sanctuary.  They mention that they use green screen technology so the actors are basically in an empty room with green walls so they have to act as if they are in a castle or a subway tunnel which they are not then the computers do the rest.

I have seen the first 2 episodes of the show and I did notice that the lighting of the people was too washed out compared to their background.  I think if they are going to do that they need to work on that lighting issue.  It’s a good show and I can get past that issue but it’s kinda hard to not notice it.  I mean, that technology isn’t new, they use it in movies all the time, you’d think they had all the kinks worked out for a tv show.

PlayStation Store

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

Wow I just read on the PlayStation Blog that the PlayStation Portable is going to get a firmware upgrade to 5.0 which will allow you to go to the PlayStation Store using the PSP to buy and download games, demos, wallpaper, themes etc.  All you have to do is sign in to your account and they keep your credit card info so you just buy something and you don’t need to worry about entering your credit card info.  Which is actually dangerous unless you have a very good password with at least 20 digits with random letters, numbers and symbols.

Ok so I just went to the PlayStation Store website and it says that the website is going to be down until late October cause they are totally redesigning the website so you can download to your PSP or PS3.  How will they make any money if their website isn’t operational for 2 weeks?  LOL.

Wow I just read the full blog and they are also adding a full keyboard for texting instead of like a phone.  That’s pretty cool and I can’t wait for that.  It will make texting on the PSP much easier I think.  They are also adding a sleep timer that can be used for playing music on the PSP.  I am not quite sure what that means, maybe if you set it for 1 hour then in 1 hour the PSP goes into sleep mode so you don’t waste your battery.  Like if you must have music on when you go to bed.  I actually like that idea because I do like to hear music when I go to sleep but don’t want it to run all night.

Longer, Harder and Uncut

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

Ok.

I thought the ride would get harder because when you push yourself to go that extra block you use more energy to get there.  Well, when I got to Eye st. I decided to just keep going to Chester and I made it so then I was able to turn right and go back to 3rd.  It was actually easier coming home on Chester than it was going to California on H.  Maybe because I knew I was coming home.

Hmmmm, let’s see, what is uncut…  Well, this blog is, there are no commercials.  So there 😛

By the way, going from Eye to H to California to Chester to 3rd then back to Eye was only 1.6 miles and I’ve been going 1.5 miles turning on Eye instead of going to Chester while on California.  I know, 0.1 mile is not a lot and 2 min extra is not a lot but I started out with 15 min for 2 days then got to 17 min.  Who knows, tomorrow I might do 17 min again or I might do 20 min and 1.7 miles.  The point is that I’m getting my legs used to the work.  The first day my legs were in agony, I could barely move.  Of course today when I came home I could barely walk, I looked like i was an old man using a walker again lol.  But that’s what it takes to get the muscles back into shape.  A little pain at the beginning so I can go the distance with no pain at all.  That’s why they say “no pain, no gain”.

I remember as a teenager riding my bike to school in the morning and not being the least bit tired from the bike ride, then riding home, putting my McDonald’s uniform on and going back out the door on my bike to work.  When I got there I had no pain in my legs because I was so used to riding a bike that my legs were never in any pain from it.  I think because I was so thin back then helped my case because I have 100lbs more than I did 22 years ago.

Also when I was 22-23 years old and I rode my bike from North Hollywood all the way to Hollywood and I did that several times a week too and it would take maybe an hour but it didn’t matter, I was never in any pain.  And I never had a water bottle with me because it wasn’t that hard that I needed water.  Although now that I think about it I probably could have used a water bottle lol.  But that trip was uphill and downhill and curvy.

Oh and when I was 19 and I lived in Canoga Park I used to ride my bike once in a while on the Santa Susanna Pass going to Simi Valley to visit my Aunt Betty at Ralph’s.  That never even phased me.  Although I was a bit winded, I needed water lol.  But I got through it no problem and the ride home was a breeze because it was uphill the entire way there so it was downhill the entire way home.

Todays Bike Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

I did the same thing as yesterday.  I couldn’t go any further.  I was looking at the street signs this time and it was 7th street when my legs started straining.  I only live on 3rd so that’s only a few blocks lol.

Anyway, I brought my step counter this time because it has a stop watch on it and I did 14 minutes total.  And I was in the wrong gear by the way.  That’s why my legs are struggling to keep me standing up when I get up.  When I realized the lower gear was an asset I kept it.  So tomorrow morning when I go out the bike will be in the right gear and I won’t have to struggle to ride and maybe, just maybe, I can go further.

COLD

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

It’s 6:53am.  I woke up at 6am and have been waiting for the sun to come up before I go bike riding because my light doesn’t work right and it kinda broke actually.  And I don’t have a back light so I’m waiting for the sun before I go out.  The sun is coming up now though but I’m hesitant to go out because it’s 43 degrees outside.  CHILLY!!!  But, I realized I have thermal underwear.  I hope that keeps me warm hehe.

