bike ride
I do know how to ride a bike but it’s never been something that I’ve gone out and done. I know Alex is into his downhilling a whole lot and that @dozylilsis rounds her bike around in the woods but it hasn’t ever really appealed to me.
Chris and I ummed and ahhed about taking our bikes to Posh Camping (which I will write about soon) about whether we would actually get out and ride them or not. Thankfully we did and because Ben and Jane are cycling across from coast to coast sometime soon (route) so were looking to actively go out and cycle.
Ben had a rough idea where we were going and off we went. First things first. I wasn’t that confident at knowing what gear was most appropriate and when to use it. It just meant I had to work harder to maintain the same pace I found. Plus it took me a while to work out the most effective body position for going up steep hills. The first hill was a real struggle this was 5 minutes into the ride!
The second and biggest hill was just horrible. It was constant and just went up and up and up.
Anyway, we kept going up and up until we hit a forest and spent a whole lot of time going down with some ups in between. After we had a Snickers about half way around I found it got easier and it seemed some of the cardio I have from BMF transferred into bike riding. It really didn’t seem to to start with, when I was out of breath and finding it hard going. After that it was a whole lot more enjoyable, things seemed easier.
The downhill parts were a whole lot of scary though. I can appreciate the thrill that Alex gets from it but it’s still scary when you’re moving at twenty something miles an hour on a uneven surface.
Then we had one final hill back to the farm that I managed but which made the track after remarkably difficult.
I really enjoyed it. I need to do it more often!
August 24, 2009
4 responses to bike ride
That map is so cool! I can’t believe how far you lot went! (It explains a lot.)
As the skinny wheeled road cyclist here, how long did that take you, and was it all on tracks/fields/mountains etc?
(Cool map too – I need to get a working version of SportsTracker on my N97)
Sorry Rob, meant to reply sooner.
Took us a couple of hours -ish. Not really sure. It was roads and tracks, mostly tracks through the forest and past farms. If you view the elevation you can see how big the first hill was. My ‘bicycle fitness’ wasn’t great to start with!
Looks like about 1200 feet – oof! I feed the need to check the elevation of the monster hill in the 23 miler that starts from my office… And still get sports tracker working :\