This is the Padua Podcast Network. Welcome to running a fever. I’m Michael Davis, and this is a show about fitness, diet, and medicine. My goal is to live a long, healthy, happy, active life right up to the very end, and I hope it’s your goal as well because hey, you gotta be here and listen to me. And I’m glad you’re here.

It motivates me to know that there are listeners out there. Just passed the super secret building. Could be for nefarious purposes, but it’ll always be unknown. And today, I’m thinking it might conceal a mining elevator.

A mining elevator that’s digging for gold and bringing it up. Gold, by the way, is at about $4,500 an ounce right now. Yeah, I just had to run across that street. You never know when somebody’s really out to get you on the roads these days.

Who knows? Yeah, so I would rather just keep wondering what’s in that little building by the yard, which, underneath, we know is some deep concrete structure of some kind for some purpose. Who knows? And I, so, so you know, weather report, weather department.

It rained earlier today, pretty significant rain, and if you’re watching on YouTube, you can see that the trail is a little wet. I didn’t know if I was gonna come out here today, but at this point, there’s nothing but blue sky. Like the song says, nothing but blue skies. It’s going to be a bright, sunshiny day.

Yes, so it came down pretty hard, and I just found out from Alexa that we actually had a tornado warning today. Tornado warning this morning until about noon, and a thunderstorm warning. Of course, there was a kind of thunderstorm. I didn’t hear any thunder.

I just heard the rain coming down on the roof. But apparently that’s what happened. But now it’s just windy. Blue skies and it’s windy as usual.

So, actually, nice day for a walk. So, speaking of the weather, fashion department. Pretty much normal equipment today. Walking shoes, sweat pants.

No base layer on the bottom, though I have ordered something from Temu that should arrive sometime. May have had to come from overseas, I don’t know. Usually, local stuff comes pretty quickly. But on top, I’ve got a t-shirt underneath, but I’ve got this, I don’t even know what you call it.

I’ve been thinking about coming out here very early in the morning to see what it looks like with the lights on in the dark. But it is very windy, which is pretty normal around here. But it’s a little more windy than usual, I think. Pretty good pace today.

Three miles an hour. Been going for about 16, 17 minutes. And trying to keep it brisk. I only really want to go for an hour.

No more than an hour. My goal is to walk for about an hour, so we’ll probably turn around at around the 30-minute mark. But, yeah. It’s a beautiful day.

It feels really good. Did hydrate with some Gatorade. Just recovered from an illness. Some sort of stomach virus, and I actually went to the emergency room this time last week. I was in the emergency room, I think sometime during the day, and they didn’t find anything didn’t really determine what it was, just told me to drink, you know, something like Gatorade, two

liters a day, they said a bland diet, which I have just kind of finished today. I didn’t really stick to that well, but I did eat some bananas and crackers, which were on the diet. So I was trying to stay bland and not eat anything spicy, which is very difficult for me, because my diet normally consists of many very spicy things. But I’m over that.

And I’m feeling much better this week. I think this is Thursday, and it’s the first time. Wow, that wind is pretty strong. I believe it’s the first time I’ve worked out this week.

So… And if you’re watching on YouTube, you can see a big puddle of water up ahead from the rain earlier today. It’s still out on the trail. Had to walk through some earlier.

So I think this is the first workout I’ve done this week, which is not ideal for the new attitude. We’re supposed to be doing a lot more exercise. But I’m out here, and I’m trying to do a good pace and get some good exercise. Okay.

I don’t know if you heard that. We’ve completed one mile, and it took a little, a little, maybe, almost exactly 20 minutes. So that’s our three-minute, three-mile-an-hour pace that we’re working on. So my weight has still gone up.

I’m not sure exactly what my weight is today, but it’s more like 233, 234. It went down briefly during my illness. I just did not feel like eating anything. And, uh, that turned out to be a good thing for my weight.

Obviously not a healthy way to do things normally. But, uh, that’s how it turned out, and I’m back up a little bit. Somebody last night, I was getting together with some friends, and somebody said, “You look like you’re losing weight.” They hadn’t seen me for a couple of weeks, but I don’t think I’ve been above where I am now in a long time.

