May Recap

Primary goals for May:
* Bike commute an average of more than 4 times per work week
Status: Complete. Between taking my vacation (and by vacation I mean packing my belongings into boxes) and taking a sick day, there were 18 work days for me this month, and I only drove twice.

* Make Bike To Work Week a 5-day bike commute week
Status: FAIL. There was no way I was risking my already shaky health situation so I could sit in a 40-degree refrigerated bus while I was soaking wet. There was also no way I was going to ride 22 miles in torrential downpour.

* Have fun
Status: Complete. Need I say more? Bicycling is fun! My road bike, despite being entry level, is one of the most efficient and elegant machines I've ever observed in action. I purchased it right at the beginning of May, and it's carried me most of the miles I've ridden this month. Several people warned me that road bikes aren't very forgiving. I found this out early on, but it hasn't kept me from having fun! My idea of "fun on a bicycle" changes when I'm on my Trek, though. High-speed sprints in the drops and carving corners is fun, but it's no more nor less fun than tackling a flight of stairs or ice boulders on my mountain bike, or even hopping curbs, doing track-stands, and popping wheelies on my hybrid. I re-iterate: Bicycling is fun!

Secondary goals for May:
* Make at least one whole round trip by bike for Bike To Work Week
Status: Complete. Wednesday, May 16, I rode my bike all the way to work, and all the way home. On top of that, I completed three other one-way trips Monday morning, Thursday morning, and Friday evening.

* Exceed 400 miles for the month of May
Status: Complete. Barely. I had to run some errands on my bike that netted me less than six miles. I then hit Indian Creek Trail to rack up about 13 more, giving me a total of almost 404 miles for May.

Other miscellany:
I actually got the scale to read 199.8 pounds for a brief, fleeting moment this week, but I think I was dehydrated. Right now I'm currently at 201. I'll consider myself under 200 pounds, when I can actually reliably weigh myself and have it be under 200 pounds. I don't pay a lot of attention to my weight, as I'm too busy bicycling and working to give it much thought. I know I'm on the right course, so there's no sense weighing myself twice a day or even twice a week.

Also, riding a little less often has allowed me to really up my intensity. I can feel the difference in acceleration and speed that I have today and I'm going to attribute it to actually taking a day off. In the mornings, as I sprint to the bus, that's a different kind of riding. I can usually do that pretty fast unless I didn't sleep well. Today, I actually felt fastest on the last 3-4 miles of my ride, and it was kind of a gradual "warming up" feeling.

Oh yah, and my road rash is almost gone. Sheesh.

So, what does June hold? Moving, for one thing! I am taking off June 19th, which is when we can officially move in to our new place. We'll have our current apartment until june 29th, though. Life is going to be pretty challenging this coming month, so I'm not really making any promises. I'd like to see my C/D ratio keep climbing, so I really do have to average 4 or more bike commutes per week this month.

I'm confident that I'll have plenty of fun on my bike, and that I'll be able to say I'm staying below 200 pounds by the end of June. Those aren't even questions in my mind.