As much as I love, love, love running, running in the heat I hate. Like most other runner's I perform much better in cooler temperatures (like snow and rain). Every year there is a local Bike to the Bay event to fundraise for MS, and every year I want to join. This year I finally signed up, after coming nowhere near my half-marathon goal and needing a change. Then realized I needed a bike..
I shopped around a bit and wasn't having much luck, so I settled (sigh) for a performance hybrid in turquoise. The bike itself I wasn't so impressed with, but I LOVED the color. I am a very visual person so anything in blue/green/aqua I'm all about. After riding 50 miles in total I realized it was time for a road bike, my comfort was shot after more than 10 miles at a time. And, said turquoise bike is now on Craigslist pending a buyer. :)
I'm signed up for a lot of exciting events in September: a 62 mile bike tour, another half-marathon, and a 75 possibly 100 mile bike ride. While I'm training a lot, I realized I'm essentially training for a half ironman, minus the swim. Why hadn't I signed up for a sprint triathlon?!? I am now potentially adding a sprint tri in October. The swim just happens to be in the ocean, because I obviously swim all the time in the ocean (yeahhh, right). Oh yea, and I'm doing my second full marathon in November!! Needless to say, my workouts are hmm hectic.
I've been building my base mileage for these bike rides and have gone on two 30ish + rides. I am now that person on the road that everybody hates, or in my Mom's case causes constant worrying.
Today's ride was good. It was earlier in the day so we weren't smoldering and traffic wasn't too cumbersome. We road out and it was a great ride, sun was shining, I wasn't getting sunburnt, we waved at some amish families, and we saved a turtles life!
The ride back wasn't as great. Sun was still shining, but we had crazy rednecks yelling at us to get off the road. They clearly are putting on blinders when they pass these signs.
And, aside from these signs and marked bike lanes all over, Delaware is number 5 for the most bike friendly states: http://bicycling.com/blogs/thehub/2013/05/01/washington-tops-2013-bicycle-friendly-state-ranking/. They clearly didn't interview this crazy lady.
We were 3/4 of the way back when it happened, I wasn't paying as much attention to the beveled road, and I fell. Hard.
The closest comparison I can come up with is when you get into a car accident. You know what's happening, but your mind has almost disconnected. At least that's what I'm telling myself, because if not I shouldn't have wiped out that much.
Somehow my handles dented and cut up my leg, and I now have two very large bone bruises and am finding walking difficult. My bike chain fell off, the whole left side of the bike was scratched, I ripped up all the comfort grip on my handlebars, and I had blood dripping down my leg. I looked like a hot mess.
Thankfully I went biking with a friend and she stopped and helped get compose myself and fix my bike. This is why you don't bike alone.
We then had a very sweet older man stop as he was driving to make sure we were ok. Thank you sir, you totally made that crazy woman null and void.
This is just the beginning of putting on spandex shorts that make my thighs bulge, and getting yelled at as I dodge cars and the beveled road.
Make a donation to stop the fight against Multiple Sclerosis: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/DEDBikeEvents?px=12285616&pg=personal&fr_id=20707
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