So this is kind of a peak on the graph of my weight trend. But, you know, I always treat that as a compliment, even if I don’t really believe that the intention was there. So, a lot of people don’t want to say stuff like that, especially at work. At work these days, you have to be very careful what you say.

And any comment on someone’s appearance, even if it’s complimentary, is frowned upon. So it’s become a very sterile environment, socially speaking. So I have been doing some reading about cycling, as I believe I mentioned last time, maybe the time before, when I was out here live. And I found out that even in Fayetteville, the speed limit for bicycles is 15 miles per hour.

I think that may be on any trail. Perhaps it’s not true on the streets themselves. But that’s interesting, and it makes me believe that even though people certainly could be violating the law, it’s been known to happen. I got a feeling that 15 miles an hour is faster than I think it is.

So one of the things that kind of makes me think that is, looking at e-bikes, their maximum assisted speed is, depending on the class of bicycle you’re talking about, between 20 and 28 miles per hour. So I kept saying that those bicycles or e-bikes were going 30 miles an hour. And I don’t know, maybe that’s just not possible. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at a speedometer while I’m riding a bicycle.

That has happened in my past. And it’s been a very long time. So, you know, getting closer to a decision on that. I’m not really setting any kind of deadlines or anything.

I do have an upcoming series on cycling in Northwest Arkansas, so I will probably be thinking seriously about getting into the sport around that time. But perhaps sooner, I don’t know. I suppose I could try it at any time. But it’s interesting to me.

Now that I’ve started looking at it, I sort of have a new appreciation for the cycling community. You know, we’re… I keep remembering, and I learned this from JFK, a speech of… JFK, the movie, is where I learned it, but there’s a speech by John F. Kennedy in which he says our most basic common link is that we all inhabit the same earth. And so, whereas I used to look at bicycles in terms of that, you know, sort of conflict between us, I now try to look at it in a different light. We all inhabit the same earth. We’re all humans.

We all cherish our children’s futures and so forth. But I also found out, while researching the laws about cycling in this area, that pedestrians always have the right of way. 100% of the time, People walking have the right of way over cyclists and bikers. So anyway, that’s another point to keep in mind.

And also, when you’re approaching a pedestrian as a cyclist on a multi-use trail, you have to give an audible warning, like a bell, or just say, “I’m coming up on your left.” And that happens usually. Not always, though. And I may have told you there’s a guy at my work who cycles to work every day, even in the wintertime.

Though I’m sure there are weather conditions in which he does not do that. Today he did, even though he knew it would rain. Fortunately, it only rained during the middle of the day, so that was good. But I asked him how much of his commute was on trails, and he said pretty much all of it.

He didn’t go on the streets at all, which surprised me. And he said what trail he’s on, and I think he said Skull Creek Trail, which we’ve been on before. So he starts on Skull Creek Trail and comes all the way up from Fayetteville to Springdale on trails. So I’d like to find out more about those trails because, I don’t know, I guess I haven’t walked a lot in Springdale except on this particular trail.

Or if you call Lake Fayetteville on the edge of Springdale, then perhaps I have walked in Springdale many times. But I need to find out. I need to talk to this guy some more. Because that would be very close to me.

There goes a cyclist of a different kind. Tri-cyclist. With his American flag. The United States is coming up on its 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year.

So imagine there will be plenty of hoopla about that. And probably lots of American flags going on. You know, I like this trail even though it’s not very picturesque, I would say. It would be nice if they would line it with some trees or something instead of all these industrial buildings, but I’m trying to be positive here.

I like it. And one reason is that it’s just not that crowded. compared to other places I go. So, lately I’ve been to some crowded places, Devil’s Den, of course, Lake Fayetteville, even Lake…

Really, really strong wind. I mean, it’s kind of nice in an urban sort of way. Good lord, this wind’s strong. I’m concerned I won’t be.

There he goes again. You can see the wind moving the trees there a little bit. It’s just blowing me out, so I can’t hear anything except the wind. You may not be able to hear me.

Slight lull here. I’m going around this curve. Anyway, a couple of the decision points around purchasing or using an e-bike are the class of e-bike you choose. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a range of maximum speeds.

