After realizing I was off by a week with my distances and correcting it last week, I wanted to make sure this week I stayed true to my schedule. Which meant it was once again time for a new route that would cover a distance of 14 miles.
I played around with a site called TrailGuru, which has the functionality of Google Maps with a couple of minor tweaks to make it more user friendly. I wanted to change things up a bit -- actually, I had to change things up a bit in order to get to 14 miles-- but there were some sections of previous routes I wanted to include, mostly because they had really wide sidewalks and/or separated bike paths.
Against my better judgement, I included a tour of the industrial park that I first rode through on Day 21. I wasn't thrilled about it, but it allowed me to include almost the entire length of the best bike path I had come across up to this point, and it also included a very short, very, very nasty uphill climb right before the 10-mile mark.
On the second night following this route, everything was great until I got about 2/3 of the way through the industrial park. As I came up on a T-intersection, I noticed some random dude in the middle of the crosswalk, slowly pacing back and forth. At 10:45 pm. On a Thursday. Something didn't quite add up here, but I wasn't about to stop and ask, "Hey man, how's it going? So I'm guessing you're either waiting for a ride -- in the middle of the street -- or you're a lookout for the burglary taking place in one of these dark warehouses." So I stared straight ahead, wondering if I'd be able to outrun him and his cronies as they chased me down in their getaway car. I was thankful for that little boost of adrenaline, because that tiny hill I mentioned felt a lot like trying to ride my bike up a wall. To borrow a term from the Fat Cyclist, I shifted down into the Granny Gear and slooooooowly reached the top. But apparently I was fast enough to outrun the bad guys.
Other highlights from the week:
- 2 "cat calls" on two different occasions from random idiots driving by, who seem to get a charge out of screaming out their window, I'm guessing in an attempt to scare me. It does startle me, but I don't think it has the intended effect of making me ride into a bush. My reply to the first cat call was to scream right back, and the second elicited a scream of "DOUUCHEBAAAAG!!!" from me.
- Got screamed at by a hawk, had 2 flybys from owls and got cut off on Hell Hill by a coyote, who responsibly looked both ways while crossing the street.
- I've been using clipless pedals since I started riding the hybrid, which is something I'm still getting used to. One night, as I rolled up the driveway to finish my ride, I completely forgot to unclip and didn't think about it until it was too late, i.e., I had come to a complete stop. I fell over like those goats that pass out when they get scared. No harm done, but pretty embarassing nonetheless. I'm just glad that stupid motorcycle trailer wasn't there to mock me.
And the vitals:
August 11
Distance: 13.86 miles
Time: 1:04:43
Pace: 4:27
August 13
Distance: 14.12 miles
Time: 1:01:24
Pace: 4:21
August 15
Distance: 14.10 miles
Time: 1:01:16
Pace: 4:20
So far, after a week of riding the hybrid, I've knocked 31 seconds off the pace of my last ride on the mountain bike. I'm fairly certain I won't be knocking off 30 seconds every week, but if I can knock 20 seconds off over the course of the next four weeks, I'll hit my goal.
Four weeks from today!
0 comments:
Post a Comment