Dear Gas, I Don't Need You (as much)

So I decided to start commuting to work and what a great choice it has been. It is only around 11.9 miles each way but that is 11.9 I do not need to drive and less gas I need to buy. So far I have commuted to work five days saving about $23, enough to cover food for about a week and a half. I for sure like these savings especially when gas soared around $4.19. By the end of summer I plan on relishing in my 100 dollar bills like Scrooge, minus the fact that I have insurance and loans, but a boy can dream.

Another great benefit to biking to work is my increase in exercise, once I get to work I feel more alert and when I get out I have no choice but to get a workout. The time biking to and fro also gives me plenty of time to think and process about the day ahead and the day just completed. Last week was my first week in which I broke a hundred miles since about October and I could not be more pleased. I have been waiting a long time for great weather and I am pumped that I have a spanking new bike to get me there. I had more to say but then I went on a 45 minute walk and the sun made me forget everything. Oh well there is always next time.

Joy and Pain

Friday was a great biking day in Traverse City, did a peaceful 27 miles to the east side of Traverse City. It was a simple trip and was able to take on a couple of hills. Over all this entire weekend was great for biking, sun was shining the entire time, cannot complain there. Saturday had a slight chill in the air but it made for a perfect day of relaxing and hard cider sampling.

Then there are those slight mistakes that you make that you wish you would have thought twice about. Sunday was a prime example of this. Decided to do an adventurous trip to Suttons Bay, a good 36 mile trip. The sun was shining and it reached near 70 degrees, el perfecto. Getting there was awesome, it zoomed by and picked up some great speed. When we hit the two tracks filled with some sand here and mud there, it couldn't stop us and added to the adventure. We were a mess but in a fun speeding way. Then we hit Suttons Bay.

We should have stuck with our original plan and headed back, but James and I thought it would be a good idea to go further north to Northport, mistake. We turned back with three miles to go, but already it was too late as we ended up adding another 18 miles to our trip, mistake number two. On the way back to Suttons Bay we really started to feel drained, but we pushed on. Once we hit the trail again we knew it would be painful and the final 18 miles would be hell. As we went on we realized we really didn't eat much before leaving, that slice of cherry pie at 9am was at this point drained from my body five-ish hours later, mistake number three.

Somehow we kept going on, I've done 50 miles before but never in one long stretch, always stopped at the mall or to do something to have an extended break. This was the largest challenge of endurance I've ever experienced. We walked three miles sporadically throughout that last 18 miles, but damn we pushed our bodies about as far as we could. Those sandy spots and mud pits were no longer fun and adventurous. Oh and did I mention the wind. Yeah the last 25 miles we extremely windy, slowing us down even further.

As for the fourth and final mistake, SUNSCREEN! Last year I biked hundreds of miles, even in the heat of the summer, but never once did I get burnt. This time I forgot the number one rule, where sunscreen, six hours outside is no way to treat the body without protection. Let's just say my arms are beat red and last night wasn't too calm, especially when I roll when I sleep.

I know this post seems like complaining and self-pity, but it is more as a lesson to myself to know my bodies limits when it hasn't been fed or when extra energy isn't brought on the trip. On the bright side, the TART trail is amazing and I cannot wait to try it again! The only real complaint that James and I had were the 50 tracker crossing signs we saw. Seriously if you cannot see a massive 5 mph vehicle in a field that will be crossing the path in 500 feet, then stay off the trails to begin with. Also to note, for April I passed 100 miles on the bike, about 14 miles past November. May has just started and I already have gotten 53 miles in, this should be interesting!

Traverse City or Bust!

Headed up to Traverse City tomorrow and planning to do 20 to 40 miles depending on the conditions of the Leelanau Trails as the TART will be great. It should reach near 60 degrees so it shall be perfect for biking. I'm excited to get to a trail that I haven't been on yet and to get out in the great outdoors again, especially since Ann Arbor is too busy. I've been begging to get some fresh air again, it has been cold and then raining out so I personally need this and cannot wait to get out there and just breathe.

Biking Time! Wrong.

Finished the internship and traveled to Mount Pleasant, perfect time for some biking. Unfortunately Mother Earth disagrees, cold and rainy/four letter word all week. You have to love the spring change over in Michigan. I was all set to throw my bike in the back seat and just wander around the city for a few days, guess I'm going to have to do it all on foot. It is difficult to be active when the forecast doesn't agree with your desires. Rain doesn't bother me as the near freezing temperatures. Guess this post is just a whine fest, oh well, at least I'm out of Ann Arbor for a bit.

Oh Spring!

So now that spring is in full swing I am quite pleased. In the past 2 weeks I have been able to take about four decent bike trips, which is quite nice seeing how I have a hectic work schedule. Today I plan on doing my longest expedition of 2011 so far, a good 30 to 40 miles. Ann Arbor here I come! Finally going to be able to check out all the parks and trails that I hear people talking about. I love how spring is a time of change, growth and constant motion, it gives me the energy to get up and be active and ignore the winter stagnant feeling. It has been quite some time since biking a trip quite this extensive, but like always it is all mental. One pump of the pedal at a time. Also I found a new GPS exercise tracker, SportPal. It works great on my phone and tells me my distance, time, average speed, max speed, best length at the highest average speed, total climb and decent, and so on. Also has a great map overlay and shows data on each section of the ride. Enough geeky tech stuff for now, I need to prep for this awesome biking trip, Bear Naked granola here I come!

