I finally got back on my Madone and hit the road. I cycled 33.48 miles from Woodcliff Lake to Nyack Beach State Park (and back). I actually felt pretty good considering I haven’t ridden in many weeks. The weather was still comfortable in the morning hours (80’s), but it did start to get a bit hot and humid towards the end of my ride. Yup, summer is still here.

I’ve rode this route many times in the past year and never really stopped to read some of the historical signs scattered along the way. I guess I’ve always been concerned about getting a good workout in and would just zoom by everything. Well, today I took it easy and decided to mix up a workout with some site seeing. Glad I did. I took a bunch of pics with my iPhone and posted them (via wireless) in an album on Facebook. It really is amazing how much history is in the NJ/NY area. I’ve always known it, but have always took it for granted (shame on me!). Next time you’re driving around Bergen County or Rockland, take a peek at some of those blue historical signs… there are a lot of them and it’s pretty impressive.

BTW, Rockland County seemed like the place to be today… they had the 19th Annual South Nyack Ten Miler Race, a street fair in downtown Nyack, and even some kayaking event on the Hudson River near Memorial Park. Booyah!

The (lack of) exercise trend continues. Ugh…

Cycling - 31.06 miles
Running - 11.37 miles

Cycling in cold temperatures is okay, but I definitely prefer the warmer temps. As for running, I’ve slowed down due to some pain in my left foot (even walking was starting to hurt).

BTW, I’ve decided to discontinue my SportBrain subscription… no walking/steps stats for now. I’m looking for a replacement.

Went for a 10 mile bike ride this morning. It was ~16 degrees. With the wind chill and an average speed of 14 mph the “real-feel” was down near zero degrees. Wild when your water bottle freezes solid during the ride! At times I felt like I was in that scene from “Dumb and Dumber”.

I finished 2006 exercise on a weak note. I guess I know what one of my 2007 resolutions will be.

Cycling - 21.91 miles
Running - 46.64 miles
Walking - 51.76 miles
Steps - 233,507

Not as many cycling miles as I would have liked, but at least I’m mixing it up with some running. The Gym in Montvale has been a great alternative (now that the days are pretty short).

Cycling - 133.22 miles
Running - 30.48 miles
Walking - 67.62 miles
Steps - 238,900

Today marks one year since I started exercising regularly. My “first” workout in November 2005 was 1.5 miles/15 minutes on a stationary bike. I’ve come a long way since then… lost >30 lbs, got my resting heart rate down around 50 bpm, cycled two centuries (>100 miles each), and now I’m starting to cross train with some running. Thanks to all those who inspired me to get active — I feel great!

My goals for the coming year include:

- Keep the weight off
- Get my blood pressure down
- Cycle at least three centuries
- Run the NYC marathon
- Compete in a duathlon (run/bike/run)
- Raise a lot of money for cancer research

Wish me luck!

I can’t believe I went an entire month without a post on this blog! I update a lot of the sub-pages frequently, but nothing on the main page. Let’s see if I fare any better in November.

Not a great month for exercise. October started off strong, but the weather changes, work, and the end of daylight savings time didn’t help. Although I plan to cycle throughout the fall and winter, I think I’m going to explore some exercise alternatives. Hiking, running, and getting to the gym is on my list.

Road Cycling - 325.33 miles
Walking - 60.3 miles, 163,757 steps

Road Cycling - 598.31 miles
Walking - 45.6 miles, 123,699 steps

What a great month for exercise… a personal best for cycling mileage, which included two centuries. I’m pretty much at my target weight now, so it’s time to get some new clothes.

I’m sad to see summer quickly fading away, but I’m looking forward to autumn riding. I went for a 32 mile ride the other day and it was ~40 degrees (not including wind chill). Brrrrr. I’m also gearing up to ride outside this coming winter. Should be interesting.
BTW, the above pic is the path I rode during my Bear Mountain Century on September 17th (click on the thumbnail to view full size). The color coding indicates altitude. I created this with Google Earth and GPS Visualizer. Stats and path were tracked via a Garmin Edge 305 GPS and MotionBased.

I was planning to ride the Golden Apple Bike Tour in Westchester on Sunday, but at the last minute decided to just ride up to Bear Mountain State Park. The Golden Apple looked like a great event, but instead of driving an hour and then riding 100 miles, I figured I’d just go for a nice ride starting from my house.

I started around 7AM and made my way up through Saddle River, Airmont, Montebello, etc. and eventually to Harriman State Park. As expected, Harriman was beautiful (some of the leaves were already starting to change). I’ve driven through there many times, but it was much nicer to experience on a bicycle.

After stopping to take a couple of pictures, I continued descending down Seven Lakes Drive and started picking up some good speed… and then started to lose speed. Sure enough I look down and my rear tire was going flat… my first flat! As I was rolling to a stop I was looking for a clear place to fix the flat. Just before coming to a stop I unclipped my right foot (my usual when stopping), but between the flat tire, the pitch of the road, and a temporary loss of balance, I ended up falling on my left side (with my left foot still clipped in). Other than a bloody left knee, a couple scratches on my quick release, and a bruised ego, I was fine. Good thing no one was there to witness it!

I think the last time I fixed a flat tire was about 25 years ago. A shard of glass was the culprit this time. It was nice to see lots of good samaritans on the road — at least two cyclists and one driver checked to see if I needed any help. I managed pretty well with all my gear (got to use my CO2 for the first time) and was on my way in no time.

After a few more miles (and bolting across the Palisades Interstate Parkway) I made it to Perkins Memorial Drive and started the ascent up Bear Mountain. I had some pretty good strength and made it to the top without any problems. There must have been about 20 motorcycles pass me on the way up. Surprisingly, there weren’t too many cars around that time (~10:15 AM). The descent was fun, but I was a little cautious — I didn’t want my tire blowing out while I was doing 40 MPH down the mountain. Luckily, my patched inner tube held up.

