... Well, not exactly. But close. On Saturday, I went for my first outdoor ride since last October. It was wonderful! I actually don't mind riding on the trainer, but this ride beat any and all trainer rides hands down. A crisp day, breezy, sunny, out in Virginia horse country on backroads where you saw more horses than cars. Company was good too - in the spirit of tradition, I went riding with Karen and John (my first outdoor ride of the year always seems to be with Karen and John). They are both into biking, both road and mountain biking. Between the two of them, I think they own about 10 bikes. I'm not joking. Anyway, we were doing a loop north of Middleburg, VA that John had pulled off the internet and none of us had ridden before. The first 14 miles were beautiful and perfect. And then, we took a right on another picturesque country road and pavement was suddenly replaced by dirt and gravel. Nothing says "Welcome Back To Outdoor Riding" like an unpaved, rutted, HILLY dirt road. On your tri bike. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I thought I was going to bite it. Looking back, going down some of those hills, I'm surprised I managed to remain upright. But you know what? It was fun and it made me want to buy a mountain bike (mine was stolen when I lived in the frat-tastic apartment building). And the whole ride in general has me all excited to do more outdoor riding. Yes, the trainer is convenient, but even with a good movie, it can get kind of boring. Plus, it's not nearly as great of a workout as a hilly outdoor ride with strong headwinds. I was tired, sore and hungry by the end, but really happy. The 45 miles went by fast and I'm looking forward to getting out again. I may even start bike commuting to work as the weather gets nicer.
Speaking of nice weather, Mark, Miles and I took advantage of a warm, sunny afternoon and took a walk along the Mall. We got some fun photos of Miles in front of some of the monuments and memorials. He was just beyond thrilled to be outside and around people. We were crossing a street and this little kid walked by us, looked at Miles, and was like "Hi Spot!" and just kept walking.
Tomorrow is Day 1 of my 2011 Triathlon Training. And on that note, I'm going to bed!
2 comments:
Sounds like a great day - I am jealous. Get a mountain bike - so much fun!
I would love to get a mountain bike again - mountain biking is scary AND fun. The first triathlon I ever did was the Xterra at Rocky Gap. I had no clue what I was doing (seeing as I'd bought my bike a week before, rode on it once at Schaffer Farm and didn't know how to swim). I made it through in one piece and my triathlon finish times have only gotten better since then (because they couldn't get much slower than that first race, ha!)
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