What makes a cyclist, A CYCLIST?

RUNNING and cycling is becoming harder to do with the storms and rains coming in during the past few weeks.  But unlike running, the usual factors don’t affect much on whether I ride or not.  That’s the benefit of having two bikes – there’s always one of them that you can allow to get wet.

Choose your weapon

What’s also nice about having two bikes is that cycling doesn’t have to be redundant.  Mixing it up as the weather demands or as the mood sets in, on or off-road, therefore adaptable to more situations and social connections.

I can therefore say (without making it seem like I’m defending myself) that having two bikes will keep us engaged in fitness better than sticking to just one because you simply have less-reasons not to do it.  Note that the “n + 1” formula where n is the current bikes that you have does not apply.

So the less-reasons not to do it are there, what adds to it that limits us from doing it?  TIME & EFFORT

 

A bike ride consists of a set of steps that you have to go through.  And doing it eats up some time, patience and effort that makes the excitement of doing a bike ride die down.  And without a strong fitness mindset and the need for social activities to boost, will end up as time spent on the bed!  But as with everything else, you just have to develop the habit of doing it.  I’ll list down below the basics for your appreciation; note that if you are taking the bike-all-the-way route, eliminate step 1:

1.       Bike rack on a car
2.       Gear setup – hydration, food, money, safety gears
3.       Travel to site
4.       On-site waiting time (for group rides)
5.       Ride out to ride back (waiting times in between)
6.       Travel back home
7.       Bike, car and gear wash
8.       Sleep

Antipolo - the usual #weekendride destination

Personally, as I have limited time to spend, I almost always take the solo, bike-all-the-way route.  This eliminates a few steps above.  Since the time and effort is acceptable to me, I have less-reasons not to do it.

 

So the key to being A CYCLIST is really not to be the fastest, strongest, or have the most expensive bike.  Its to keep doing it CONSISTENTLY for reasons like health, fitness, lifestyle, social engagement or simply for reasons that matter to you.  #ridesafe

Casual Runner is still a Runner

Decided to do a quick one about my running, since I have a few minutes to spend before the weekend comes in.

It’s still the usual, casual running sessions; with no structure or targets - Just run - maintaining at least 2 weekly runs of at least 10km distance.  Prone to weather and stress as factors not to do one.  A casual runner indeed, but still the discipline is there to make sure I don’t miss these bare minimum!

A quick look at my current stat shows exactly what a “casual runner” does.  But like I said, its good that there is still a little bit of distance covered.

Although the “birthday run” is coming.  I thought about it when October started, and someone from the office asked if I’m running the New Balance Run on the 6^th of November.  I don’t know.  Let’s see how the #weekendrun goes.

Broken (runner's) heart

So, it has been a long time since I last did this.  Work (or bike) got in the way!

I missed to write about my last PF Sub-2 HM Challenge last November 15.  I guess the frustration in NOT hitting the 2 hour mark gave me a bad, broken runner’s heart.  Yeah, it really left a mark.

I knew I wasn’t gonna make it to cut-off time in the 16K mark when I started taking longer recovery intervals.  I didn’t quite recover well until I eventually was forced to let go on the 19K mark.

Can you see the frustration on that face?

What happened was I got myself a 2:05:25 (Garmin time), and a Finisher’s jacket – sort of a consolation prize for trying.  I can think of a lot of reasons why I didn’t make it. But basically it is because I didn’t get to follow my training plan, and because I am more excited about my cross-training-bike-ride!

So I’m not going to build further about it.  I failed the challenge, and running has never been the same.  

What I have going right now are twice, sometimes 3x-5k runs a week at a 6:30-ish per km pace.  I cannot find the urge to go further, although I try to go faster.  Partly because of work or family commitments, NETFLIX or weather condition – yes, there’s always an excuse not to run.

The good thing is that I maintain my weekend bike rides.  It’s the usual Antipolo 61++km rides with an occasional trail/gravel rides.  I do have a new 27.5 MTB with me that I got for a steal.  And my old 29er got traded for a treadmill for the wife.  I guess it’s a sort of backup should I have the excuse to run because of the rain.  Haha!

There it is! Motivation!

Dwindling mileage along with not making any effort makes me feel guilty.  Guilty that I had a good thing going on and being consistent should be easy.  Then again the twice a week run is something that I’m still holding on to.

When I can get the running going the way it used to?  I don’t know.  But I got to finish this blog and another one in one sitting.  Let’s see what other surprise will come up next.

See you on the road!

The Lugaw Ride

Lugaw (rice porridge) is an old, traditional Filipino food made with rice, water and seasoning that is usually consumed with tokwa or egg or other animal internal organs – and it is those inclusions that make it special, or without them, just plain lugaw.

I love my lugaw.  I grew up with lugaw.  We used to visit this “Onoy” lugawan in Concepcion when we were still kids.  In high school I used to bike all the way there for meryenda.  And up to now my kid loves it.  

The usual weekend route

If you follow me in social media you may find my weekly posts about Lugaw Ride (sometimes with or without egg, depending on how much is in my pouch on that day).  This past weekend I didn’t post it anymore as its starting to get old.

There are some comments about why I have to ride 30++kms with a no-so-easy-uphill ride

in Antipolo and back just to have some.  Actually it is not the lugaw, but for the love of cycling.  It’s the sense of accomplishment of getting to the end of the rainbow but not for a pot of gold but a bowl of lugaw. 

The usual weekend post

So the next time you see me post about it, it means that I was able to arrive at checkpoint, and that the worst part (climb) is through.  The lugaw break means the start of relaxation and eventually the rush of downhill.  Every cyclist loves the downhill!

See you on the road!