When did birthday's start to suck? I don't know what year it was, maybe when I turned 30? Well, they definitely suck now at 40 . It didn't help when a good friend of mine said "Honey, I hate to tell you this but 40 was the worst. I went through a six month depression." Luckily he seemed to survive pretty well because he's 64 now. I figure I just have to make it through this year by doing my best to fight aging.

I started by going on a 50 mile bike ride on the day after my birthday. I finally broke down and bought some cycle shoes and new pedals to snap them into (SPDI I think). I usually only ride about 16-20 miles, but with the new shoes, and my consistent attendance at Spin class, I figured I could push myself to do 50.

Although my ass, palms, & calves hurt, I managed to complete the 50 miles in about 3 hours of riding time with 3 10 minute breaks. I rode from about 9:00am until 12:30 while it wasn't terrible hot, but I still managed a decent tan. I was pretty proud of myself for completing the ride and while I was still in the mood to fight aging, I ended up going to Spin class at the gym for another hour of cycling. That in hindsight was stupid (but who said I was being smart ). My calves were killing me throughout the class and I sweated up a storm from the first couple of minutes. 1 hour of spin class probably added up to about 16 miles of riding, so I ended up doing the equivalent of about 66 miles of riding that day.

Oh about those cycle shoes. Scary little f*ckers they are. I managed not to fall the first 3 or 4 rides, but today I fell...twice. The first time, I was trying to turn off the path onto a sidewalk (I've done this dozens of times) and I used to use my left foot for balance. Well, I 'forgot' that my foot was locked into the pedal. By the time I realized it, I was already going down...instinctively, I put my left had out and managed to land on my left palm. Ouch.

I got back on my bike and started riding home (about 1 block away). I decided to get my shoes out of the pedals ahead of time (to prepare), but it seems that while resting my left foot on the pedal, it snapped in again. So by the time I got to my garage and tried putting my left foot out, once again it was stuck and I panicked and fell on the same left palm. Double ouch.

My left palm is all sore and starting to turn blue/purple. It's going to look a nasty color by tomorrow morning. Who knew cycling would be so hard on the palms.

Anywho, despite my palm injury, my goal by the end of this season is to do 100 miles so that I could do one of those century rides (maybe next year).

I'm sure I'll find other ways to fight the 40s .

Take Care®,

Vic

P.S. - I ended up not buying a truck. I think the way gas prices are running, it would be silly to have a gas guzzler like that.