What a beautiful day to go for a ride!

I took today off of work. I have vacation to use by the end of June and due to the meeting schedules, I'm not able to take my vacation off as one chunk. I hadn't planned on having vacation now, but since my hip surgery went so well in November, I was able to get by only using sick time, so all of the vacation I had stocked up can now go towards fun and not recovery!

I did get up and finish a few small projects this morning for work. After that, though, I headed to Golden to ride South Table Mountain again. I began this ride with a nice warm-up for 12 minutes around the base of the mesa. That was key, as from there I was able to hit the mountain and have one of my best climbs ever! It was wonderful and I felt so good. I had to stop a couple of times on the climb, but did soooo much better than Sunday. And I burned 800 calories :) While riding, I stopped for a good 3-4 minutes during the loop to watch two beautiful deer. As I began to ride by them, they began bounding away. I always get giddy when seeing fun wildlife. Had it been a pair of snakes, probably not as excited, but the deer made me happy!

Today was beautiful. I think it was about 70 degrees while I was riding and there was hardly any breeze, which is nice when you are riding on the top of a mesa. The warmer weather makes me realize that my summer scent is going to start soon: Eau de Sunscreen! Unfortunately, I forgot sunscreen on my legs, so I have some very odd rectangles of sunburn on the back/outside of my calves. And it hurts. Oh the joy of being a pale person. The freckles on my arms popped with the sunshine!

Before heading out, I made myself a smoothie using frozen blackberries, cherries, fresh spinach and kale with some vanilla whey protein powder, milk and water. I drank half before leaving and the other half when I got home. It was tasty both times and I couldn't even tell that there were all the greens in there. All in all, the smoothie was about 250 calories total.

I'm back to my pre-Austin trip weight! 163.5. So my goal weight of 155 by June 1 is looking a bit more promising again! Yay.

On the top of S. Table Mountain. You can see Denver in the background. My heart rate monitor is a watch and mounts on my handle bar. You can see it as the "bump" in the middle of the handle bar. 

Self portrait with my bike and my favorite city behind me. The moon face is a side effect of the steroids. I have a round face to begin with, but add steroids to the mix and it is full on circular!

I really like Biochem's Whey protein. It dissolves well. I usually buy it at Whole Foods when it is on sale. I mix it with either milk or water or a combo of the two. We get our milk delivered on Friday mornings from Royal Crest Dairy. Such tasty milk. 

Back on a Bike

I'm back on my bike!!! I didn't realize this would make me so happy, but it does. Mountain biking is one of those things - it is challenging, frustrating, exhausting, scary, but when you finish a ride, you are elated.  I love when I can look at my heart rate monitor and see all of the calories I've burned as well :)

My beautiful Yeti ASR-5

And yes, there are the naysayers that declare biking too dangerous. And yes, I've been injured while downhilling and have two holes in my favorite jersey to provide a memorial to the first time I went over the handle bars, but any activity can be dangerous and one can get hurt. Runners can get hit by cars or tear some tendon, ocean kayakers can be eaten by sharks, dog walkers can get tripped up by leashes. I mean, we live in a dangerous world with lots of obstacles. I just accept the risks involved with the sport I've chosen and get on my bike and ride.

I rode Matthew Winters with Matt last Friday. Here's my heart rate data: Mountain Biking at Matthew Winters

On Sunday, Michelle and I tackled South Table Mountain. Mountian bike ride - South Table Mountain

Both trips were great. I had a few issues at MW, in that the realization that I've had some work done on my hip was evident as I tried to power over rocks. I'm definitely lacking in the pedal power department. I felt that I did great on the climbing at STM on Sunday, though. And I'm looking forward to a beautiful weekend in Colorado to ride again!

Whenever you have had surgery, there is that nervousness about getting back to what you did before. Will it hurt? Will I hurt myself? Can I still do this? How long is it going to take to get back to where I was? Yeah, my rides hurt. But in a good way - a way that told me I have to recondition my muscles and body, but not a hurt that indicated pain. And yes, I could still ride my bike! It will take a while to get back to being strong on the mountain bike, and I have a few demons to get over, beings that I've now only been on a bike three times since breaking my collarbone biking. I'll have to get comfy in the rock gardens again and not let my brain take control! But, all in all, I'm happy to be up and riding again. Actually, I'm elated!