Due to a combination of utter disgust for the indoor spinner and the well-deserved break in the weather, last week was the first official "bike outside" week.
I was relieved to find that the bike handling skills that I'd worked so hard to obtain were not lost over the winter. I am a spaz on the bike and am always one blink away from falling over. So activities like reaching for a water bottle, signaling turns, and taking bites of a PowerBar were challenging for me to master. I made a concerted effort to at least perform them passably last year, and this year those skills are still intact.
I did learn a FUN lesson on Tuesday's inaugural ride: mud + clipless pedals = foot-to-pedal glue. I was going down the bike path and encountered a large mud patch (gee, wonder why... maybe the 20 feet of snow melting?). It was the equivalent of quicksand, so I had to hop off the bike, carry the bike over the mud patch, and then clip back on. In the process, my bike shoes and clips got a nice layer of mud on them. So I clipped back into my pedals and, as I rode, the mud began to dry. And harden. As I approached the end of the bike path, I went to clip out. Nothing happened. CLIP OUT! CLIP OUT! AHHHH! Luckily, I was able to force my shoes free just in time to stop from ramming the bike path barrier. And I managed not to tip over.
I went out again on Saturday...which ended up being a mistake. Weather forecasters: there is a difference between "windy" and "gale forces that will blow your mailbox into your neighbor's living room." My friend and I started out, only to turn around 20 minutes into our ride when we both almost got BLOWN into a ditch. But at least we tried!
Hopefully this week will keep getting warmer and warmer, and the rides will be less eventful.
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