Thursday, November 4, 2010

I Like To Coast

To be honest...this is one of the main reasons I haven't been on my bike lately...

I get more flats and have more trouble pumping up my tires than anyone I've ever known.
I finally got Cadence in riding order this a.m. and then asked the husband if he would stay close to his phone in case I got a flat, because I had no co2 cartridges handy. He agreed <3

So I set out on really what is probably my first ride OF THE YEAR...without kids, with actual bike clothes on and no plan on where I was headed. I putzed around and found a new neighborhood I wanted to check out and then hopped on the I-205 bike path until I got to about Flavel St and realized 1) I couldn't figure out what happened to the bike path. It sort of disappeared. 2) I was in felony flats. 3) There were a bunch of not-so friendly "looking" people watching me look confused. I'm sure they were very nice, just grumpy because of this lovely weather or something??? C'mon...Crack a smile people. Ok fine...they probably did have something to be grumpy about...Not everyone got to just take off in the middle of the day today for a leisurely bike ride in the sun... (yes, I'm gloating).

I finally figured out the path and shortly met up with The Springwater Corridor. Now, I've only ever been on Springwater from Sellwood to Downtown, so this was all new to me and I was having a grand old time until I realized around 138th that I was on 138th and something, but had no idea what that street might be and if I DID get a flat, how would I even tell Steve how to find me??...so I snapped a picture of the Hood...

...and headed back...
with my tummy rumbling...
and my bladder a quiverin'...
...to find myself locked out of my house :-(

Now where was I? Oh ya...You want to know how far I went? How fast I went? Well, I'll tell you - I've never been one to race against myself. If there is someone with me, I will go exactly as fast as it takes to keep up with them and not get lost. When left to my own devices...I cover 20.13 miles in exactly 1.5 hours with an average page of 13.4mph and the knowledge that I like to coast. Ain't nothing wrong with that. There's plenty of opportunities coming up where I'll have to shake a leg to keep up with the fast girls.

3 comments:

Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun said...

I think thats the biggest issue I would have with biking or running out on streets. I would be so afraid I would get lost or end up in an area I'm not quite as comfortable with as I thought. Glad it ended up good in the end though. Minus being locked out of course.

A Prelude To... said...

Tina, my biggest issue on the streets is worrying that the cars aren't paying attention to me. I remember my first training ride when I decided to go for triathlons - I spent a lot of that ride ON THE SIDEWALK...naughty me!

Anonymous said...

Julie, that is my biggest issue with biking too. I don't like riding with traffic because I don't trust people on their cell phones and stuff. I feel like I'm riding all tense, lol! At least when I'm running I can eye them down and I can get over if I'm not feeling confident!