Spring seems to have finally sprung…
I put off riding until this afternoon, and almost skipped since I’d promised the boy I was going to take him to story night at his school. But the sunshine and apparent lack of blazing wind through the office windows got me to blow off the last hour of work I had until tonight and strap on the old cleats. Two true confessions:
1. I left most of my cycling kit at the house, so I ended up walking over to the bike shop and buying a new water bottle and gloves. Completely against one of my resolutions which was to stop these kind of stupid impulse purchases.
2. I broke the PC cycling code and rode without a helmet. The whole time I was riding I was afraid I was going to crash and die and be an outcast from the cycling community for being an idiot. But the wind in the hair and all felt GREAT.
Stats: 14 miles, 52 minutes. Which is an improvement over Friday’s ride, but still not what I’m used to averaging. I think that part of the issue may be that I’ve switched over to using my Forerunner for tracking rides instead of the bike’s computer. The Forerunner keeps timing and averaging speed even when I’m stopped, whereas computer ride time only “counts” while the bike’s in motion.
Great ride; the legs were good, and the course was great. One minor mistake, though. Do not ever try to adjust your glasses with one hand while trying to climb out of the saddle. I ended up jerking the handlebar, having a knee buckle, and running off the asphalt. I ended up being impressed with my bike handling on mushy grass; somehow I avoided going ass over teakettle or jerking back into traffic and ending up as someone’s hood ornament, but I did end up drawing blood when my knee hit one of the zip ties strapping the computer wire to my front fork. Not to worry, though, it’s only a flesh wound.
And I did make it home in time for Story Time.
I think the heel’s better; it didn’t hurt on my way home this evening, and has turned a lovely shade of blue.
Dean Karzanes was on NPR this morning in an odd bit of syncronicity.
Night y’all.
Sounds like a good ride. Wind in the hair indeed! Why, when I was a youngster, we *never* wore helmets. It’s a wonder we didn’t all die.
You probably know this already, but just on the very off chance that you don’t… you can set the Forerunner to only count while you’re in motion too! You can set a “pause” threshhold based on speed that will automatically pause the recording if you drop below that chosen speed.
Impulse purchases aren’t stupid if they’re for gear. Especially cycling gear.
I’m jealous of the cycling action. The weather’s been sort of crappy and I’ve been sick so I’ve been unable to get into the saddle. I’ll live vicariously..
Nice job avoiding a yard-sale on the climb :)
Ha! Monty Python reference. :)
I was trying to teach my son to stand up in the saddle to get up the hills. The first time, he just stood up on the peddles and the bike slowed to a stop. Uh, stand up AND peddle, Son. I need videos of Lance.