Since the triathlon I have gleefully discontinued much of my
exercising regime. I have gone on a jog one time. And I have gone swimming one
time if you count the time I sat in the hot tub. (If you don’t count that
subtract one from that number.) Life has continued quite nicely cutting out
these activities that are not on my joy list.
The one event from the Triathlon that I have continued with
is Cycling. If you trust the Map my Ride application on an ipod I have gone
nearly one thousand miles since November! I think the application exaggerates
the mileage quite regularly. Regardless, my bike has certainly gone some distance.
Most of these miles are from biking to and from work. I have
been able to do this a couple days a week - this distance is somewhere between
15 and 22 miles.
Jogie recently has had a rotation at the Phoenix VA which is
nearby to where I work. It has been nice because our schedules have coincided
nicely such that we have been able to carpool. On many of these carpool days we
loaded up my bicycle so I can bike home when I am finished, and Jogie can drive
home when he is finished. I have gotten many more biking days in per week than
I otherwise would.
Meanwhile, Jogie’s been wanting to do a big, weekend bike
ride. Over Conference Weekend we rode our bikes to Wickenburg, Arizona. This is
a town that is about fifty miles from our home. The plan was to ride out Friday
night after work, and ride back Saturday. Saturday morning as we were preparing
for our return ride Jogie was considering calling our Home Teachers to come
pick us up because he was just too tired. We started on our return bike ride
without calling for a ride. This return ride was definitely more strenuous
solely because of the sun. All said we made it there and back which means we
did a hundred miles in a 24 hour period! As the week progressed the most
difficult part of recovery for me was the sunburn from the bits of skin that I missed
when I applied sun screen such as wrists, fingers, forehead under the bangs,
ankle, and back of knee. As Jogie has been out of practice on his bike his path
of recovery was a little different. All of his biking muscles were so sore that
many of his activities of daily living were compromised for a couple days.
Despite sunburns and muscle aches we are proud of our ride that took us there
and back again.
Next thing on our list is to do a hundred miles in one day.
The hardest thing will be having our schedules both match up with one of an
organized ride. Hopefully, that goal can be realized soon.
