Back in the saddle. Again!

Thanks to the wonderful weather we've had here in the south my attempts to get back to riding have faltered. That combined with trying to find a house have given me another excuse not to ride. This morning however I got up off my lazy but and rode. It was a short ride and a hot ride. I've been out of the saddle way too long. I felt that familiar burn just above my knees and that tightness in my gut from constantly lifting my legs. It felt good though.

The steering dampener Kenny helped me weld worked great. The new rear derailluer from the LBS is smooth as glass. No problems down shifting nor constant clicking from the alignment problems. Still need to do a little bit of adjusting on the derailluer to get the shift numbers aligned but no major problem there. I did however run into a problem again with the main chain. It jumped at least 5 times. The tensioner is all the way down but if I remove a link from the chain it's too tight. I think it's time I finally installed the partial derailluer on the main chain to adjust tension. This will put me one step closer to setting up front so I can chain gears which means I might can go to a larger sprocket on the intermediate to get some better top end.

After riding today I definitely need to install the water bottle I picked up from that kit I got for christmas. I put the computer on but the battery didn't last long and the mount didn't work. I'll figure out a place to mount the water bottle and get one on Ty's bike to if we're going to start riding in this heat. Once I have a few rides under my belt I'm going to jump into extending the rides much sooner. I rode too long before on the same route not really getting much out of the ride. Yes, I'm out of shape. Yes, I need to start out slow. But, and this is a big but (no jokes, please) I need to extend the rides to get the heart rate elevated longer for better cardio. The longer I'm riding the more it will help me loose weight.

In our house hunting one of the first things I was looking for after a garage was a good area to ride. Some of the houses we were interested in were great others...not so great. A couple I would need to either push my bike or load it up to go ride. The loading it up would be a problem. The pushing not so much of a problem. A few places have had some really huge hills and that could be a problem but it's something I would have to work through. I haven't given up on a two wheel recumbent ride. I have some ideas based on a few production models and a few from Atomic Zombie. Those guys have some fantastic ideas. Hopefully after the trying to buy a house thing has calmed down and we find something I can get something going on that front. Until then we'll see. I apologize to anyone reading this about the length of this post but it's been awhile and I had a little bit to say. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can post more and expand on my progress riding. Until then.....Keep Pedaling!!!