The following is how I'm planning my return, everyone needs to devise their own plan.. including asking themselves if they want to return or if they are able to return due to the extent of their injuries.
It seems I've been missed since I'm not on the threads anymore talking about cycling, my rides or new tips and tricks... my reaction to people saying it is mixed... some appreciation and some guilt. Over 8 months have gone by and I'm no where near riding like I should be. I took vacation and I'll be damned if the temps weren't still around 99 with "feels like" temps well over 100.
Meanwhile I've been devising a plan to get back in the game... I have started a no carb to low carb diet to drop some of this weight. It's been working thus far and I expect to drop 10 lbs in no time. I have noticed that I have to make sure I'm getting all of the nutritional elements I need... especially potassium. Since I'm so new at this I need to do more work in learning what to eat and how much or when. For now, since I'm not riding, I've concentrated mostly on losing weight. Would you believe I've contacted 2 posters on craigslist to buy their indoor trainer and neither one will answer me or make arrangements?
Ok, anyway...
Step 1 - lose weight to make riding easier...
Step 2 - purchase an indoor trainer (aren't I sorry I got rid of that cyclops wind now)
Step 3 - ride indoors as much as I can stand it, but only for short durations at first (say 20-30 min)
Step 4 - Use steps 1 - 4 to help with dietary needs and adjustments for riding
Step 5 - Weather permitting, add outdoor rides on weekends that allow for basic training (which would be mostly flat areas with long sight distances)
Step 6 - rinse and repeat until I'm out riding distances again that I can join the group rides (which requires at least 40 to 50 miles)
Nothing is ever easy, that's just the way it goes. My friend said, on the phone the other day, maybe cycling is behind you... I gasped... no, I can't say that. I won't say that because it isn't so. I'm a planner, I don't know about you... but I like to plan things out and get them done. Right now I'm only on step 1 because no one will answer my damn emails to buy a trainer! Damn these people for posting something I want and not allowing me to buy it LOL - but seriously I can't afford to buy a brand new one right now :(
The last cool trick i passed on during a ride was the drop chain trick... if you drop a chain during a ride, pedal backwards and the chain should pick back up. I saw the trick somewhere, wondered if it worked... so when he dropped the chain I yelled out "Pedal Backwards." He did and we were both like holy crap! it worked! we pedaled on for a while thinking "how cool was that."
I think I hear a celery stick calling my name or something... not only do I need to lose to ride better, I need to lose just to fit back into my clothes! You know you're in trouble when only 3 pairs of jeans will fit and nothing else you own... guess I was lucky to have 3 pairs of fat girl jeans around... ugh
Happy riding everyone, enjoy it as much as possible as the winter is about to sneak up on us!
