Today's Ride.

After a two days off, Thursday and Friday, to recover my energy from my bonk on Wednesday, I hopped back on my trusty bike for the commute to Pullman. Yesterday it was raining quite heavily, and I woke up late, so I didn't bike yesterday. I'm a little disappointed in myself, but it was raining a lot, so I don't feel so bad. It's much nicer weather today. Cold, but it's a little cloudy, so it's not freezing, and it was windy-ish this morning.
It's amazing how different I feel on days I bike vs. days I don't. The days I bike, I feel like I have so much more time during the day, even though 2 hours of it are taken up by pedaling. The week seems longer, too. I just seem to have more time, in general. I love it.
Over the weekend, a large amount of animal feces seems to have accumulated on the Paradise Creek path. Dogs, I think. Seriously, every 50 yards or so, there was a pile of poo. That kind of annoyed me a little, but dogs have to go somewhere, I guess.
It just gives me a more urgent reason to get a better headlamp. Which I plan to get today or tomorrow. I'm borrowing my finace's and it is not bright enough for safety or to safely avoid little piles of stink on the trail.
I also want to get reflector tape and put it on my bike and stuff.
I saw one of the same bikers I always see, an elderly gentleman in yellow, with a chiseled jawline. He's always been friendly, but he recognizes me now and smiles more when we pass going in opposite directions. He had the wind at his back today.
There's usually another lady, the same age or a little younger than me, that bikes to Moscow, too, but I only see her when I leave earlier. I left late today, so I didn't see her.
Over the summer, there were more regular bikers, but they weren't as friendly.

The stranger who kind of inspired me to begin biking is this guy who has lost so much weight since he started in early Summer. I saw him every day when I was driving to work. He's got this mountain bike that looks so difficult to pedal. But day after day, he was out there biking to WSU. So, when I started biking, one day biking back home to Moscow, he passed me blaring opera music out of his phone.
Which I thought was cool.


Gear.
On Saturday, while running errands (also on my bike), I went into Hyperspud to look for some wet-weather gear. The winters are wet here, so I knew if I wanted to ride to Pullman later into the year, I needed some sort of wet-weather pants. I already own a Marmot rain jacket, which I love for it's functionality and simplicity. As soon as I enter, what do I see? I see Marmot rain pants. Windproof, waterproof, and breathable. Perfect!
The best part is: if the lining wears off, all I have to do is take the Marmot gear back to Hyperspud, pay $7.00 in shipping, and I'll get a total replacement.
I tested them out this morning, and I am so pleased. my legs weren't wet with sweat, and they skin wasn't frigid like it was last week.
Also, I have been oscillating between getting a saddle rack for my stuff, or not. And I came to the conclusion this weekend that I actually enjoy toting my backpack while I ride. Why? Because it keeps me warm. Having that extra padding on my back is nice, especially since I have a tendency to lose body heat easily. I'm almost always cold.
I might end up getting a saddle thing in the Spring or Summer when it's really hot, but for now... mmm.... warmth, sweet warmth...

Food.
So, I bonked last week (DON'T EVER USE BONKING AS A TRAINING TOOL). Because I did, I made a lot of mistakes at work because of my mental confusion. I didn't think it was that bad at first, but Friday and yesterday, I kept discovering mistakes I had made on Thursday.
I never want to bonk again.
It makes too much work for myself later.
Anyway, my co-worker sent me a link to EatToPerform.com. The website, if you don't have a prescription is like one big ad for the book or whatever it is they sell, so I wasn't too keen on that part of the information they had, but did have a pretty accurate-looking calculator for how many calories I should eat. It turns out that I should be eating about 2 or 3 times the amount I was eating last week.
I've always had problems remembering to eat, or not feeling hunger, so I've been trying to pay more attention to that.
So, I ate more for the last 4 or 5 days, and I already feel lighter and I think I look thinner, too.
I know it's only been 1.5 weeks, but my history with weight gain and loss is jumpier than kid watching a horror flick. It goes up and down, sometimes 10 pounds in a week. I've never really known why, which is one of the things the Eat To Perform website gave information about.
It made sense.
Anyway, I need to have a more nutritious base to support all my plans. It's nice to have it more stable now.
To try and counteract my activity level, I ate a lot this weekend and yesterday I bought a protein bar to consume pretty much right after I got to work today, which has made me feel much better so far. I'm less shaky.

