On this rainy Friday, I’m just sitting here at my work desk looking for writing work and waiting for the phone to ring so I can drive to Ruston Way in Tacoma to pick up the three bikes that are getting their tune-ups…

In a nutshell, I’m bored outta my gourd. It’s no fun to be in exercise mode and not be able to go out and engage because of rain and because my bike is in the shop.

I got withdrawal symptoms just by leaving the bikes at the shop yesterday. I knew it was going to be raining today, so I felt that was GOOD; otherwise, I’d be super antsy to get the bikes back…

But I’m super antsy to get them bikes back anyway!

I reckon that means I’m a biking fool. Which is good.  I’m losing weight, which is good.  I’m getting into shape, which is good.

I can even cheat a little (snacks) and not feel terribly bad about it.  But my brain is definitely in “take it off” mode.

I want to be as slim as possible when I go in for the panniculectomy in August.  I know that procedure will remove at least 12 pounds of excess hanging skin, so my goal (before surgery) is to get down to 202 if I can, given my sluggish metabolism.

I weigh exactly 210 now… down from 238 a couple years ago before I started playing pickleball and wallyball and biking again.

COVID put a big crimp in my exercise routine for much of the year. The gyms where I pickled and wally’d were closed, and the weather up here in the Pacific North-Wet is inclement (too cold, too windy, or too rainy) to walk or bike a good portion of the year, so we have to get our exercise in however, wherever, and whenever possible.

I’m not a big fan of walking in the rain. Or freezing in the snow. Or slipping on the ice.  We have about six or seven months of walkable/rideable outdoor weather usually up here. The rest of the time, we have to think of ways to get our exercise indoors, and none of it is much fun. I have stationery equipment to put my bike on so I can pedal indoors, and some “virtual” bike tours to lovely locations that I can “ride” my way through, but it just isn’t the same.

I’d rather be in Orting on the Foothills Trail, even though I’ve ridden it literally hundreds of times.  It’s familiar, fun and the perfect workout length for me.  It’s mostly uphill one way and mostly downhill the other, for a total of 15 miles. I enjoy the heck out of it. Lisa has been accompanying me on her bike the last several years, and that makes it even more fun.  We’re each other’s accountability partner.

Now that I’m back in exercise mode, I hate it when I can’t do it.  But I can’t do it today, so maybe Lisa and I will decide to ride tomorrow, even though it will be more “people-y” on the weekend. (We do our best to avoid crowds of people, not just during COVID but always.)

I wanna get back on my bike!!!  WAAAHHHH!!!!

 

UPDATE SUNDAY MAY 2nd: Got back on my bike today only to discover that the new chain doesn’t operate properly on the gears I usually ride my bike in. It skips or slips. Very frustrating!!!

 

So, I called Old Town Bike when I got back from Orting. They had me bring it back in so they could determine what’s happening.

 

Turns out the gears I usually ride in have worn down the freewheel sprocket for those specific gears, and none of their suppliers has the part in right now. But thankfully I’m not grounded as a result. I just have to ride in other gears until the part can be obtained and brought in. They say they’ll install it for free. It costs less than twenty dollars, so that’s good.

 

I don’t even have to replace it if I stay in other gears.  They say the 5 and 2 gears will be closest to the 7 and 1 I’m used to riding in.

 

Today before I took it back in, Lisa and I rode to Orting. A fellow on the trail tried to see if he could fix it. When he couldn’t, he put it into 2 and 2 gears and told me to ride in those gears until I could get it looked at by the bike shop. So I did that, but it was pretty funny to watch, Lisa said.

 

On 2 and 2 it’s easy to ride and to get up hills and inclines, but you have to pedal like mad, so I was pedaling about three revolutions for every one of Lisa’s. I looked like a speeded up cartoon character or film, I guess.  She was in stitches watching me trying to keep up with her.

 

And on the way down, it was even funnier, because half the time I couldn’t pedal fast enough to catch up with the 2 and 2 gears, so I was kicking like mad but not pushing the bike any farther down the trail.

 

The guys at the bike shop say I’ll burn more calories in gears other than the ones I’ve been riding in.  I’ve been really overworking, outside the fat-burning zone, the way I’ve been riding.  They say what I did today is probably real close to about right if I want to burn more calories. I know my heart rate recovered almost instantly at the top of the hill, which isn’t usually the case.

 

So today I learned, essentially, that I’ve been working too hard. I need to ride less hard to stay within the fat-burning range, heartbeat-wise.

 

OK.  That should be easy enough, since I can’t even use 7 and 1 until the new freewheel arrives. They said to check back once a month, because they expect it won’t be coming in any time soon.  Millions of new people have taken up (or resumed) biking during COVID and parts are hard to come by.

 

I’m sooo glad my problem has a solution that doesn’t include having to park my bike until a hard-to-find part comes in.  I need to keep riding.