- Posted on:May 3rd, 2007
- Comments:2 Comments
- Category:Biking, Photos
I haven’t ridden a road bike in so long that I had forgotten what it was like to fly.
Today’s ride: about an hour
Distance: 18.35 mi
Avg speed: 16.6 mph
Max speed: 27.1(!) mph
I started out slowly so that I could get the feel for the bike. I also decided to stick to the highway for a simple out and back. Having never gone more than a few blocks on the bike, I was a little paranoid the thing was going to blow both tires, fall apart and leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere. So I stuffed my saddle bag with levers, a spare tube, my bike tool, patches, CO2 inflator, my Treo, my ID, $10, and my windbreaker, even though it was sunny and 60 out.
Did I mention I’m a tad paranoid?
Thankfully, I didn’t use anything in the saddle bag, managed to pull my water bottle out of the cage without crashing the bike, stayed upright despite a crappy crosswind that seemed to follow me wherever I went, and made it back in one piece. Unfortunately, when you ride on US-41, you’re more concerned about not getting run off the road by cars zooming by at 65mph (speed limit is 55), so you’re not taking in too much scenery.
So I have some homework: drive around and figure out which roads are paved that would make good road ride routes. There won’t be a shortage; there are so many awesome places to ride up here. I just found out today that the highway was not one of them.
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2 comments
Sounds fun! I can’t believe it’s that warm up there already. I’ll bet it looks awesome right now. My parents just came down to visit a few weeks ago, and it had been snowing in Detroit when they left.
I thought you were getting a new mountain bike? Or, did you get that as well? I’ve recently gotten the mountain bike off it’s rack in the garage. I’ve got a friend who’s into adventure racing, and he’s asked that I join him on one in the near future. We’ve got a couple rides scheduled coming up, so I need to get this thing back up and running!
Would love to get a road bike as well and try some triathlons, but I think my wife would kill me if I bought another bike!
Ah, I bought a mtn bike, too. Good news is that after selling the two old bikes, a bike rack and som e other stuff I got back after the divorce, that pretty much covered the road bike (it was a helluva bike at a really good price that I could not pass up). Was definitely the right decision to buy a new (used) one instead of fixing up the old one.
You would be awesome in a triathlon, I bet! I want to try one up here in August, but I am not a swimmer. I really don’t like it at all. My friend Tim, who has done two, said he just kind of gets through the swim and makes up time on the other parts. I’d be lucky if I made it across the lake, though.
I don’t know. Now that I’ve got a new road bike, I might consider trying it. I know I could do the bike/run.