Three Laps around Ohio

 

Three Laps around Ohio

First, can I just say BTFU!  Or just Boiler Up!  Indiana Grad and fan but I was raised in a Purdue Household and long have they suffered from not being able to win the big game.  Congratulations to Purdue Nation, you are going to the Final Four!  

Now onto more important and pressing matters.  It had been a one hundred and sixty five days since I had ridden Cylon properly.  Yes, there were a few times in the bike shop during the fitting phase where I had to get on her and peddle.  However, that isn’t really riding in my opinion.  Especially, when it was just a quick spin to see if it as sitting on the bike properly.  That all finally changed on Sunday when I finally got my bike out and road.

Rain or shine I was riding this Sunday.  Hell, i would have ridden in a hail storm if I had too.  See, I finally got to use my new rack this weekend.  I went to Mom’s for the Easter Holiday, which happened to include more Purdue basketball than I wanted to watch.  I am a jinx.  I swear every time I watch them they lose.  So, normal with Purdue or IU or any team I am rooting for I just catch it on my phone as the game is going on.  

However, the real reason I was going to get the ride in is because after racking my bike and taking it to Mom’s was the fact, I drove with an extra few feet on the rear of the car all weekend and that nice new rack of mine got me in some trouble.  I decided to get Kona a Purdue jersey and as me and my sister were backing out of the drive way, I missed the parked Camry behind me but my nice new rack didn’t.  No it punctured the bumper of the Camry.    So, now Nebula has one accident on her record, as does my Indiana drivers license.  Nebula is fine.  The bike rack is fine.  The only thing not fine is the bumper of the Camry.  Hence forth the bike rack shall be known as BUMBER BREAKER.  So, basically, after taking my bike to Terre Haute, and then wrecking a car with BUMBER BREAKER, I was going on a bike ride.

BUMBER BREAKER

Sunday was a cafe ride.  It is like riding with a six year old.  Keep the heart rate down.  It is an easier ride day and it was a hour long ride.  So, I sort of mapped out loosely on map my ride what a 10 mile ride around my Mom’s house would look like.  Ride Ohio Blvd, maybe go ride around Memorial Stadium, you know the house that Vencie Glenn built!  

When I got up on Sunday morning the weather was crappy.  It was cold.   However, I was riding the damn bike.  So, I pushed off from Mom’s.  It felt amazing crappy weather or not.  The wind in my face.  That soft subtle smell of spring that lurks in wet mornings and evenings of March, April, and May in Indiana.  There is something about being out on two wheels and clipped in that makes you feel alive.  So, I pushed from North Anderson to Adam’s, then onto Ohio.  

Ohio has a nice wide bike lane.  Something, you see a lot of places in California, but not so much in Indiana.  So with the ground still being wet and me being outside for the first time in what seemed like for ever, I made my mind up that I was just going to loop around Ohio.  So, that is what I did, I did three loops around Ohio BLVD between 19th and Fruitridge.  

It was really nice.  There wasn’t any traffic or not much traffic at all.  It was cool out and I realized the gloves I had for winter riding, were for California winter riding, not Indiana winter riding, so my hands got a little chilly. However, my legs felt wonderful.  It was really hard to stay at the top of my HR rate zone 1.  Mainly because wet roads or not, I wanted to crank it out.  I wanted to ride hard.  I think on the third loop, I did peddle a little harder and spiked my heart rate because I was trying make sure I caught the green light on 25th.  I just wanted to peddle and ride.  However, three laps around Ohio is al that I could muster trying to keep the HR low and before I knew it my hour was up and it was time to head back home.  

It was really great to be back outside on the bike.  I need to look into the Bloomington Cycle Club rides this week and see if there is one that I could get to.  I wouldn’t mind doing some more outdoor spinning.  Plus, that will give me something to do while a lot of my family will be in Phoenix at the Final Four.  I am sure won’t be watching Purdue this weekend, to never racking for me.  

Anyway better get back to the grind now….