Made-up numbers

Miles I rode yesterday: 58

That's not made-up! NYC to West Point...

Percentage of the ride that deserves the adjective delightful: 5%

Percentage of the ride that deserves to be called enjoyable: 70%

Hmmm, perhaps that is slightly too generous? No, I guess it is pretty much true...

Breakdown of other 25% (in terms of horror rather than duration):

Riding out of NY: 5%

Riding on the bike path over the George Washington Bridge: 35% (would be higher, but duration was extremely brief--but it is very narrow and twisty, and you are VERY close to the edge!)

Riding through confusing country intersections where it is hard to stay with the group: 5%

Clipping out while coming to a stop on an uphill intersection of some sort from which one will shortly have to get started again: 5%

Riding down steep hills: 50%

I was wishing in retrospect that I had appreciated the not-utterly-horrifying aspect of the NYC bit of the ride more--really there was no traffic, it was a holiday, whereas I am still finding these downhill rides extraordinarily nerve-racking!

Really the nicest part was getting into New Jersey and suddenly feeling almost calm. Those are the empty suburban and country bike-riding roads of my fantasies! And we passed a field with horses in it?!? And often there were no cars in sight!

One of the three screws came out of my left cleat at some point, I think just before the descent on Bear Mountain (I could tell it had gotten jiggly, and I was having trouble clipping back in). I am hoping that if I screw the other two back in more tightly, it will stay on for today and tomorrow - but perhaps some well-supplied other cyclist will have an extra screw...

All right, must go and get a move on & get ready for today's ride. But I am relieved to have survived thus far. It is nothing epic by cyclist standards, and I was riding with the slowest group (because the C group has a no-drop policy!), but that is still what I call a real bike ride. This is my big bike training weekend for the NYC tri in two weeks, so I think it worth the sacrifice of the lovely quiet weekend of reading and writing I could have been having at home...

If I can make it through the day in cheerful spirits, I may reward myself and preempt likely stress by skipping this evening's social event, there is something about having dinner on a boat that makes you feel trapped! It will be much better if I stay in my hotel room and read a book and watch Olympic swimming on television (thanks to Wendy for telling me when it would be on)...

Really the title for this post should have been "A screw loose"!