the road to hell
What with gas prices and my own liberal guilt about my carbon footprint (not that I do *that* much about it, besides recycling everything I can), I had the brilliant idea to commute by bike this summer. I mean, I live only about 3 miles from campus, and there's a lovely rail trail through the Arboretum that takes me right up to campus. It's perfect! Good intentions and all that.
Yesterday was my first communting day. It was also my first bike ride since last summer, and my first day with my poorly-installed bike rack (totally my fault). Oh, and I didn't have bungee cords, so I thought, "That's okay. I'll just use this good sturdy twine."
So, how was my commute?
See: Disaster, unmitigated.
Admittedly, the worst part was when I found myself pushing my bike up a hill in a pasture filled with waist-high grass, but that was later--on my way home from school. First, I had to get there.
Let's not forget that it was in the mid-90s yesterday. I had two full bottles of water with me. Headed off down the trail, a bit later than I wanted to, but still with 30 minutes to get to school on time. Right away, my twine failed. Fine. Readjusted. Pedaled. Twine failed. Eventually had to sling both my shoulder bag and my lunch bag onto my shoulders--and I had a backpack with me, too.
Lurched on up to the big hill that leads to campus. Knew there was no way in hell I'd make it up that hill in the heat in any kind of reasonable time frame, so I got off the bike and pushed. Got to the top of the hill and my ears were ringing, I was dizzy, etc. Took a short break. Had some water. Pedalled on to campus.
Was only 10 min. late, but my first appointment didn't show, so it was no big deal. Ran into a committee member who asked if I was sunburnt. Of course, it was just that my face was bright red from exertion. Yeah, I'm a sexy exerciser. Cleaned myself up, changed my shirt, put on some makeup, etc. Went about my day.
After softball practice (more on that momentarily), I loaded up my stuff (having bought bungee cords at lunch, so that my cargo was secure), and headed over to the barns. Somewhere behind them is a shortcut to the Arboretum trail. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. There are a lot of barns, and I've only ever come UP the trail that way--never gone down it. Couldn't find my way. Instead, I found a random tractor trail that led me through a meadow...to a fence. On the other side of which was more meadow. Trapped and lost, I had to go back up the meadow to where I started.
This is when I find myself pushing the bike through waist-high grass. I coated my legs in Off! and started off, but got tangled in the bike and fell down. At that point, I wanted to be home so badly I was ready to cry. I was hot, and I was tired, and I was lost. But I trudged on, and eventually found myself back at the barns, where I tried another path. I got a close-up of the cows, who were extremely happy to see me (they came running)...but found myself on the wrong side of the fence, with a locked gate, and couldn't get back to the road. Kept riding. Found a way around. Found another dead-end. FINALLY got out of that maze, and decided just to ride the road until I was about 2/3 of the way home, b/c there's an access road by the Army Reserve Station that dumps out right on the trail.
The only good part was that the road riding was entirely downhill. But the trail back is very slightly uphill...the whole way.
I was rationing what little water I had left, so I was dying of thirst. I'd had four bottles of water (one of which was 32 oz, one was 20, and the other two were probably 16), but I was losing water faster than I could replace it, and had the glimmerings of a dehydration migraine. The trail has never been so long. I finally made it home after probably close to an hour, and once I got upstairs, immediately shoved my head under the kitchen faucet, then filled two glasses with water and double-fisted them until I didn't think I was going to die.
It was horrible.
I'm driving today.
But I'm not giving up on the bike. I'll ride later in the week or next week--I need to fix the bike rack, b/c the wire ties I used to hold it on to the seat post (long story) rubbed against my thighs and left a horrible rash. So I need to fix that.
Once I had a cold shower and some food...and 10 hours of sleep, I felt better. I'm not even that sore today, which surprises me, b/c I also played softball yesterday.
In the burning sun, of course.
