65 Miles in 2 days!!

[arcticsp2003]

Part of my commitment to atkins involved exercise. I've been pushing myself on my mountain bike like I never have in the past. It has been paying off. I just got home from riding 65 miles of back country roads. I road 35 miles yesterday and 30 today. These are not paved roads, but loose gravel, sometimes 2 track roads. To add to this my bike was fully loaded with my camping gear.

I can truly say my stamina and hill climbing power is significantly better than it has ever been. Thanks and thanks atkins for helping to make positive changes to my life!! I never would've even attempted this before this summer.

[Greeneggs&ham]

What a fantastic picture! I've been quite sluggish all weekend, and was looking for a reason on the boards. I haven't found anything, but your pic makes me want to overcome it quick and get back out on my bike. Sure would like to find an "endless" gravel road like that around here. Thanks for sharing an inspirational image.

[arcticsp2003]

I've been there... I almost didn't go on this trip. I was planning on leaving at 7am yesterday to beat the mid-day heat. Unfortunately I overslept. I almost had myself talked into not going.

I thought to myself if I don't do this now, when will I? Put it off until next weekend? That would just start a bad circle. I added an extra bottle of water to my bike and dragged my butt outside. I started pedaling and within 5 miles I was feeling awesome and ready to tear up some gravel.

In the words of a footwear company.... "Just Do It"

[funky-guitar-babe-9]

Wow, I would love to be able to bike up that road! Pity we don't have anything like that round here...I'm gonna have to take a trip somewhere like that with my bike one of these days.
Congrats on keeping up with the exercise, btw - I've been doing C25K, and I too have been so pleased to discover how much my fitness has improved in such a short time [just finished week 4].

[Greeneggs&ham]

The motivating picture worked, although my 7-year-old son may never ride with me again. I talked him into going riding on a paved greenway trail with me. We made it about 2 minutes in, he turned around to see where I was, ran his front wheel into the sandy shoulder, and flipped his bike resulting in several nasty scrapes along his side. We limped back to the car and headed home for Dr. Mom.

Once he was on the mend, I headed back out to tackle a 3-mile single track loop in a nearby forest. It had a lot more roots then I remember, but I made it without a spill myself. Just as you said, it felt great to be "back in the saddle" after about 5 minutes. Hopefully I can get back out again soon although the southeast is famous for it's thundershowers every afternoon in the summer so we'll see.

Of course, now Nicole has me interested again in the C25K. I followed the program a year ago and was successfully running a 5K 3x a week, but then apparently I subconsciously followed the "5K2C" plan and now I'm faced with starting over. I'll try to pick that up again in August.

I'm loving the support and encouragement on this board, even from those who don't necessarily realize they're providing it! Keep up the good work.

[arcticsp2003]

5K2C ...thats good....

Your son is well on his way to becoming a MTBer... Crashing is a given eventually

Glad you got out. I'm going through single track withdrawal. There is 20-30 miles of real nice single track just down the road from me back home. I think next weekend I may go up into the mountains and find some single track / tighter trails.

[arcticsp2003]

funky,

Congrats on 4 weeks!! I tried that program back in may, I only made it a week before my knees hurt and I got bored with it. Running isn't my thing. I'm a biker.

I'm sure you have some nice terrain around you somewhere. Maybe even if you have to drive a little to get to a nice start point. I recommend it, it was a blast. I enjoy camping as well so that made it even better.

[jimmie 48]

i didn't think anybody could beat the mileage of imagood1 but there you go! i love seeing your commitment to exercise it's non negotiable, you know