I am back to being able to do longer rides as long as long as I don't overdo the intensity. I think what went wrong that led to my recent sciatica flare-up was that I had combined long rides with hard riding, including sprints and intervals on the same day. Now I'm keeping the pace … Continue reading Back To Longer Rides →

http://www.amazon.com/books I just read the book Ultra-processed People, by Chris van Tulleken, about the large amount of highly processed food in our modern diets, which I recommend. I'd always known about obvious kinds of processing like turning wheat into white flour by removing the germ and bran and then grinding up the rest. But the … Continue reading Reducing Dietary Junk →

The inflammation that has flared up my sciatica seems to be clearing up. The discomfort is no longer interfering with sleep at night, and I am carefully ramping my training back up, so far with no ill-effects. On Wednesday I was able to ride for an hour and even threw in some shorter intervals and … Continue reading Fighting My Way Back →

I was feeling great last week doing some long brisk rides. But after a particularly hard ride last Wednesday, my sciatica flared up again badly, this time on the left side. For a couple of days it kept me awake act night because I could not find a sleeping position without severe pain radiating down … Continue reading Sciatica Again! →

I did a two-hour plus easy cruise yesterday, in pleasant weather. Out and back on Coyote Creek trail to where it is flooded out from the recent rains, then South towards Gilroy on the lightly traveled country roads on the east side of the valley. During my warm-up I had a mental lapse and almost … Continue reading Long Easy Ride →

Now that my antibiotics have done their job I'm back to riding full tilt. Yesterday was my hard day. But something I read recently made we realize I was doing something wrong. I was doing long (2 hour+) rides for my hard one, with the intervals and sprints tacked on at the end after hours … Continue reading Hard Biking Day →

I recently viewed an inspiring video series on Global Cycling Network about the journey of self-transformation of one of their presenters, Dan. He is a retired professional cyclist and at 43 he has been enjoying retirement a bit too much and has felt the first intimation of father time breathing down his neck, so wants … Continue reading Inspiring Series of Videos: Dan’s Journey →

I'm on antibiotics for a bacterial infection since yesterday noon, and from previous experience this should make me feel better quickly. I'm referring to the symptoms I reported in my last post. It turned out that I was not feeling better by last Monday, but by then was pretty sure what it was so I … Continue reading Bouncing Back Again →

I rode a lot this week including in some rainy weather. With the weather improving, I was planning on doing longer rides Friday and Saturday. But my body went on strike Thursday night- I got some cold symptoms and a really bad case of the chills, including chattering teeth. I had to crank my electric … Continue reading Body Went On Strike →

We had a few more days of sunshine last week so I got in some good rides. Tuesday my group rode around Chesbro and Uvas reservoirs, with an out an back on Casa Loma road thrown in. After Casa Loma there was a long stretch on Uvas road. Flat with some rolling hills and a … Continue reading Sunshine and Fog →