Maiden voyage
Well, it is now officially spring, because today I finally took my bike out for the first time this year!
There were a number of days in March when I wanted to, but either circumstances prevented me, or I wasn't sure how long a ride I should attempt given that all my hard-won cycling muscles had probably atrophied over the winter and I might be basically starting from scratch. But Tuesday I went on one of the stationary bikes at GoodLife as a sort of trial run, and was able to do two miles on it without too much trouble, so I figured that meant I could probably try riding my bike to GoodLife today, since that's only a little over a mile.
I was equal parts excited and apprehensive, because I've really missed cycling, but I wasn't sure how hard it would be. But really, the only down side turned out to be the discovery that my tires had gone flat over the winter. Once that was remedied, I was off, and quickly found that riding was no problem at all...
Hell, I ended up riding up a hill on Heath Street that last fall I would end up walking up half the time. And I didn't even downshift. Mind you, I think I was in somewhat of an altered state of consciousness at the time: bike intoxication, defined as having all rational thought replaced with an endless stream of "BIKE BIKE FREEDOM YAY WHEE FRESH AIR SUNSHINE WIND SPEED WHEE BIKE BIKE BIKE <3 <3 <3 !!!" :-)
I hit Yonge Street before I knew it, and was only the very tiniest bit wobbly in the legs after getting off the bike. I did find that some of the weight machines that I suppose must work the same muscles one uses in cycling were a little harder to do than usual, though. But that was the only ill effect, and even the way back was easy, though I really have to say that Heath Street is a much less desirable cycling route during rush hour than at other times.
Note to self: time gym visits better in the future. Yes, Heath is a nice long relatively quiet street paralleling St. Clair that is usually great to bike on. But it is also narrower than one realizes until one finds oneself on there with wall-to-wall cars in both directions and about six inches of space to ride in (OK, slight exaggeration, but really, not by much).
Anyway, very pleased to find that I didn't lose my cycling ability over the winter after all. Unless a mere two weeks of working out brought it back?
. . .
One thing that I really did not enjoy, though was carting the bike up and down stairs again. I remember now that that was why I didn't always ride it as often as I otherwise might have, because sometimes I could easily see riding someplace, but couldn't quite bring myself to wrestle the bike down the stairs (a somewhat cramped staircase with several bends in it, at that).
I know keeping bikes outside is generally regarded as Not Safe, but I'm really tempted to try and find some semi-secure way of doing it anyway, just because this is going to drive me crazy. Also, I've had several near-accidents on the stairs with the bike, and sooner or later the "near-" part of that phrase is probably going to slip. I don't want my bike to get stolen, but I really don't want to fall down the stairs with it on top of me, either.
Any ideas?
There were a number of days in March when I wanted to, but either circumstances prevented me, or I wasn't sure how long a ride I should attempt given that all my hard-won cycling muscles had probably atrophied over the winter and I might be basically starting from scratch. But Tuesday I went on one of the stationary bikes at GoodLife as a sort of trial run, and was able to do two miles on it without too much trouble, so I figured that meant I could probably try riding my bike to GoodLife today, since that's only a little over a mile.
I was equal parts excited and apprehensive, because I've really missed cycling, but I wasn't sure how hard it would be. But really, the only down side turned out to be the discovery that my tires had gone flat over the winter. Once that was remedied, I was off, and quickly found that riding was no problem at all...
Hell, I ended up riding up a hill on Heath Street that last fall I would end up walking up half the time. And I didn't even downshift. Mind you, I think I was in somewhat of an altered state of consciousness at the time: bike intoxication, defined as having all rational thought replaced with an endless stream of "BIKE BIKE FREEDOM YAY WHEE FRESH AIR SUNSHINE WIND SPEED WHEE BIKE BIKE BIKE <3 <3 <3 !!!" :-)
I hit Yonge Street before I knew it, and was only the very tiniest bit wobbly in the legs after getting off the bike. I did find that some of the weight machines that I suppose must work the same muscles one uses in cycling were a little harder to do than usual, though. But that was the only ill effect, and even the way back was easy, though I really have to say that Heath Street is a much less desirable cycling route during rush hour than at other times.
Note to self: time gym visits better in the future. Yes, Heath is a nice long relatively quiet street paralleling St. Clair that is usually great to bike on. But it is also narrower than one realizes until one finds oneself on there with wall-to-wall cars in both directions and about six inches of space to ride in (OK, slight exaggeration, but really, not by much).
Anyway, very pleased to find that I didn't lose my cycling ability over the winter after all. Unless a mere two weeks of working out brought it back?
. . .
One thing that I really did not enjoy, though was carting the bike up and down stairs again. I remember now that that was why I didn't always ride it as often as I otherwise might have, because sometimes I could easily see riding someplace, but couldn't quite bring myself to wrestle the bike down the stairs (a somewhat cramped staircase with several bends in it, at that).
I know keeping bikes outside is generally regarded as Not Safe, but I'm really tempted to try and find some semi-secure way of doing it anyway, just because this is going to drive me crazy. Also, I've had several near-accidents on the stairs with the bike, and sooner or later the "near-" part of that phrase is probably going to slip. I don't want my bike to get stolen, but I really don't want to fall down the stairs with it on top of me, either.
Any ideas?