Mountain Bike!

For a while, I'd been wanting to go ride mountain bikes with a guy who's pretty insanely in love with such biking. His name really is Nad.

The year had other plans for my summer, but I managed to by a bike on sale at the end of the season at REI: a Cannondale SL2 hardtail 29er. The 29ers aren't the cool thing anymore so the salesman was stearing me towards newer (and more expensive) 27.5 wheels. I rode both. What they said about 29ers 5 or 10 years ago is still true. They will go over anything and make a great beginner bike. This bike sat in the shop unsold for 6 months. Partly because its not cool anymore, and partly it make have been over priced.

 So far I have ridden, Three Sisters, The Grand Mesa, 18 Road, Alderfer, and Centennial Cone.

Mountain biking involves a little bit of technical. I don't miss the full suspension (yet?). Compared to the FSB the folks in this riding group, it's a light and cheap bike. The downhill rides draw on the little bit of motorcycle riding I've done. Mostly, days riding with these folks are hours-long slogs uphill, at elevation. I'm hoping it will be a good cross-train addition to a future 2nd attempt at  The Triple.

Running, again

I try to start running about every 7 years. Around 2000 I bought a pair of Brooks and ran with a heal-strike stride. My back started hurting after a fe w weeks and I quit. Maybe 2007 or so I bought a pair of Nike Free under great protest of the shoe salesperson. A few weeks later my back hurt and I gave them away.

It's 2015. I want to lose weight. I want a more intense workout faster, and I'm willing to give my connective tissue some time to grow stronger. This all is happening in the context of walking 4 miles/day between bus stops and and work. It started when, late for the bus, instead of trying to shave a few minutes off my walk, I decided to run the whole mile. In my Keen sandals. I survived and impulsively bought a pair of shoes at the running store next to my lunchtop.

I expressed interested in a forward strike stride and started on a journey of trying on about half-a-dozen shoes. The ones I bought have a reasonable amount of structure, don't aggravate my pronation and have a relatively low heal. 4.5mm instead of more than 8.

So far I've run twice: The day catching the bus, Wednesday. The day at the store wasn't a full day off, and I ran yesterday, Saturday. Thursday and Friday involved 12-15,000 fitbit steps beyond the running.

The day after running involves some ache in the very lower parts of my legs, a twinge in my knees. My back gets stiff, so I need to stretch. I hope taking it slowly gives my connective tissue time to develop.

It was 1.3 miles on Saturday in 11min. 30 sec.