Fantastic Ride

Update: Thanks for your comments, TriGirls! Traffic was not bad at all even though we were out on the road at 5:00. The only tricky spot was crossing a busy street in Ashland, where we actually hopped off the bikes and walked across. Otherwise, I was amazed at how light it was.

I'll be happy to coordinate a weekend ride on that route. I'll have to get Richard to join us or do it one more time with him, paying attention so I don't get us totally lost! Sounds fun!!!
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I had a great ride this afternoon with my good friend Richard. Richard is the one who first got me interested in running, then cycling when his knee injury prevented him from running anymore. He has run marathons and biked centuries. All pretty amazing when you consider that he didn't start any of it until he was in his 40s.

Richard is a very knowledgeable kind of guy. He is an expert in his field, and when he became interested in running and cycling, he became expert in them as well. I am the kind of dumbass who buys a cheap pair of shoes and goes for it. Thank goodness I have Richard to educate me! He took me to the running store in Carytown for my first pair of shoes. Today, he taught me to put the chain back on my bike. And he has helped educate me all in between.

Today, we met in northside and biked along Bike Route 1 for most of the ride. We decided in advance that when we hit Ashland at the 10 mile mark, we were going to ride a hilly section on the other side for an extra five mile loop. Yet, when we got to the 12.5 mile point, Richard asked with a grin if I wanted to keep going. Hell yeah!

We hit a stretch of road with three big hills lovingly named the Three Sisters. Three Bitches is more like it! That second sister handed me my butt and I had to walk a good half way up it. I'm dying to go back and beat that hill next time. Lemme at it!

My new saddle worked great, and I was happy to have the repair kit on board and even happier that I didn't have to use it. And my new TriGirl water bottle looked lovely on the bike.

In total, we rode 31 miles. That's the furthest I've ever ridden by 11 miles. Our average speed was 15.1 by the end. We were faster for the first 10 miles (~15.9) then slowed by the hills. Although the 31 mph we hit a couple times on the downhills certainly helped our average speed, and it was flat out exilerating!

After we turned around and went over the Three Sisters for the ruturn trip, I dropped my chain. We got it back on but with a significant clicking noise. It appeared that something was rubbing. I also had an odd whistling noise going on, and I couldn't get my front gear out of the middle chain ring. So we were slower going back due to equipment issues in addition to general fatigue.

I dropped my bike at Agee's on the way home for some maintenance. I've had problems with my front gears before, and I'm hoping they can get my bike good to go for the spring.

I can't wait to get back out there! This cycling stuff is actually pretty fun!