I used to enjoy my sister's posts about her bike rides. She was always finding new adventures and interesting sights to see. And she always had her camera on hand to document her experiences. I am not as good as she was. But I did have a bicycle adventure the other day sans camera.
On Monday I took Doug's bike out for a little ride. I needed to get some exercise in and I thought I would try it out. I rode out of our community and headed south. When I was almost to Glendale Avenue I turned west and traveled through some parking lots (that way I stayed off the main streets). I crossed 91st Avenue at the light and then turned north. About 1/4 mile later I turned west again and that brought me to the parking lot of Cabella's. I drove around the entire outside contour of the parking lot. That was fun. I also went around the Cracker Barrel parking lot. Then I rode down a dead end road and came back just to extend my distance a little bit. By then I had been going for 15 or 20 minutes. I headed home. I pretty much reversed my route home.
When I got through the parking lots and onto 89th Avenue I was heading north toward Emil Rovey Parkway. On the road I noticed a traffic control device that would flash the speed of a car as it approached (this was in place because Raymond Kellis High School was just up the road). So even though I was almost done with my ride - I was up for getting my speed to register.
As I got closer it flashed 15 mph. I realized at this point that it would register my speed so I started pumping harder. Now it was at 16. OK, faster. 17 I was moving faster - but not fast enough. Keep speeding up - my legs were nearly blurs as I pedaled and pushed myself to go faster. At 18 mph I wanted to stop but not yet - still too slow. I must not be a wimp. Keep . . . going . . . must . . . . go . . . . faster ! Pant. Gasp. Cotton mouth. Sweat pouring. Energy waning. Hair flying. Eyes watering. About to give up - but going all out for one more second.
I DID IT!
I MADE IT!
I GOT TO 20 mph!
I was going so fast I could nearly coast all the way home - not really but the exaggeration sounds good.
I need to do that again sometime.
What a rush!
And I felt reassured that no matter how fast I pedal -
there is not even a remote possibility
that I will be speeding.
What a relief!
3 comments:
So haw many calories do you figure you worked off going 20 miles an hour? Great effort.....
Darn, I thought you were gonna say something like - I got flashed for speeding in a school zone, or that you hit a small bumb and went sailing off your bike....something exciting like that. But, congrats on the 20mph. That is a great accomplishment!
I do that every day riding down the hill to school. If you want to do it again, just find a hill to go down.
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