Saturday I took my upright bike on some local dirt and gravel trails nearby for some fun riding on a nice day. Sunday was hard day so I took my recumbent for a fast tempo ride down in San Martin with some intervals and sprints on the way back. Yesterday was hard upper body day. I modified my routine to work around my carpal tunnel diagnosis, because I noticed that my wrists flex and extend while arm-cycling. I could modify the grips to fix that, but for now I just omitted it. Instead I did a warmup walking with light hand weights, then did strength training with resistance bands. I followed th ..read more

http://www.Amazon.com/books Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle is a book by Peter Flax, a former editor of Bicycling Magazine. It is full of stories that celebrates the various kind of experiences we can have on bikes. It is also describes the diverse sub-cultures among bicyclists, such as casual riders, serious road riders, bmx riders, mountain bikers, gravel bikers, e-bike riders, etc. Peter argues for these groups all to be accepting of each other, with which I thoroughly agree. Throughout the book he also sprinkles tidbits of bike history, and descriptions of bikes and acce ..read more

On Tuesday my local group went on a nice loop ride on a beautiful spring day. I led this one, pinch-hitting for our usual leader Kris. We did a counterclockwise loop around Chesbro and Uvas reservoirs, with an extra out-and-back on Casa Loma road to Rancho Canada Del Oro open space. Because I was leading I took my e-bike which made it easier for me to be in the back or up front as needed. I also used enough assist so I didn’t have to push too hard, so this counted as an easy day even though we rode more than 30 miles. On Wednesday I did a solo ride on my recumbent. I experimented with leaving ..read more

On Sunday I took it easy because I was sore from using unaccustomed muscles working the rest stop Saturday, so I just went for an hour-long easy spin. Monday I did an upper body workout for 40 minutes (only 18 min shows up on Strava because I didn’t remember to start my timer at first). I followed that with a hard 90 min ride, with multiple sprints of 90 sec, 45 sec, 20 sec thrown in. That was a very enjoyable workout. Sunday’s ride is on Strava here, Monday upper body here, biking here. On Santa Teresa Blvd- Green dinosaur preparing to eat bus ..read more

Each year my bike club, Almaden Cycle Touring Club, puts on the Tierra Bella Bicycle Tour, yesterday being the 45th annual version. The weather around here has been superb lately, springlike and sunny. Until yesterday, when Mother Nature decided to have cold rain all day. I was volunteering at the Gilroy Hot Springs rest stop, which CalFire lets us put on at their fire station way up on Gilroy Hot Springs Road. This remote stop is reached only by riders who do either the 74 mile (120 km) or 100 mile (161 km) routes. As we were setting up in the rain in the early morning, I thought to myself th ..read more

I’ve gotten the headrest position dialed in on my recumbent, so I can ride it with it’s fast 700c wheels and the carbon seat in a pretty reclined position comfortably. For the first time this has made a notable performance difference. On Wednesday I road the Digital loop near home. My previous record was 94 seconds, and it is now down to 87. Then I went south to San Martin and did a 19k loop down there. My previous best time had been 45 min 17 secs and it is now 41:04. I rode an easy ride on Thursday, then in the afternoon I did a little tweak on the headrest adjustment and tested it on my tra ..read more

Lately I’ve been having a bit more problems with arthritis in my fingers. They’ve had osteoarthritis for more than 10 years, but it is now progressing in the ring finger of my right hand. This can cause problems typing when I try to type with that finger and it doesn’t bend properly. My right hand shows osteoarthritis in the bent joints. Neither the forefinger nor middle finder straighten properly Then yesterday I got a call from my neurologist’s office about a recent cervical MRI I had, which uncovered arthritis and bone spurs in my neck. My Doc sent me for that test because a follow-up MRI o ..read more

We got a good bit of rain last Thursday, and it was still doing scattered showers on Friday morning when I rode. It had been cold while raining overnight, so there was snow on the mountains which was unusual for us. It cleared up later that day and we’ve had sunny weather since, for enjoyable for riding. Friday’s ride is on Strava here, Saturday’s here, Sunday’s here, Yesterday’s here and here, Yesterday I did an upper body workout in the morning followed by a short ride, then I checked out a minor adjustment on my recumbent with a short PM ride. These rides were all on my. Today I’ll take my ..read more

On Monday I did my upper body workout then a shorter ride on my e-bike. Tuesday was supposed to be my group ride but it got cancelled because the leader couldn’t make it. So I did a long cruise in the hills West and Northwest of Morgan Hill instead. Yesterday was a hard day so I after a warmup on my recumbent, I did a brisk tempo ride to the Southeast, then some intervals on my way home in the morning for a total of two hours. That was a relaxing but invigorating workout. In the afternoon I had to go get an MRI of my cervical spine (a follow-up my neurologist ordered) so I took the e-bike ther ..read more

With all my recent emphasis on high mileage, I thought I might be scaring some people away. But I do a lot more exercise than is necessary because it is my hobby and I enjoy it. For people that may be a little less nuts about exercise than me, how much is enough for healthy aging? I think this is pretty much answered by the typical recommendations, which is about 150 minutes a week of moderate activity like walking or equivalent, or 75 minutes of more vigorous activity. I also think it is a good idea to keep up your strength and work on balance. If you find something you enjoy, more is fine. h ..read more