Slippery when wet...28 miles later, good ride!

So, your humble author spent time at the offices of the San Antonio Express-News today, having photographs taken to accompany a story about, well, me! Terrifying to think that my story is of interest to anyone, but if it helps further the awareness of MS then so be it! Apparently it will appear either Sept. 8 or 15.

I had to dress up in my bike-riding garb for the photo shoot. When it was all over, I just felt like riding. I knew of no training rides tonight. And, if I live up to my promise to my wife and not go out on the open roads alone…which is probably not a smart approach for anyone, I had few options.

But if you’ve been following my blog, I’ve used my neighborhood (Sedona in Helotes) as an early-morning ride, maxing at 17 miles. Well today, I re-mapped a route that helped me rack up about 28 miles, and by doing this adding at least 3 hills per circuit (about 23 circuits).

I’ve been toying with the idea of testing my experience and desire to power up hills, so tonight I shifted to the biggest ring and largest cog, and stood up to drive me through every hill. It was intoxicating as I drove the pedals down and began the slow rocking movement of the bike frame from side to side to oppose the force on each downstroke. A couple of times I thought I knew what I was doing, but was quickly reminded that I don’t as I over compensated on the rocking motion and wobbled through nearly wrecking though never lost the control. Phew…

It rained during my training tonight, but I didn’t stop my ride. MS never takes a day off, and people living with MS never have the chance to NOT have the disease be in their lives. The roads were dangerously slick, not fully being washed by the rain but wet enough to float whatever grime was on the roads. I realized there existed a potential hazard, so applied the brakes more heavily as I approached corners, applying them well before the turn in order to dry them.

But one road condition I hadn’t experienced before was how slippery those black strips of tar can be that the road crews use to just fill and seal cracks in the road. A couple of times I could feel my rear wheel “free spin” slightly as I crossed the black lines. Needless to say, I learn quickly and avoided all black lines for the remainder of the evening.

I dodged kids playing football in the streets, quickly maneuvering myself up on the sidewalk as the kids enacted a “hail Mary” long pass without noticing if any vehicles were around let alone me! On lap 5 or 6 the kids began to expect me, and so factored me into their plays.

It was a good ride, and will help me strength train as well as accumulate mileage.

C ya on the road! Tony
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