[894] A Bike Trainer and Other Bike Thoughts

I recently bought a bike trainer from one of our local and well-known online shopping apps. My logic for buying a trainer is I can do HIIT or high cadence rides on it since I don't think it would be safe for me to ride fast either inside or outside the subdivision.

Before the trainer arrived I noticed the pace of my morning rides was getting faster. Not insanely fast, but faster than usual. I usually average around 14 - 15 kmh inside the subdivision. The past three or four sessions before the trainer arrived I averaged well over that, peaking at 17 kmh.

I rode around again this morning after spending the weekend trying to do HIIT and high cadence cycling on the trainer. This morning I got around 15.3 kmh, but that probably had to do with me continuously stopping to wipe my fogged up glasses.

Anyway back to the bike trainer. I tried doing HIIT last Saturday and I was only able to do 4 reps of 30-sec effort 30-sec rest before stopping. I have no idea if I'm exerting too much or not but it was a fun challenge. Then Sunday I tried riding at high cadence and was able to do maybe eight minutes overall. The reason why I stopped was I increased the seat post height by around 5 mm. When I did high cadence before raising the seat post I felt discomfort on my knees. After raising it disappeared.

Sadly I also got bored staring at the wall which is the biggest reason why I stopped after a total of ten minutes including the time needed to raise the seat post height. Besides, I was excited to try out the raised seat height in an actual ride and this morning I did just that.

It felt great this morning. I just rode and couldn't hear my Runtastic app notifying me how far I'd gone so I just rode around and around the subdivision. I ended up going around 9 km, about 2 km farther than my usual morning rounds.

I'm planning on using actual rides as my "recovery" ride or relaxed ride, and using the trainer for higher cadence and HIIT, like I said earlier. Hopefully I can get used to riding inside the house on a trainer that I can increase the number of HIIT cycles to maybe 3 or 4 30/30 efforts. Then if I can consistently do that I'll probably shift efforts to 40/20 or so. Of course the resistance of the trainer is also a factor but as of the moment I'm happy doing my efforts on 3/6 resistance.

I honestly wish I had a speed sensor to mount on the rear tire so I have an idea how "fast" I go on the trainer. A cadence sensor would also be nice so I also know just how high my high cadence pedaling is. For all I know I could just be doing 60 rpm.

Out.

[893] Bike Upgrades / Replacements

Not that I'm planning on doing it any time soon since I need to be tight with my budget for in-real-life reasons, but here are some things I would love to get as upgrades or replacements for my bike.

1. High end smartwatch with heart rate monitoring and GPS, a cadence sensor, speed sensor, and a power meter. I want to know what zones I'm in whenever I ride, even if it's just inside the subdivision. My past few rides have had faster average speeds so I guess that means I'm getting stronger. I still want to be able to see how my performance is and I think all these sensors can tie in with either a smartwatch or all of them will tie in to my mobile phone.
2. A modern, advanced bike computer with GPS. Yeah this serves the same purpose as the smartwatch. I'd rather have a small GPS device so I can go around and not get lost. I don't need to pull my phone out to look at a map. Or I can tie it all with the smart watch and mobile phone so that hopefully the data will be as accurate as possible. I honestly don't know.
3. New saddle. A third one basically. My first saddle was too short. The current one I'm using is gel filled and seems okay but aesthetically it doesn't look sleek. So yes, a very shallow reason.
4. Cycling shorts with gel padding. I really need these, even in my rides here if I have the wrong shorts on it gets uncomfortable riding around.
5. Flared drop bars. I was a noob on the online shopping app I used when I bought parts for my bike. I'm not saying my drop bars aren't good, they're great actually. I do want to have flared bars in the event I finally get to go off road. Then again I can pretend I've got a cyclocross bike instead, except my tires are too wide.
6. Fenders. I'm just making my bike heavy but I really like the classic fender look for my bike. Unfortunately because of my 38mm tires I don't think I can fit them on my bike anymore.

Those are some of the upgrades I'd like to do to my bike. Unfortunately my bike isn't even six months old and I've already got a bad case of upgrade-itis. So I'll basically just day dream and stay happy with what I currently have. I would love to improve myself as a cyclist and hopefully finally be able to go riding around Metro Manila.

I'm just really, really scared of other motorists here because this place is crazy.

Out.

[892] Death

Last December 5, 2021 a friend of mine passed away. I heard it was due to a heart attack. That guy was a few weeks older than me.

It's scary. I'm glad I've done a few steps to hopefully improve my health, but remembering your mortality is a chilling wake up call.

My friend was a swimmer. He'd gotten a bit round the past few years, and he'd always leave words of encouragement whenever I used to post my walking data on Facebook. Gave me great advice what to focus on and basically helped keep my interest on walking going.

And now he's gone, just like that.

Rest in peace, Paul. And thank you for being a friend.

Out. 

[891] Thoughts

I wasn't expecting these developments to happen these past few months, but they did. I guess I sort of jinxed things. It's nothing good or bad, just a reminded that life is in a constant state of change and staying in your comfort zone is not always a good thing.

Do I want to expound my thoughts? No. This is something I will only discuss with my wife and maybe some close friends. Aside from that, I will try to keep things within my small circle of trust.

Out.

[890] Two Car Garage Update

Yeah you guessed it. Filler blog time!

Seriously though with the amazing increase of fuel prices and salaries remaining the same you do have to think twice about what kind of car you drive to get the most bang for the buck. Plus I was talking about this with a good friend of mine last night.

What I'd want first for a two-car garage would be a small daily driver that you can still bring to out-of-town trips. Ideally an automatic so that you don't have to worry about clutch stuff in stop and go traffic. Plus the engine should be very economical, maybe at most 1.5L or smaller. The car should be relatively small so you can park it in parking areas without worrying if you can squeeze in between cars when you go in or out. It should also have decent space, so a hatchback.

I'm honestly thinking a Kia Picanto. You can choose between a 1.0L or 1.2L engine, it's a hatchback, it's small, there are automatic transmission variants, and the rear seats are 60/40 folding, I think. Other small hatches are available but I honestly prefer the Picanto because of the 1.2L engine and the split folding rear seats. The Mitsubishi Mirage is also an option because of the engine size, but I don't know if the rear seats are split. Bigger options are of course my dream car Honda Jazz and a Kia Rio hatchback. I think Ford has stopped selling the Fiesta and Focus here in the Philippines.

The dark horse small car would be the Suzuki S-Presso. I really like that car as well, and it's also very affordable compared to the other cars I mentioned. Biggest drawback is that there is only one variant being sold here, a manual transmission variant. Aside from that it has great ground clearance, great interior space for such a small car, and I really like how it looks.

For the other car, which will be used more as a number-coding car, an out-of-towner, or a utility car, I'm picking the Toyota Rush. Yes there are cheaper options, like the Suzuki Ertiga, but the Rush has the most air bags of cars of similar body type.

I used to dislike the Rush. I thought it was an overpriced Avanza. Now that I've done my research though I'm starting to like it just because of the cargo capacity and the air bags. It can seat five to seven people, plus the cargo space if you fold the 3rd row seats makes it a very practical car.

So there you have it. I wish I could own a Kia Picanto and a Toyota Rush. Those two cars are ideal for me considering the times we're in now. Both can be used as daily drivers, both can be used for road trips, and hopefully both have good fuel economy depending on driving style.

Out.