Don't call it a comeback

Luigi de Guzman said:

after an overlong absence, I'm back on the bike. Kind of.

I've put on way too much weight. I'd been thinking of cycling to work (a
20-some mile commute, if I did the whole way) but kept finding excuses not
to do it.

The other day, I gave it a shot. I woke up late, panicked, and discovered
that my cycling memories were much MUCH stronger than my legs were. I
barely made it 5 miles to the Metro station before I decided to bail.

Shameful. 8.1 mph, average, on the outward trip, just five miles to the
station! It really hurt to realize that I used to make the same trip
without a second thought at around 12 or 13 mph.

Anyway, I'm back. I'm going to try riding to & from the station as often
as I can (every day if possible) until I get my legs back.

-Luigi

I think the 5 miles to the Metro sounds great. Not outrageously far for
a returning commuter. If there are more Metro stops along the the way
maybe you can advance a station at a time. I must say 20 miles sounds
like a long commute to me.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

Luigi de Guzman said:

after an overlong absence, I'm back on the bike. Kind of.

I've put on way too much weight. I'd been thinking of cycling to work (a
20-some mile commute, if I did the whole way) but kept finding excuses not
to do it.

The other day, I gave it a shot. I woke up late, panicked, and discovered
that my cycling memories were much MUCH stronger than my legs were. I
barely made it 5 miles to the Metro station before I decided to bail.

Shameful. 8.1 mph, average, on the outward trip, just five miles to the
station! It really hurt to realize that I used to make the same trip
without a second thought at around 12 or 13 mph.

Anyway, I'm back. I'm going to try riding to & from the station as often
as I can (every day if possible) until I get my legs back.

As another rider who took a few years off (like 20), it does take time
to get back into shape, unfortunately for me, it's recent, and biking
season has only a few weeks left.....

W

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 16:14:11 -0400,
<[email hidden]>,

Luigi de Guzman said:

Anyway, I'm back. I'm going to try riding to & from the station as often
as I can (every day if possible) until I get my legs back.

What could make cycling impossible?
--
zk

Zoot Katz said:

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 16:14:11 -0400,
<[email hidden]>,

Luigi de Guzman said:

Anyway, I'm back. I'm going to try riding to & from the station as often
as I can (every day if possible) until I get my legs back.

What could make cycling impossible?

At this point, overly-cold weather (not likely for a while yet), and
waking up too late to be able to make it to work on time.

-Luigi

Luigi de Guzman said:

Anyway, I'm back. I'm going to try riding to & from the station as often
as I can (every day if possible) until I get my legs back.

I'd do it every other day for a few weeks. When getting back into any
sport, it's always a good idea to allow yourself a recovery day between
workouts. It sounds counterintuitive, but you'll make faster gains to
your conditioning if you allow your body to rest and recover. The system
works by actually tearing down the muscles just a little bit when you
stress them, and then building back stronger than before when you rest.
If you skimp on the rest, you won't see as much progress. Once you get
stronger, you can replace the complete goose-egg rest days with "easy"
ride days that don't stress your muscles much at all. In your situation,
a good intermediate step would be to spend a few months doing the full
route 3 days a week and the short route as recovery 2 days a week.

"Luigi de Guzman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

after an overlong absence, I'm back on the bike. Kind of.

I've put on way too much weight. I'd been thinking of cycling to work (a
20-some mile commute, if I did the whole way) but kept finding excuses not
to do it.

You'll get your legs and lungs back. Having been off the bike (or off of any
sort of exercise) for a length of time and then come back at various points
in my life, I know it's always easier to come back when your platform of
fitness was higher when you stopped all that activity.

The great thing about cycling is that the bike is always there to meet you
at your level of fitness. You don't have to already be in great shape or
tremendously skilled to enjoy it. Just ride 5 to the Metro station for
now -- you'll build it back up, I'm sure.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Luigi de Guzman <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

At this point, overly-cold weather (not likely for a while yet),
and waking up too late to be able to make it to work on time.

Solution, some good cool/cold weather riding gear and an alarm clock.

Mike Latondresse mikelat@no_spam_shaw.ca said:

Luigi de Guzman <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

At this point, overly-cold weather (not likely for a while yet),
and waking up too late to be able to make it to work on time.

Solution, some good cool/cold weather riding gear and an alarm clock.

Already on the list, along with a new front fender to replace one
damaged in a stupid fall a few months back.

Luigi de Guzman said:

after an overlong absence, I'm back on the bike. Kind of.

I've put on way too much weight. I'd been thinking of cycling to work (a
20-some mile commute, if I did the whole way) but kept finding excuses not
to do it.

The other day, I gave it a shot. I woke up late, panicked, and discovered
that my cycling memories were much MUCH stronger than my legs were. I
barely made it 5 miles to the Metro station before I decided to bail.

Shameful. 8.1 mph, average, on the outward trip, just five miles to the
station! It really hurt to realize that I used to make the same trip
without a second thought at around 12 or 13 mph.

Anyway, I'm back. I'm going to try riding to & from the station as often
as I can (every day if possible) until I get my legs back.

Good to see you back in rbm also. It's a shame that your previous job
was even less compatible with biking, or I imagine you would have been
back on the bike earlier.

It's good to see my bad example to you hasn't gone to waste.

🙂

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall,
Aleph-null bottles of beer,
You take one down, and pass it around,
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.

Luigi de Guzman said:

after an overlong absence, I'm back on the bike. Kind of.

Whatever happens with the bike, I'm delighted to see you back in the
newsgroup! I've always particularly enjoyed your writing and missed you
while you were out.

I'm off cycling for the season. Although it's criminally warm (hottest
October ever recorded in the region since record-keeping began - people
are still at the beach in bikinis), I really do not care to cycle in
traffic in darkness. My balance and my eyesight are both too bad.
Although I can coax a beam out of my Catseye with spanking new
batteries, I find the tendency of my eyes to follow the beam on a
blackened street when huffing uphill tends to send me off upright. The
misting of my glasses at traffic lights means literally 0 visibility at
intersections. As I have always been and continue to be seriously
terrified of traffic this added hazard makes road cycling too negative
an experience.

So I'm back in the purgatory of the Exercycle in front of the TV. Thank
Goddess for DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!

EFR
Ile de France