Hills and training

Brief update: It's April now and I have a good 100 miles under my belt. Not great, but it's something. Being in my last semester of college I don't have significant bouts of free time during the week. I'm not worried about training, though, as I have a solid 200-mile round trip planned for June.  My boyfriend and I will bike from Columbus to Athens, hang out for the weekend, and bike back after a couple day. This will be the optimal time to get used to all my fun gear! Speaking of which, I just tried out my new leg warmers and rain jacket and they're AWESOME. I am totally prepared for any weather that chooses to grace us along the way...snow...rain...you name it.

Hills are proving to be a beast for me. I always make it up, though quite slowly. I will continue working on this particularly fun aspect of biking with some awesome routes out in the countryside. Essentially you ride in a river valley and every time you come to a connecting road, you bike up it...then back down and onward to the next one! It should be a a great time :)

Sunny and 70

My official training began on Tuesday with an unexpected 70 degree day. While it was only a short ride of 6 or so miles, it was a great start to a spring full of biking. Having not ridden outside for several months, I was slightly concerned of forgetting something vital on my bike...tires were pumped, helmet was on, water bottle was full. I was good to be back on the bike and got me really excited for the trip. On the other side of things, I was biking on a pretty busy road with lots of glass to avoid and semi-trucks passing every couple of minutes. That was no fun and made me question whether I should get a mirror for my bike, but I was later convinced that a mirror was definitely a no-go...get used to turning your head.

Anyway, on to Wednesday with another beautiful day on 70-80 degrees. Biking two days in a row was a surprise for my out-of-bike-seat-shape butt, though it quickly got used to the hard seat. Today was a 13.5 mile ride on the wonderful bike paths near my house. I was cranking today at 16-17 mph which felt great, until I had to turn around and go back with headwinds. Regardless, the ride gave me some confidence about training and eventually taking on entire country. I will be able to do it and feel good after only 2 days outside away from the silly stationary gym bikes!

Kitchen Escapades

I have a lot more free time this semester and I've been having a blast cooking new and fun things.  I want to become as independent as I can from the grocery store. So far, I'm making my own yogurt drink (kefir), mung bean sproats, bread, tortillas...etc. This kind of cooking is little different than the normal dinner or lunch, but I find it a lot more exciting. I'm still eating the same things I normally eat...college food, like quesadillas and pb&js, but now with healthier ingredients.

Here's an update on the gluten free week!

Day 4:
Breakfast-
EnviroKidz Cereal and Snowville Milk
Lunch-
Homemade corn tortillas with a fried egg and melted cheese
Apple
Dinner-
Kefir, strawberry, blueberry, banana smoothie 
Cottage cheese w/ canned blueberries

Day 5:
Breakfast- 
The usual cereal and milk
Lunch-
Eggs w/ cheese
Kefir fruit smoothie
Chocolate
Dinner-
Jimmy John's Unsandwich
Chips

Anyway, it's now the end of my gluten-free week and you probably get the gist of days 6-8 without me listing out the details. This week felt great but it's hard to tell why, so we're having lasagna for dinner! Wheat noodles may tell me something, but you never know.

Stay posted for Bike and Build updates and more!

Day 3 - Gluten Free

Today was my third day of being totally gluten free and it's working out! If this week goes well, who knows, I may stay gluten free for the most part. It's as hard as I thought. You simply have to get used to eating and buying a couple different things...like rice noodles, various grains for baking, cornmeal...etc.

Breakfast-
Kefir w/ honey
Cereal w/ snowville milk
Lunch-
Noodles&Company Pasta Fresca w/ Rice Noodles!
Chocolate
Dinner-
Homemade tomato soup
Green beans
Dessert-
Frozen yogurt

Gluten-Free Week

Starting yesterday I decided to go gluten-free for a week. While I don't have many symptoms, there a part of me that thinks I may be gluten intolerant. Regardless, I think we eat too much wheat and I'm on a mission to eat more of good kinds of grains. It is tough to switch immediately to gluten-free, but I've done pretty well for two days. Here's what I've had so far:

Day One:
Breakfast - 
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Hot Cereal (with brown sugar and raisins...this is an old favorite!)
Apple
Lunch -
Avocado w/ salsa
Chicken
Dinner - 
EnviroKidz Organic cereal
2% Snowville Milk
Homemade Kefir (a newfound love)
Dessert -
Pomegranate Blueberry Sorbet
Snacks - 
Dried corn
Chocolate

Day Two:
Breakfast -
EnviroKidz Organic cereal
2% Snowville Milk
Lunch - 
PB&J on white rice gluten free bread
Apple
Chocolate
Dinner - 
Sausage and Beans
Masa harina and buckwheat corn bread
Snacks - 
Kefir

I keep you posted on the week to come...hopefully it's a success!

Training, Dancing, Kefir, and Bread

So, indoor training isn't going so well in terms of biking. More often than not, the good stationary bikes at the gym are broken or acting too silly to get any kind of workout. I've been swimming more than anything else, which I have really come to crave. Though, I must admit, when there's freezing rain coming down outside it's a bit difficult to will yourself to jump into a cold pool. Beyond the swimming, there has been ample swing dancing as my swing dance team is preparing to compete next weekend. While I love swing dancing and have had a blast working on our routine, I do believe it is somewhat destroying my feet and knees. It worries me waking up with knee pain, when I will be biking everyday for 10 weeks and relying on knees heavily.

Anyway, on a brief sidenote I have begun to make my own homemade bread as well as homeade kefir. I recently obtained some kefir grains, which originally came to the U.S. from Russia in 1940. Everyday now I've been drinking my kefir in the morning and replenishing the grains with fresh milk. It feels so good to be making my food with my own hands. This will of course be very different during my Bike and Build trip, however, I will start the trip with a strong body fed for months with only the best natural homemade goodies!

Newspaper Article

Check out this great article about my trip!

http://www.columbuslocalnews.com/articles/2012/02/08/multiple_papers/news/allwobiken_20120207_1053pm_6.txt