I think it was around mile 45 when I started thinking “century”. I figured I was at least another 30-40 miles from home, so I decided to give it a shot. After Hessian Lake I rode over the Bear Mountain Bridge and then headed south to Nyack via 9W. Except for a few towns, most of 9W south was pretty nice. I even caught a glimpse of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant (yes, a little too close to NJ/NYC for comfort).

Around mile 70 I really started hurting… my right knee was killing me (again) and I had a few more hills to climb by Rockland Lake State Park. I sucked it up and even managed to pass a guy on the way up a steep hill near Valley Cottage (Chris, you’ll be happy to know it was a tri-guy!).

As I got to mile 80, I realized my route was going to come up short for a century. I decided to ride some extra roads to make up the miles… Kinderkamack Road to River Edge was my answer. I had to add a few side streets, but I finally made it over 100 miles. Here’s a recap of the day:

Mile 10, 07:44: Near Interstate 87… feeling good.
Mile 20, 08:26: Getting close to Harriman… man there are lots of hills.
Mile 30, 09:26: Just before I got my flat… enjoying Harriman.
Mile 40, 10:50: No flat is gonna stop me… must make it to Bear Mountain.
Mile 50, 11:49: Just gobbled down a hot dog on the side of the road… I think I heard Lino yelling.
Mile 60, 12:34: Legs still feeling good, but knee killing me… I still think I can do 100 miles.
Mile 70, 13:14: Approaching Tappan Zee Bridge… familiar territory.
Mile 80, 14:03: My route is going to come up way short of 100 miles… doh!
Mile 90, 14:44: Kinderkamack Road was a good ride… but ran out of water.
Mile 100.43, 15:29: I can’t be believe I made it… happy to be home.

Total Ascent: 5,949 feet (a personal best)

I never thought I’d do a century my first year riding, let alone two (I started in May and got my Madone in June). My first century last week in New York was a great experience and this week’s Bear Mountain century was really unexpected. I think I’ll take a little break (from the 100+ mile rides) until the MS Bike Tour in mid-October. I’d hate to get into a “century a week” habit.
Pics here
MotionBased log here

I rode the 17th Annual NYC Century Bike Tour on Sunday — my first century. What a great day. I rode over 100 miles through four of the boroughs (no Staten Island). Left the house around 2:30AM to get to the Central Park check-in at 5:30AM (I parked in Hoboken and took the PATH/Subway). Started riding at 6:00AM sharp and finished around 2:45PM. My only problem was some right knee pain around mile 55 (in Queens), but a couple of Tylenols fixed that. I don’t know were I got all the energy for the ride, but my Madone seemed pretty quick all day.

I saw some places I’ve never seen before. Lots of beautiful things to see in NYC. Even the local “spectators” were a hoot. They would help point the riders in the right direction and even cheer and clap. Too funny. I never thought in a million years that I’d ride a bicycle through the Bronx (and I’m from there!).

The event was run by Transportation Alternatives — a bicycling advocacy group in NYC. The TA and volunteers did a great job. Good logistics, food, sponsorship, etc. There were a few wrong turns during the day, but I managed to find my way to the finish line.

I’m now looking for more centuries to ride this fall. Can’t wait.
Pics here
MotionBased log here

Kudos to Garmin for excellent customer service. I was having problems with the Heart Rate Monitor for my Edge 305 GPS (it simply stopped working). I called tech support and they sent me a brand new HRM sensor/strap. I’m now back up and running (or cycling I should say).

I can’t believe August is done. Another month with over 500 miles on the bike! I’ve lost over 25 pounds since I started exercising and only have a few more to get to my target weight/BMI.
Road Cycling - 501.64 miles
Walking - 60.70 miles, 165,312 steps

I’ve decided to discontinue manually logging my daily activities on my exercise page. Instead, I’ll continue using SportBrain (for walking) and MotionBased (for cycling) to report everything. I’ll also start logging my rides at BikeJournal.com. Check out my exercise page for all the links.

I decided to start a photo gallery in my Smugmug of some of my cycling rides (at least the scenic ones). I figured I’d start with my longest ride to date — 52 miles. For some of the trips with a lot of photos, I’ll probably continue creating separate galleries. Here are the links:

Cycling Photo Journal
Cycling Photo Journal RSS Feed
Ithaca Gallery
New York City Gallery

The pic above is actually an image from Google Earth. I exported my route from MotionBased (as captured via my Garmin Edge 305 GPS). Gotta love Google Earth!

Zone Five Software just updated SportTracks to include cadence graphing for cycling. What an outstanding program for tracking any exercise or activity! I’m using my Garmin Edge 305 for data collection — integration with SportTracks is perfect. Here’s a sample graph and map from my latest workout (~13 miles):

I had a great time this past weekend in upstate New York (in and around Ithaca). Went camping, cycling, hiking, and attended the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen.

Here are some pics from our 36 mile ride through the hills (over 2,600 feet in total elevation) and some light hiking through Robert H. Treman State Park. The hills on this ride really kicked my butt… the grade for one hill at Cornell University was 23.8%… steep! Ithaca and the Finger Lakes region is simply beautiful. I’ll definitely be back. Thanks for the great tour Darren!

Ithaca Cycling & Hiking

More cycling and exercise details here (be sure to export and view any of my rides in Google Earth… wild stuff!):

Dio’s Exercise Log
Dio’s MotionBased Digest

Here are my pictures from ‘AMD at The Glen’. Ironically, I took a bunch of pictures of Kevin Harvick’s car BEFORE the race (he won). Who knew?!

AMD at The Glen