True Blood on HBO

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

True Blood was a nice addition to the vampire world.  However, I’m not sure I like the direction they are going.  Last week at the end of the episode I was just pissed off that they killed Sookie’s grandmother.  Her character gave the show real southern charm.  I thought she was a great character because even though she was an older woman she wasn’t prejudice against the vampires like all the other people her or near her age.  And her curiosity for vampires is what got her killed.

I still like the show, I’m just a little upset right now.  Every time I see something bad happen to a main character I think it’s a dream or a prediction but then they don’t wake up and it’s real.  I hope they don’t kill too many more main characters cause the cast is dwindling down very fast lol.

PAIN

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Doctor, ExerciseLeave a comment

Ok.  First off Darrin woke me up at 6am because the pain was too great in his stomach and he needed to go to the E.R.  He told me he was having a heart attack.  He wasn’t thank goodness.  The doctor gave him some meds for his stomach pain and we were on our way.  Ok that was Chips pain.

Now for my pain.  When we came home from the hospital Darrin got ready for church and then left.  I on the other hand geared up for what I thought was going to be a long bike ride but turned into a 20 minute bike ride, if that.  I put my sunglasses onto my glasses then strapped on the helmet then put the ear buds in so I could listen to Gavin Degraw’s latest self titled CD in my Dell DJ so the ride would be at least tolerable.

I go down H street from 3rd and I’m nearing the Catholic church which is like 10th street or something, I remember seeing 11th street as I was passing the church but just before I started to get near it I could feel my upper front legs just tightening up from the stress I was putting on them from the ride.  I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t in the right gear or something but my legs were in pain.

I had to push myself to get to California Ave though so I could say I tried.  As soon as I got to California Avenue I sighed a big sigh of relief.  Then I had to turn right and Eye street wasn’t too far then I could turn right and go back to 3rd st.  Now keep in mind, I didn’t go very far.

I finally got home, took of that hot helmet and I swear to science that my legs were in so much pain I was walking like an old man in a retirement home using a walker.  Flower was so happy to see me that she was jumping up on my back legs trying to show her love and trying to get me to pick her up but I could barely walk much less bend over to pick up a toy chihuahua.

I’m glad it’s over BUT… I gotta try again tomorrow.  If I can get to California avenue and not be in so much pain then I can keep going, maybe to Truxton lol.  The song I was on was just track 5 so you know that I wasn’t gone long lol.  Maybe tomorrow I will get to track 6.

This is a cropped image from Google Maps of today’s short route hehe.  It was 1.5 miles by the way.

OMG! Look At My Fortune Cookie!

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Ok, we went to China Town Buffet for lunch and as we were leaving in the car I opened my fortune cookie and this is what is said:

Is that crazy or what?  In my previous blog I was so upset about my battery being 1mm too big, my bike case being too big and the pump gauge not working.  Then I get this.

I found a solution to the Dell DJ.  I strapped it to the back with a rubber band and have it plugged it, it’s charging now.  I can keep the bottom piece off as long as I keep it from getting dirty so Darrin bought me a neoprene case at Target today.  He also bought me a helmet.   I really have no excuses for riding my bike now to get exercise.  The helmet looks horrible though lol.  It’s not that particular helmet, it’s helmets in general because my face is so round and it basically shows off just how round my face is.  But, I have faith that in time my round face will turn a bit more oval and I won’t look as ridiculous.  I will have to get me a new pair of sports sunglasses so hopefully that will even my face out lol.

Very Disappointed With Things That Came in the Mail Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, MusicLeave a comment

Well, I finally got my packages today and I’m not happy at all.  The battery came way earlier than it should have and I was ecstatic about that but it doesn’t fit.  It’s too wide.  I plugged it in and it turned the Dell DJ on instantly but since the battery was dead it said low battery and shut off.

The frame bag is way too big, that’s why I bought the cheaper one because I thought it was going to be smaller.  It covers my drink holder, where will I put my bottle of water now?  I could shove it over so it doesn’t cover my water cage I guess.

The pump doesn’t do what it is supposed to do.  Sure it pumps the tire up but the gauge doesn’t show me how much pressure is in the tire.  What is the point of having a pump with a pressure gauge if it doesn’t work?

I can live with the big frame bag, I can even live with a pump that doesn’t do it’s job (gauge).  I just wanted a mini pump and that’s what I got with a bonus feature (that doesn’t work).  But the Dell DJ battery, that one I cannot keep and deal with.  That one has to go back and I’m back at square one.  No music.

I was just thinking, if I plug the battery in but then strap it to the back of the Dell DJ with a rubber band then charge it, I wonder if it will still work.  It will be a little bit bulky but at this point I really don’t care.  I just want my DJ back.

I’m calming down now, trying to find a silver lining.