Well, I have just had an extremely successful and non-epic (in a good way!) bike-run workout - I actually now have a glimmer of hope that it might be that I could get on top of this biking thing, which has really seemed insurmountable to me...
It is all thanks to Triathlete Lauren! She has a thorough conviction (she is an Ambassador for the Sport!) that it is worth her taking some trouble with me in order to help me learn to love cycling a bit more...
(She is a former bike messenger and avid mountain biker and triathlete - hmmm, I am thinking she has about 5 bikes - and in a tiny NY apartment; it is not a question of having a garage or a basement! That may even be an underestimate... She is doing the Harriman half-iron race the same day I'm doing the Florida one.)
She picked me up in her CAR and we drove up and over the bridge to the Palisades Interstate Park (i.e. our ride was along "River Road"). Parked at the far end, rode back to the other end of the park (v. near the GW Bridge, and apparently now connected to it by a BIKE PATH - i.e. I could actually timidly make my way there myself, on my bicycle, from where I live, all on bike paths other than a couple very brief stretches where you might need to cross a street or two or whatever, but could get off bike and walk it...) and then back to the lot.
Very hilly and enjoyably challenging ride - I will say that the ride itself was 85% THOROUGHLY enjoyable; I am still very nervous before riding and during any brief break on the ride, and I am still pretty nervous about the steeper downhills, and I do not like riding near to the edge of what is basically a PRECIPICE, but there is no way I will get more comfortable with those other than by keeping on riding...
Then we ran for 20 minutes - first half-mile up a HUGE hill! Hmmm, that is where I should have been training for the Antarctica marathon (I believe that people do run from the Upper West Side up and over and into the park there - in fact it might be better for my nerves if I did that as a run first and really sussed out all the little bits of interconnection between dedicated bike paths before doing it with a nerve-racking bicycle accompanying me...).
20 miles bike, 2 miles run
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Fabulous!! 85% Thoroughly Enjoyable! Kudos to you -- and Lauren!
Congratulations! Were you clipped in on your bike (I hope, I hope)?
Nicely done. You'll get the hang of it and slowly your confidence will build in those areas.
Hurray for the glimmer of hope, tho I'll have you (and your commenters) know that I'm aiming for 100.
On a factual/spatial note, I do have a "storage square" in the basement-- that is, a square chalked out on the floor that's reserved for me. Currently filled with a bunch of boxes, and yes, 5 bikes.
Terrific!! And wonderful that you can get there on your own as well.
Yay! That sounds like the perfect day!
That is so cool that she is a former bike messenger. Crazy awesome, in fact. And the car over the GWB is key- not having to do the steps in your bike shoes is certainly a plus.
Post a Comment