Week ?: Bad Idea!

Since I haven't been able to fit in a long ride like I'm supposed to do, I decided to mix things up and ride my bike to the coffee shop where I work sometimes. The shop is really nearby, so I thought that I'd take a longer route to give myself at least a tiny bit more exercise.

I loaded myself up with my backpack (which is slowly compressing my spine with its weight), water, and snacks and jumped on my bike. Whew! There is a HUGE difference between riding with a heavy backpack -- laptop, 3 books, papers -- and not. I must've weighed 200 pounds with it or something! The gears were squeaking, and my rear-end hurt will all of the pressure on it. The streets around here kind of busy, so I know that drivers were passing by in their cars like, "Who is *this* girl?". I took a detour through a residential neighborhood so that I wouldn't be on the main street. This took me far past where the coffee shop was, so I had to double back . . . and I wound up on the sidewalk. I know that this must've been annoying to pedestrians . . . however, the two 14-year-old boys in front of me clearly did not notice that a biker was following them. The boys were young and thin, but both had their pants really low and their underwear showing. . . with belts on . . . to keep their pants up underneath their derrieres!

Eventually, I made it to the coffee shop and got some work done. I stayed late, though, and left around 10pm . . . when it was RAINING and COLD! ha! I tried to wipe off the seat and dry it with napkins, but as soon as I'd wipe it off and try to unlock the bike lock, more rain would fall on it. Or I'd wipe it off and put my helmet on. . . more rain would fall. Ahhhh! I hopped on and pedaled home as quickly as possible through the dark, cold and rain. (I do have a blinking light on the back so that people could see me -- but I stayed on the sidewalks for most of the time.) When I got home and carried my bike up the stairs, I hadn't realized how quickly your muscles tire out and get cold -- I felt the weakness in my thighs from not being able to warm up and riding in cold rain. Also, I hadn't had dinner yet, though I'd had a snack, so I may've been low on glucose.

Anywhoo, when I got home, Rumi, one of my cats, started makin' love to my bike. :) He was rubbing his face all over the gear and wriggling around like he was really enjoying it. I took the snapshot above. :)

Time: 0:10:32
Distance: 1.532 miles
Avg. spd: 8.7 mph
Max spd: 18.1 mph