Spring, Not Quite Here But Close

Currently sitting outside in shorts and a tee sipping on some almond milk, it feels like Spring and I couldn't be more excited. This might be the best day off of work ever. For the first time in 2011 I went biking outside, didn't do have bad I think either. Went from Milan to Packard in Ann Arbor and back a good 23 miles.

The freedom that two tires on the road is quite possibly the greatest feeling I can think of. It also gave me the chance to stop and check out a few parks. One just south of Ellsworth, Lillie Park, had some trails and a nice look down to a small lake. I couldn't explore the park too much as the bulk of the back trails were still covered with a bit of snow, but for sure will be coming back to check it out. The other park just south of Willis in York Township, Sandra Richardson Park, was much more naturalistic. It is one of those parks that I will need to park the bike and explore the trails into the woods and see what it has to offer. I would have today but the toe shoes and muddy wetness don't go well together.

Next time I go on an extended trip I will go much further into Ann Arbor as they have what i hear to be some nice trails along the Huron River, especially Nichols Arboretum. The main reason i didn't go further today is that I failed at rule number one, I forgot the water. The only downside of the trip that I didn't notice until I was back home for a bit was that I had a flat tire, so somehow I need to figure out how bad it is and how I can fix it because the next time I get a chance and it is nice out the road will be calling me once more!

A Time of Excitement

It is one of the best times of year, pre-Spring and Lent. For me it is a time of great excitement on things to come and a time of deep reflection. I feel this especially true this year as my excitement to get out and bike again is nearly annoying. When the season begins to bike again it will give me time to really think about what is important in life, there is nothing else to think about but the road and what is to come.

This past weekend I picked up my dad's "old" Trek Millennium bike and brought it back with me to Milan, ready for another season. I took it out of the back of my car tonight, put the tire back on, and took it for a small roll. My fingers began to freeze a bit, but the wind brushing against me was one of the most freeing moments that I've felt in quite some time. This past weekend I checked out a few new bikes and got to take them for a stroll out the door, granted I couldn't afford the $600 price tag, but the feeling of freedom was worth it, coat or no coat. The first day I get off from work I'm going out on the road no matter the temperature, sounds like Sunday is going to be an interesting day.

Inspiration All Around

It must be the people I know, but I'm starting to get really inspired to do some crazy workouts, and with Spring right around the corner I'm beginning to feel those day long bike rides. I'm just gonna keep tell myself that if Colleen, Ellie, Katherine, my dad, and so on are doing it that I am better than them and I will push myself further. Okay so they're better than me, but that isn't going to stop me. Starting next week I'm making it a goal to get some form of 30+ minutes of workout a day, even if it is just a walk. Having a stationary job it is the least I can do. Hopefully I can get back into running again, looking back of that summer of 2008 I'm still surprised on what I was doing and I see no reason why I can get to that point again. A mixture of running and biking could do me some good.

Also to the right of these blog posts you will see the record of my every workout so hopefully this keeps me going and if anyone actually reads this it will keep me on top of my game, either way I'll pretend I have an audience. I'm getting cabin fever and I need to break out and see the world again, less than 20 days til Spring, happy March!

A Kick Back to Blogging

Looks as though I haven't updated this blog in quite some time and much has changed in the last two years since. No longer in Mt. Pleasant, my school days are far behind me, sad I know. However, I'm not done with school quite yet, finishing up my internship as we speak, keeps me busy and I don't work out as often as I should. This is especially true as my job includes me sitting on my bum for 9 hours straight.

So I looked at previous posts to see how much has really changed, and really it has. For one I've basically giving up running all together, I can't even believe there was a summer where I ran so much, I got up to 10k one day. NUTS!!! This isn't to say I stopped working out, in fact at the end of summer 2010 and into the fall I did more than I ever have in my life. For one I moved back home and was completely bored so I needed to find something else to do. As stated in a previous post my family as a whole is known to be a bit on the larger side but my dad did something to surprise us all, he went from nearly 300 pounds to around 185. Yes the same size as me, unrecognizable. So while living at home I went biking with him a few times, first it was just like 10 miles. Then something clicked inside me, I fell in love with biking all over again. I was no longer confined to certain sidewalks through Mount Pleasant. When at home I had to get out, and by that I mean 20, 30, 40, 50+ mile bike trips; to Grandville, Grand Rapids, Allendale, nothing could stop me. Silly me, I live in Michigan, it got cold. There ended my glory days of biking, as soon as the snow clears and the temps rise again, I will feel the burn of the bike, the wisp of the air, and the smells of freedom.

This seems like a good stopping point for today, no sense in dragging this on forever, but don't worry, there is much more to come.