20140101

2013 by the numbers

Well, it's amazing what happens when you go back to teaching...you have no time to blog about your bike rides & barely any time to ride! But then again the blogging was created to keep me from being bored!

The Mamma Jamma Ride went well, but I would not recommend beer as your hydration source!

Total miles for the months:
Jan:  141.22
Feb: 138.63
Mar: 160.3
Apr: 250.46
May:  333.53
June: 195.88
July: 179.05
Aug: 181.55     
Sept: 173.68    
Oct:  171.29  
Nov: 109.7   
Dec:   64.49
Total miles for 2013: 2073.61 (but if you add up the months above, it's more (2099.78), so who knows what is wrong on the spreadsheet--but it doesn't matter cuz I rode the 2013 miles)

Miles til 2013: -60.61
One way commutes in the fall: 2 (hope to increase these come Spring & Fall 2014)
Total one way commutes in 2013: 46 darn it, I missed that 50!
Total errands: Aug: 3     Sept:  2    Oct: 0    Nov: 1   Dec: 2  (43 total)

Odometer:
Road: 14122
Cross: 2627.4
Trip2:
Road: 942.42
Cross: 1038.51 (kicking the road bike's gears! I know they don't add up to 2013 or more, but at this point I'm not wanting to comb over the spreadsheet!)

Now to reset the trips and start over for 2014, gonna be tough to get there 168 miles a month...

20130716

no time to blog

Not sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day has left me with no time to blog, but it's a good thing, I was blogging out of boredom and I can honestly say I haven't been bored. I might not be motivated on some days but, I'm not bored. Which is good! So instead of once a week, I'll try for twice a month or maybe once a month.

There were three exciting rides that are blog worthy, the first was the "I am a woman wo likes to ride but I'm not doing 62 miles in hills" ride put on by Grenita. We started at NW Park and rode to Manor and back, then drank some beer at The Pour House. Fun chill ride & was cool to see some people ride the furthest they have ever gone and on a hybrid!

if you ask me this looks better than the boring electric box.

Women who love to bike.



The Second was when I rode to the Capital and it started pouring down rain! I stopped under a tree to assess the situation then turned around and had a conversation with myself. I didn't know anyone who was going to be at the Capital protesting, but found it necessary to go down there & show my support, but it was raining, then I thought, WWAD...What Would Ann Richards Do? I immediately turned around cuz Ann would get her butt to the Capital even if it was soaking wet and she looked bad, so I did, I continued to ride, got wetter, then the rain stopped. By the time I was on  the grounds, my shirt was a dark burnt orange and I had mud spots on my legs, oh well.

Waiting for the rain to slow down.

Heading back, but then soon turning around.

Mud.

Wet Kim with her helmet on crooked...ugh.
I ended up not knowing what to do once inside, no one was protesting in the dome, so I sat & people watched, after an hour I was freezing so I left.

On Friday Janice & I rode down once again, but no rain, only heat. We watched some of the senate hearing, then I left, but drove back later that night to yell. My first ever live participation in democracy.
This sign made me laugh out loud.


On Saturday, there was a Mamma Jamma training ride on Parmer. It is always windy on Parmer, usually when you turn around to head back, well not this week! I was cruising back at 22 mph after enjoying the climbing on the way out. Must have been that eclair! I was having so much fun I lost track of the fact that I was with a group & supposed to be acting as a guide, oops, next time I'll screw my head on correctly!
The flag at 1431 is usually perpendicular to the ground!
Other than these rides, I've been doing errands and the ABCx rides.

****************************************************

Miles for these rides: 35.58, 9.4, 16.83, 8.68, 9.27, 25.18, 7.59, 16.10
Miles for the 16 days: 128.67
Total miles for the month of July: 128.67
Total miles for 2013: 1322.52
Miles til 2013: 690.48  (below 700 miles!)
One way commutes in July: 0
Total one way commutes in 2013: 44 will be on hold for a while on this number
Total errands: 4 this month so far +16 in June + 10 in May + 5 in other months  (35)
Odometer:

Road: 13678
Cross: 2334.5
Trip2:
Road: 498.47
Cross: 833.01 (kicking the road bike's gears!)

