Road Ride Virgin No More

Did my first all road ride today. I was so nervous thinking about the ride and as we pulled up to the intersection to leave the apartment complex, I felt like I was at the top of a rollercoaster. My stomach was in knots and I was so jittery. The light changed and we pulled smoothly across the intersection. The first mile or so is downhill but it is also the highest traffic volume part of the ride and is the section with the smallest shoulder and riding room. As we began picking up speed my first thought was "shit, I hope my bike doesn't fall apart!" As we approached the first major intersection I was feeling a bit wobbly. I was having a hard time looking over my shoulder to assess traffic and we needed to turn left. Llama stepped in and smoothly merged with traffic and then singled and pulled into the left turn lane. I'm glad we had a green light as I had been worrying about the particular intersection since we decided to ride. We needed to turn left from one high volume road onto another and there are railraod tracks halfway through the turn. I had read about taking them headon so as to not wipe out by getting my tire stuck. Since the light was green when we reached it I had no time to think and worry over it and just plowed on through. A short distance later we made a right turn onto Church St which is has far fewer cars on it.

Church St was the first chance we had to relax and we both decided to pull over and get our breath and just calm down for a few minutes. We were both puffing pretty good at this point, but felt like the hardest and scariest part was behind us. Church St ended up being a bit more challenging then we imagined. It had a very slight grade. The kind that just slowly wears you down. Before too long I had to pull off and get water again. Quick sidenote: our wonderful "vintage" bikes do not have cages on them as yet. Truthfully I almost don't want to "sully" them. But it does need to take some priority as it is pretty damn inconvenient to have to sotp for drinks. Anyway, by this point I realized I wasn't going to make it the entire circuit we had planned, so we decided on a modified route and got back on the road. Our next intersection was another left hand turn and this time no turn lane and no turn arrow. It went very smoothly and before too long we had turned onto Town Hall which had been the least stressful in my mind pre-ride.

Town Hall was effortless. I don't know if it was the road being smoother or if there was a slight downgrade but it was effortless and took very little time. There was also a bit of a tailwind headed back home. There are two lanes going each direction which put me at ease as there was plenty of room for cars to go around. It was also nice because we were able to ride side by side and chat. Before long we were back at the railroad tracks and on the last leg of our ride. There is a "small" hill (which to me might as well have been the fucking Alps) and this is the section where there is a very small shoulder. I shifted down and plodded up and before long there is a slight levelling out. I took it slow and easy and when the grade increased again, I found myself clawing my gears for the granny gear. I made it as far up as I had wanted. The road widens just where it departs from the railroad tracks and there is a second lane and a sidewalk. I was shaking so badly I slowly made it to the sidewalk and crumpled off my bike. I stumbled up to where Llama was waiting with the water. We caught out breathe and decided to use the sidewalk to go the last 200 yards or so into the apartment complex.

When we reached our building I felt so excited to have a "real" ride under my belt. And I have a new appreciation for bike paths for leisurely rides and a new respect for roads. I feel exhausted and exhilarated. Oh and my legs are like jelly....