30 Days of Biking: Day 14

Day 14: Trail Building and a Loop

My best friend, Dan,  came over this morning and we worked on the mountain bike trails we are building on my property. I have 5.5 acres with most of it wooded, 2 small streams running through it, some decent elevation and deep gulleys that the streams have carved out. We have been working on this for a few months. Trail building from scratch is not as easy as it sounds, especially when you have bridges to build. For us, so far, we will be building 4 bridges, two of them are going to be about 20 feet long...that'll take some engineering. If anyone has any ideas to pass on for building 20 foot long bridges over a waterway, let me know!

Afterwards I did my ride, a short one and not meeting my 5 mile goal, but I call trail building part of riding...right!?!?!?!

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today: 3.3
Total April Miles.: 97.5

Tom Witcher Road

30 Days of Biking: Day 13

Day 13: A Short, Post Last Midnight Shift Road Ride

I promise, this is the last time you’ll hear me complain about being on midnight shifts and how it affects my riding…REALLY! Being my last midnight shift in this set, I have to “reset” my body to a normal sleep schedule. Therefore I got 4 hours of sleep today. If I get any more sleep, my body will think it is still on midnights and I’ll be awake tonight. So after waking up, did a little work around the house and then did a ride with my neighbor. It was a short ride, just no energy…didn’t make my minimum of 5 miles, but did rise a little over 3 miles.

I am having problem with my back tire. I run tubeless and I am slowly losing air, about 20 lbs (I run 40 lbs on the road and about 28 on the trails). So my job tomorrow will be to find out where I’m losing this air.

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today: 3.3
Total April Miles.: 94.2

30 Days of Biking: Day 12

Day 12: A Neighborly Ride

About a week ago, my neighbor injured the muscle in his leg. The doc said for him not to ride for at least 7 days. Today was day 7, so he did 1 lap on the roads around our homes. That totaled 3.25 miles. He called it quits and I did another lap to get me above 5 miles. 

Thought I was going to be riding around in some showers this afternoon, but when I woke up this afternoon (yes, still on midnight shifts, I got one more tonight), the sun was out and it was beautiful. Right before I started the ride, a local was out sunning himself (see pic). I was going to see if he wanted to ride, but I think his legs were too short :)

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today:  6.5
Total April Miles.: 90.9

30 Days of Biking: Day 11

Day 11: The Birthday Ride

Today I turned 53 years old. Yep, over half a century. Most of the time I don’t feel like I’m 53, and a lot of that I have to credit keeping active, going to the gym and definitely biking! Biking is my outlet, its how I relieve any stress that has built up. It also energizes me both mentally and physically (although after a long strenuous ride I feel like I could lay down for days!). I really wanted to do more than my normal road ride around my house, but unfortunately it was also my third midnight shift and my body was definitely in midnight mode (where you don’t want to do anything except exist). But I did manage to do a little more than I normally do around the house.

I could see the storm clouds rolling in, but I did take some time to take more pictures of the beautiful countryside here in northwest Coweta County Georgia. The dogwoods this spring were absolutely beautiful and I was able to get a picture of what would probably be the last of the dogwood flowers this season.

It was a good ride and a great birthday ride! Here are the stats…

Total Miles Today:  6.6
Total April Miles.: 84.4

more friends along the country roads

Last of the dogwood flowers

30 Days of Biking: Day 10

Day 10: Mailbox Run

For the second time this challenge I didn't meet my personal goal of 5 miles. Through a series of events, I was only able to do the "mailbox run." Not what I wanted but I'm not going to complain, it is what it is, at least I got out and rode!

Here's my stats for today...

Total Miles Today:  0.3
Total April Miles.: 77.8

30 Days of Biking: Day 9

Day 9: Curse of the Midnight Shifts

At least one week during the month of April I work a string of 5 midnight shifts in a row. During this time it is probably the most difficult to get out and ride, just because, well, I'm 52 years old and my body doesn't like staying up all night and sleeping during the day. For those that don't know, I work as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, GA. My job requires me to work rotating shifts, which means every week I work a different shift, going from day shifts, to midnight shifts to evening shifts then back to day shifts. So after getting about 5 to 6 hours of sleep after working a midnight shift, and mind you not a good restful sleep, I wake up very groggy, like I'm in a fog for the rest of the day.

So last night was my first midnight shift, came home this morning, and woke up at 330 PM not wanting to do anything. It took all that was in me to get out of bed and drink my coffee. My plan was to go to Cochran Mill Park and ride. Well that went down the drain real quick, but I did force myself to get out on the roads around our house and ride just under 6 miles. Now those who have never worked rotating shifts, you really can't understand, but those who have worked rotating shifts or at least have worked midnight shifts...you say whatever you want about me and not riding Cochran, but at least I got out and rode.

What I did do on todays ride was enjoy the scenery around our house. Northwest Coweta County is really beautiful, so I took my time and enjoyed the ride. I did get to use nature's air-brakes going down hill as I had a pretty hefty head wind. Going up hill with a head wind, well, was not what I call fun! Anyway, it was a good ride for sure.

Here's my stats for today...

Total Miles Today:  5.9
Total April Miles.: 77.5

30 Days of Biking: Day 8

Day 8: At the Gym

I hope not to have too many of these days, in fact I am trying not to have any of these days, but they happen. I didn't have time to get the bike out to get my 5 miles in, but I wanted to get the miles in, so I got my miles in at the gym, Atlanta Fitness in Newnan, GA. I was meeting my gym bro at the gym around noon, so I got in there about 30 minutes prior, put it on Interval Training and pedalled.

I know I have a few of these days coming up was I will be on travel with my job in a couple weeks. I am finding that it is a lot easier to get out and ride any distance, but to set a goal of no less than 5 miles a day...well it is a bit more problematic...but do-able!

Here's my stats for today...

Total Miles Today: 11.4
Total April Miles.: 71.6