The weather here has been truly miserable for the last three weeks or so. Really hot (90's to low hundreds) and really really humid (80% plus). I don't think my kids have been in the back yard for the entire three weeks and my straw (formerly known as my grass) gets browner by the day. So it took me about a minute to get my bike shorts on, grab my lonely Garmin and get outside.
It truly was glorious. A perfect day. Maybe 70 degrees, low humidity. Off I went.
This was my first real ride alone -- no kids, no schedule. I had a chance to see how I could do. I wound up riding to my old neighborhood. (Secretly, I was hoping to run into some of my old neighbors to show them the new me. Alas, nobody home.) The ride was pretty hilly, certainly more so that any rides that I had done before. The Garmin was ticking along, showing my HR mostly in the 140-150's with a few ticks over 160 -- perfect! Early on, I got passed by a couple of riders who wished me good morning, then later by another equally polite cyclist. As I was heading back home, a friend passed me in his car and pulled over to say hey.
About 18 miles in 90 minutes. Okay, so I'm not Lance Armstrong. . . yet, but it was a GREAT ride! It set the tone for an awesome day.
So, what did I learn?
- Gotta think outside the box. If Deb hadn't said anything, I'd have been in my car on my way to the gym. Thanks, Deb!
- Biking is freedom. On foot, you can only go so far and it takes a long time. On a bike, you can really go some place!
- When I run, I feel like I'm constantly thinking about stuff, like work. Yeah, there's traffic, but it's different on a bike. You really gotta pay attention and there's nothing like the wind in your face on a steep downhill.
- When I was riding, I didn't feel jealous of the runners that I was passing like I had been since the ankle injury.
- I need to buy a bike.
Looking forward to my next two wheel adventure!
L'Chaim!
5 comments:
I love riding my bike more than any other exercise. You can cover tons of miles in a relatively short time and yes the downhills are SOOOO much fun!
Your wife is a smart woman for suggesting it to ya!
btw- depending on the bike 12 mph could be pretty fast - like on a mt bike for instance.
Nice ride Jeff 18 miles is a great distance keep up the great work.
It didn't really FEEL slow, except when those guys were passing me. It's really just wanting to go FASTER!
Bike is a Mongoose Sahara. Designed as a comfort bike. Bought it at one of the national chains. It works, and it's definitely gotten more useage that I thought it would a year ago.
TOLJASO! The more you get into riding the more you realize how much running sucks. It is kind of hard to to take your bike on business trips though.
Comfort bikes are heavier and have bigger tires than road bikes, so you were probably "giving it" harder than the roadies who passed ya....... great effort!
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