Le Pup Walks, Le Ride and Le Riding

I've been getting in some nice walks with Toby and Charlie in the cooler weather. I use various Garmin devices to track my activities throughout the week and I recently decided to track my walks with the pups separately rather than mix them in with my solo walks or golfing; mostly so I could more easily see how far we're walking together each week. The results are in—here's a typical week for us. That's 13.45 miles (21.65 km). Or viewed another way. I mentioned in a previous blog post how Toby loves to run. He's not at all an alpha-male but when he's leading us in a run and Charlie tries to take the lead, Toby runs even harder to stay in front, sometimes leaning his body into Charlie to keep him from passing him. I think that's so cute!

Tammy and I went to see Le Ride a few nights ago. It played across the country for one night only in select theaters. I was prepared to go alone but Tammy was also interested in seeing it. There was a time when we both used to love to watch coverage of Le Tour de France but that was when Lance Armstrong was winning it. It's not quite the attraction for me now that it once was although I still maintain a passing interest in it.

The movie/documentary chronicled Phil Keoghan (The Amazing Race host) and his riding partner's attempt to circumnavigate France along the same route that was ridden in the 1928 Tour de France, and they did it on bikes from that period with very few upgrades! Intertwined in the video shot by Phil's crew were historical accounts and footage from the 1928 tour, focusing on a 4 man team made up of 1 rider from New Zealand and 3 Aussies—a team that wasn't expected to survive the 1st stage. The word "epic" is too often used to describe long-distance cycling efforts but this one is truly worthy of that descriptor. The only thing lacking for me in the film was any discussion about forms of doping that were likely employed by riders back in the day to get them from one stage to the next—but it was legal then so maybe that's why there was no mention of it. I would guess that the movie will be available to download or purchase at some point. We both highly recommend it.

I've dusted off my indoor trainer and fired up my Zwift program once again to enable me to ride throughout the winter in the comfort of our basement. I've been riding indoors for more than 37 years and never in those early days (or even 10 years ago for that matter) could I have imagined indoor training being what it is for me today. It's incredibly motivational. My nephew Brent picked up on my enthusiasm (at least I think he did) and recently purchased a smart-trainer and signed up with Zwift. Brent lives in Texas but we were able to ride together for an hour early Saturday morning on the roads of Watopia. It's quite cool! I kept him working hard for the 3 laps we rode together but he beat me in the sprints. Too fun! I can't say enough good things about this setup for indoor riding.

After my rendezvous with Brent, I had to hurry to get refueled and out the door to meet up with a group ride on some gravel roads south of Lakeville. I'm typically a loner out there but it's nice to occasionally have some company to ride with. I think I see more of this in my future.