Saturday, July 9, 2011

Bike Week

The last six days I've set a new personal record for bike mileage....166 miles.  I feel pretty good because that is close to the 170 miles that fellow blogger Randy did on his "rest week"!!  Randy is my reminder that I'm capable of more. I know for a serious cyclist that mileage is nothing but for me it's still a nice milestone.

The two beach rides with John set me up for a record week (thanks, John!). Unfortunately, the other mileage contributor is that my car was in the shop and the bike was my primary means of transport for  a day.  That gave me about 20 extra miles. Below is my typical commute into town.  That's what I get for living in a valley.

My ride into Blacksburg from the house

Today's ride was a 46-miler with a companion who does both road and mountain biking. Take heed when a mountain biker says there is a "short section of gravel".  I imagined maybe 100 yards. It was more like four miles of white-knuckle twisty, hilly, turny going.  It didn't help that the night before we'd had a downpour. I nearly wiped out in one section of particularly rough going. I worried about my beautiful new Teddy Roo and my tubeless tires, but we got through it and I added that to my experience bank. I thought I was through the worst of it, but a few miles from home, a buzzard nearly flew into me!  My husband surmised that "I must have looked tired!" Rides around here are never dull and the scenery and wildlife remind me how lucky I am to live in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Until I have to commute into town that is :-)

Ride happy!!