Baby steps

The ride

A very nice wander.

My first serious ride in years. Health issues, which then made a correctly fitting bike paramount have kept me out of the saddle for longer distances. With this last week’s acquisition of a Surly fitted just for me, I was set to – finally – get out again.

This was a last minute decision with around 14 hours turnaround between decision and starting. Last night, I loaded up the Surly with the minimal needed gear (water bottle holders, aerobars, bag with my normal kit, and pump) and took her for a little 12-miler to ensure that everything was in good shape. It was, so this morning, off I went.

The route, as normal, was a big loop generated by a machine. I did zero inspection of the route before setting off. I had a lovely time going through West Roxbury, Needham, the Blue Hills Reservation, and the Neponset river trail. It was green! Lush! Verdant! Like a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (RIP) commercial!

I saw cows. Living, in “the big city” of Boston, any day that I see cows is a good day. I saw a snake! The little guy came and said hi when I was on a break! I had a lovely time riding along the Neponset River Trail (that I don’t think I’ve really explored before!). It’s green, by a river, has little board-walk sections and a cool bridge. What more can you ask from a trail?

I came to a T stop. I saw orange colored trains. “Oh! The orange line!”, I said. I was excited. I’ve never seen an orange line train, and despite their firey past, people seem to like the orange line. Lo and behold, it was not in fact the orange line but part of the Ashmont / Mattapan “high speed line”. I have questions about the lofty heights of speed, but I was charmed by the little cars.

I made it back, exhausted, and enjoyed the NA beer and frosted glass that were waiting for me.

Nominal

• The Surly. She did great! Really, no complaints. Given that she’s a touring bike, I didn’t have much in terms of expectations of speed. The limiting factor was my out-of-shape and incorrectly fueled body, keeping us at around a 14mph pace while moving. She can definitely go faster.
• The aerobars. I was very glad I stuck them on last night. They feel very good! I think I might try to take them a little further up for an even more relaxed fit.
• The handling of a road closure. I spent a few minutes chatting with the friendly officer who politely let me know that yes, they were very serious about the road being closed, that it was a ditch that I couldn’t get across, that the woods were full of poison ivy so please don’t attempt that, that what’s another two miles if you’re already riding seventy (we appreciated his flattery here), that bicycles are wonderful, and that he had spent eight years riding on a bicycle and getting paid time and a half, and if that isn’t the life, I don’t know what is. I thanked the officer, turned around, and immediately looked at a map. I resisted the siren calls of the Garmin 530 which tried to lure me back and away, and without fuss or ado, quickly found away around and back on course.
• Emergency cliff bloks. I’m very thankful for my practice of keeping emergency food with me at all times whenever I’m on a bike. That proved extremely useful.

Off nominal

There was a lot not to like. I made several unforced errors. Here they are.

• Food! Given that this was a last minute affair, I didn’t have time to make rice blocks. “Ah, that’s okay”, thought I, “It’s only a little 55 milers; I don’t need to worry about food”. Now, there was a time when that would have been true. Not having biked seriously in 2 years, however, my body did not agree. I – halfway through the ride – fell back on my emergency cliff bloks, which got me home okay.
• Water! It was really hot! The garmin said it went over 100F. My dual water bottle setup was simply not enough. I was able to make it stretch, but I need the full additional 2x 1.5L bottles I normally ride with. I’ll hook those up before the next ride.
• Lack of support of local businesses! By which I mean, I didn’t have cash for a lemonade stand. Shoot. I’ll start carrying that on me.

Okay, that was it. Not too bad after all. Given, however, that these are rookie mistakes, I was shaking my head at myself halfway through.

The route