mybikeandi (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mybikeandi) wrote,@ 2005-04-16 16:29:00 |
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First ride of the season.
OK, OK, lots of commuting, it's been spring these last few weeks so I've put 60 miles/week on the bike, but in dribs and drabs. No long ride for a while.
zmook organized a Patriots' Day loop out through Concord; narya and fanw and chrysaphi and I were, well, along for the ride. It turned out to be about 34 miles, including the biking to our meeting place.
It's...
It's so different having good pavement!
My normal commute is on one of the legendarily bad roads in greater Boston, the sort where when you mention it to other bikers they shudder, the sort where when you take your bike into the shop they give you this horrified look of "what did you DO to it?!" and then you say "Pleasant Street" and they understand and pat you on the shoulder and are full of pity. And there's stop lights everywhere, and lane changes and merges and left turns and all of that, and I'm used to it, but it means my senses are engaged with safety issues, and I never get the chance to just open up and enjoy the bike and feel it moving the way it wants to move. But here, I had beautiful clean pavement, mostly straight, no turns, no lights, barely even any cars...! It was very therapeutic.
I'm in much better shape than I was this time last year. This time last year I hadn't ridden over twenty miles in a day and the first thirty-mile ride I did was exhausting. Now...hm, my wrists were sore for a few minutes, my shoulders might be a little stiff tomorrow, my legs and lungs have completely failed to notice. I feel awesome and buff.
This year I have a team.zmook and narya are on it. I might manage to entice a few others (if you're reading this, I'm trying to entice you).
We have a Pedal Partner. This is a little kid with cancer matched with us, so we can ride for him. He's 3 1/2 and that's pretty much all I know about him because I just heard recently and I need to call the parents today.
"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living" -- the person I rode for last year was very fond of that quote. There doesn't seem to be a graceful way to say here that she died last December. So I need someone living to fight for.
OK, OK, lots of commuting, it's been spring these last few weeks so I've put 60 miles/week on the bike, but in dribs and drabs. No long ride for a while.
zmook organized a Patriots' Day loop out through Concord; narya and fanw and chrysaphi and I were, well, along for the ride. It turned out to be about 34 miles, including the biking to our meeting place.It's...
It's so different having good pavement!
My normal commute is on one of the legendarily bad roads in greater Boston, the sort where when you mention it to other bikers they shudder, the sort where when you take your bike into the shop they give you this horrified look of "what did you DO to it?!" and then you say "Pleasant Street" and they understand and pat you on the shoulder and are full of pity. And there's stop lights everywhere, and lane changes and merges and left turns and all of that, and I'm used to it, but it means my senses are engaged with safety issues, and I never get the chance to just open up and enjoy the bike and feel it moving the way it wants to move. But here, I had beautiful clean pavement, mostly straight, no turns, no lights, barely even any cars...! It was very therapeutic.
I'm in much better shape than I was this time last year. This time last year I hadn't ridden over twenty miles in a day and the first thirty-mile ride I did was exhausting. Now...hm, my wrists were sore for a few minutes, my shoulders might be a little stiff tomorrow, my legs and lungs have completely failed to notice. I feel awesome and buff.
This year I have a team.
zmook and narya are on it. I might manage to entice a few others (if you're reading this, I'm trying to entice you).We have a Pedal Partner. This is a little kid with cancer matched with us, so we can ride for him. He's 3 1/2 and that's pretty much all I know about him because I just heard recently and I need to call the parents today.
"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living" -- the person I rode for last year was very fond of that quote. There doesn't seem to be a graceful way to say here that she died last December. So I need someone living to fight for.
