2/22/07: First Ride of 2007!

Yesterday I finally got out and rode my bike for the first time this year! The weather was perfect: 59 degrees, mostly sunny, and just a slight breeze. It really felt like Spring had sprung! I just hope this kind of weather sticks around for a while! Around 60 degrees is just right for cycling: it is cool enough that you don't overheat from the exertion, yet not so cool that you get chilly. (While you're actually riding, even 80 degrees doesn't seem too bad; you are constantly perspiring and being cooled as it evaporates very quickly due to the rush of the wind as you ride. However, you have to be sure to stay very well hydrated, or you can get sick. And the problem is that while you're comfortable during the ride itself on a hot day, as soon as you stop and get off the bike, you're pouring sweat and feel all icky!)

Anyway, I got home from class after taking a whopper of a Calculus test and got my bike out of the storage shed where it had lain in state for the last several months. Of course, I had to air up the tires and check the brakes before I took off. Everything seemed to be in working order, so I went in to get on my cycling gear.

The gear:
*A long-sleeved blue and gray jersey and "north face" exercise pants over cycling shorts (for the much-needed padding). I need to get some pics of myself in this getup to post on here for laughs...this particular jersey and pants combo somewhat resembles the Starfleet uniforms from Star Trek: The Next Generation! lol
*Padded gloves. You'd be surprised at how much stress riding puts on your hands during a long ride. My hands will begin to cramp up after an hour or so, and on a ride of more than a couple hours, they will sometimes start to go numb. You have to consciously change your position on the handlebars frequently to help avoid this for as long as possible.
*Helmet. Mine is blue with lots of holes for airflow and a visor to keep the sun out of your eyes. It may look pretty goofy, but if I'm ever in an accident, I'll be glad I was wearing it. You may not know that a bicycle helmet is only good for one crash...if the helmet actually crunches into the pavement or some other hard object at any kind of speed, it will fracture and must be replaced. It is designed to do this, so that it's the helmet and not your skull!
*Tennis shoes. I really don't look like a dedicated cyclist wearing my tennis shoes. One of these days I'll break down and buy a set of clips and shoes. These are special pedals and cycling shoes designed to clip in to them so that your feet can't accidentally slip off of the pedals; to dismount, you rotate your foot to one side, and then they come out of the clips. Unfortunately, the cheapest set costs about $90. Maybe I'll stick with the tennis shoes for a while.
*My heart-rate monitor. This is what I spent my money on last year instead of the clips and shoes! It's a pretty cool gadget! The sensor straps around my chest under the jersey and wirelessly beams my heart rate info to an on-board bike computer that will display my current heart rate and even sound an alarm if the rate goes above or below the heart rate training zone that I've programmed in. The display also shows the time, my current and average speed for the ride, and the distance for the ride as well as a total distance "odometer". Somehow I accidentally reset the odometer last year, but I'm going to try to keep up with my total distance ridden for 2007.

My bike itself is a Trek 1500 road bike. Here's what it looks like:
It's a mid-level road bike that is pretty comfortable for the most part. I bought it in 2005 and have put quite a few miles on it. I hope to put more miles on it this year than I have yet.

So my ride yesterday went pretty good. It was a pretty long ride for my first one of the year, but I was holding up well, so I kept pushing. I ended up riding for 2 hours and covering just under 26 miles, with quite a few hills in there! When I lived in the middle of town the last couple of years, I was riding on mostly flat terrain, but out here where I am now, I can see that I'll be getting a lot more hills in. I never did have to get off the bike and walk, though, so that's something. I tried to keep my heart rate around 160 beats per minute most of the time. I ended up with an average heart rate of 154. My average speed was 12.4 mph, and my top speed was 33.3mph. That feels REALLY fast when you're flying downhill on a bike! You really have to keep an eye out for obstacles; hitting even a small obstacle while descending at that speed can cause you to lose control.

I rode mostly low-traffic roads and just really enjoyed the weather and the scenery. I rode through some pretty wooded areas as well as some farmland. It's always refreshing to get out there and enjoy nature! Of course, then there are the dogs...

I encountered probably 7 or 8 on this ride, 3 or 4 of which decided to give chase. One was a scary-looking rottweiler, but I was able to sprint away without any problem. There's nothing like a rabid beast just off your back tire to inspire you to sprint like a Tour de France champion! I've encountered countless dogs in my riding over the last several years, but never yet been caught by one. You can pretty much always out-ride a dog. You have to always be aware of your surroundings while on a bike, though. The danger comes when a dog jumps out of a ditch unexpectedly and startles you, causing a wreck. You'll probably be ok if you don't overreact, just stay focused, dig into the pedals, and maintain control of the machine.

My route was not really planned ahead of time. I did consult Google maps for a general idea of where I was headed, but I ended up backtracking some, and toward the end of the ride I went in circles a bit before finding the road I was looking for. I'm just not that familiar with all the back roads in this part of the county. Hence, if you were to map out yesterday's route, it would probably look something like the circuitous meanderings of Billy from the "Family Circus" comic strip! lol Another gadget that I'd like to get at some point is a GPS unit for my bike! (That's probably a bit of overkill; I doubt I'll actually plunk down the cash for that one, but it would be cool!)

So I finally made it home still feeling pretty good--until I got off the bike and tried to walk! My legs felt like they were about half filled with jello! lol The good (and somewhat inexplicable) thing about cycling as a sport, though, is that while you may feel very weak when you first finish a ride, you tend to recover pretty quickly. After about an hour, my legs felt fine. They're still good today, too, although my rear end is a bit sore...even with the extra padding of the cycling gear, the saddle on a road bike is not very forgiving. I'll get used to it with a few more rides, though, I'm sure!

Until next time...