I wake up to a cool, humid morning. The moon must be out since I can see outside quite well and there are no street lights anywhere near my house. But, the low fog is so thick, I can't even see as far as the road.
After morning coffee and a bit of surfing and writing online, I head out on the bicycle for a morning ride. Normally, I walk one of the dogs on Sunday mornings. This morning just feels right for a bike ride, with almost no wind, and cool, dense air.
The fog has mostly burned off by the time I leave, but it is still chilly as I pedal south, away from home. It is obviously going to be a hot and humid day, but the forecast isn't calling for immediate heat and the wind hasn't gone beyond a light breeze yet. Traffic is negligible and the few Sunday-morning cars on the road are courteous, if at least not actively trying to kill me on the quiet roads.
I continue south for just under 10 miles. My route gives a mix of hills and flat land before descending into the valley of a large stream that feeds into a river further on. This turns to a long slow uphill section, heading in a more north-westerly direction, following the stream. The cool wind is just starting and at my back now that I am headed in a more northerly direction. The deep shadows in the low lying areas are exquisite. Everything is so still that I can hear the water running under bridges that cover creeks and streams. Briefly turning onto a state highway leads to one of my favorite hilly roads in the area. It is steep, narrow, and twisty, but almost desolate and the road name seems to ring from American ghost folklore.
Back into the flat land, the wind is picking up and it is now getting hotter and more humid. But, with wind at my back I continue on at a good clip. The dangerous dogs must be in their cages as I pedal uneasily past the farm that is somewhat run down. In what feels like too short of time I am nearly home, pedaling up the final big hill that many months ago seemed almost painful.
To say that this ride was near bike nirvana, would be an understatement. The right combination of mood, weather, circumstance in the rural Midwest.
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It wasn't on the ride described above, but on June 9, 2015, I passed 1000 bike miles since I bought my Trek DS 8.3 in October 2014. To put this in perspective, that 51,000+ Calories burned is approximately the caloric equivalent of about 30 1.5-quart containers of ice cream.
I don't know if 1000 miles in eight months (at least three of those have limited riding due to weather) is a lot and I don't really care. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time spent bike riding and the contrast it brings to dog walking.
I don't know if 1000 miles in eight months (at least three of those have limited riding due to weather) is a lot and I don't really care. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time spent bike riding and the contrast it brings to dog walking.
My first rides on the bike were a significant contrast to the more quiet contemplative time spent dog walking. As riding, especially the more physically demanding parts, became less mental effort, the contrast is somewhat less as I've been able to think less about what I'm doing (dealing with wind, hills, route) and more on just thinking ... or not.
There have been a few challenges to overcome. I have had a couple times where I got a few miles away from home and realized that for one reason or another, I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for the physical exertion of pedaling. When this has happened, I keep going for a while and just cut the ride shorter than originally planned. Sometimes I realize I don't want to push myself with any of the larger hills, but luckily the area where I live has areas that are largely flat if that is what I decide I want to do.
There have been a few close encounters with dogs. The worst was early in my biking time when I thought I could outrun a group of about five large dogs. I ended up hitting one and have no idea how I didn't have a catastrophic crash. I did rip some hair from the black beast with my front tire, and I learned a critical lesson; I do not believe the dog learned anything. Since then, yelling and sometimes slowing (or even stopping) generally ends things quickly with the various dogs I come across. Barring that, I can always decide to carry a pocket .380 - but I really don't see it coming to that.
Since I live and ride my bike in a rural area, I have not-infrequent run-ins with unpleasant or impatient drivers. I do try to get over as much as I safely can to allow passing and will even motion drivers around when I know they can't see well. Still, the jack-wad in the crappy red truck driving up behind me and blaring the horn has made a pretty clear statement about himself.
As an avid motorcyclist and burgeoning bicyclist, I was wondering on the risks of biking vs. motorcycling. There are lots of pretty outlandish claims of bike vs. bike safety, but my own digging into the numbers shows that on a per-mile bases, motorcycling is probably about 2-4 times more dangerous than bicycling. My seat of the pants experience doesn't quite agree with this as there seems to be more nervous moments on the pedal bike, but the relatively slow speed of the bike is where its safety lies vs. the much higher speed of the motorcycle - even with great protective equipment.
