The day after Christmas and the weather is cold again and also really windy. There is so much dust in the air. It looks like smoke of a fire. I wanted to get out on the street and cycle, but my joints are sore from yesterday’s run. I manage to ride the bike trainer for an hour.

Being Christmas Eve and a bit of a busy day. I walked with Teri for three miles in the afternon. I wanted to get out on the street and cycle. The wind was really up, so I did not venture out. I had to take pictures at church, so when I got him we had a small celebration and after that settled down, I excused myself to ride the bike trainer. I did an hour.

Day 2 of the 12 Days of Fitness.

I managed to get on the bike today, I have not been on the road in the last three weeks. It felt good for the first 300 yards, then became work. I rode about 22 miles, the path was that I left the house and worked my way to Avenue H and rode up to 110th street and returned back the same way. To sum it up, it was cold. I wore my long sleeve jersey, but that did not help. The aveage was 17.3 MPH, not bad. I think I just wanted to get back to the house and warm up. I was very winded at the end.

Teri and I also got out and walked the dog for three miles.

After church on Sunday, I saw Dave Schroeder who use to own Cyclepath, a bike shop in town. He has an injured knee, but wanted to get back on the bike. He asked if I wanted to go. He invited one of the pastors, David Jackson and another guy named Dan, which I met today.

We headed out to Acton to ride some single track. It has been a while since I rode in dirt, but I liked the fitness (see my motionbased), overall the ride was in really soft sand. In the LA area, there is so little rain that the dirt is really loose.

The ride was about 10.5 miles. Some of it was a service road under the power lines. I felt good. I did not bonk at all. I was a bit nervous at first, but at the half-way point, we turned around and that way I was to able to get some confidence on the switchbacks.

We returned to the cars right at dusk. Overall it was a blast…

Saturday’s ride was good. I set out to an average of 17.5 mph. When I uploaded my GPS data, it came in a disappointment only 16.7. Every-time I looked down I was higher then 17.5, but took a little longer to ride 110th from Avenue G to Avenue K. Here is the results on Motionbased.

To all I wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving.

Today, I walked three miles with Teri and my dog chip. I went over to AVC to run, and the gates were locked. They had signs on them, “closed to construction”. I have been told they are demolishing the stadium to build a new one, I am not sure of the timing of it. It may have started.

I drove over to Quartz Hill High School and used there track. It seems to be in a better condition. It looks newer and seems to be more springy.

I ran a new pattern. I ran 400m, walk 400m, then ran 1200m and walk 400m. I repeat the 1200m, 400m pattern four times. Here is my motionbased results of laps.

After the run, I came home and rode 30 minutes on my trainer with the bike. I knew I would eat and drink for our Thanksgiving meeting with family, so I needed to have done some work.

One thing is it is getting colder in the desert and I wanted to ride more then one day a week. So, I purchased a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Fluid Trainer. It is quite and allows me to ride with resistance. It is new, but is not this year’s model. The new models are a lime green.

Today, I wanted to ride harder but not long. I started from the house out to 110th and over to Avenue K and end up at Starbucks. My goal was to raise my MPH from about 14-15.5 to over 17. I managed to do 17.4 MPH. I did 27 miles and there was no wind. The best part was sitting at Starbucks with a cup of coffee and a blue-berry muffin. I just added Garmin’s speed and cadence sensor, and I am trying to see how it blends in with the results on Motionbased. Also, I got a new jersey (I need one with pockets). This one is about beer (ale), if you know me, this is me.

I went over to Gil’s Bike Shop at 8:00am to see if anyone was there to ride. I met Doug Short and Alvin. These guys are experienced riders, which I liked. We headed over to Apollo Park to see if any other riders would be there. Then we headed out to 110th west. It was nice to ride with others. I got to draft off these guys. That sure saves the legs, instead of having to cut through the wind on my own.

Alvin had an appointment, so he took off. Doug and I rode up Munz Ranch Road and down Lake Elizabeth Road. Doug lived in Palmdale, so he took a turn on Avenue O, while I rode back to Gils.

Overall the ride was good. I was 22 minutes faster then last week. That is due to be pushed by their experience.  You can see my motionbased results.

Saturday morning I set out to ride with others from Gil’s bike shop and I arrived a little before 7:00am. They tell me they leave at 7:00 sharp. I waited and one other rider showed up. His name was Tom, and was a new rider. Come to find out, the rides now start at 8:00am instead of 7:00 during the winter.

Tom and I set out to ride to Fox Field. It was 40 degrees and my hands were insanely cold. I have winter gloves and stupid me, did not use them. I was dying, I had to stop at Apollo park to use the hand driers to warm my hands. I was feeling really bad (pre-cold) and had to sit on the curb. I mentioned to Tom, let’s go to 90th and down K to Starbuck’s.

By the time I got to 90th, I was feeling fine and Tom went his way and I decided to go with my original plan to go up to Munz Ranch and down Lake Elizabeth Road. I came down the road towards Palmdale and back up 30th West to Gil’s.

Overall, it was 46.5 miles, you can see the results.