Encouragement Accepted

I've gotten so many texts and emails from family mocking me and complaining to me about my weather down here.  Yup.  Friday the 10 and it was 82º down here.  Insane for February.  And it was just as pleasant yesterday, as you can see from the forecast picture to the right.  I don't know what happened to winter, but just like the rest of the U.S., it hasn't happened down here.                                                           Now while all this may sound desirable and enviable, when the A/C in your classroom is on the fritz, let me tell you, it is not as joyful as you might think.  The mornings are pleasant and cool, but by the time 5th period rolls around, the heat in my classroom is ridiculous.  And add to that 30+ teenagers, mostly boys, by the time class ends, my 6th period often complains about the smell.  Yeah.

All this said, before I left for work Friday morning, one of the things I asked for in my prayer was the ability to take advantage of this weather.  I love it when a prayer is answered.  I got home from work, I was out of my school clothes, and I was on my bike almost immediately.  In fact, this event made me wonder about prayer.  Perhaps sometimes it feels like our prayers aren't answered, because we're asking too big, too large, too not-possible-immediately.  For example, if I ask God to help me lose 30 pounds, I'm not going to see it today.  But to ask Him to help me get off my butt and exercise: Bam!  Prayer answered.  Love it.

So with my iPod attached to my head, I hit the road.  I'd be riding for nearly 2 miles when I thought I could add this event to my blog.  So I shot a few pictures to give an idea of where my journey starts.  Before I hit the pavement trail on the east of the canal, I've got to reach it.  Luckily my bike has no problem on the dirt road, so here's a shot over my shoulders.  I'm traveling south, so the canal is to the East.

I use the Nike +GPS app when I ride.  There are a couple of benefits to this, the largest being it lets me know how far I've gone.  There's a little satisfaction knowing the distances for me.  After arriving home, I found that the app, in recent updates, offered me a few things.  First is the picture to the left, which shows the route I took and each mile marker.  If it looks confusing, it's only on the map.  As I traveled north to south, I'm almost exclusively on the bike path along the canal.  However, toward the bottom of the map, you'll see I cut back and then headed west.  Turns out there was a portion of the trail I'd not ridden before, and I was surprised it continued down 20th, nearly to Ave B.  So at that point I reached the end, and then turned around and retraced my route.  It's nice to find new stretches of road to ride on.

The map to the left now is reflective of my speed.  What's tough is knowing that elevation changes all over the place, so I think this is more reflective of the journey home, rather than the start of the ride.  I point this out so it is obvious on the map at what points was I riding uphill, and at what stretches it was perhaps more level.  Very interesting to look back and compare.

My last shot of this is just the summary of the ride.  5.2 miles, 33:43 minutes.  I wish the calories burned were correct, but that would be if this was a run, rather than a bike ride.  There are apps out there for bike rides, but when I grabbed this one, it was free, and I'm okay with free.  I've heard it suggested, and this isn't perfect math, but 4 miles on a bike is reflective of 1 mile running.  So if I were to divide my calories burned by 4, that's still not too bad of a start.  Of course, not comes the hard part: doing it again.  And then again.  I'm hoping that posting this online is enough motivation for me to be performing more often.  Of course if anyone reading this wants to throw me some encouragement or advice, bring it on!