20130628

Errands and one longer ride Plus June totals

The last part of June has been full of running errands by bike and one longer ride the Mamma Jamma Latte Light training ride. I did somehow manage to hit platinum the Humana Vitality Points deal, so I bought myself an iPod nano to carry my favorite songs on, I'm seeing if I can get 1498 points by the end of June so I can get an Amazon gift card, at the very least I'll get an iTunes gift card. Nice to see a reward for my exercise in a different way. Wonder if United has something like this for me to obsess over.

On the Mamma Jamma Training ride we headed downtown at 15th & San Jacinto I waited for Jerry who got caught at a light, after that I think we stopped at every light except for one, talk about red light karma!
Felt good to get on the road bike! It is so much lighter than the cross bike, on the way back enjoyed talking to Erika from REI. All in all great ride 32.04 miles.
I wanna win that bike for Grenita!

The cycle track on 4th, very nice!

The guy I kept seeing at all the lights!
 As far as errands the shortest was going to the library an HEB at 3.66 miles, the longest was to the dentist then Lane 4 then Crumps Plumbing at 13.38 miles. Longest ride on the cross bike was an ABCx ride 17.14 (which includes riding to/from the park). I did ride on Burnet road3 times at off hours so not much traffic! From Lane 4 to The turn to Crumps, then to get to the Pour House (need to call that light in) and thenn from HEB to Hey Cupcake, no problems.

 I carried some strange things on my bike:
A pet carrier found on bulk trash pick up! The junior chicks are loving it!

And a watermelon. I should have bought a 6 pack to balance the load.
****************************************************

Miles for these rides: not many most are under 10 miles if not 5 miles
Miles for the 15 days:110.04
Total miles for the month of June: 195.88
Total miles for 2013:1219.99
Miles til 2013:  793.01  (below 800 miles!)
One way commutes in June: 0
Total one way commutes in 2013: 44 will be on hold for a while on this number
Total errands: 16  this month so far + 10 in May + 5 in other months  (31)
Odometer:

Road: 13616
Cross: 2266.4
Trip2:
Road: 436.96
Cross:735.10

20130613

I miss commuting...

I realized that I don't miss much about work: (1) the laser printer, but my new job has a color one, so I can be patient, (2) Kearney, he's such as good hard working guy, smart, funny & genuine. I really enjoyed working again with him. (3) Commuting. I was just getting so I was commuting 40% of the drive and was on a role after bike month 44 one way commutes, nearly halfway to my goal of 100 one way commutes.
Not sure if I'll be able to commute to St. Stephens for a couple of reasons: (1) classes start at 8:00 AM, I'm not a morning person and it takes 40-55 mins to get there. (2) Did I mention the big hill once I get past the Penny Backer Bridge? If I did make it to work in decent time, my head would be dripping wet with sweat. MapMyRide has it as a category 5 climb. (3) at Affinegy I was able to sit in jeans, a t-shirt & a ball cap the rest of the day, don't think that can happen at SSES, but the good news is I would have access to a shower.  So I will probably give it a shot one day. But I guess with living on campus one night a week, I'll still be saving my 20%.
To make up for my lack of commutes, I'm trying to ride my bike when it's less than 5 miles away. So far I've ridden to HEB, Lowes, Peoples, Central Market, Pint House Pizza, Doctor to get blood drawn, Crumps Plumbing Supply, a friends house & to swim. I've found if I ride at least 4 miles and the timer on the Humana Fit goes for over 30 mins, I'll hit over 200 calories & get credit for exercising. By the end of July I'll cash in my points for an Amazon gift card or maybe a new heart rate monitor (in hopes that it makes cool graphs--I can only imagine the math problems from those!)
The one time I got on the road bike for what was to be a long hilly ride, well, I got caught in the 20% chsnce of rain! Oh well, maybe in another week!

Fun pics of my routes to play Rorschach Ink Blot Tests with:




*****************************************************************************
Miles for these rides: not many--shortest: 2.17 to the Dr., longest 9.05 to Crumps
Miles for the 13 days: 85.84
Total miles for the month of June: 85.84
Total miles for 2013: 1109.95
Miles til 2013:  903.15  (below 1000 miles!)
One way commutes in June: 0
Total one way commutes in 2013: 44will be on hold for a while on this number
Total errands: 9 this month so far + 10 in May + 5 in other months 
Odometer:

Road: 13584
Cross: 2188.4
Trip2:
Road: 404.56
Cross: 688.93





20130603

May 2013 Stats

Well, once again in May, I rode a bike everyday.

