My own out and back…
Me Billy b, me Hot
My own out and back…
Hello friends - apologies for being gone so long. It is funny how we can get sucked into our own little worlds and one day it is June 3rd and you have the entire summer ahead of you and boom next think you know it is August 5th and are wow what just happened.
I so much would l like to say that I have even super busy and wrapped in this project or that project, but the truth is I have just been adapting to life back in Indiana. I am not used to have rain wash it bike rides. I am also not used to heat and humidity canceling rides. However, it is a change that one must get used too. The elements are different here. I know the climate was going to be a shock to the system. I think the humidity of July affected my body in ways I wasn’t really ready for. I started cramping up after riding. Then one Sunday, I was about to miles from the house almost at the top of a hill when I got a big cramp in my left leg. I fought through it to the top of the hill, but then I got off the bike and was dancing around as I tried to walk the damn thing out. I know I sweat a lot. I think I sweat more in the humidity. On this day I had drank three liters of water on my ride. With two LMNT (think flavored salt) and 5 scoops of tailwind (Think Gatorade in powder form). So, I was getting my electrolytes in. Maybe just not enough?
Plus, I am doing the same basic four rides outside right now. I go out with the team most Sundays. We did the beginner ride, then we do the Ellettsville ride, the East Side Ride, and the then the Tramway Ride. It will be this same four rides all summer. While, I have a blast on them and enjoy myself and meeting people, there is not a lot to report from them. I am the slowest rider. I am struggling in the elements here. Aren’t things you want to think about when you are trying to build your self image.
However, I have been driving around a lot with my co-pilot and tag team partner Kona. I feel the roads calling me to ride them. The rolling hill beckoning me to come out and take a pedal or two. It is the voice that makes me want to create my own routes and take on my own challenges. The voice the compelled me to climb Del Valley and Carrol Road. The voice that asks me to throw caution to the wind and just go out for a spin. The voice of hope and reason.
When I woke up Sunday morning, I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to ride. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I just wanted to keep sleeping. However, when you look down and see your tag team partner staring at you with a cone on her head, inside her crate, saying hey Dad, get up, let’s go! Things to be done. It is normally time for me to get going. So, I did. Side note: Kona is being caned because she has some sores on her paws and she won’t stop licking them and they haven’t healed. So any time I leave the house or put her to bed she gets coned. I hate it but I am not sure what else to do, we are going our third vet appointment on this week (fingers crossed).
I do my morning routine and I get a text from my Mom that Brinlee and Brody are coming to Bloomington to help with some stuff around the house. They will be there around 1 p.m. which is when I ride with the club. I didn’t panic. I just got more information from the kids and had a decision to make. Ride or don’t ride and I really wanted to ride. So, I was on my own.
I went through some routes in my head but I wasn’t sure if I had the time to get to Ellettsville and back. I could go out to the lake? Tramway I wasn’t familiar with enough to get out there by myself just yet. So, I decided to do a route that I had been thinking about on my own. I would take Walnut Pike to the Race Track, turn right there and stay on it until it became Church Road. Ride Church till ran out. Take right when Church ran out, and get back to the gravel path between Roger Road and Winslow. Then that puts me on the Bline and I could figure it out from there. So, that is what I did.
Man it was hot out there. I think it was 85 when I went out at 10 a.m. However, the ride itself was great. Anytime you can be outside riding is pretty fantastic. I really enjoyed riding my own path too. While I don’t love riding on gravel on road bike tires, it is really compact stuff and so that made it ok. I had ridden on it once before with the club. So, if the club does it makes Billy b think he can do it as well.
When I got to Bline I decided to take it to the end, it ends at Rogers at our 9th or 10th street. As I was heading over the bridge on the Bline I hit 5 miles. 5 miles from home. Remember that because when I get back to the point later and I get home in only 4 miles, perhaps you can help me explain that?
Anyway at mile 5 I decided once I got out to the end of the Bline, I would come back to 7th street and take the bike path on 7th through campus and see how far-out that got me. While I was looking to do a 2 hour ride, I was also looking to pick up as many miles as I could in that 2 hour time frame. So, to the end of Bline I went and when I got there, I turned around and road back to 7th.
In my opinion the start of 7th street from the Bline sucks. Why? You are going up hill. Not a big hill, but up hill nonetheless. To make this a little bit more complicated, the uphill is broken up by two stop lights. Going up and having to stop, sucks. Again it’s not the worst, but I would rather not do it.
So, there I am heading to the first light. I look slightly down and to the right and hanging off my arm is the biggest fucking spider I have seen since I moved home. I mean it looked like a fucking bumble bee hanging off a string on my arm. I am riding up a slight incline, but a spider, my natural enemy before the tick wars started. Without thinking I swipe at the web hanging from me, then I veer to the right and head straight for side walk that separated me from traffic.
I have been on the bike a lot. I didn’t panic. I got myself under control and instead of me going head over heels in front of traffic, I got the bike under control and avoided hitting the side walk and was able to continue pedaling until I got to the stop light. Where I started looking for the spider again. It was no where to be found. I must have disconnected the big bastard when I swung without thinking. Either that or it was not able to hang as we went swerving from side to side. It was gone, oh thank the light it was gone. Now the panic, and that feeling you get after having a spider or a tick on you remained the rest of the ride and even whilst I was in the shower later. Even as I type I wonder if that huge son bitch isn’t on me somehow. I get the Willie’s just thinking about it.
Other than that, the ride was pretty great. I went all the way across campus over to college mall and then I turned around and headed back. I went from 7th to the end of the Bline again thinking this would put me over 20 miles. Then I rocked it back home. At the top of the bridge I was at 16 miles, which should have put me at home at 21 miles. I road the exact same route, and the only thing I did differently on the way home then on the way out is I cut across a bike path between Roeher and Rogers. In my mind it should have take maybe a quarter mile off. However, it must have taken a mile off. I ended up with 20.2 miles. I will say I am happy I did that in 1 hour and 52 minutes, which means I average about 10.7 mph. Still not any where I need to be to join the Saturday bike club rides, but getting better and all I can do is keep riding and keep trying to get better.
Comments
Post a Comment