Map My Ride

I'm finally taking a moment to sing the praises of the website http://www.mapmyride.com Earlier this summer, some friends of mine decided that they wanted to start getting together for a weekly bike ride and asked if I wanted to come along. It sounded like a good opportunity to ride a bike like a grown-up again (ie. without the kids along, at a pace faster than, oh, 5 miles an hour, LOL), and a chance for weekly Mom Time and some exercise. Three of us have continued regularly throughout the summer, periodically joined by another couple of friends.

I think the thing I'm enjoying most about our rides is seeing the progress that I'm making. Our very first ride was just under 10 miles, and it honestly seemed challenging to me. I remember the last mile back felt rrreeeaaalllly long. We've gradually pushed further each week, riding a little longer, pedaling a little harder. A couple of weeks ago I was somehow talked into riding 16 miles. I don't think I'd ever ridden 16 miles before. It took us an hour and a half. The following week we did a short little ride because schedules were tight, but we wanted to get a ride in. This past week we did a 20 mile ride, in the same amount of time that we'd done the 16 miles two weeks earlier. This time I was physically exhausted when we sat down for chips and salsa (did I mention that these rides frequently come to a close at a mexican restaurant? Margaritas optional). Surprisingly my legs weren't the least bit sore the next day. I'm continually amazed at what my big ol' flabby body is capable of. This of course makes me overly cocky, and I start to develop grandiose ideas, like "well, if I can ride 16 miles, I can probably do the STP (Seattle-to-Portland) next year!". Never mind that the STP is a two-day, nearly 200 mile ride. And then, probably due to oxygen deprivation endured on said rides, I find myself expressing these ideas out loud to people who initially scoff at the notion, but are then running with it one week later. Who are these people???

The question that comes up now is: how do we continue to ride through the winter in the rainy pacific northwest? When I woke up this morning my first thought was wondering whether I should get up and go for a ride while my family was still sleeping soundly. I swear, I'm not making that up - a bike ride was my first coherent thought (followed very quickly by: must.make.coffee.), but then I got out of bed and noticed that it was pouring down rain outside. This could be problematic, and I'm sure there's some kind of solution to the problem, likely involving more flexibility in both my schedule (ie. trying to ride during breaks in the weather), and my mindset (ie. rain will not kill me). My desire to ride does not currently outweigh my desire to avoid looking and feeling like a drowned rat.

Long story short: mapmyride is a great site for both tracking your own bike rides, and searching for rides in your area. You can also enter rides you complete into your personal training log, and it will figure out your average mph, and calories burned. As a mtn. biker, one of hubby's favorites is the elevation scale that shows elevation gains and loss in a graph for your whole ride. We have a trail we like to ride that contains a hill we affectionately refer to as The Wall, and seen on the elevation scale, it's clear why! We've only used the free components of mapmyride, but they also offer other benefits with a paid subscription (like actually being able to print out your route).