First real ride on Celeste.
This ride was supposed to be a nice mellow, time in the saddle, ride. Apparently I have issues with mellow.
The five morons in the white pickup truck, get my special unique one finger salute. Took me awhile to remember that I didn't even have a bike pump to back that up. Entire contents of pockets: Cell phone, Health Insurance Card, Debit Card, Driver's License, Heart Rate Monitor, House Key.
I guess I could always joint lock one of them.. and threaten the rest with the screams of their friends.
I keep an eye on them until they turned off the main road. Ever cautious that they will take my invitation to put up or shut up seriously.
I don't think I'll ever understand the need of you humans to taunt people that are obviously in a weaker position than you. 3000 lbs. vehicle with 5 teen agers vs. one 37 year old cyclist in spandex (and out of breath).
C'mon back if you want to find out how un-terrified I am of your punk-ass.
Rounding the corner at the end of North Road eased up the headwind a bit.
I let up on the pace a bit and try to get into a groove. I find the groove, but it's about 15 beats per minute higher than I should be at. Oh well. I'm on the bike, I'm outside. I'm smiling. A little hard work, sweat, and sunshine should do me good.
Turning on to Iroqouis Road and the wind is now at my back. I'm spinning out. Mean tailwind.
Back into civilization, a cyclist comes up beside me but turns right. I head out to the main road and take a right. A block up I see that cyclist again. He took a short cut? But I'm nearly on him, so it wasn't quite so short.
I try not to chase him. The dog in me wants to run.
I follow a few hundred feed behind. I could catch him. I hold back. I'm supposed to be riding mellow. When we get to the leetle hill exiting Ewa, I can see him running thru his gears as he climbs. He's half way up by the time I get there. The road turns up to about 6% and I'm forced to stand. No gears to run thru. Celeste is a simple girl. No frills, all thrills. I think about smooth clean circles as Celeste and I rapidly gain ground. Flying up this hill is the first time today that I've felt like a cyclist. When I get to the top, I'm ten feet behind him, but quite out of breath. It feels good. The burning quads, my lungs requesting more oxygen. (They should get used to that!)
I turn right and let the rabbit go. If this was not a mellow ride, I might have stuck with him.
Cruising around, I discover a park, and a paved path. It's not very well maintained. Rain and the footfalls of thousands have removed the soft tar and left a gravely grey strip. I follow along, only vaguely aware of where I'm headed. It wander between the loch and a golf course, which provides me with alternating aromas of cut grass and fertilizer and loch water.
When you're on a bike, everything smells better. Even things that normal don't. I wander, say hit to the LDS's going the other way.
The path ends at a T intersection with a cane road. Hawai'i's version of a fire road. I randomly choose right and ride until I get my bearings. Looks like a good place to go exploring. Noting that mentally, I turn around and find my way back to civilization. Time to head home. I wish I'd brought some water with me.
The wind is a partial tailwind, so Celeste and I make good time home.
Home and happy.
My average Heart rate for this one hour jaunt is 86% of max, or 160 BPM.
Way too high. I was supposed to be under 132 for the average.
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1 comment:
Hey, Tiff, good to see you out riding. But in the cold north? I get shivers just thinking about it.
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