Roger Bikes

Author: Roger

  • Fitness Test Day : 89/100

    Fitness Test Day : 89/100

    Today was day 2 of my cycling training program. Yesterday was a strength day, and today is the fitness or FTP test. I wrote about the fitness test on May 16th on the 16th post of this blogging challenge. I know I had said I was only going to watch my time on workouts but I have added heart rate back. This is more helpful for telling me when to reduce my effort. It is amazing how often we are working way too hard in aerobic workouts. The purpose is to train your heart, and science has shown us that training from 85% to 94% of your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR) is where you make your heart stronger.

    Determining LTHR is done by going as hard as possible for 20 minutes. You take your average heart rate during that effort and have an approximate of what your LTHR is. From there you use a guide or calculator to determine your training zones.

    On today’s test my LTHR came out to be about 6bpm less than the last time I did the test. There is a possibility I could have pushed harder but I am tired tonight which I attribute to pushing pretty hard this morning. This isn’t exactly ideal but since I haven’t been doing aerobic training for over 2 months it should not be a surprise. I guess I know why I am doing the training now.

    Overall it was a beautiful morning and a great ride.

  • Adventures in Woodworking – Planter : 88/100

    Adventures in Woodworking – Planter : 88/100

    A good friend gifted us a Miss Kim lilac bush recently. Since we are building a home soon I am trying to avoid planting anything near the construction site. That means we need to re-pot the bush to a larger planter while we figure out where we want to eventually plant it in the ground. We could have easily gone to Wal-Mart and purchased a plastic planter, but I have tools, scrap wood, and an aspiration for my wife’s admiration. So I set out to build a planter.

    After some googling I discovered that most DIY planter boxes are over built. I just needed a temporary solution and I needed it quickly. So I used some different ideas to come up with my one of a kind custom designed plywood planter:

    Production is probably starting about when Intel gets their 7nm going…

    It started raining just as I got the pieces cut. So I took a break and talked on the phone with my sister. Eventually the rain was light enough that I felt my battery powered tools wouldn’t electrocute me and I screwed it all together. Its not much to look at but its 100% recycled and should last till fall when we plant the bush in the ground.

    Workout Details

    Today is the first day of the cycling training program. The program was for 1 hour of bodyweight workout. I did 30 minutes of Yoga and then a few sets of pull ups. Mostly I was getting things out of the cabin so that the contractors can get the tile and trim done. I could have tried doing this myself but its going to look so much better cause I didn’t.

  • Bike Station : 87/100

    There are a few items I should take on every bike ride. There is the helmet, gloves, and lights. The helmet is for physical and mental protection. There is a chance that my helmet could save my live or prevent serious injury. There is also the added comfort in wearing said helmet when a car zips past 12 inches away. The gloves are for comfort and nailing the 90’s look. The lights are to help drivers see us, and if we happen to ride at night they help us see the road.

    As I have been building out the inside of my shed I wanted to have a bike station. This is where both of our helmets, gloves, and lights would be. Once I got the electrical wired I saw the potential for a powered bike station where the lights are being charged via USB. I had a light switch just inside the door already and the space was holding my gardening tools. There was a nice spot to add a piece of plywood and be able to add some hangers and clips. I grabbed a scrap peice of wood and made a shelf for the lights to sit on and charge.

    Even a little extra space for the weed wacker’s charge station!

    Someday I will insulate the wall and then make the whole thing plywood but for now this works well.

    Workout detail

    Kate and I rode to town for lunch but the cafe closed at noon. The coffee shop is closed on Sunday’s and we ended up going to the health food store for some snacks. We both wished we had just gone to the gas station and gotten proper snacks. The ride was very nice with no rain or wind. We got home and I started weeding some more. We got a good amount of rain recently and the ground was nice and soft for pulling weeds. I really dislike pulling weeds. I need to get better at doing it when they are really small and easy to pull.

  • Back in the Groove : 86/100

    The main thing I have learned about myself over the years is that I need to exercise regularly. If I don’t my body starts to ache and then I get fussy like a child. Its really embarrassing to be honest.

