The goal of my previous ride was to break the 10-mile barrier for the first time, which I thought I would be able to do with a couple of "sidestreet pitstops" thrown into the mix. And I'll actually never know, since Runkeeper and I were in a big fight, and the only record of the ride was a manually created map. I came close, logging 9.87 miles; I'm no math whiz, but 9.87 isn't 10, so I was determined to hit double digits this time.
Not being a fan of the out-and-back (did I mention that already?), I decided to try something a little different this time. When I hit my usual turnaround point, instead of actually heading back in the direction I came from, I took a left and followed the street around a fun downhill hairpin turn into an industrial section of Valencia.
Industrial areas are good places to ride at night, because most industries are shut down for the day and there's very little traffic. The downside is that there's very little traffic, meaning there's very little light on the road, and there are virtually no street lights. In other words, I had the road pretty much to myself (minus a few suspicous-looking parked cars with fogged-up windows -- don't worry, I averted my eyes), but I had a hard time seeing where I was actually going. And riding your bike on darkened streets when you're not familiar with the road you're on can be nerveracking. Check that ... it is nerveracking. Have I mentioned that I don't all that well at night? Yeah, so I had that going for me, too. In other words, I was pretty sure I was going to die on this ride, either from hitting a pothole, getting clocked by a car door opened by a lustful teenager, or simply by unknowingly riding my bike right off the edge of the Earth.
As I cautiously pedaled along, I thought to myself, "Self, I may die tonight, but I have a goal to reach ... so flat Earth be damned!" or something to that effect. Either way, I kept pressing forward, hoping at the very least for it to be painless if I was going to meet my demise.
Somehow, I did manage to make it out of the industral area in one piece and eventually found my way home again. When all was said and done, I had broken the 10-mile barrier (10.32 miles) in 48:44 (4:43 pace). At least, I'm assuming that was an accurate time, as once again Runkeeper and I got one step closer to breaking up -- for real this time. For the second ride in a row (and third time in five) the GPS tracking was all jacked up. But I didn't care too much, because not only had I finally hit the 10-mile mark, I was celebrating my 2-month training anniversary. So happy anniversary to me and the streets, sidewalks and bike paths of Valencia!
0 comments:
Post a Comment