I'm finally cool like all of you!!

It's been a long time since I've been on a bike but thanks to a friend from high school, Sami, I'll be riding a bike on a regular basis this summer.  Yesterday while at work I was working hard browsing Facebook on my phone and I came across Sami's status which she said her plan was to ride her bike at least 5 days a week this summer and lose 40 pounds by her birthday.  After leaving a comment about how she should come to my house because I would ride with her I used Facebook to get her phone number so I could text her about really following through on this idea of getting together.

The plan was hatched to meet at my house today after I was home from class.  I had mapped out some routes around my house we could try but when we were actually were ready to leave my house the plan(s) went out the window.  Who needs a plan when you can just fly by the seat of your pants?

Thanks to my free Cardiotrainer app our route was mapped as we went and it was timed.  Thanks to this awesome app I can now be cool like all of you and post mile splits and other work out information on my blog!  Yes, I was really excited when this thought crossed my mind as I was reviewing the stats from my work out.

8.71 miles in 1:00:18

Mile 1: 6:16

Mile 2: 7:20

Mile 3: 5:36

Mile 4: 6:19

Mile 5: 7:07

Mile 6: 5:57

Mile 7: 8:19

Mile 8: 7:38

Average pace 6:55 min/mi

Using this app was awesome! This app automatically pauses your work out when you stop moving, awesomesauce!  Between miles 1 and 2 there was in my terms a hill.  Was there really?  No, according to the elevation report there was only a slight change but not enough for it to really be something.  There were also other little hills along the route which you can see from the slower mile splits.  It's amazing how in a car, or even walking, I wouldn't notice these "hills" but biking boy oh boy do I notice them!  I'm sure as the summer goes on and my legs become better conditioned I won't notice them as much.

The only thing I want to change for next time is the bikes we used.  Because of my plans I thought we would be riding on the gravel roads around my house so we used the mountain bikes.  But while flying by the seat of our pants we decided to just stay on the black top roads and just do out and back trips rather than round trips.  My family has a few old road bikes so those will definitely be used next time.

Sami and I rewarded ourselves for our hard work with a piece of the cake I baked the other night.  Recipe coming soon?  As we were enjoying our reward we planned out when we could get together the next three weeks.  We're going to get together again on Wednesday the 11th, Tuesday the 17th, and Sunday the 22nd.  After that we're probably only going to be able to get together on the weekends because I will be working 8-5 Monday-Friday and she works at 6 every night.  But getting together with her on the weekends is better than not at all.  Our goal for the end of summer is to be able to ride to town and back to my house.  Based on the one route I mapped out for this goal trip it will be roughly 30 miles total.

I plan on asking my dad if he would like to ride with me a couple of times a week because lets face it, riding alone with no one to talk to is boring and I can't rely on only riding with Sami if I want to be able to ride 30 miles by the end of summer without dying.  I'm not sure when my next ride will be.  Tomorrow the weather looks amazing, 63*F and sunny, but I'm not sure riding back to back days will be a good idea.  Saturday would be my ideal day to ride, a day of rest in between rides, but the weather is looking to be less than ideal,  61*F with a few showers (30% chance of rain).  Decisions decisions.  Guess I shouldn't talk myself out of riding on Saturday, I mean I rode this afternoon and it was cold, cloudy, and windy and I did just fine.

Well that's my big news for today.  I'll be biking this summer with my new work out buddy!

Question...

Anyone interested in helping me devise a biking plan for the summer??  Leave me a comment if you are!

Until next time...