It’s been a week with my new routine – minus trying to fit work in with it as that doesn’t start back up until tomorrow. How has it been? Good question!
So first off, how did I manage with this week’s targets.
Cycling Routine Performance:
I cycled every day between Monday and Saturday of this week. I took today as a rest day.
OK let’s rephrase that.
Today I woke up intending to do a 40 km ride before Hindi class. I went outside, pedaled a few turns and realized I had my computer glasses on. Back in I went to get my other glasses. I realized I didn’t have a heart monitor on the way and grabbed that before going back out. When I got out I tried out the new GoPro chest mount I got to grab/share video. Guess what? It looks like it was going to work great. Right until it died 20 seconds after I turned it on. Battery dead after working with it but not charging it last night. Hmph. Back in I went to leave that.
OK now I’m back downstairs and realize there’s no way in hell I’ll make a two hour ride in time. It’s too late. Reroute for a 90 min ride and start off into the rain before realizing I had a light breakfast and brought nothing to snack on. Back in I went and decided that this many trips was too much. I haven’t had a rest day and those are necessary so today it is. I packed all my stuff except my lunch and snacks for my commute tomorrow morning. There will be one trip outdoors and done, dammit.
But other than that I did actually do great. Monday morning I went out at 6:42 AM and rode 70 minutes knocking out 23 km. Not bad.
Tuesday I did a longer ride, mostly off road exploring a trail I had never been on before. I got out at 6:40 (2 min earlier than Monday! How’s that for consistency?) and road 31 km in 1:28.
Wednesday was a big ride. I wanted to do some tile bagging. I got out a little later: 6:45 AM and did 75 km in 4:07. I made one big mistake (that I learned from today) and that was to bring only one energy bar. If you look at my ride data you can see how that played out. I did great for the first hour, got hungry and felt not so great for another 30 min. Then I remembered I had the energy bar, ate it, recovered a little but the last two hours were a slog. My legs felt heavy and powerless. But I still finished.
I also started making videos of rides that day. This day’s ride starts at 1:30 or so in. Before that are shots from our camping trip and trip to the McMichael Gallery.
Thursday I was back on track. I was out the door at 6:32 AM – my earliest yet. I did an old favourite route for just over 23 km done in 1:06. This ride is a nice mix of trails and on-road riding but at this hour it’s nice and quiet.
My favourite moment of this ride was that I came around a corner on the bike trail and found a fully decorated Christmas tree. A family of three had stopped in front of it to take photos. The little boy had left his bike parked underneath the tree so it looked like a gift. The mom was wearing a garland of flowers in her hair. It wasn’t even 7:00 AM. I’ve been on this trail many times and never noticed this. It took seeing a family stopped there to get my attention..
This ride ended with a nice challenge – a series of switchbacks that takes several minutes to climb. When I got to the top a person walking in the other direction smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
Friday morning it was back down to Downsview Park. This time I was out the door at 6:33 – I’m really pleased with my consistency here. The 24 km ride I took was done in 1:07. This ride felt fast and comfortable – the daily rides seem to be helping in this respect. On the way there rain fell for a little bit but I didn’t mind. At this time of year the rain is warm and refreshing.
I got a couple of videos on this trip:
I’m surprised at how many people I see down there before 7:00 AM – not only that but how many of the folks I recognize after only a few trips. I knew everyone from the last video from the previous few rides there over the past month or so.
Saturday I didn’t plan to go out at all as Saturday was to be a rest day. After all, I had a 7:00 AM Hindi class. However, I ended up waking up ready to go at 4:30 AM so why not go out and get a quick one in, eh? I was out the door at 5:55 AM – one minute before sunrise. The ride was amazing! Not only was it really lovely just because of the ride and weather, I had the unusual experience of riding 34 minutes, much of it on the road, and not one car passed me. I did see a group ride pass near the end of my trip, though. So literally at this hour I saw many more bikes than cars.
I also had the highest average speed of the week on this – 21.9 km/hr.
I’ve decided to just start making these videos every day and posting to TikTok, YouTube and sharing on Bluesky and Mastodon. I know they’re of narrow interest but what I find they do for me is this: While I make the video I’m remembering how much I enjoyed the ride. Choosing the music (often one of the songs that I heard along the way) can remind me of what the ride felt like in my head. I’ve already gone back and watched them and they make me want to go out again.
Did I meditate?
Yep – every single day, 15 min before I did anything else.
How was my sleep?
Looking at this week as compared to my “Week 0” of two weeks ago I can see that my average sleep duration went down from 7 hours 25 min to 7 hours 10 min. However, despite my shorter sleep, my quality (how relaxed I was, how frequently I woke in the night) went up from 63.1% to 70.3%.
What about stress?
Average stress didn’t change much which seems to make sense. Overall I sleep better and night time stress goes down with cycling, stress goes up during and just after riding, particularly on longer harder rides. But it still went down – from 34.9% to 34.7%. Probably not statistically significant.
How was my diet?
I met my goals every day except today and that was only one meal – Daegan and I went out for a large Vietnamese lunch. So based on 3 meals and 2 snacks, I got 34/35ths of the way toward my goal or 97%. Pretty good!
How about mood?
This is the most subjective of all – right down to the fact that it could change depending on when exactly I write this. Am I in a low point of the day when writing? I might exaggerate how low I felt. Same for how good I felt if I were feeling good. But what I can say is this: I have no instances of feeling any significant negativity – anxiety or sadness. I do remember feeling lots of times of contentment – and not just when riding my bike. That feeling lasted for hours after. It was also a good vacation week filled with family time with both Sage and Daegan. Sage and I played lots of games for chores, went out together to do errands and spend time together. Daegan and I had bike rides and outings like today’s trip to lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant followed by an afternoon at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I smiled to my self as we were among the last people walking out of the place as they locked the doors behind us. We both enjoy closing the art museum but neither of us has interest in closing a bar. Going to the art museum with him is particularly rewarding as art is something I know very little about (I mean, I know what I like and enjoy seeing) but he can speak about it as an artist, talking about the meaning, history, symbolism and process in an approachable way that I learn lots from. So it’s always a good time. As an aside: We were talking about what a great deal the art museum is. For $40 you can get a one year pass with unlimited admission. The exhibits change often with other holdings staying there like old friends to go visit. It’s a great way to spend a day like today when there’s a heat warning and it’s too hot to be outside.
The Verdict:
After one week – definitely not enough time to make a full conclusion but enough to take a shot at it – I think this has been a positive change. Overall I feel happier at any given moment in the day. I don’t always like that I have to go to bed earlier than I’d like but the benefits are clear. And of course one thing is certain: I feel better that I’m following through on doing the things I know make me feel better.
Tomorrow work starts again. I have my bags packed and am 100% ready to go. One variable, though, is how Sage is feeling. Last night she picked up a cough/cold and feels pretty awful. I’ll wake up at 5:30 regardless but if she’s feeling awful and needs someone around to help take care of her I will go for my morning ride and work from home. Otherwise the full project starts tomorrow with showers at work and extra morning bike ride time. This time it’ll be on my touring/utility bike so not as fast or agile but still an excuse to spend time in the saddle on a summer morning and who can complain about that?
