Life is better on a bike!

Category: cycling (Page 11 of 37)

30 Days of Biking–Day 12

Today was a more typical ride, 23.5 miles. Mark and I went east for a little hill climbing. I didn’t feel well early on the ride and actually stopped for a bit. Out of the blue, I broke out in a cold sweat and became dizzy. My problem was lack of fuel. I took in some gel and half an energy bar and felt good as new in about 10 minutes, although I did end up cutting my ride short.

I rode Rocket my Scott which felt (not surprisingly) livelier and quicker than my Jamis. It’s good to mix it up with the bikes I think, they both have their strengths and I enjoy riding both, although they are a much different riding experience.

Beautiful day, about 60 degrees and just a light north wind. Once we got out on the country roads there was little traffic. Friday afternoon traffic is some of the worst in my opinion. I actually don’t like to ride on Friday afternoon, but that is how it worked out today. Everyone is in a hurry on Fridays and the last thing they want is for someone to slow them down. No, the worst thing is for a person riding a bike to slow them down.

Does it make you laugh when some bozo gets up behind you and then takes off in their fast car (this one a Porsche) like we are supposed to be impressed with their speed!? Cracks me up. Hey fella I amm on a bike, any car is faster than me. Really, get a grip.

My favorite thing about this route is most of it is in the country and typically we see more cows and horses than cars and people.

P1050966bw

P1050917bw

P1050945bw

P1050958ebw

P1050969bw

P1050979bw

30 Days of Biking–Day 5

Day 5 ride was the longest of the #30daysofbiking rides so far.  I joke – and like most jokes there is truth there – that rides in street clothes are rides of a *bike rider* and rides in spandex are rides of a *cyclist*. It is a well understood fact (by most anyway) that drivers are more tolerant of bike riders than cyclists.

I talked yesterday about how easy going drivers were on Day 4’s ride, today’s bike jersey/shorts ride i.e., cyclist ride was an example of how irritated drivers can be. I find it so interesting that depending on how you are dressed (and possibly the type of bike you are riding) people actually react differently to you. It wouldn’t be an issue for cyclists except the irritated drivers sometimes respond in a manner that puts us at risk. There have been studies done confirming this, according to one, the safest person riding a bike is a female pulling a trailer commonly used for hauling kids.

Today’s ride was great regardless. We parked at Oakdale school and rode to Jones on Hefner Rd. The same road that hundreds of cyclists (and bike riders 🙂 will be riding tomorrow at the Redbud Classic bike event. Signage was already out warning drivers to expect possible delays.

P1050777

The ride to Jones is so peaceful (and easy), especially on weekdays when most are at work. We saw more cows than people. I had to stop to take a picture of this longhorn and her calf. 

P1050774

Once we hit Jones and started heading back we decided to just ride home and pick up the car later. Good decision because once we started heading north we had a very nice tailwind from the southwest. You can see how strong the wind is from the flag in the photo below.

Aren’t the redbuds beautiful!

P1050781e

We picked up another 8 miles by riding home of mostly easy pedaling although there was a fair amount of traffic. One person buzzed us even though the left lane was completely empty choosing to stay in the right lane where we were passing us very close and THEN got over into the left lane. 

Once we could we got off the busy streets and ride through neighborhoods to get home we did. Also gave me time to get a few more shots.

P1050784eP1050786P1050794eP1050802

Day 5: 26.5 miles/14.8 avs/119 ahr/922ft of ascent.

Take the Pledge

Take the pledge to ride a bike each and every day in the month of April. May is Bike to Work (and School) month, but April has become ride your bike month. I took the pledge by signing up at 30 Days of Biking.

By taking the pledge, we agree to bike every single day in the month of April – no matter how long or short the ride is – the point is to just RIDE.

I’m not actually sure I’ll be able to ride every single day because we’re going to be traveling in April and although it’s a bike tour I don’t know if we’ll have access to bikes each and every day we’re away.

My attitude is if I have a way to ride, I’ll have the will! One thing is for sure, by taking the pledge I’ll bike more than I normally would.

What do you have to lose, why don’t you take the pledge.

tumblr_inline_mk0m1g3vT41qz4rgp

« Older posts Newer posts »