May is also Stroke Awareness Month. Do you know what the signs of a stroke are? It's easy to remember, Act FAST.





Besides social/exercise riding, I used the bike for shorter trips...commuting, shopping to HEB, Whole Foods, going to the library & riding to the ABCx rides instead of driving, anything within 3 miles, I rode & will try to continue to do so. A total of 48 trips, 209.4 miles, 10 gallons of gas and 11,125 calories burned. My name is entered in a contest 48 times, hopefully I'll win the REI gift card!



May 1: Commuted home
8.39 miles

 May 2: back top work,
10.03 miles

May 3:  rode to the library
1.74 miles

 May 4: REI test ride
.39 miles

May 5: thru the hood.
1.6 miles

May 6; errand to the grocery store.
3.49 miles

May 7:  ABCx
16.65 miles

May 8: I rode home , library
11.10 miles

May 9: Rode back in to work
8.42 miles

May 10: errand to Office Depot/Max
3.46 miles

May 11: Armadillo Ride
42.54 miles

May 11: Whole Foods & HEB
9.32 & 3.33 miles 

May 13: Rode home from work
8.43 miles


May 14: Rode back in to work, ABCx ride
 9.96 miles & 12.51 miles

May 15: Commuted home from work, but took a detour with the Ride of Silence. a ride to honor those cyclists who have died while cycling.
11.96 miles

May 16: Back in to work.
9.96 mil

May 17": bike to work day, rode both ways.
12.57 miles & 10.66 miles

May 18: go by bike to volunteer & play.
12.03 miles

May 19: Viva Streets & shopping
16.84 miles

May 20: turn a 1.75 mile trip to the library into 5 miles,
5.06 miles

May 21: Commuted to the Mamma Jamma kickoff party
7.06 miles

May 22: Commute into work after a stop at MiV.
10 miles

May 23: Quick road bike ride in the morning,
1.53 miles

May 24: Beer run.
1.95 miles

May 25: May 25: Errands by bike, went to Buck Moore for some more feed, then to HEB
6.61 miles

May 26: Road to JoLo's for a cookout.
6.12 miles

May 27: Rudy's to Rudy's via 360!
26.15 miles

May 28: ABCx ride!
16.2 miles

May 29: Weak intervals.
6.29 miles

May 30: Commute home
10.62 miles

May 31: Commute in to work
10.49 miles


*********************************************************************************

Total miles for the month of May: 333.53 (33 more than 2012)
Total miles for 2013: 1024.11 (almost 100 ahead)
Miles til 2013:  988.89  (below 1000 miles!)
One way commutes in May: 14 (same as last year)
Total one way commutes in 2013: 44 Guess this is where it is going to end, oh well.
Odometer:
Road: 13578
Cross: 2107.9
Trip2:
Road:398.57
Cross: 614.46







20130531

Bike Everyday in May 2013: last 11 days

Tried to slow it down this week to recover from last week.

May 22: Commute into work after a stop at MiV.
10 miles

May 23: Quick road bike ride in the morning, was supposed to be 30 mins of intervals, but I slept late.
1.53 miles

May 24: Beer run.  Which lead to the question if the Open Container law applies to bicycles. I found this online (cuz you know you can always trust the internet)
"Open container" means a bottle, can, or other receptacle that contains any amount of alcoholic beverage and that is open, that has been opened, that has a broken seal, or the contents of which are partially removed.
   (2) "Passenger area of a motor vehicle" means the area of a motor vehicle designed for the seating of the operator and passengers of the vehicle. The term does not include:
So, since there's not a motor on the bike, I guess it's ok unless you are drunk.
1.95 miles
 May 25: Errands by bike, went to Buck Moore for some more feed, then to HEB, sometime along the way, my Fitbit left me for good, we are now officially not in a relationship & won't be anytime soon.
6.61 miles

May 26: Road to JoLo's for a cookout. A carfree day, except for the carpool to the softball game.
6.12 miles

May 27: Rudy's to Rudy's via 360! What fun!


