the bitches love me cuz they know that I can rock
I totally rode to and from work today!!!
and then back to the temporary apartment, but when I got back to the apt. I had a bite of food, hopped on the bike and rode back to work. It's about 5 miles through the pseudo country - well call it like Wadsworth IL (just outside Gurnee) but with less traffic. The winds were out of the S-SE, at maybe 8-12mph, and I had to ride southeast to get to work; so the ride back was easier due to wind resistance. Also I totally made it up all the hills w/o having to stop and walk, it was so cool! I feel totally great about it - soon I'll embrace my hippie self and start bike commuting to work!
1) I rode on streets - last summer if I did this I would chant "were going to die, were going to die, were going to die" sometimes only in my head, sometimes out loud. Today I was able to mostly not think about it; when cars past me it was just a little bit nerve-racking not totally debilitating. This may have to do with the width of the shoulder, the general niceness of cars slowing down and pulling a bit over, the lack of traffic or possibly a reduction in general anxiety, possibly due to lake of gluten in my diet
2) When I hit 27 mph going downhill it was just sort of fun, in fact i didn't even notice until I stopped and looked at the bike computer - last summer I would have been breaking if I went over 24mph. Again it's hard to know why this may have been less stressful - but it was.
3) I climbed a hill that last year I would never have made it up w/o stopping. I felt so good about it at the top that I nearly stopped to take a pic of the hill to show how tough it was (in my mind) but didn't cuz I wanted to ride w/o having to stop for "resting." I'm going to attribute this to improved fitness from going to the gym all the time while I was unemployed - cuz I got nothing else out of going to the gym all the time.
Ride Statistics:
1/2 way point
miles: 5.05
avg speed: 11.9 mph
time: 25:19 min
overall:
miles: 10.08
avg speed: 12.8
time: well the computer says 47 now, but I'm pretty sure it was just over 45 when I pulled up to the building...so something like that.
and then back to the temporary apartment, but when I got back to the apt. I had a bite of food, hopped on the bike and rode back to work. It's about 5 miles through the pseudo country - well call it like Wadsworth IL (just outside Gurnee) but with less traffic. The winds were out of the S-SE, at maybe 8-12mph, and I had to ride southeast to get to work; so the ride back was easier due to wind resistance. Also I totally made it up all the hills w/o having to stop and walk, it was so cool! I feel totally great about it - soon I'll embrace my hippie self and start bike commuting to work!
1) I rode on streets - last summer if I did this I would chant "were going to die, were going to die, were going to die" sometimes only in my head, sometimes out loud. Today I was able to mostly not think about it; when cars past me it was just a little bit nerve-racking not totally debilitating. This may have to do with the width of the shoulder, the general niceness of cars slowing down and pulling a bit over, the lack of traffic or possibly a reduction in general anxiety, possibly due to lake of gluten in my diet
2) When I hit 27 mph going downhill it was just sort of fun, in fact i didn't even notice until I stopped and looked at the bike computer - last summer I would have been breaking if I went over 24mph. Again it's hard to know why this may have been less stressful - but it was.
3) I climbed a hill that last year I would never have made it up w/o stopping. I felt so good about it at the top that I nearly stopped to take a pic of the hill to show how tough it was (in my mind) but didn't cuz I wanted to ride w/o having to stop for "resting." I'm going to attribute this to improved fitness from going to the gym all the time while I was unemployed - cuz I got nothing else out of going to the gym all the time.
Ride Statistics:
1/2 way point
miles: 5.05
avg speed: 11.9 mph
time: 25:19 min
overall:
miles: 10.08
avg speed: 12.8
time: well the computer says 47 now, but I'm pretty sure it was just over 45 when I pulled up to the building...so something like that.