This morning I met Leonie for a bike ride over to the wetlands. I got there a little early, as I hadn't been to our meeting place before, so I rode over to Commonwealth Park and cruised around for 10 minutes before heading back to meet her. As I was cruising it started to rain lightly, but fortunately, it stopped soon after we headed off.
Now, I'm a beginning cyclist. Leonie thinks she is too, but she's way ahead of me. I was pleased about that, as it helped me to move up a level. We were cycling much faster than I normally do, and I got some advice about the gears too. By the end of the ride I was actually standing up on the bike as I went up hills.
The path we took was the Mother's Day Classic course, so it had the advantage of being familiar. When we got to the turnaround point we ventured along a little further into the wetlands. My legs were tired, but I didn't want to get that far and not actually go in. We went into a couple of hides and had a look at the birds. It was different riding on the dirt paths. When we came to the end of the made path, I would probably have kept going, but Leonie mentioned prickles and flat tyres. That was enough to convince me that paths were best.
We had a cup of coffee beside the lake, and then headed home. All up, I was out and about for almost two hours. My backside is complaining about the unaccustomed effort, but I felt it was well worth it. We're going to ride around the lake in a couple of weeks. That will be further than I ever ventured before.
I think I travelled about 20 km today. I have given up on the bike computer that I was bought. I can't find an O Ring thin enough for it, and I tried tying it on but it didn't seem to work when I'd done that. I figure I'll go and buy myself a new one!
One of the things I enjoyed about today was that "Wheee!" feeling you get when you're going down a hill quickly. It's like being a kid again, isn't it?
I'm going to have to go out for a walk this afternoon. Bike riding doesn't do much for my step count. I think they give us about 250 steps per km. Tomorrow I have the running course. We're doing interval training, which ought to involve plenty of steps.
3 comments:
hey with the odometer..you can get little rubber strips that you can put under it to fill it out to the right size..ask at a bike shop..sounds like a good ride..well done
Yeah - riding is fun ESPECIALLY when it is downhill! I promise, your bum gets used to that numb sort of feeling!! 20km sounds like a long way though. I met Hann (another blogger) for a social ride, but I'm not confident enough to actually ride with someone for exercise. I'd be left behind or slow them down or something. Judging by the number of bikes that zoom past me when I am going uphill, I've got some improvement to make!!
Have you bought bike pants yet? That will solve the numb bum feeling, they are just so great - the ones with the padded seat / groin area that is. Cycling is great, I'm enjoying it as much as my running now!
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