It's Never Too Late For Rookie Mistakes

OR

Repeating Rookie Mistakes.

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On Saturday I was out riding my bike. It sure was gorgeous out there, so I actually was quite giddy the days leading up, because - you know - just the thought of riding outside in the sun with temps in the 60s... It just has to make you giddy right?

Well, after the ride... giddy? Not so much anymore! Actually, I was quite p***ed off by the time I got back home. I realize that not every workout can be stellar, but this was just a little too much for my taste. And nobody to blame, but myself!

I volunteered with our church until 12am and Terry decided (finally) to buy himself a new car that we would pick up at 6pm that night... in Spartanburg... A one hour drive for us. With that being said, the window for my (according to plan) 50 mile bike ride was pretty small.

Originally, I planned to ride the 50 mile country loop out at Donaldson Center, but with the time constraints, the drive to and back just were out of the question, so I eventually decided to ride from the house and do the "Green Valley Loop" a couple of times and then ride back to the house. Simple math: 5 miles each to and from the loop, 11 point something mile loop... Do the loop 3 times and we end up with a total of +/- 43 miles and then tack on a couple of miles somewhere... Or not, depending on how I am doing time-wise.

I got home from volunteering and had a quick lunch and then got ready to head out. Of course things never go smoothly and by the time I hit the road it was already after 1PM... dang. Terry decided to join me for at least one loop (after running 18 miles in the morning.... he's a freak!).

1. (repeated) rookie mistake: Eating a decent size lunch right before hopping on the bike.

While my stomach is by far not as picky on the bike than it is running, that was a bad idea. I struggled with side stiches for the first hour on the bike. That was no fun!

After the first loop, Terry decided to ride home and I continued to go on my merry way for the second loop, which was not very spectacular, but at least I started feeling better and the side stiches finally decided to go away. What I did notice on the second loop, that there were awfully many rednecks on the roads and I started to dread to do this loop for another time. So I decided on a change of scenery.

2. (repeated) rookie mistake: Going on the Swamp Rabbit Trail with the bike on a Saturday afternoon while it's sunny and has temps in the 60s.

SRT was crowded like this... Just replace the snow with trail and grass and the deer with people.

 Do I have to even explain this? It was crowded! It was seriously insane how many people were out there enjoying the outdoors. It was impossible to go halfway fast without being a danger to myself or/and others. I also seemed to have completely blocked out the amount of intersection one has to cross on the trail. This is not so noticeable when you are running, but on the bike, you basically have to slow down or stop every couple of minutes... Which brings me to:

3. (repeated) rookie mistake: Don't get out of my pedals fast enough and fall over... In front of a crowd, since (see above) the trail was packed.

Not me, but you get the picture.

 It was really quite comical, because I knew it is going to happen a fraction of a second before I actually fell and was able to pick out the spot where I am going to plant myself. Fortunately, it was on grass and not the big rock a few feet away. For a couple of seconds I just lay there, getting really mad at myself. Weird enough, I was still clipped in both pedals and it took quite some effort to get out of the pedals. Which also makes me think, that my Speedplay pedals need some adjustments, because it should not be so hard to get out of them. I thought they are going to start loosening up with usage, but I have the pedals now for several months and put a couple hundred miles on them and still they are so stubborn.

Once I got myself up again, I just wanted to leave the scene of the "accident" as quickly as possible. But since this ride seemed to be cursed, of course I jammed up my chain so bad, that it needed three fellow cyclist and a police officer to get me going again. And even with all that help, it took at least 10 minutes.

Needless to say, I had it.... I took the direct way home...

I had to stop one more time, because with the fall, the brakes rubbed on the tire and my cadence sensor got messed up, so it made a clicking noise with every turn. In the end, I did 38 miles... Way off my plan and that made me mad too... I finally have to get the mileage in, when I am supposed to get it in. ARGGGHH!

I was able to do my ride on Sunday, but Terry took the bike to the shop this afternoon, because there was some light squeaking going on. Let see what the shop has to say. The jammed chain also scratched up the frame in a couple of spots.... ARGGGHH!