addicted to the HRM

I'm totally addicted to my heart rate monitor. I wear it almost every time I do anything involving exercise. Including riding my bike into work this morning.

I know I must be tired or dehydrated or maybe just recovering from our 30K (18.something miles), but my heart rate has been a little elevated this week, and it was hard keeping my heart rate below 75% on the ride in. And real bike riders know this, but I'm just learning it: you find hills where you had no idea, as a walker, that there were hills. It's all very interesting.

Riding the bike is such a different activity than walking. When I'm walking, I'm constantly thinking about form -- am I standing up straight, am I going heel to toe, and lately, am I maintaining the hip wiggle (don't laugh, it's hard!)? -- and strategy. Bike riding, well, anything goes.

So, I rejoice in the downhills, and I watch as people pass me -- it seems like the same guy, over and over again. That's okay -- I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm barely aware of the river as I ride along it. I don't recognize anyone, but the street people, who seem a bit more beneficient when I'm on my bike.

I thought a bit about my teenage years, when I trained for a century on a single-speed Free Spirit. I wasn't fast then either. I didn't know nothing about nothing. I just liked to ride. I hope to get back to that.

I finished Slow Fat Triathlete this morning. Now I'm in the period of mourning that comes after finishing a good book. Mind you, I have a pile of walking books on the table waiting for me, and I bet there are some good ones there. Also, marathon and ultra training books. But will they be as witty and warm as SFT? Unlikely.