Perpetual Ruminations

Thursday

Well then! That's the first thing that came to mind, so I wrote it. See, it's a good thing to be logged in here and writing this so early in the day, but I had not intended to log in here and write this. With this site, 750 Words, however, once I log in I have to either write my 750 words to get credit for the day, or I have to return but will have a "break" recorded that shows just how long it took me to write this. Since I like to keep tabs on how long I take to write, as well as my typing speed, I don't want to foul up the log with a "break."

I had intended to log into WDC and check out the anthology to see if I can upload my items yet, or if I missed the deadline. But, instead of clicking on WDC's shortcut, I clicked on 750 Words and here I am. So, I guess I will have this done shortly after noon today, and posted in WDC before one this afternoon. Then, I will check out the anthology before I move on to other tasks I want to complete today.

I do need to check the van and see how it functions, I may, or may not talk to the mechanic about other possible problems that would cause the issues we are having. It depends on time and what happens when I try the van, as well as when I try the van. If I don't talk to him today, I can talk to him tomorrow, or wait through the weekend and talk to him next week. This has been going on for so long, it really doesn't seem to be pressing, even though it would be so great to have the issues fixed and now that we can run the van without having all these problems all the time.

I also want to set up one of the bikes for a stationary bike for the time being. It's quickly becoming nice enough to take the bikes out and enjoy a nice ride, but both Rhonda and I need to get back into riding shape. I'm talking about a bicycle that one pedals, not a motorized cycle. Since we have not ridden for over a year, we need to condition our bodies to the task. One way is to build up some muscle for peddling, the other is to just toughen up our butts. We learned this a few years back when we first started riding. We didn't have bikes that fit us very well, but they served the purpose. We started out with a short ride, but even that was enough to leave us tender and sore. Slowly we built up our butts and could ride further and further.

Then, we had an opportunity to purchase a pair of bikes from some friends that fit us much better, and were geared for long tours. We were in a little better shape, from riding the old bikes, and ones we had these, we set right out, like we usual. Only these had different seats, and once again, we suffered from not being conditioned to the current seats. We did purchase better seats, and with time we were able to ride further and further without making our butts hurt, but it took time. Chaffing was still an issue, one we never did totally solve, but the comfort of the seats had been mastered.

Now, we have not ridden since the fall of 2012, and it's going to be like starting all over from scratch. Sure, the balance is there, and we still know how the bikes will perform, but the legs will have to be built up before we can ride any distance, and the butts will have to be conditioned to the seats again. Therefore, I will set one of our bikes up as a stationary bike, and we can spend a little time each and every day sitting on the seat and conditioning our butts while we work the pedals and begin to build up our legs again.

Then, once we are ready, we can take the bikes out and ride around the neighborhood a little, to further condition our legs and butts, since riding stationary is not the same as riding over uneven ground, bumps, corners, and hills. The setup we have to make a bike stationary is pretty simple to put on and off, so it will be no problem to take the bike out riding or use inside. By riding around the neighborhood, we get to adjust to bumps and corners, as well as working our legs better than on the stationary set up. Once we master this, we can take the bikes a short distance out of town, up and down some hills, and continue to build up for the long rides again.

Now, since this entry is now over 750 words long, I can post it in WDC and check out the anthology, then move to the next task at hand.