After I got past my initial fear of the bike, I found it to
actually be quite enjoyable... Especially in the beautiful spring-like February
weather. Not to mention, a much better way to pass the time than hanging out on
the stationary bike in the gym for hours on end.
The weekend after my bike maintenance class I took a 25-mile road ride out to
MCC and then back through China Spring to the airport and back to my house.
This is when I learned that I’d have to really map something out ahead of time
to even reach a decent mileage. All this stuff seems a lot further apart than
it actually is, apparently. That same
weekend I did a 10.5-mile ride on Sunday around the airport and over the dam. I had originally intended to do 36 miles that
weekend and I wanted to finish what I’d started. I also didn’t have much more time than that
to commit to cycling on Sunday afternoon. It was a very windy day and I worked
really hard for those 10 miles! I also managed to throw my chain off the
cassette somehow and had to figure out how to put it back on correctly so it
was a learning experience for sure.
The following weekend I was determined to reach 36 miles in
a single ride so I mapped it out before hand on mapmyride.com. I kept adding more and more road until I
finally hit 36 miles. This time I began at MCC and went out to Rock Creek and
then around China Spring, then back through the airport to MCC. The wind was
brutal that day as well and it took me a full 3 hours to complete the ride, but
I did it. I am undecided whether the most remarkable part of that ride was the
6 dead skunks I passed or the 1.5 miles of gravel that I got stuck on
unexpectedly. I was so convinced that I would get a flat on that gravel road
and was so very thankful that I did not! (But at least I would know how to
change it if I did.)
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