ROAD CYCLING TO WESTON AND BACK

I had a very satisfying ride today on my road bike. One thing that I noticed right away was how much easier it is to pedal a road bike than a mountain bike.

After slowly cruising on the sidewalks from home to Einstein’s Bagel Shoppe in Weston, a ten-mile ride by itself, I hooked up with Sandy, Tom, Rey and Steve for the ride back to where they parked their vehicles.

It felt wonderful to again ride along with the guys at a speed that provided me with some good ole fashion aerobic exercise.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1949557

NATURE WALK + WEIGHT MACHINES

When the leading edge of a cold front was upon us, I decided to leisurely walk to and from our fitness center for a weight-machine workout, stopping along the way to gaze across the lake at the ominous looking gray clouds that were passing by.

A duck that was slowly swimming next to the grassy shoreline caught my attention at one point, as did a white Florida Ibis that was poking his long beak into the shallow water in hopes of spearing a minnow.

I then noticed some small bamboo shoots, or sprouts, making their debut along the western edge of the lake. I thought that was quite odd seeing as though the bunches of mature bamboo that had grown to maximum height is located many feet from the shoreline.

That cold front that I spoke of? It has blessed us with comfortable temps in the low 70’s.  How sweet it is!

I ask you, what’s more peaceful than observing nature?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/394841422

ROBBINS AND VISTA VIEW PARK MTB RIDES

I thoroughly enjoyed this morning’s ride. Not knowing what direction I would be headed once outside on the mountain bike, I chose to head northward towards Robbins Park and a biking trail that runs parallel to Hiatus Road. Good choice! Besides one lone female runner, a very pretty one at that, I was the only human on that trail as well as the adjacent trail that leads to Flamingo Road. There was a family of ducks walking across the Flamingo Road/Hiatus Road trail, but they skedaddled out of the way el pronto.

After stopping a couple of times in smallish roadside parks, both times to take sips from my Gatorade bottle, I headed towards Vista View Park with plans to ride on the mountain bike trail that encircles Mount Trashmore. I've been wanting to ride that trail for some time now.

The Mount Trashmore biking trail was awesome, very steep and very rocky. I was somewhat surprised about the larger rocks because I frequently observe runners on those trails running and walking. Now I know why they occasionally slow it down to a walk.

There were two inclines that had to of been 20% gradient or more, up and down. Talk about inclines that took my breath away, they managed to do just that.

All toll, I rode my MTB 27 miles this morning in the blistering sun. Not a cloud was to be seen in our tropical bluish sky.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1944500

FIRESTONE WALK

Putting our truck into the shop for maintenance gave me a chance to walk from the shop to home and then back to the shop whenever the truck was ready for pickup.

This walk was 100% walking except for three short jogs during the last mile.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/394065767

COUNTY-PARK ESCORT RIDE/RUN

This morning’s short mountain bike ride was a zero-zapping, fun-filled escort ride, which entailed riding alongside, behind and in front of my awesome wife while she did a training run. I was her bottle toting hero dressed in yellow and black.

This morning's ride also included some aggressive grassy knoll riding, occasionally attacking the county park hills when leaving the smooth asphalt roadways. It sure was fun acting like a kid.

I have to say, it was rather warm outside this morning; 82F with the humidity at 100%. 

A real sweat fest for both of us!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1938984

28 minutes of my afternoon workout was spent walking to and from the gym while the remaining 53 minutes was spent on various resistance machines – 2 to 3 sets on each machine. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/393795899

ESCORT BIKE RIDE

While my computer was uploading and installing the new Windows 8.1 Pro, my wife and I went outdoors for some run training and escort bike riding. She ran, I rode!

It was a mild 70 degrees at the beginning of our non-adventurous, full sunshine ride when the huge ball of fire presented its face on the eastern horizon. We experienced relatively low humidity, so my wife’s run wasn't as brutal as some of her summertime runs. 

I never generated an ounce of sweat. How could I? My average HR was a mere 83 bpm.

Today I am thankful for my awesome wife and our good health.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1928016

RIDING ALONGSIDE MY WIFE WHILE SHE RAN AND WALKED

This was a pre-sunrise escort ride, riding my mountain bike alongside my wife while she did a short training run/walk around the shopping mall’s one-mile long parking lot. It was a perfect morning for a short run/ride, with the temperature at a mild 70F. The sun, however, was so bright that our visibility was nil to none when running and riding towards the east. We exercised a great deal of caution realizing that the motorists in the parking are, also, could not see.

We also passed by the area where this past Saturday evening, our neighbor fatally plunged his car across the sidewalk and then into the deep lake. Although it is apparent that excessive speed was one factor in this unfortunate incident, the accident itself is still under investigation by our local police department.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1922168