From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech

After too much time (2 full seasons) and far too many lame, semi-lame
and truly lame excuses, I'm back on my bike again.

As always, the big factor is "just do it". Get dressed, get on the bike
and go. (Many years ago, I remember when an Olympic swimmer, Tracy
Caulkins, I think, was asked about the hardest part of her workout and
her answer was "getting in the pool".)

For me, one of the excuses was knowing just how much my fitness levels
had degraded. When I was last riding regularly, I was riding as well as
I had in several years. Then came winter shutdown, mechanical issues scheduling conflicts and more, but the worst was that after about 6
months of inaction, knowing how hard it was going to get started and
build up fitness again.

I finally decided to ignore that and just get out about a month ago. The
first ride was a route that I frequently use as a warmup, but for this,
it was at the edge of my fitness, and when I got back in, everything was
achy -- legs, arms, hands, back and especially butt. And freewheeling
into signal lights the last couple of miles.

From experience I know that for a while, I need to space workouts
several days apart to allow for recovery, and so I've done several weeks
of only Saturday mornings, but I'm being able to get out early before
work, and this week, I've gotten 3 rides in. Longer distance, more time, faster average speeds, and less achy muscles, although still some butt stiffness. I'm expecting to not feel truly "good" until I get around 500 miles, but as of today, I'm past 150 miles (and able to handle several
miles beyond that first ride on the warmup course), and the ride is
mostly enjoyable a lot of the time (and no extra freewheeling).

I still have travel schedules to work around, but I'm far enough where I
may not be too far away from being ready for consecutive days and I
might be feeling "mostly decent" even before I get to 500. Right now,
the thing is that here in the desert, it's prime riding season. Chilly
in the early mornings, hot in the afternoons, but dry air, and overall
nice. I don't mind heat (which I prefer to cold), and up until the
summer monsoon comes around the beginning of July, I find the dry heat
to be ideal. For me, the monsoon isn't too bad, but not nearly as
comfortable when the humidity spikes. Of course, our desert monsoon is
nothing like the humidity of the US East Coast or midwest, so I won't complain. And if I'm in adequate shape, I have no problems with riding throughout most of the summer season, as long as I'm not out after mid-morning, when the temp gets past about 96F/36C.

Overall, I think I've progressed enough to be confident that I really
can get through the rust of inactivity and back into comfortable riding
again.

Smith
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From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech

On 5/2/2026 11:53 AM, NFN Smith wrote:

After too much time (2 full seasons) and far too many lame,
semi-lame and truly lame excuses, I'm back on my bike again.

As always, the big factor is "just do it". Get dressed, get
on the bike and go. (Many years ago, I remember when an
Olympic swimmer, Tracy Caulkins, I think, was asked about
the hardest part of her workout and her answer was "getting
in the pool".)

For me, one of the excuses was knowing just how much my
fitness levels had degraded. When I was last riding
regularly, I was riding as well as I had in several years.
Then came winter shutdown, mechanical issues scheduling
conflicts and more, but the worst was that after about 6
months of inaction, knowing how hard it was going to get
started and build up fitness again.

I finally decided to ignore that and just get out about a
month ago. The first ride was a route that I frequently use
as a warmup, but for this, it was at the edge of my fitness,
and when I got back in, everything was achy -- legs, arms,
hands, back and especially butt. And freewheeling into
signal lights the last couple of miles.

From experience I know that for a while, I need to space
workouts several days apart to allow for recovery, and so
I've done several weeks of only Saturday mornings, but I'm
being able to get out early before work, and this week, I've
gotten 3 rides in. Longer distance, more time, faster
average speeds, and less achy muscles, although still some
butt stiffness. I'm expecting to not feel truly "good" until
I get around 500 miles, but as of today, I'm past 150 miles
(and able to handle several miles beyond that first ride on
the warmup course), and the ride is mostly enjoyable a lot
of the time (and no extra freewheeling).

I still have travel schedules to work around, but I'm far
enough where I may not be too far away from being ready for
consecutive days and I might be feeling "mostly decent" even
before I get to 500. Right now, the thing is that here in
the desert, it's prime riding season.-a Chilly in the early
mornings, hot in the afternoons, but dry air, and overall
nice.-a I don't mind heat (which I prefer to cold), and up
until the summer monsoon comes around the beginning of July,
I find the dry heat to be ideal.-a For me, the monsoon isn't
too bad, but not nearly as comfortable when the humidity
spikes. Of course, our desert monsoon is nothing like the
humidity of the US East Coast or midwest, so I won't
complain.-a And if I'm in adequate shape, I have no problems
with riding throughout most of the summer season, as long as
I'm not out after mid-morning, when the temp gets past about
96F/36C.

Overall, I think I've progressed enough to be confident that
I really can get through the rust of inactivity and back
into comfortable riding again.

Smith

Congratulations and welcome back!
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
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