I biked almost 50 miles over the weekend; New “Favorite Things” product.

I did a whole lot of mountain biking over the weekend: just shy of 50 miles, most of it off-road. It was hotter than hell out there, and the humidity was pretty sick, too. I was able to adapt to the heat and humidity relatively quickly on both days, and I had a couple of incredible rides.

On Saturday I made my way to the hill you see pictured here. Taking the sandy path all the way to the top is one heck of a cardio workout! Even before I reach that final fairly steep climb to the summit my heart rate is already maxed. The last 20 feet or so is pretty nasty when your heart is already coming out of your chest. So what I do is climb the hill, then have a fun coast down the bottom, rest for a minute and do it again. I repeated this climb 4 times on Saturday, and I had to dig pretty deep to make that last one. And that was just a small part of Saturday’s 22.1 mile ride.

On Sunday I went to Wekiwa and did a little over 25 miles there. The humidity was especially bad in the forest, and once again I had a difficult time breathing at first. I’ve found that the best way to combat the terrible feeling of not being able to get enough oxygen due to high humidity is just to simply fight through it. It’s uncomfortable at first, but I seem to adapt to the feeling after 20 or 30 minutes.

I’m not sure how many miles I’ve put on my bike (Trek 4300 Disc), but it’s got to be several thousand by now. Most of those miles were on trails with rocks, jumps, roots, sand, mud, water and other hazards. Over the past couple of yeas I’ve flipped, crashed, tumbled and wiped out dozens of times. So it’s pretty impressive that the only things I’ve had to replace on the bike are the tires, the tubes, the saddle and the brake pads. I’m about due for a new set of pedals, crankset, rear cassette and chain, but that’s just from normal wear and tear. It’s impressive how much abuse this bike can take.

Mountain biking has brought me more pleasure, fun and excitement than I ever could have imagined. Over the past couple of years I’ve seen so many awesome things and discovered places I didn’t even know existed. I mean, pretty much every time I exercise now it’s a brand new adventure! I’m getting fresh air, great exercise, a wide variety of photo opportunities… It’s just amazing, and I can’t recommend mountain biking highly enough. If you’re thinking about getting into mountain biking, the Trek 4300 Disc is a fantastic place to start.

On the subject of mountain biking in the heat, I’ve added a new Favorite Things item: Sport Beans!