On the road

This Memorial Day Holiday was essentially a biking weekend extravaganza for me.  After riding around on my Electra Townie Saturday and Sunday, I decided that it was time to hit the pavement on my Specialized. So I got on my gear and headed outside and onto the road.

I've mentioned before that I usually ride around in an office park but I'm trying to be adventurous and ride real roads.  Yesterday after riding around the neighborhood, I crossed the main road and cycled into uncharted territory, for me that is.  I did stoplights, left turns and bridges.  And what is really cool is that I felt confident about my strength on the bike.  I wore my HR monitor so I was careful not to overexert and I stayed on roads that I knew well.  Still, it was challenging for me - 1 complete hour on my bike only riding in the office park to get home.  550 calories burned.

Sadly, that was the best part of the day.  I'm kinda joking but this is what happened: the dishwasher broke, the water heater started leaking and I left my sunroof cracked not expecting a torrential downpour.  Lesson learned.  Everything is fixed today but I really think I must have ticked-off the water goddess!

Due to the above activity, I was not able to get to the gym as planned.  I'd really been looking forward to a long cross-fit style workout today complete with medicine balls, Bosu, jump rope and weight disks.  Instead I went out in the heat and humidity to jog/walk for 30 minutes.  I know that I'm not really supposed to be jogging with this IT band thing but I just couldn't get excited about walking briskly.  So I jogged a mile then walked backed home while listening to the new Sleigh Bells album, which it turns out is a pretty good work-out album.  Hmm.

Tomorrow I'm working so it's a day off from exercise.  Not sure what Thursday will bring.  Perhaps that long overdue Cross-fit routine!

Oh and I completely forgot!  My kitchen is back to being a functional part of our house.  I've never been so happy to see water coming out of a faucet!  Tonight we enjoyed bounty from our farm share: lettuce and radishes.  Radishes can be a bit harsh raw so I like to saute them in a bit of butter (just a bit, honest) and finish it off with vinegar.  This mellows their flavor.  I served them on the side of a simple salad tossed with salt, olive oil and white wine vinegar, some cucumbers and shrimp.  It's hot here so this was the perfect meal: crisp and refreshing.

Be well.