Two weeks without biking. What to do.?

[cyclezealot]

Last three vacations have been cycling vacations..Told I can't take my bike this time... Singapore too busy and it is a dive vacation and can't take but one set of toys..
I get back, the tell-tale marks on the hands where the gloves cause identifable tan lines, even the helmet straps hide some skin from the sun and have had people pick up that distinction..
I will loose my idenity... ? Maybe I could wear my cycling gloves as I go diving.
I just do not think diving in the ocean rivals cycling the hills for aerobic exercise. Talk to you all when I get back. Should have had my cycle tour vacation this September before the two week dive trip.. Maybe I can't find an olympic size pool in Singapore to keep in shape...?
Ps- my wife is pacing at the front door. Should be packing to go to the airport and I had to do a 64 mile ride first... A bottle of wine on the plane and she will get over it..

[ljbike]

You won't see this till you get back, but I hope the trip wasn't as bad as you anticipate. Singapore sounds like it could be fun --even without the bike.

[John E]

I just spent a week in Eden UT, without my mountain bike, :(
but I did get to do lots of great hiking.

[John C. Ratliff]

I am a bicyclist, but have also been the past fin swimming director for the Underwater Society of America. Go to Singapor, leave the bicycle behind, and take a set of long fins (full-foot pocket preferably). Then do some open-ocean fin swimming if you have a safe place to do it. This is a great cardiovascular exercise, and at the same time you will see more than most people who actually dive. Good luck, and enjoy the warm water.

John

[Chris L]

I think two weeks without biking would just about kill me.

[MediaCreations]

I sometimes find a day off the bike is more than I'd like.

[nathank]

I think two weeks without biking would just about kill me. chris

yeah, that's how i feel. i think in the last 5 or 6 years the longest time not on a bike was 8 days! i've had two 2 1/2 to 3 week non-cycling vacations this year, plus a 6 week non-cycling trip in 2000 and every time i rented a bike once or twice b/c i just had to get on the bike. Then winter 2001 i was in Massachusetts the year of the three 20"+ snows and had about 1 week where we had deep snow on the ground and i didn't ride (after that i rode with my studded tires)

[hyperdrive]

Originally posted by cyclezealot
I just do not think diving in the ocean rivals cycling the hills for aerobic exercise.

Perhaps, unless kicking against a several-knot current for twenty minutes to get back to the boat/shore. :eek:

In any event, you'll see new and wonderful things with only the soothing sound of bubbles rather than blaring horns and ingesting the exhaust of angry motorists. Not a bad respite from cycling while on surface intervals, imo. Actually, I think these recreational endeavors compliment each other quite nicely. When not engaged in one, I'd almost always rather be doing the other than just about anything else....'cept reading BF, of course. ;)

Wishing you a grand vacation, zealot....go diving!

[cyclezealot]

We did get back from Singapore just today.. So anxious to hit the bike, first thing I did when I got in the door.. In spite of fact, the trip took 25 hours from our nephew's apartment in Singapore to our house in So. California..
Saw only three real cyclists in Singapore, Mayayasia, Indonesia..The roads of Indonesia are really pitted and traffic unbearable. have to be suicidal for sure to cycle on Sulawesi.. Roads of Singapore, traffic impossilbe.. Motorcyclists complain they do not get respect from traffic volume.. Did see one 'serious cylists in Sinapore... Singaporese do mountain bike in couple of adajacent offshore parks...
Real set of 'serious cyclists,' were to be found. -Only location that I did... 'higlands' of Malayasia.. It is cool here. Like 4000 feet... Climbs are long and grades decent. Scenery is great... I took my helmet and limited cycling gear in case I found an opportunity to cycle. Wish I could have here in Highlands.
If must miss two weeks of Cylcing for diving -in Sulawesi, off Manado in north..- It is a location that is worth it.. So many divers said best diving in world. I think they might be right.. It was awesome..
Do feel cheated. Really envious when saw cyclists in Malayasian highlands..
As to today's cycling. Two weeks off the bike. Felt lost some power.. I will commute to work tomorrow.. My seven dives did not keep me tuned up..

[MediaCreations]

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. You must be really fond of your bike at the moment.

Welcome back - enjoy the ride.

[vlad]

mediacreations

absinthe makes the heart grow fonder

[Andy Dreisch]

Originally posted by cyclezealot
...As to today's cycling. Two weeks off the bike. Felt lost some power.. I will commute to work tomorrow....
How did this turn out? Did you get your "wheels" back quickly?

[cyclezealot]

Andy.. Just felt sort of slow and a little sluggish..Maybe it was jet lag for awhile...After a couple of rides- feel a little better.
Not used to a week where I don't ride at least three times..
On the vacation, really did not get in, much more than walking. The dives were drift dives and that does not really exert oneself.. Plus, on vacation the food and drink was good and extensive..
Somehow for July, I will still get in four hundred miles, I hope..

[Bikes-N-Drums]

I just discovered that next month, I am going on a business trip for a full week, to a place I don't know, with a person I don't like, to learn about things I don't care about. Anyway, no biking for me. So I called a few places in this town I'm going to, to find out if somebody there could rent or lease a bike to me for the week. The LBS' in the area not only didn't know anyone who would do that but also found the concept pretty amusing. I guess it'll be the hotel workout room for me, watching "Entertainment Tonight" (or worse) on the exercise bike. Yuck!

[cyclezealot]

Wow. To be somewhere you don't like ,doing what You don't like. Sure sounds like you need a bike. Is the biking good there?
I think Northwest Airlines sends your bike along for free, if your weight is not over the allowed limits.
I always like having my bike somewhere new. New locations to explore using my favorite means of exploring. Shame you can't find a way to take your bike..

[Bikes-N-Drums]

Thanks for the input! - I just convinced the boss to drive and strap my bike on the back of his car!!!! This should be great! Davidson, North Carolina..... gotta be great riding there! In an odd gesture, he even recommended I cycle-commute to the business meetings. Geez.....I hope my rack fits on his car.

[webist]

I've been out of the saddle for most of July due to a kidney stone. Wish it was becasue of a trip to Singapore instead.

Can't wait to get back on my bike.

Carl

[ViciousCycle]

Originally posted by Chris L
I think two weeks without biking would just about kill me.

Two weeks without biking would mean that I would have to resort to some pretty radical measures. Like having to walk in order to get to the grocery store.:D It would be a wacko neo-luddite thing to do, but I could probably cope.....

It would be nice if Chicago's tiny rickshaw businesses weren't focused on tourism. It would be nice, when one's leg is in a cast, to hire a rickshaw to get about from place to place.