Enjoying a Routine

Tonight, Vicki, Erica and I were headed for the typical Tuesday night Bullis Park ride. Erica called to say she didn't feel like finishing up the hill to Bullis Park, so she was going to meet us at Specht store. I got to the park and told Vicki. She said, "well we can meet her down there too." I quickly changed and we headed down the hill for a flatter start.

This was the first time I've taken a wheel out of my bike. Truth be told, Pete took the wheel out and put my bike in the Jetta for me this morning. As I drive to our starting point, it occurs to me, I've never put a wheel back on and I've only heard about how to do it, never closely watched. As I pull out my bike, I ask Vicki to watch me and check my work as this is new to me. She comes over and helps and I realize not only is it easy, but it's pretty hard to get it wrong.

We head out down Obst Road and off to the bakery. I'm pacing Vicki and we had an average speed of 13.3 mph and an average cadence of 70. Not too shabby, but of course, that's with only 59 feet of climbing, and 83 foot descent over 3.7 miles.

The challenge for the ride was that I had to ride without the Camelbak today as we decided to wash it and it was still wet this morning. It doesn't sound too bad except that on the Schwinn my arms were too short to physically reach the water bottles in the cages, so I had to rely on the water on my back. I realize tonight that I haven't actually tried reaching the water bottles on the shiny, new, blue bike. I take advantage of the brief pause at the bakery to rehydrate.

We head up to the school where we discover Amman Road has recently been littered with fresh gravel. Our tires push their way through the gravel and we pause to determine if we continue on down Amman, or double-back. We decide to get to the top of the hill and see how far the gravel goes. We peer down the hill and it appears to go on as far as we can see. The smart decision is to turn back and not risk the high speeds of the downhill, or try pushing up the next hill through this gravel. I'm disappointed about turning back, but I do knowing that it is the smart thing to do.

As we head back toward the bakery, Vicki pulls away. I decide she doesn't get to do that and I took off on the chase. I managed to catch her and found myself pedaling at 23 mph to do so. I only held this speed for a quarter of a mile, but it was still fun to manage to catch her.

We're pedaling along Obst Road again on our way back to the cars and I'm thirsty. I decide there is no better time to try to grab a water bottle and drink while pedaling than on this ride along this stretch. As I focus on the act of grabbing the bottle, opening it, and drinking it all without dropping a bottle on the ground, I stop pedaling and rely on coasting to keep me rolling. I then somehow manage to close the bottle and get it safely back in the cage without dropping the bottle. I did lose quite a bit of speed as I did so, but I think it was a success for my first attempt. I'll have to work on improving that, but at least now I know I can do it.

We only rode for ten miles and did it in less than an hour. There's something to be said just for the consistency of riding.

Goals
Today's Miles: 10
Total Miles Achieved: 570.4
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: -0.4