And all of these are motor-assisted bicycles, so there’s no maximum speed of the bicycle itself. Although it might have a maximum speed, it automatically shuts off the assistance when you exceed a certain speed. Classes 1 and 2 are limited to 20 miles per hour, and Class 3 is limited to 28 miles per hour. Assisted, so you become unassisted after that? Kind of makes sense, I guess, but it has a lot to do with where you are allowed to ride these bikes, And Other than that, differences. The Class 1 bike is limited to 20 mph.

Class 2 has a throttle, which means, like a motorcycle, you can just ride it along without pedaling. So it uses power, but you don’t need to be pedaling. The other two you need to be pedaling. The assistant starts once you start pedaling.

It doesn’t go on its own. So, class two is the only one with a throttle. So you can do that. Classes one and three are pedal-assisted.

Assistance begins when you start pedaling. Class three. Oh my goodness. It has a limit of 28 miles per hour.

As I said before, Class 1 is 20 miles per hour. Class 1 bikes are allowed just about anywhere that bikes are allowed. Maybe not. Maybe there are some trails that are only for non-powered bikes. But I believe some trails that are multi-use trails, whether they’re like the Greenway and made of concrete or soft, like a hiking trail, I believe some Class IIs are allowed on those, but Class IIIs are generally not, although they are usually allowed on roads. If you want to go anywhere where e-bikes are allowed, Class 1 is the way to go. I’m sure we’ll have more e-bike information as time goes on. But that’s a major decision to make if you want to buy an e-bike.

Yeah. Beautiful day. If you can stand the wind, it’s a beautiful day to walk. I don’t feel like I’ve been walking fast enough.

Focus is important when you’re working out. Anyway, I have been moving the whole time, so that’s good. And earlier, I was doing a three-mile-per-hour pace. So that’s pretty good.

And speaking of which, yeah, so we’ve slowed down quite a bit. 22-minute mile, heart rate 92 beats per minute, so less than 100. Not really what our target is while we’re doing these. Believe it or not, 99% of the people who watch these videos and listen to these podcasts are not subscribed on YouTube.

And all it takes is a click. You’re already there anyway. Doesn’t cost anything, and the more subscribers I have, the more people I can reach.

That’s very important to me. So please like the video if you like it, and subscribe if you don’t mind paying one click for that. Low effort for high value. And it won’t bother you unless you click the bell notification icon, and then it will notify you anytime one of these long-form videos comes out.

not notifying on the shorts anymore. But yeah, feel free to do that. If you’re on Apple Podcasts or iTunes, you can leave me a review or rating. I always appreciate it.

I know we’re reaching a lot more people these days, so I just want to say welcome if you’re new to the audience. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate everyone who watches and listens. It just motivates me to keep going. And the show is about my fitness journey.

That’s all it is. Just a regular guy trying to be healthy. And it ain’t easy. It is not easy.

being healthy, living in America. So if you’re in Mauritius, I, you know, I like to pick on Mauritians. I understand it’s a very beautiful place, Mauritius. But it’s just one of the sort of remote places from where I’m standing.

But if you’re there, maybe the culture is different. Here we have a culture of fast food, indulgence, and so forth. So, there’s also a lot of addiction going on, so we got that. Although that’s certainly not unique to Americans.

But I appreciate your being here, and I hope you’ll come back and continue. And I’d like to hear from you. You can leave a comment on the blog at runningafever.com. You can comment on the YouTube video.

And you can email me, mail@runningafever.com. Always glad to hear from a listener-slash-viewer. The road crossing ahead is possibly the most dangerous part of the trip. But people are usually courteous.

We’ll see how it goes this time. Crossing the street. Oh, went well. Had someone stop for me.

Always glad for the courtesy on the roads. Remember, look for people in the crosswalks. Be safe. and you know I’ve really enjoyed, it’s been a nice walk on a nice day today and as always glad to have you with me. Coming to a close here, as I come up on the mystery shack, we don’t know what it is. I’ll tell you what, if you’ve got an idea what

this building is, then let me know, I am developing theories myself all the time, and I will make that the final image of the show today, the mystery building. So, remember, see you next time. If you’ve got the fever, keep it burning. And if you don’t, catch the fever.

And I will see you next time on Running a Fever. And there it is. Mystery building.