getting lost
I got a whole bunch of fun gizmo's for my bike this week (frame bike pump, spare tire, bike computer, second water bottle) so there was absolutely no excuse for me not to go on a bike ride today. I had intended to bike around the bay but ended up way down in Corona del Mar.
I'm not actually a terribly confident person when it comes to venturing out. I like to have someone with me to pretend I know what I'm doing with but since I haven't found a cycling/explorng partner who is local I've promised myself I would suck it up and get out there on the bike. Of course I've been finding all sorts of excuses not to; I didn't have a frame pump so I couldn't go more then a mile or two, I didn't have a second water bottle... you get the idea. I finally got all the gizmo's I 'needed' this week and set up my bike. No more excuses! Leaving campus I ended up missing my peddle coming off of a light and planting my chest in my handle bars... not a confidence booster.
I pull out the map and the Back Bay loop looks fairly streight forward minus some confusion around the PCH. Well that little confusion was enough to completely turn me around and send me down to Corona del Mar (the opposite direction from the return loop). Once there I finally admited I was lost and asked for directions. I got sent up Hills of DOOOMMM!! to hook back up with MacArthur. Only MacArthur wasn't there! Ask for second set of directions (at this point my little fold out map was _completely_ useless!). I was only a block away from MacArthur and end up back home in fairly short order.
All in all scary to get lost and definately makes me want to get a better map! But if I'm going to be doing these bike trips I'm hoping for might be a good idea to get used to being lost. The people I asked were helpful and friendly and made sure I knew where I was going. Some of the cars flipped me off when I was on the road but those were the exception.
Stats: 16.3 miles, avg 11.7 mph, 1h23m
Back Bay to Bayside Dr to Marguerite Ave to San Joaquine Hills Rd to McArthur to Bison
2 requests for directions
I'm not actually a terribly confident person when it comes to venturing out. I like to have someone with me to pretend I know what I'm doing with but since I haven't found a cycling/explorng partner who is local I've promised myself I would suck it up and get out there on the bike. Of course I've been finding all sorts of excuses not to; I didn't have a frame pump so I couldn't go more then a mile or two, I didn't have a second water bottle... you get the idea. I finally got all the gizmo's I 'needed' this week and set up my bike. No more excuses! Leaving campus I ended up missing my peddle coming off of a light and planting my chest in my handle bars... not a confidence booster.
I pull out the map and the Back Bay loop looks fairly streight forward minus some confusion around the PCH. Well that little confusion was enough to completely turn me around and send me down to Corona del Mar (the opposite direction from the return loop). Once there I finally admited I was lost and asked for directions. I got sent up Hills of DOOOMMM!! to hook back up with MacArthur. Only MacArthur wasn't there! Ask for second set of directions (at this point my little fold out map was _completely_ useless!). I was only a block away from MacArthur and end up back home in fairly short order.
All in all scary to get lost and definately makes me want to get a better map! But if I'm going to be doing these bike trips I'm hoping for might be a good idea to get used to being lost. The people I asked were helpful and friendly and made sure I knew where I was going. Some of the cars flipped me off when I was on the road but those were the exception.
Stats: 16.3 miles, avg 11.7 mph, 1h23m
Back Bay to Bayside Dr to Marguerite Ave to San Joaquine Hills Rd to McArthur to Bison
2 requests for directions