Chicken Shi(a)t

So, as I've said, I'm on cutting back on my car usage. In an effort, to leave my house so I can remain sane and not feel trapped at home on the weekends, I got a bike. Well on Friday, I announced that I was going to bike it the 7.5 miles to Starbucks on Sunday. Well I thought, why put off until tomorrow what can be done today...so here's Shia's first attempt.

So you know that saying...once you learn to ride a bike you NEVER forget? Well I don't think it's a 100% true. The beginning of my journey was a little wobbly. Literally! I thought at one point I was going to fall over. Don't even get me started on stopping. Apparently most of the time I forgot that I had actual brakes and just decided to throw my feet down and stop Fred Flintstone style and if you don't know who Fred Flintstone is...you're too young to be reading this blog...LOL. 

Okay now I am realizing that I should have taken some pictures...but believe me I was just concentrating on staying on the bike. 

So, I start off....I immediately realize how much we take for granted how far things are away because we are spoiled by our cars. Every time a car passed me I got a little angry....well aren't you SPECIAL....you'll be at your destination in NO time!

THANK GOODNESS I'M RIDING ON THE SIDEWALK! Apparently, I didn't think about certain things when I planned this trip. Like um....stopping at intersections, crossing streets, etc. Luckily there wasn't much going on and most of the road is a divided road so I only had to worry about one side of traffic. By the time I got to the two lane road I was doing A LOT better and at this point in the road the sidewalk was FAR from the road.  A lot of grass for my buffer.

Well I started off at 12:45 and.....got home at 1:30! No, I didn't make it to Starbucks. I made it 2.5 miles before I had to stop. I stopped....realized my bottle water was hot, the backpack containing my laptop was killing my back and the bike seat was hurting my bum. Also, at this point I was feeling like I was about to throw up. Also, my arms were killing me...apparently I had the Vulcan Death Grip on those handle bars. 

This is where Shia chickened out. I knew I could rest and keep going but fear set in. How much further could I go and what would happen if I couldn't make it home? Believe me I was too proud to give up but I was even more "too proud" to have to call someone to come and get me. 

So all in all my first attempt was successful because it was a learning experience. Things that I will do different next time....

1) COLDER WATER

2) When there is shade....which isn't much...stop (with brakes) and drink some water.

3) Make more realistic attempts. First time on a bike in like forever isn't going to yield a 7.5 mile one way trip. Next time I will attempt to go to the end of the main road of my neighborhood (I made it half way down this road before stopping) and that will be 3.25 miles. (TOTAL 6.5)

4) If I make it to the end of this main road and feel like I can keep going. I will stop at a few roads up which will be 3.8 miles. (TOTAL 7.6)

So, to sum up....7.5 and 15.0 miles total is TOO FAR! I have to build up to this. I'm gonna do it every weekend so hopefully within a month or so I'll be sipping on some Green Tea writing a blog about how I finally made it.