Rest Day

The day after I got my first bike and went for my first ride, my hubs wanted to go for another ride – this time the Five Mile loop at Point Defiance.  It’s closed for motorized vehicles on weekend mornings, and J was really excited to finally be able to ride it on a bike (we’ve walked around the park many times, watching as cyclists zoomed past us).

We got to the park at around 11am, and set off.  My butt immediately reminded me that I wasn’t accustomed to riding a bike for as long as we had the day before.  It hurt.  A lot.

It was colder than it had been the day before, but I figured we’d be working harder on the hillier ride, so that would probably keep me warm, and as a result I just wore a hoodie, no coat or gloves (mistake).  Unfortunately for me, the ride starts with a flat, then a big slow downhill where you just keep picking up speed.  Fun on a sunny day, but yesterday I froze my tail off (and ears, and fingers).

The downhill was followed by a pretty easy climb.  At least, on a normal day it'll be easy.  Yesterday day it was anything but.  My quads screamed at me, and I was quickly running out of what little energy I had when the day started.  I shifted down to a lower gear and barely made it to the top (learning along the way that shifting the front chain ring isn't easy, especially when you're going uphill - which seems to defeat its purpose).

We pulled over at a viewpoint, and I couldn’t enjoy it, I was panting so hard.

On the next climb, a midsize one, I ran out of juice.  I barely passed a couple slowly walking their dog, and another cyclist sped past me on the left.  I was in granny gear (which is what I've learned the lowest gear is called), breathing hard, and couldn’t muster the energy to keep pedalling.

I yelled out to J, “This isn’t fun anymore!”  I got off the bike, and walked it the rest of the way up the hill.  The couple with the dog passed me.

At the top of the hill, J could see that I was ready to be done and told me we could take a shortcut back to the car.  I couldn’t have been happier (but I was too tired to express it).

We rode back to the truck and put the bikes away.  Next time, we’ll be taking a rest day after a long ride.