March '08

Well, March is over. Wish I could say it was lovely - alas, it was not. But hey - it's over!

In March Karen bought a new bike - one that actually fits. This should prevent a repeat of last year's injuries. Her old bike was a 48 cm size frame- her new bike's frame size is 53 cm. In bikes, that is a ridiculously HUGE difference. Appalling, really. To the point where her body is in such a different position that her muscles are actually working together differently. Should be much more efficient, but it's going to take a bit of an adjustment period, and she's got to be careful to give herself the time to adjust.

We're now evaluating Ken's bike fit. There are some changes that should probably be made to his current bike to avoid potential injury.

In March, Karen rode a total of about 60 miles (61.1 to be exact) & Ken rode about 47 miles. Not great, but we've done much worse in the past. Karen's bike journal log from last March shows we didn't ride at all - not one measely little mile. In April 2007 we only rode about 45 miles. So were off to much more reasonable start, at least. A more gradual ramp up, which should also help avoid injury.

Due to the whole new bike thing, heart rate / calorie burning data for March '08 is spotting at best. We finally had time to put the computer on Karen's new bike yesterday, before our ride. So we can't really tell how many calories we burned, but it wasn't much. Probably around 2,000 calories, not including any gym outings. And there were plenty of those, so actual training calories is likely higher, but it's harder to keep track of what's accomplished at the gym.

For those of you who ride, we've invested in some "Road IDs" - we've been meaning to do this for years. Karen threatened to get one for Ken years back before they were even dating. Finally got around to it this year. I would strongly suggest any running / hiking / biking friends (or not) of ours to get some of these. They are cheap enough, and easy to get. But well worth it in the event of an accident where you can't speak for yourself. Obviously, we hope to never actually use them. But it's worth the peace of mind. We took a Wilderness First Aid course a couple of weeks ago, and the instructor was both a wilderness EMT as well as an urban EMT - I ran the Road ID idea by him, and he thought it was a really good idea, so it's not just some sort of commercialism gimmick. So go get yourself one.

I see on the weather forecast that tomorrow's high is 64 degrees - there is hope in sight. It'll be getting warmer out soon enough!