    It starts in the middle of my back between the shoulder blades. That leads to my neck and shoulders. Then my lower back, hamstrings, and calves. It takes a week or two of not having regular exercise and this begins to set in. The reasons for my exercise routine breaking down are plentiful:

    • Injury
    • Broken equipment
    • Weather
    • Boredom

    It is pretty ionic that a bike blog talks about being bored with biking, but it happens. I am still riding my bike but not regularly enough lately. The main reason for this is that I fell off of my training plan a couple of months ago. Between working on the trails and the cabin, my free time to ride 6 to 10 hours a week had disappeared. I was also pretty sore from the manual labor. Apparently my day job is not nearly as physical as construction work.

    Then my bike frame cracked and I had to get it repaired. This process took some time and while the bike was un-ridable I moved further away from my training. I stopped doing my bodyweight exercises during this time. Once I had the bike back I was more interested in blazing a few fast laps around the land than going for a multi hour training ride.

    Then there was the weather. Southwest Colorado is a high desert climate. While it isn’t 100+ degrees it does hit the upper 90’s, and we are closer to the sun. When you add it up it becomes a very solid excuse for not riding your bike.

    Finally I was getting a little bored with the routine. Intervals are fun when you first start doing them. As the weeks move on they become tedious and repetitive. I was also riding by myself most of the time.

    One of the most enjoyable things about riding a bike is sharing the experience with someone else. Unlike running, you can rest and still keep riding the bike. When it is flat or downhill you can coast and maintain a conversation very easily. You can ride for a while and stop at a coffee shop and have a cherry tart. Then ride home. Its really great for distracting yourself from the exercise that is happening.

    To that end I have taken actions to rectify this situation:

    • Started doing yoga, again
    • Restarting my training program on Monday
    • Doing more rides with Kate
    • Setting the Apple Watch to only display the time while exercising

    Yoga is something I have done off and on for over 17 years. I knew I needed to exercise more but I have never been a gym person. There was a Yoga studio near my work and I stated going. I quickly found that I enjoyed it a lot and was also pretty good at it.

    Yoga’s combination of balance, strength, and breath work creates an endless potential for progression. I have never been very limber but over the years I have progressed a lot. Unfortunately when I don’t practice regularly the progress regresses quickly. I have incorporated various yoga moves into my bodyweight warmup, but it’s still not the same as following a set of movements.

    Over the years I have practiced yoga with a lot of teachers in a variety of styles. In 2009 I did a month long 200 hour teacher training course and learned that the Ashtanga Yoga practice is my favorite.

    In Ashtanga Yoga the movements all have modifications. If you have trouble touching your toes with straight legs; you can bend them. This helps someone, with knee issues and tight hamstrings, avoid trying positions that could cause an injury.

    The combination of the movements into the various series is challenging ,and by then end of it your body is wiped out. There are a lot of pushups. If you are interested in learning I recommend finding a yoga studio that practices Ashtanga/Mysore Yoga and/or get David Swenson’s book.

    Yoga helps me change things up with the bodyweight routine. If I don’t feel like doing pull ups I will do yoga and vice versa. This will help me keep on track with the off bike exercising.

    I am starting the cycling training program I did this spring again. This will provide a structure to plan my day around. If I write something down I am much more likely to do it. With the training program I am able to simply add it to the calendar in Training Peaks starting on Monday, and it fills in every workout by day for the next 13 weeks.

    The goal this time with the training plan is less about performance, and more about having a routine that gets me exercising regularly. The goal to race in anything is on hold till the Pandemic is done. Not only are no races being held I really don’t need to get injured and go to the hospital right now. Also I am going to start riding with Kate more.

    Whenever I ride my bike with Kate I have a great time. We spend time together and talk about our day. The only reason I wasn’t riding with her was because I was following the training program, which specifies the intensity of the ride. Based on the training program I needed to ride faster than Kate. This was dumb.

    The reality is that I am 43 years old and so far out of being a competitive rider that serious training makes very little sense. Except of course to feed my ego. Silly boy. Going on a ride with Kate is still plenty of exercise and I am spending more time with the person I love the most in the world. WinšŸ‘tošŸ‘thešŸ‘Win.

