Bike Day 4: Wheee!
Oct. 29th, 2005 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerThis biking stuff is glorious!
OK, it probably helps to have a beautiful fall day in which to do it, but still...
I lazed in bed this morning got up and read, had some lunch, played with the cats, and read and replied to a long email from a rather nice young woman I met on Yahoo. Then, since it was such a lovely day out and I hadn't been outside yet, I got Rupert, filled my water bottle, and went out to the street.
I cycled around the neighborhood for a while, continuing to get used to the brakes, steering, gears, etc. I'm also learning to re-evaluate terrain: what looks one way for running over and another for driving is different in bike terms (obviously). So much is about gearing and trading off momentum for effort. (And beleive me, anyone who actually rides and has been doing this for years, please be patient because I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of stating the bloody obvious.)
I went up our cul de sac and back, dismounted and walked down the Big Hill (I'm too scared of that still), then went down Highland, turned around, and came back, going up both of the sidestreets in turn as far as Prosperity. I was very pleased that in both cases, I went from the highway down the side streetand around the corner onto the next without stopping or dismounting (baby steps here, people) especially since there's a downslope at the bottom of each of those streets which meant I was accelerating while going around a corner and then up hill again. Yay me! Went most of the way from Crestview down Highland and up our big hill. Wasn't able to cycle all th way up the big hill yet; I'm sure that's a matter of determination, using the right gears, and, oh yes, fitness. :-) Altogether about 2-2.5 miles, about half an hour.
Then I loaded up Rupert and we went to one of the office parks nearby. And I really have no idea why I didn't do this before. Five minutes away, almost entirely empty of people on weekends, lots of big, flat open areas with bits of road back and forth among them. Gentle slopes, large solid objects to practice circling without hitting, just perfect for newbie me. Different ground textures, a garage to go down into so as to practice watching one's head... totally ideal!
I spent about an hour there riding around and around, trying different things, getting more and more used to going down slopes and all the scary acceleration that comes with that. I had opportunity to simply coast around a lot, which was fun, because I could look at the wheels and the bike (I think the alignment of the handlebars got a little off when I hit the bridge last time...) I really didn't want to stop, but I was getting a bit tired (and I hadn't thought to wear bike shorts, and was reminded of what I've noticed when riding stationary bikes--sit on one of those seats for long enough, and your John Thomas goes to sleep...)
I didn't hit *anything* (well, I bumped into the car, right when I stopped for the day, of course, and broke the tremendously ancient DC United licens-plate holder on that end). I didn't fall over. I didn't hurt myself. I learned more about how one doesn't need to panic when approaching something very fast because you can always (1) steer away from it and (2) slow down or stop. Still going to take a little while to get used to those ideas, but... I love how you can steer, or enhance steering, by leaning. I *think* I've really got the basic idea of gears down (lower ones are for power, higher ones are for speed, right?) and I practiced a lot of being aware of surroundings (checking for traffic, pedestrians, etc.) as I came around the buildings and every once in a while somethign would be different (someone leaving for the day, a groundskeeper walking by to leaf-blow one of the other parking lots, etc.)
This is GREAT! :-)
OK, it probably helps to have a beautiful fall day in which to do it, but still...
I lazed in bed this morning got up and read, had some lunch, played with the cats, and read and replied to a long email from a rather nice young woman I met on Yahoo. Then, since it was such a lovely day out and I hadn't been outside yet, I got Rupert, filled my water bottle, and went out to the street.
I cycled around the neighborhood for a while, continuing to get used to the brakes, steering, gears, etc. I'm also learning to re-evaluate terrain: what looks one way for running over and another for driving is different in bike terms (obviously). So much is about gearing and trading off momentum for effort. (And beleive me, anyone who actually rides and has been doing this for years, please be patient because I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of stating the bloody obvious.)
I went up our cul de sac and back, dismounted and walked down the Big Hill (I'm too scared of that still), then went down Highland, turned around, and came back, going up both of the sidestreets in turn as far as Prosperity. I was very pleased that in both cases, I went from the highway down the side streetand around the corner onto the next without stopping or dismounting (baby steps here, people) especially since there's a downslope at the bottom of each of those streets which meant I was accelerating while going around a corner and then up hill again. Yay me! Went most of the way from Crestview down Highland and up our big hill. Wasn't able to cycle all th way up the big hill yet; I'm sure that's a matter of determination, using the right gears, and, oh yes, fitness. :-) Altogether about 2-2.5 miles, about half an hour.
Then I loaded up Rupert and we went to one of the office parks nearby. And I really have no idea why I didn't do this before. Five minutes away, almost entirely empty of people on weekends, lots of big, flat open areas with bits of road back and forth among them. Gentle slopes, large solid objects to practice circling without hitting, just perfect for newbie me. Different ground textures, a garage to go down into so as to practice watching one's head... totally ideal!
I spent about an hour there riding around and around, trying different things, getting more and more used to going down slopes and all the scary acceleration that comes with that. I had opportunity to simply coast around a lot, which was fun, because I could look at the wheels and the bike (I think the alignment of the handlebars got a little off when I hit the bridge last time...) I really didn't want to stop, but I was getting a bit tired (and I hadn't thought to wear bike shorts, and was reminded of what I've noticed when riding stationary bikes--sit on one of those seats for long enough, and your John Thomas goes to sleep...)
I didn't hit *anything* (well, I bumped into the car, right when I stopped for the day, of course, and broke the tremendously ancient DC United licens-plate holder on that end). I didn't fall over. I didn't hurt myself. I learned more about how one doesn't need to panic when approaching something very fast because you can always (1) steer away from it and (2) slow down or stop. Still going to take a little while to get used to those ideas, but... I love how you can steer, or enhance steering, by leaning. I *think* I've really got the basic idea of gears down (lower ones are for power, higher ones are for speed, right?) and I practiced a lot of being aware of surroundings (checking for traffic, pedestrians, etc.) as I came around the buildings and every once in a while somethign would be different (someone leaving for the day, a groundskeeper walking by to leaf-blow one of the other parking lots, etc.)
This is GREAT! :-)
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 11:05 pm (UTC)Some years ago, I took a really long bike ride toward the southern part of our township. I remembered this really steep hill that I decided to ride down. It wasn't until I was going...oh...about 50mph that I realized the road dead ended onto another road, there were hills on either side of the road I was on, and that I couldn't see whether any traffic was coming. I sure as hell wasn't going to be able to stop. It was with further dread that I realized, just before the moment of not knowing whether I was going to get creamed by an oncoming truck or car, that on the other side of that road was a swamp. As I careened onto the road (and didn't get hit! Phew!), I flashed past the arrow sign, flew across the ditch, went headlong over the handlebars, and landed in a few feet of water and muck a good 20 feet from the road.
With great relief that I wasn't dead or broken, I climbed out of the goo, retrieved my bike, and walked home, covered in drying mud. Lesson learned.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 11:27 pm (UTC)I fully expect that when I take my bike in for a check up they're going to look at me funny and ask how I managed to wear out my brakes so soon :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 11:28 pm (UTC)Good brakes on a bike are highly undervalued, I think. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-31 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-31 03:27 am (UTC)I did post on bigsoccer in the end. It's around page 12 somewhere. I didn't bother to read most of the rest. It's gotten so only half of the posters there are even coherent any more.