I do think that the rural area where I live and subsequently ride my bike is far more dangerous than the average suburban or even urban environment. Most cars are traveling at a high rate of speed and the lack of other traffic breeds a little bit of driver complacency. I haven't bought any lights or similar to increase conspicuousness, but I do try to position myself to be noticed and - yes - even use hand signals to communicate intentions. And, actual close calls with cars have been quite rare.
There have been a few close encounters with dogs. The worst was early in my biking time when I thought I could outrun a group of about five large dogs. I ended up hitting one and have no idea how I didn't have a catastrophic crash. I did rip some hair from the black beast with my front tire, and I learned a critical lesson; I do not believe the dog learned anything. Since then, yelling and sometimes slowing (or even stopping) generally ends things quickly with the various dogs I come across. Barring that, I can always decide to carry a pocket .380 - but I really don't see it coming to that.
Since I live and ride my bike in a rural area, I have not-infrequent run-ins with unpleasant or impatient drivers. I do try to get over as much as I safely can to allow passing and will even motion drivers around when I know they can't see well. Still, the jack-wad in the crappy red truck driving up behind me and blaring the horn has made a pretty clear statement about himself.
As an avid motorcyclist and burgeoning bicyclist, I was wondering on the risks of biking vs. motorcycling. There are lots of pretty outlandish claims of bike vs. bike safety, but my own digging into the numbers shows that on a per-mile bases, motorcycling is probably about 2-4 times more dangerous than bicycling. My seat of the pants experience doesn't quite agree with this as there seems to be more nervous moments on the pedal bike, but the relatively slow speed of the bike is where its safety lies vs. the much higher speed of the motorcycle - even with great protective equipment.
I do think that the rural area where I live and subsequently ride my bike is far more dangerous than the average suburban or even urban environment. Most cars are traveling at a high rate of speed and the lack of other traffic breeds a little bit of driver complacency. I haven't bought any lights or similar to increase conspicuousness, but I do try to position myself to be noticed and - yes - even use hand signals to communicate intentions. And, actual close calls with cars have been quite rare.
When I'm bicycling, my pedal time seems to be most limited by comfort due to the seat. Given the range of seats available and the large volume written about seats and comfort, this seems to be a problem with lots of imperfect solutions. I can usually ride for about 1.5 hours before the seat starts telling me I'll be happier off of the bike. My local bike shop offers a computer mapping service with various seats, and I'm thinking of investing in this. It seems to be a more data-driven approach rather than simply trying various seats.
Even with the risks and the unresolved issue of seat comfort, I am still amazed at how much I enjoy bike riding. If someone would have told me, even a year ago, how much I'd enjoy this, the response would have been between laughter and ridicule. I like planning my routes and heading out after a day at work. I enjoy the same, but for longer periods of time on the weekends. My bike riding has taken me into and through areas and down roads around where I live that I have never been to before. Before starting to bike, I would never have known that there are two covered bridges within 15 miles of my house, along with countless historic and interesting abandoned buildings.
Going downhill is still somewhat boring, and uphill is getting easier (usually). The wind can be more punishing as it can be relentless and hurts more than it helps unless it is coming from approximately a 90-degree cone behind.
Going downhill is still somewhat boring, and uphill is getting easier (usually). The wind can be more punishing as it can be relentless and hurts more than it helps unless it is coming from approximately a 90-degree cone behind.
I'm still using Mapometer to plan my routes and still recording them on Google's My Tracks. It is a bit of a battery hog, but does a good job of recording time, distance, vertical profile, etc. I enjoy heading out on a ride knowing I'll cover lots of ground and maybe see interesting things along the way. I like coming home afterwards, with sore legs and looking forward to a cool drink from the fridge.
And, I think my bike riding has even made me appreciate the slower paced dog walks even more.
I'm not sure what the long-term plan is for bike riding. I haven't done any dirt riding and I don't really plan on it right now. My hybrid bike is definitely slower than a dedicated street bike. On two occasions, riders on road bikes have passed me at a very improbable speed making me feel like a big fat kid on a plastic Big Wheel. Still, I'm in this for the personal enjoyment and exercise, not really for speed. Many of the rural roads I ride are paved in name only, or "Indiana-paved," so the suspension and disk brakes on the DS 8.3 are appreciated.
The near-perfect ride described at the beginning of this post resonated through that day. Much like with my dog-walking, experiences like that will keep me returning to the pedals, anticipating through planning, enjoying the fresh air and exercise during the ride, and relishing both mental and physical health effects as a result.
Pedal-On!
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