Training today, road time, was considerably more enjoyable than working the trainer hooked to my bike yesterday. I clocked about 12.75 miles this morning, according to my calculations, since my bike computer remains in the box in my kitchen! (More on the computer later).
That makes 42.75 road miles in 2 outings, two more outings that I've done in the past 42 years...
I overslept again, awakened by my wife at 6:10 am instead of 6:00 am. The reason for why the alarm didn’t go off remains a mystery under close FBI investigation, with heavy mutual finger pointing in my household. I rushed into my bike shorts, catching my toes on the flimsy legs of the shorts several times, slowing my attempt to dress.
Dressed, I grabbed my bottles of Powerade and water, headed for the garage and pumped 115 PSI into my slumbering blue Cannondale! Gloves. Helmet…no lights! It’s still quite dark even at 6:15 am. I had two toy red flashing badges. I stuck one on my jersey pocket and the other on a front break cable. I know, I should have had a white light on the front. My thought was that at least “car up” and people walking would see a moving light…
My buddy Lloyd Hensley came through later in the day with a strong, LED white light that I’ll use tomorrow.
It was amazing to me to see so many of my neighbors on the streets of my sub-division during my 45-minute ride. “Hello.” “Good morning.” “How are you?” Echoed on the quiet streets of my sub-division as I passed track-suited shapes in the pre-sunrise conditions.
This was my first experience riding around parked vehicles, and making space for passing vehicles or vehicles reversing out of driveways. Even the drivers were welcoming, and waived as they passed. Wow, what a nice neighborhood I live in!
I’m still frustrated by using the wrong left-hand lever to shift, especially as my heart rate peaks and my breathing becomes hard with the hills. But it all feels good, despite the loneliness of riding alone!
On Saturday, there were a couple of times when fenced dogs, and a few that weren’t, made threatening noises or movements towards my training-ride buddies. So riding alone this morning, I was prepared for a couple of houses where I knew dogs resided.
At one point of the ride I detected a metallic clinking noise. I know we have to be sensitive to noises on the bike, so I’m looking all over the bike to find the source of the noise…not watching the road. This investigation also challenged my shifting prowess, and so I ended up in the Granny Gear on the smallest ring several times…suddenly pedaling very, very quickly, but going nowhere!
The metallic clinking noise continued and seemed to be getting louder. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I detected movement quickly coming towards me. My heart skipped a beat and began to race, as I prepared for my first threatening-dog encounter.
I quickly looked in the direction of the movement, fumbling but succeeding in shifting to a larger ring. Then the object of my brief cycling nightmare sprang into view, and in a split second scanned the road ahead to see what I would hit as this huge animal attacked…
The animal turned out to be a 4-pound black and white cat with a bell attached to its collar, the source of the metallic clinking!
This morning’s ride felt good. I was actually a little tired when I got to my office. But I put that down to the reality that I didn’t get to bed until half-past midnight!
BIKE COMPUTER
I purchased ($39.99) a Cannondale IQ114 14-function computer with cadence. Looks good on the box. The computer appeared as a gray square object in the window of the box. I was ready to rack up the miles now, able to verify my MPH and establish an efficient cadence. Not so fast Tony! There’s about 4-feet of wiring, a couple of O-rings, a dozen zip-ties, and a few other things in this package that turned out to be my Pandora’s Box! Despite the instructions, and despite being handy with electronics, no way am I going to overcome the instructions and mount this on my own. So I’ll be heading to my friends at Bicycle Shack in Boerne on the weekend!
Looking forward to my 6:00 am neighborhood, solo training ride Wednesday, and also a training ride Wednesday night (6:30 pm) at Bullis County Park with the Velo Valero team, and training-ride leader Andrea Shull. Remember, I have barely 10 weeks to prepare.
C ya on the road!
Read Pauline's story and support my fundraising in her memory.
That makes 42.75 road miles in 2 outings, two more outings that I've done in the past 42 years...
I overslept again, awakened by my wife at 6:10 am instead of 6:00 am. The reason for why the alarm didn’t go off remains a mystery under close FBI investigation, with heavy mutual finger pointing in my household. I rushed into my bike shorts, catching my toes on the flimsy legs of the shorts several times, slowing my attempt to dress.
Dressed, I grabbed my bottles of Powerade and water, headed for the garage and pumped 115 PSI into my slumbering blue Cannondale! Gloves. Helmet…no lights! It’s still quite dark even at 6:15 am. I had two toy red flashing badges. I stuck one on my jersey pocket and the other on a front break cable. I know, I should have had a white light on the front. My thought was that at least “car up” and people walking would see a moving light…
My buddy Lloyd Hensley came through later in the day with a strong, LED white light that I’ll use tomorrow.
It was amazing to me to see so many of my neighbors on the streets of my sub-division during my 45-minute ride. “Hello.” “Good morning.” “How are you?” Echoed on the quiet streets of my sub-division as I passed track-suited shapes in the pre-sunrise conditions.
This was my first experience riding around parked vehicles, and making space for passing vehicles or vehicles reversing out of driveways. Even the drivers were welcoming, and waived as they passed. Wow, what a nice neighborhood I live in!
I’m still frustrated by using the wrong left-hand lever to shift, especially as my heart rate peaks and my breathing becomes hard with the hills. But it all feels good, despite the loneliness of riding alone!
On Saturday, there were a couple of times when fenced dogs, and a few that weren’t, made threatening noises or movements towards my training-ride buddies. So riding alone this morning, I was prepared for a couple of houses where I knew dogs resided.
At one point of the ride I detected a metallic clinking noise. I know we have to be sensitive to noises on the bike, so I’m looking all over the bike to find the source of the noise…not watching the road. This investigation also challenged my shifting prowess, and so I ended up in the Granny Gear on the smallest ring several times…suddenly pedaling very, very quickly, but going nowhere!
The metallic clinking noise continued and seemed to be getting louder. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I detected movement quickly coming towards me. My heart skipped a beat and began to race, as I prepared for my first threatening-dog encounter.
I quickly looked in the direction of the movement, fumbling but succeeding in shifting to a larger ring. Then the object of my brief cycling nightmare sprang into view, and in a split second scanned the road ahead to see what I would hit as this huge animal attacked…
The animal turned out to be a 4-pound black and white cat with a bell attached to its collar, the source of the metallic clinking!
This morning’s ride felt good. I was actually a little tired when I got to my office. But I put that down to the reality that I didn’t get to bed until half-past midnight!
BIKE COMPUTER
I purchased ($39.99) a Cannondale IQ114 14-function computer with cadence. Looks good on the box. The computer appeared as a gray square object in the window of the box. I was ready to rack up the miles now, able to verify my MPH and establish an efficient cadence. Not so fast Tony! There’s about 4-feet of wiring, a couple of O-rings, a dozen zip-ties, and a few other things in this package that turned out to be my Pandora’s Box! Despite the instructions, and despite being handy with electronics, no way am I going to overcome the instructions and mount this on my own. So I’ll be heading to my friends at Bicycle Shack in Boerne on the weekend!
Looking forward to my 6:00 am neighborhood, solo training ride Wednesday, and also a training ride Wednesday night (6:30 pm) at Bullis County Park with the Velo Valero team, and training-ride leader Andrea Shull. Remember, I have barely 10 weeks to prepare.
C ya on the road!
Read Pauline's story and support my fundraising in her memory.
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