    The technique to “riding with your wife successfully” I learned from Kate’s dad, Bill. He and his wife, Karen, were avid cyclists. He told me that once he learned to ride behind Karen then they would ride together the whole day.

    It is an obvious thing to see, once you see it. The problem that I and many others have is that once on a bike we become competitive. It starts off subtly but ends in a full sprint to the next mail box. That is the ego literally driving your bike. Turning that off and riding second on purpose is antithetical to how I learned to ride a bike. I consciously wait for Kate to start and then fall in behind her. Turns out I am winning all the time now.

    Finally I removed all the data from the Apple Watch Workout face except for the time. This will prevent me from focusing on anything other than the time I am on the bike, which is all I need to focus on. This will help me ride at Kate’s pace and also just let me ride my bike and enjoy the scenery. The physical benefits will come from that just fine.

    The cool part is that all of the metrics are still being recorded and I will be able to geek out on them in Training Peaks. It is interesting to see how you are progressing even when just doing leisurely rides. There is also a potential for over training since I won’t be watching my heart rate on rides. The possibility is minimal but still something to be aware of.

    Workout Detail

    Kate and I rode into town. Had a coffee and blueberry-peach tart at the local coffee roaster. Then we rode home before the afternoon rain storm hit. It was overcast and the lighting was a little funky. So we rode with our headlights and taillights to help drivers see us. We should really ride with them all of the time. As a driver I know it helps me see and pay attention to cyclists.

  • Hello World : 85/100

    In most programming languages the first step is writing a ‘Hello World’ example. This is to help give you a first taste of how to use a language in a very basic form. I figure that in woodworking there should probably be something similar. For me that is a basic table, and hence I present you with my Hello World for woodworking:

    Bob Vila lookout!

    The most important thing about this table is that Kate likes it. I do not hate it, but it is a first attempt with the Kreg Jig and shows. I used all scrap wood, some of which has been sitting outside for a year, so cost was low. The 28 screws that I used were the biggest expense.

    I learned a lot about the Kreg Jig and how it works. For the most part is was really easy to use and configure. I need larger clamps and a Miter saw will give me much more square cuts. Changing to a 60 tooth blade on my Circular Saw definitely helped. Oh and good wood is critical.

  • Sunset Dogs : 84/100

    Sunset Dogs : 84/100

    Took the dogs for a nice sunset walk on the fence line trail today. Itā€™s the first time Iā€™ve walked them since finishing the trail and they loved it. I had to slow them down a few times.

    Workout detail

    Did 30 minutes of yoga this morning. The ya the first yoga Iā€™ve done in months. Maybe a year. Iā€™m hot and cold with the yoga. Sometimes Iā€™m all about it and then Iā€™d rather do other things. Lately my back has been sore and anytime I do some regular yoga work it helps a lot.

  • Afternoon ride : 83/100

    Afternoon ride : 83/100

    Just a nice easy ride with my lady. Life is good.

  • Remote Workspace : 82/100

    I have worked from home/remotely for about 10 years. During the first 4 years I was in an office in our home. I had a great workspace setup for working. We were in downtown Phoenix so I would go to coffee shops and co-working spaces occasionally.

    Then we hit the road 6 years ago and have lived/worked in a 30 foot travel trailer since then. We already were out backpacking or car camping almost every weekend anyway. Now we didn’t have to drive home on Sunday. Home is wherever we park it.

    My workspace was severely reduced but I think my productivity went up. At the house I had a 30 inch monitor and a massive desk. It was a sweet setup but it didn’t necessarily help me work better. In the trailer I only had my laptop and quickly found that I am much more productive with only one application on my screen at a time. I learned to use the shortcut keys and my Alfred usage skyrocketed.

    My chair is the classic Ikea Poang with foot stool. I can sit in that chair for hours. I get no pain or soreness. In fact I have to remember to stand up every hour or so.

    One advantage in the trailer is that everything is very close by. The kitchen is a couple of feet away. The restroom is about 15 feet and the bed is 20 feet away. I can get to everything in need in a few steps.

