Cycling Frenzy!
OK, maybe not exactly a frenzy, per se. But I did cycle into work both today and yesterday, and was feeling very butch about it. So much so that I decided to go on the post-work ride. Now there are some hard-core riders at the office, and keeping this in mind, I mentioned to the organizer of the Thursday evening rides that I was probably going to be a bit of a wuss. "No problem," says he, "We'll opt for an easier ride today."
There were only three of us tonight, which gave us some additional flexibility. Since I'd ridden in from the north, we would head that direction, then after a while I would split off from them and continue heading home while they looped back to the office. So, abandoning my laptop, backpack, and (as I found out later) my house keys at work, off we go.
Now, I live in the flatlands. Work's in a pretty flat place, too. And there's a nice, easy, 13-mile route between the two that doesn't have what any cyclist worth his multi-tool would consider a "hill". Hardly the sort of thing that serious cyclists would go out of their way for on a group ride. We crossed I-280 into the idyllic, bucolic hills surrounding Foothills Park and the Arastradero Open Space Preserve. Gorgeous, with the setting sun reflecting off of the dry, high-summer grass. That whole California "golden hills" effect.
I probably wasn't appreciating it as much as I could have, given the fact that I was just trying to keep up with the other two. It was probably an elevation gain of... oh, I dunno. 2,000 feet? More than I've done in a while, at any rate. But I know that even while I was feeling the lactic acid burn in my leg muscles, I was in a far better position to appreciate the scenery than I would have been were I in a speeding car.
Eventually we reach Alpine Road and split... they back to the office by way of Sand Hill, me down Alameda de las Pulgas (yes, "avenue of the fleas") to my house. shaix was kind enough to let me back into my house (thanks!!!!), and I noticed that as usual, I ended up the imprint of a dirty chainring on the inside of my right calf.
I almost always seem to end up with that mark on my calf. And back when I was cycling almost daily, I thought to myself, "Hey, why not make it permanent, then? Why not just get a tattoo of it?" Having been riding more recently, I've thought about it again. So yeah, I'm going to get that done. My first ink.
There were only three of us tonight, which gave us some additional flexibility. Since I'd ridden in from the north, we would head that direction, then after a while I would split off from them and continue heading home while they looped back to the office. So, abandoning my laptop, backpack, and (as I found out later) my house keys at work, off we go.
Now, I live in the flatlands. Work's in a pretty flat place, too. And there's a nice, easy, 13-mile route between the two that doesn't have what any cyclist worth his multi-tool would consider a "hill". Hardly the sort of thing that serious cyclists would go out of their way for on a group ride. We crossed I-280 into the idyllic, bucolic hills surrounding Foothills Park and the Arastradero Open Space Preserve. Gorgeous, with the setting sun reflecting off of the dry, high-summer grass. That whole California "golden hills" effect.
I probably wasn't appreciating it as much as I could have, given the fact that I was just trying to keep up with the other two. It was probably an elevation gain of... oh, I dunno. 2,000 feet? More than I've done in a while, at any rate. But I know that even while I was feeling the lactic acid burn in my leg muscles, I was in a far better position to appreciate the scenery than I would have been were I in a speeding car.
Eventually we reach Alpine Road and split... they back to the office by way of Sand Hill, me down Alameda de las Pulgas (yes, "avenue of the fleas") to my house. shaix was kind enough to let me back into my house (thanks!!!!), and I noticed that as usual, I ended up the imprint of a dirty chainring on the inside of my right calf.
I almost always seem to end up with that mark on my calf. And back when I was cycling almost daily, I thought to myself, "Hey, why not make it permanent, then? Why not just get a tattoo of it?" Having been riding more recently, I've thought about it again. So yeah, I'm going to get that done. My first ink.