Over at My Fitness Pal I'm taking part in the 100 miles in July challenge. Walking, Running, Cycling, Jogging, Dog walking, Rowing, Swimming, Elliptical, Cartwheels..... ANYTHING you can measure miles in.
I use the My Tracks app on my phone to keep track of how far I've gone each day and the Map my tracks website to see it on the map and add it all up. It will show you where and how far you went, how fast you went, how long you were out, and tell you how many calories you burned doing it.
(You download the app on your phone - don't worry, it's free - and set it to record when you go out for a bike ride, walk or run. When you're done, you can email it to yourself as a file - I use GPX - and upload that file at http://www.mapmytracks.com )
This is my progress so far:
July totals:
7/1 - 3 miles, bicycling
7/2 - 3.7 miles, bicycling
7/3 - 4.3 miles, bicycling
7/4 - 'rest', out of town today
7/5 - recovering from the 4th
7/6 - 3 miles, bicycling
7/7 - 1 mile, walking
7/8 - 1 mile, walking (It's hot out, I'm a slacker)
7/9 - 1 mile, walking
7/10 - 3.5 miles biking/walking (my bike broke sad ) *see story below*
7/11 - bike still broken
7/12 - bike still broken
7/13 - bike now fixed, but it's raining outside
7/14 - hanging with my brother from out of town
7/15 - hanging with my brother from out of town
7/16 - 4.5 miles bicycling
7/17 - 4.5 miles bicycling
7/18 - I discovered the rubber on my tire needs replacing. I don't want to wreck my rim so I didn't ride it anywhere. *see picture below*
7/19 - I got the new tire on the bike (and I've got the grease under my nails to prove it) but my test ride wasn't far enough to measure.
7/20 - 4.5 miles bicycling
7/21 - It's raining like hell here today, if I get my ride in it won't be til later
7/22 - 4 miles bicycling
7/23 - 7.5 miles bicycling
7/24 - It rained here today so I took the day off
7/25 - 1.5 miles bicycling
7/26 - 10 miles bicycling
7/27 - took the day off to do some yardwork
7/28 - 4 miles bicycling
7/31 - 8 miles bicycling
Total so far: 69/100
*The broken bike story*
Ok...so on the 10th I went out for a bike ride and instead of sticking to the roads I've ridden on previously I decided to get a change of scenery. Near my house is a really nice bike path that follows the river. It's slightly hilly but it was looking like it was going to be a nice day and I've built up some stamina so I figured 'what the heck - let's go for a ride on the bike path'. I planned to pedal a mile and a half up the path and then cross the road and head up the hill and take the main road back to my house. It's a nice flat stretch and I thought it'd be a good cool down after the rolling hills of the bike path. I set out and was having a nice ride, nothing at all amiss, and in no time I made it to the street where I planned to cross. The light turned green, I started to pedal and suddenly the bike lurched to a stop in the middle of the road. WTH?! I at first thought I had gotten my pant leg caught in the chain or something. Nope, that wasn't it. I hopped off the bike and carried it back to the curb to investigate. When I did, I saw that the rear tire was wedged in the frame at a weird angle. I had no tools with me (stupid) so I could do nothing to get it back in the frame straight. All I could do was walk the bike home, and since the rear wheel was stuck tight I had to sort of push it along while carrying the back end.
So there I was, struggling to get the bike back home and several other bikers just whizzed on by without giving me a second glance. One older guy stopped to see if he could help but he had no tools either. Oh well, thanks for stopping to ask anyway. wink After a while a jogger came up behind me and noticed my predicament. By this time I was ready to drop from heat exhaustion. This nice guy took pity on me and offered to take a turn carrying my bike for me. (Really? Oh God! Thank you!) He just picked it up like it was nothing and walked me nearly a full mile back toward my house. At that point I thanked him and told him I was sure I could make it from there, I didn't want to take him any further out of his way. He wished me a good day and off he went. Really too kind of him to help me out.
At home we tried to fix it - it looked like one of the bolts had loosened which allowed the wheel to shift in the frame - but unfortunately, the wheel had gotten warped and was no longer spinning true. I'd have to get it repaired. When the bike shop opened I brought my wheel in and was informed it wasn't fixable. *sigh* I needed to buy a new rim. Unfortunately they didn't have the one I needed in stock *of course* so I had to wait a few days for them to get it in.
Today (Friday the 13th) I finally got the new wheel mounted, so I should be able to resume my challenge tomorrow (it's raining here right now).
I'm nearly 10 miles behind by my estimation. I think in the future I'm going to make sure to carry at least a wrench and a screwdriver, just in case.
7/18 - chewed up tire
It's hard to see from this angle but the tire is actually bulged at this point. I could feel it as soon as it happened. I have a replacement though, I just gotta get it on the rim:
End of July Summary:
Ok, I didn't make it to 100 miles but hey, I think I did pretty good for someone who never tried to bike 100 miles before. I lost a few days to rain and a broken wheel but I might have actually made my goal if my wheel hadn't broke. wink
Here's my numbers for this month:
I biked 69 miles
For a total of 10 hours
I burned 3672 calories
I lost 5 pounds
biggrin
I think I'm going to try again for August.