Condition.
I seem to keep discovering weird aches when I bike. It was in my chest this time. It might be the cold air, or breathing a lot. But, there's a plus- the aches in my inner thighs has gone away! Hooray! I'm getting into better shape!
I was biking into the wind today, which was less fun than normal, but that's okay. I just have to be stronger than the wind. Today I was.
Also, my hypothesis about my ankle hurting turned out to be correct - it was a slight stress injury from me pedaling in a gear too high for me.
I haven't used my upper gear at all since I started biking again and my ankles don't feel stressed in the slightest. Maybe I'll ramp up the speed and effort eventually, but I want to make sure I'm totally strong before I do that... and I also will probably want to wait until it's not cold. I'm pretty sure risk of injury increases when the temperature decreases.

Rant about something other than biking.
Also, this is less about bike-riding but more generally about my attitude towards the economy, and especially fashion economy, but Hyperspud is one of the only places in Moscow where you can try on and buy fair-trade and/or eco friendly clothing. Their clothes are also functional, pretty, and reasonably priced. They carry Prana and Kavu and a couple of other brands. But beyond that, Hyperspud is a local store that's been around for over 25 years and I have to support it.
When I worked as an arborist's assistant, I used to go there with my supervisor to get climbing and arborist gear like nylon straps, climbing rope, carabiners, etc.
The more I visit Hyperspud, the more I like it!

Anyway, back to the whole fair-trade, eco-friendly fashion thing...
One day I woke up and saw the news about another factory, with unsafe conditions, killing it's workers. It was in the fashion industry...again.
It's not as if this was a random thought of mine. I have a personal tie to unfair fashion practices. My father, grandfather, uncle, everyone, used to work in the fabric mill in Clover, South Carolina. I don't know who owned the factory, but they produced T-shirts. Anyway, my father's life was put in danger numerous times by the management of the factory. I am so happy my father got out of that system. In many towns in the South, there were places called "Mill Villages" and that's where the 'trash' lived. The mills and factories owned the houses and the stores. They would pay their workers less than it cost to live there, and would therefore keep the workforce, essentially indentured or enslaved to their jobs. The houses didn't have indoor plumbing. They had outhouses.
My Dad didn't have a toilet until he moved out of the Mill Villages with his family when he was fairly young. I think he was 9 or 10. As a teenager, he worked for the factory.
Then he met my mom, a college student, and decided he would be a college student, too, and got a degree in Biology, got into Med school, etc.
BUT- for many people less brazen as my father, or with families that depend on them, or in countries where opportunities are fewer and reserved for the upper class, these types of working conditions persist to this day.
So, when I decided that day, I remembered the stories my father told me about the carpet-baggers from the North coming down to establish their domain in the less affluent South. In 1965, my mother remembers her school throwing a party when the 100 year war-reparation payments to the North were finished.
Around the 80's, most fabric production moved overseas, but the conditions didn't improve with the move and I now that someone like my father or grandfather is working in terrible conditions, making T-shirts that get branded by Lacrosse or Tommy Hilfiger and those company's aren't aware, don't care, or both, about the welfare of the production line.

So, even if Prana pants are a little more expensive (although, still cheaper than many unethical brands), I must for my own reasons, support that.
Because I support good business practices.
Anyway...
It's a bit of a rant there...

Well, that's my lunch break. I spent all of it writing and listening to nature sounds/music.
Time to get back to work... just counting down the hours until I can hop on my contraption and ride again!