I even caught a fly ball in right field!! I was so stunned that I stood there staring at it and forgot to throw it to second until the runner had a good head start. Oh, well. Baby steps. I hit well, though. I just need to work on getting more power into my swings--just once I'd like to hit it out of the infield.
Yesterday was my first communting day. It was also my first bike ride since last summer, and my first day with my poorly-installed bike rack (totally my fault). Oh, and I didn't have bungee cords, so I thought, "That's okay. I'll just use this good sturdy twine."
So, how was my commute?
See: Disaster, unmitigated.
Admittedly, the worst part was when I found myself pushing my bike up a hill in a pasture filled with waist-high grass, but that was later--on my way home from school. First, I had to get there.
Let's not forget that it was in the mid-90s yesterday. I had two full bottles of water with me. Headed off down the trail, a bit later than I wanted to, but still with 30 minutes to get to school on time. Right away, my twine failed. Fine. Readjusted. Pedaled. Twine failed. Eventually had to sling both my shoulder bag and my lunch bag onto my shoulders--and I had a backpack with me, too.
Lurched on up to the big hill that leads to campus. Knew there was no way in hell I'd make it up that hill in the heat in any kind of reasonable time frame, so I got off the bike and pushed. Got to the top of the hill and my ears were ringing, I was dizzy, etc. Took a short break. Had some water. Pedalled on to campus.
Was only 10 min. late, but my first appointment didn't show, so it was no big deal. Ran into a committee member who asked if I was sunburnt. Of course, it was just that my face was bright red from exertion. Yeah, I'm a sexy exerciser. Cleaned myself up, changed my shirt, put on some makeup, etc. Went about my day.
After softball practice (more on that momentarily), I loaded up my stuff (having bought bungee cords at lunch, so that my cargo was secure), and headed over to the barns. Somewhere behind them is a shortcut to the Arboretum trail. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. There are a lot of barns, and I've only ever come UP the trail that way--never gone down it. Couldn't find my way. Instead, I found a random tractor trail that led me through a meadow...to a fence. On the other side of which was more meadow. Trapped and lost, I had to go back up the meadow to where I started.
This is when I find myself pushing the bike through waist-high grass. I coated my legs in Off! and started off, but got tangled in the bike and fell down. At that point, I wanted to be home so badly I was ready to cry. I was hot, and I was tired, and I was lost. But I trudged on, and eventually found myself back at the barns, where I tried another path. I got a close-up of the cows, who were extremely happy to see me (they came running)...but found myself on the wrong side of the fence, with a locked gate, and couldn't get back to the road. Kept riding. Found a way around. Found another dead-end. FINALLY got out of that maze, and decided just to ride the road until I was about 2/3 of the way home, b/c there's an access road by the Army Reserve Station that dumps out right on the trail.
The only good part was that the road riding was entirely downhill. But the trail back is very slightly uphill...the whole way.
I was rationing what little water I had left, so I was dying of thirst. I'd had four bottles of water (one of which was 32 oz, one was 20, and the other two were probably 16), but I was losing water faster than I could replace it, and had the glimmerings of a dehydration migraine. The trail has never been so long. I finally made it home after probably close to an hour, and once I got upstairs, immediately shoved my head under the kitchen faucet, then filled two glasses with water and double-fisted them until I didn't think I was going to die.
It was horrible.
I'm driving today.
But I'm not giving up on the bike. I'll ride later in the week or next week--I need to fix the bike rack, b/c the wire ties I used to hold it on to the seat post (long story) rubbed against my thighs and left a horrible rash. So I need to fix that.
Once I had a cold shower and some food...and 10 hours of sleep, I felt better. I'm not even that sore today, which surprises me, b/c I also played softball yesterday.
In the burning sun, of course.
I even caught a fly ball in right field!! I was so stunned that I stood there staring at it and forgot to throw it to second until the runner had a good head start. Oh, well. Baby steps. I hit well, though. I just need to work on getting more power into my swings--just once I'd like to hit it out of the infield.