Very rainy and cold, and I am slightly relieved that it is not just me but Lauren who deems it unsuitable weather for a long outdoor ride! I'm going to ride my bike just down to Chelsea Piers and get started on my ride there, do the back-to-back spin classes; Lauren will meet me for 11am spin and then we'll see whether we could ride outside along the West Side path for a while (the weather is so bad, it won't be at all crowded) or whether we stay there on indoor bikes.
Our next long ride is planned for next Sunday, with no flexibility about rescheduling, but I now feel full of trepidation in case some other weather thing comes up; I think I should actually make it a priority to get to the Palisades Park on my own sometime Thursday and ride a bit there, just to get over the hump of anxiety about it.
(Was lying in bed waiting for Lauren to call this morning with my stomach in utter knots!)
(I have scheduled the week in Cayman as a recovery week, with just a three-hour long ride on the Sunday, but I know that I can do a 5-hour ride there if I need to, and in some ways it's more straightforward there - there are no hills, but there are also no bridges; there is bad traffic except on Sunday mornings, but as long as I get out the door c. 5:30am - fortunately Brent is an early riser and is eminently willing to tip me out of bed if I request it in advance, even if my morning self is protesting! - that would work fine.)
I can't take the shuttle to NJ next Sunday, as it only runs six days a week (it is possible that Lauren might drive us, or else I'll just meet her on the NJ side of the river and get there as best I can), but in general I'm planning on taking Columbia's shuttle to the Lamont Observatory; longtime blog readers will perhaps remember that the last time I tried to ride over the George Washington Bridge from NY to NJ I had a full-blown panic attack that caused me to have to turn around and go home (I know perfectly well that they cause no lasting damage, it's not a cognitive fear, but having one really ill-equips one for safe continued bicycle-riding!), but I am pretty confident that if I get over to NJ and am homeward bound I'll be OK (the approach from the NJ side is much less horrible and vertigo-inducing than the one on the NY side, and also by that point I'm more desensitized to anxiety from having already had some hours of cycling). I can also always get off and walk it, which still is terrifying but not quite so much so as teetering on a bicycle next to a not-very-high-railing, however this is a foolish thing as it is over a thousand meters long and takes fifteen minutes to cross on foot!
OK, time to get some breakfast and pack up things for Chelsea Piers...
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1 comment:
You don't have a bike trainer right? One thing I would be concerned about with all the indoor riding is getting used to my real saddle for long rides.
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