    The pandemic has caused us to re-evaluate driving around the US and Mexico. Right now the best thing we can do is stay put and let things calm down. From what I am seeing this probably means 1 year. During the few months we have been back in Colorado we are also remembering how much we like it here. The house design is progressing and I think we are ready to plant some roots here for a little bit.

    We have been working in our cabin for 2 weeks now. Going from a 280 square foot trailer to a 320 sq ft cabin for work has been a fun process. Mostly the process is appreciating how much space we have.

    We have both noted how much easier it is to get into work mode. In the trailer the office is mixed with the kitchen, living, and dining room. The cabin is set away from where the trailer is so we have a commute of sorts. At a minimum having the separate space is certainly appreciated. Also when the work day is over we just leave everything in the cabin. Its pretty great.

  • Woodworking realistically: 81/100

    Last week I mentioned that I was investing in some new tools for woodworking. Namely the Kreg pocket hole jib. I had even posted about a project that I was going to work on this last weekend.

    Instead we ended up running errands, installing electrical extensions, and painting the interior of the cabin. Basically I had no time for learning woodworking and did not even start the project.

    Another reason I held off was that the price of lumber is really high at the moment. We are close to the last high from 2018. It looks like when things slowed down in April the lumberjacks put their axes down and started telling everyone to wear masks. The last part may not be accurate but they did cut output. Thus raising prices.

    So Iā€™m gonna start off practicing with scrap wood from other projects. Once I feel confident Iā€™ll start spending some money. Maybe by then prices will have cooled too.

  • Painting the cabin : 80/100

    Part of yesterdayā€™s errands involved stopping at the paint store so we could paint the interior of the cabin. We are making a good push to get the cabin wrapped up this summer. Itā€™s only taken 3 summers to get it done.

    Last month we got the drywall done so we could install the solar powered electrical system. Last week was the first time we had been able to spend working in the cabin with power. It was great but we need to finished the trim around the windows and doors. My thinking is that itā€™s a lot easier to paint without the trim installed. Letā€™s paint the room this weekend.

    I did some research on paint and by research in mean I went to the Wirecutter. They like Benjamin Mooreā€™s top line product for enough reasons to satisfy my needs.

    One thing about Benjamin Moore paint is that you have to goto one of their distribution stores to get it. While this adds another store to visit it ensures that I get to talk with someone who knows about paint. In our case the owner of the store, Jude, was there to help us out.

    We knew we wanted some type of color and that it would be blue or green. Jude helped us understand that there is no wrong color. There is only the color that you like. He did point out some paint collections that work well with any other colors in a room: floor, rugs, upholstery, etc.

    Choosing a color was pretty fast. We pulled a number of options out and looked at them on the light table. We settled on Prescott Green which is cool cause Prescott is in Arizona where we used to live.

    From there Jude helped us figure out how much paint we needed and gave us some tips on how to paint. He had been a painter for 20 years and knew a few things. He was also really nice and patient.

    Today we painted, but painting is only half the work when painting a room. First we had to move everything out of the room. Then we removed the electrical covers and taped over them. We also remove the ceiling fan blades and wrapped the rest of the fan in painters plastic. Finally we put a drop cloth down and prepared ourselves for the painting.

    Jude had made a recommendation that we roller the ceiling and walls before brush painting the corners. Typically you do it the other way but since we went with a high quality paint he thought we could get away with it.

    Starting with a roller is great because you get so much painted quickly. We did 2 coats of paint in less than 3 hours. Then we came back and painted 2 coats in the corners in about 1.5 hours.

    We bought 5 gallons of paint and knew we would have about 1 gallon left over for touch ups. I think we ended with a little over a gallon but I didnā€™t feel like we had gone too light on the paint usage. The ceiling and walls all look really smooth and consistent.

    Painting with a color can be a nerve wracking and most people just choose a safe shade of white. I highly recommend choosing one room in your home and painting it with a color. Do some research about colors and moods and figure out what fits best for that room. Then go get a good quality paint. It goes on easier and looks and last so much better. Since paint is the main thing you look at itā€™s worth spending some money on and making it personal to you.

    Iā€™ll have photos to share once the trim in installed later this week. We are thinking pine.