Today I took
Buttercup out for only our second outing of some 9 miles. The
weather this last week has been just too damn cold for riding bikes!
I didn't like: Going into the wind and only making 12 mph. Realizing I had forgotten my sunglasses, going into the wind, when my eyes were running with tears and my contacts were adhering to my pupils. Getting very saddlesore even with proper bike shorts. A gel seat cover is on the shopping list. My thighs hitting my hanging-down gut. Ugh. Damn fat triplet tummy. Stupid walkers meandering on the left side of the trail with stupid dogs with stupid too-long leashes stringing across the path. Parents that just stupidly watch and do nothing while their kid parks her bike sideways across the trail blocking it and just sits there on the damn little pink bike staring slack-jawed at oncoming runners and cyclists. Dangerous motorists turning at busy intersections without looking. They scare the dickens out of me. Working hard in a low gear to maintain even a 70 rpm cadence. Sliding on sand left on the roadsides in late winter.I liked: Getting down on the aerobars going into the wind and gaining 1 mph easily. Going downwind and coasting a quarter mile easily at 18 mph. Standing up in the pedals and swooping over bridges fast like a happy little kid. Logging some more actual cycling miles in training. Getting outside in the sunshine and fresh air. Getting a brisk response when I pushed a little bit. Riding a hot new bike -- infinitely better than a creaky old clunker. Feeling much more competent in my clipless pedals, and being able to clip in once or twice without looking down. Finding granny gear and memorizing exactly where the shift lever goes for it. Making it up that big hill by my house - this time sensibly in granny gear - even though I was panting like a dog after I made the top.Tomorrow's training: Day One of a two-day bicycle maintenance course! I never want to HAVE to change a flat if I can help it, but it would be reassuring if I at least minimally understood the concepts involved. Sure beats clip-clopping home in cycling shoes on foot.
Catherine's new manual skill: Sticking her index finger into her nostril up to the first joint. At dinner. That's my girl!
2 comments:
Whee! Swooping over bridges!
That bike maintenance course is a handy thing to have taken (I took one a couple of years ago). Kind of like CPR; you don't want to have to use it, you're not sure you'll actually be successful at it, but it's still good to know you've got it tucked away somewhere in your brain.
Thanks for stopping by, ladies! Yeah, I can't really force myself to cycle (YET - never say never) when it's still cold enough to freeze my fingers to the handlebars. But maybe next winter I'll be that hard-core! ;) COME ON SPRING!
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