A Pleasant Surprise, Right in My Backyard

Today had a different focus for the ride. The point was to make time for a short ride after work and before the sun went down. Instead of distance this ride is about working on my balance which is often harder to focus on out on a paved multi-use mostly straight trail. I don't even know if anyone else would call it a ride. It's basically about a mile around the apartment complex. But even though I expected to feel really stupid and like it wasn't worth it, the value of this little jaunt was obvious before too long.

I had to utilize the Huffy today as there was no time to take the Sears in to the shop. So I made quick adjustments to the seat height and off we went. First off, this bike is a lot higher than the Sears. A lot. The seat is still leaning forward but for such a short ride it wasn't too distracting. It took more time to feel out the one speed backward-pedaling type brakes. So lest I make this boring by prattling on, here's the gist of today's ride. I had to actually take corners which I haven't really done since, oh, probably 7 or 8 years ago. So that was interesting and (I'm not ashamed to say it) very exhilarating. I realized how unbalanced I am and that if nothing else this ride is good for perfecting my balance and stability. That can only come in handy later.

Also, though there wasn't too much going on I had my first taste of being aware of cars and traffic. There were only a few, but I definitely had to spend more time swiveling my head about and paying attention to everything around me. Also there were speed bumps and I know how silly it is to even mention those, but you put a porky kid on a 3 inch wide frame and with the bulk of the weight a least 3 feet off the ground and that speed bump takes on a whole different life. It was fun going over them even slowly, and again made me think more about balance.

Though this was just a short little ride, I could definitely feel my thighs wearing out from the very mild grades. The ride ends going up a bit more of a hill too so there's a bit of a challenge for me at the end. There were actually a lot of interesting aspects of this ride that I had not anticipated even a little bit. And since it takes very little time and is a short distance, it doesn't feel the least bit overwhelming and I may actually be able to maintain the motivation to do it each evening while there is little light after work.

I would say overall this little insignificant ride was a pleasant surprise. My muscles got a workout (as practically any small bit of exercise requires a good bit of effort), it was fun, and it stimulates other parts of my riding brain than a plain old trail. Perfect for now.