Biking – Page 3 – An Outdoor Life

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020

Weekend Recap, June 15 Looking Ahead

It was a fun weekend of riding and running and hiking with the dogs. While we haven’t been hiking the big mountains or any real mountain, I think next week we will take it to the next level. Winnie and Goldie are ready for a longer hike.

The trees in Winant Park are green and lush. Look up!

I was thinking this last week about all the plans and goals from the beginning of the year. It’s been such a strange year but no year goes completely how I’ve wanted. It’s like the saying that if you want to make God laugh tell Him your plans. I didn’t know that was attributed to Woody Allen. 2019 and 2010 were pretty great years.

Things I planned on doing on January 1, and status as of June 15:

52 marathons in one year. I have only have completed one 26 mile run. There still may be time.
4,000 footers in my 49th year. I’m getting there slowly while placing blame on the stay at home order. There is time.
100,000 feet in June, July, August. This is the new goal and I love seeing my calculations change every day. This is possible.

As of June 14, 2020, this is for the month of June – must hit 33,000 to stay on track for 100,000 feet of vert.

100 mile finish. My training is not going well. The most important runs are the long runs on the weekend and I’m not hitting the numbers. There is still time. This is possible.

I’m so behind but it’s all good. I love thinking of all the fun things that help me get psyched to do too many activities in one day that leave me so tired. As much as the tiredness lately has been driving me crazy, I know that I’m getting stronger, if that is even possible at 49.

This week’s training plan – running!

This week is some big mileage and lots of activities: swimming, small group weight training at the Y, running, hiking and a hike or two. See you on Strava!

My new favorite place to Mountain Bike – Bear Brook!

June 8, 2020June 8, 2020

I May Be Training for Something

It sounds like the Ragged Mountain Stage Race is still on. There are less that 50 people registered so it just might happen; from what the race director stated in an email last week.

This week the plan is to spend a lot of time on the trails and get in some vertical training. I want to drive up to run/hike Ragged after work this week. I may also do a few loops at Kearsarge.

This past week was pretty good training-wise. While I didn’t get my running miles in I swam and biked a lot. I’m starting to feel more and more like a triathlete again.

Saturday was an early morning hike and then meeting Adam for lunch. We watched the BLM protest come into the downtown area and into the New Hampshire State House. We listened to the speakers and then we headed to the river for a swim. So, I kind of biked and swam.

Sunday was a long ride through Manchester and Londonderry with Jeff. He wanted to show me the new paved trail in Londonderry: The Londonderry Rail Trail. It was awesome to say the least. We rode by Lake Massabesic and through neighborhoods in Manchester. It was a solid 30 miles on a new course. We will do that again!

Courtesy of https://londonderrytrails.org/about-the-rail-trail/

Today:
Today is work, training and finishing the 13th documentary on Netflix. I will learn, understand and do everything I can to support BLM – to help make the world a better place for all humans.

From 13th: “We have in this country people pleading guilty to crimes they didn’t commit just because the thought of going to jail for what the mandatory minimums are is so excruciating.” – Cory Booker

May 28, 2020May 29, 2020

First time riding Bear Brook

Do you ever just know you’re going to love something and avoid it because you know that it may take over your life?

Well, this happens to me a lot because I love trying new things and having new experiences.

So, there is this happy place called Bear Brook. I’ve been hearing that the mountain biking is awesome. I’ve been avoiding going there for two years because I knew I would love it. It’s just easier and less time consuming to ride from my house to the Concord trails. It’s so much work packing up my bike and gear to drive to a trailhead.

But, the trails at Bear Brook are AWESOME and totally worth the effort to get there. I’m addicted and will be going as much as I can. Talk about FLOWY. I’m grown accustomed to so many rocks and roots and elevation gain in Concord. The loop around Bear Brook was fun and adventurous; and VERY mosquito-y tonight. I’m not usually one for so many caps in a blog post, but there you have it. What a great ride.

I’m ready for more trails and exploring outside of Concord for bike trails. Despite everything: I’m ready for Summer 2020.

Well. So. But. Life Is Good. You just need to get on the trails.

May 27, 2020May 27, 2020

Suddenly Summer

It happens every year.

One minute you are sitting in your house freezing and wearing long tights on a morning run.

The next minute you can’t stay cool in your house and are sweating bullets in shorts on a morning run.

Today, on a hot, muggy morning I ran 8 miles on roads and trails. While the temperature on weather.com reported 70 degrees and humidity at 67% it felt higher and I was melting. Ugh. I seriously don’t know how I lived in Tucson for three years.

I just looked at the details of my Strava and it states that the temperature was 63 and humidity 88%. That sounds a little more correct than weather.com

Either way. Hot and muggy with full sun exposure. I liked the route though: through the quarry trails and over to Winant to run an interesting 8 mile loop before starting work.

I’m going to try and get away for a short bike ride at lunch time since the weather is so nice; nice bike weather means not windy and rainy. The high today will be 80. I hope to follow the training plan this week and maybe get a 4,000 footer in on the weekend.

This morning I read a Twitter post about the death of David Clark. I read some posts about his passing last week but only his name was mentioned and I didn’t know who he was; at that time there were few details. I found the story today from Rich Roll who gave a tribute to him and I was instantly drawn into Clark’s story.

His story is about how an obese alcoholic who loved fast food found a new life in running. And not just running – ultra running some of the hardest races. As someone who struggles with so some of the same things I wanted to know more about his story and bought his book, Broken Open. I’ll let you know what I think once I pick it up from Gibsons.

May 26, 2020May 26, 2020

Weekend Recap Bike, Run, Hike

“that New Hampshire bluff, that promontory of a state … will longest haunt our dreams” Thoreau on Monadnock in 1844 (pictured above)

Such a fun weekend:

Mountain Biking in Concord on new trails

I had great outdoor adventures with friends but alas running didn’t go so well [sigh]. Starting again today with 8 miles. It’s warm this morning: 55 degrees after waking up to low 40s for the last few days. It’s officially running in shorts in the morning weather – I hope from now on.

After hiking and mountain biking I really feel like mountain biking helps my hiking. I think it will help my running however my run on Saturday was not so great. I felt tired and my legs felt like lead. It will be interesting to see what my run this morning is like. My ankle is close to totally healed but it’s still a bit swollen and it is achy sometimes while running on uneven surfaces.

Week 7 Plan

I’m looking forward to this week of running and biking. The weather forecast shows some warm days coming up. Summer is almost here. Time to get back on track, hike some 4,000 footers and explore the world (well, locally until travel restrictions are loosened).

One year ago today, I finished my first 50 miler at Pineland. While I didn’t know it at the time that would be my best finish and last ultra race I finished in 2019. It was seriously, one of my best days ever. Thanks, again, to my BFF Mark Nash for pacing me and having the race of my life.