26.15 miles

May 28: ABCx ride! New people! And we saw Thong Man on a Bike! So cool that I have commuted to all but 1 or 2 rides this year!
16.2 miles

May 29: Weak intervals. In my attempt to hit 200 calories for Humana Vitality, I got bored just pedaling, so I did some intervals. Heart Rate only got up to 160, but I think that's still good. I ended up going a little over34 min at an average of 11.5 mph for 337 calories, doing the math, I should be able to go for only 20 mins at 11.5 mph, so next week when I'm not on "Bike Everyday In May" Month, I can just do 20 mins or I can take a 30 min walk...
I should figure out a picture to ride.

6.29 miles

May 30: Commute home, the long way via Barton Springs to the Pfluger bridge then Shoal Creek trail. Pretty hard ride, I was pushing it for some reason.
Love the empowering feeling when taking the lane
10.62 miles

May 31: Commute into work after eating the last eclaire at MiV. The South winds were a killer today, but its also amazing how they keep you coo, cuz once they were at my back, I became hot & sweaty.
10.49 miles

*****************************************************************************
Miles for these rides: see above
Miles for the 11 days: 87.49
Total miles for the month of May: 333.53 (30 more than 2012)
Total miles for 2013: 1024.11
Miles til 2013:  988.89  (below 1000 miles!)
One way commutes in May:14
Total one way commutes in 2013: 44 (6 more to 50, I'm going to have to step up my game to get to 100 before August...oh well, it might not happen)
Odometer:
Road: 13578
Cross: 2107.9
Trip2:
Road:398.57
Cross: 614.46




20130522

Bike Everyday in May 2013: Week 3 update

And the rides keep increasing each week, but I think we are on a downward slide. 9 days left of May. An entire week on the cross bike, either running errands or commuting. So fun trying to figure out  the logistics.

May 15: Commuted home from work, but took a detour with the Ride of Silence. a ride to honor those cyclists who have died while cycling.
11.96 miles

LAB shirt for Wednesday.

May 16: Back into work. Nothing excited, which is always good for Rush hour  traffic.
9.96 miles
My new shirt from the Janczaks!

May17: Bike to work day. Read all about it here.
12.57 miles & 10.66 miles
My Katy Trail shirt

May 18: go by bike to volunteer & play. Read about 72 hours car free here.
12.03 miles

May 19:  Viva Streets & Grocery shopping by bike.
16.84 miles

May 20: Took a little break, couldn't commute home because of an 8 am appointment on the opposite side of town from work. But did manage to turn a 1.75 mile trip to the library into 5 miles, but that only took me to 8,000 steps (should have used the Humana Fit app) so later that night I had to tap the Fitbit over 500 times to get it to 10,000 steps so I could get my points for exercising for the day.
5.06 miles


May 21: Commuted to the Mamma Jamma Ride Kickoff Party at the Saengerunde Hall. On the way there, after climing to the top of the hill on Old Walsh Tarlton, I did my usall and flew down it, at the stop light, a lady pulls up next to me 7 rolled down her window ansd said, " You were going fast down that hill, I'm thinking easily 35 -40. " I shook my head yes and said, "Probably about 30, I like the adrenaline rush." Then I checked the bike computer and confirmed it was 30.5 mph, at which point she said, "You are braver than me." I just smiled.  After I cooled off and changed into my ABCx jersey, it was time to PARTY! Lots of fun with the photo booth sponsored by Kidfit-Tennis.  Special thanks to Larry for taking me & my bike home!
7.06 miles



Then I looked at someone's brochure and I'm on the back of it! Now the pressure is on as what to do for this years ride!

*****************************************************************************
Miles for these rides: see above
Miles for the week: 75.48 over 70 miles of errands and commutes!
Total miles for the month of May:237.57
Total miles for 2013: 938.15
Miles til 2013:  1074.85  (got a long way to go, but it's getting smaller)
One way commutes in May so far:11
Total one way commutes in 2013: 43? so close to 50!
Odometer:
Road: 13550(I think it is stuck!)
Cross: 2038.4 (surpassed  2k!)
Trip2:
Road: 370.74
Cross: 546.06