justblues

Saturday was a perfect day for riding and my planning paid off. I knew that traffic would be very sparse on a weekend in this particular area. Some of the roads would even be closed to car traffic on the weekend. Being a morning person, I started at daybreak and just rode. I left my truck at the office building where I work and took a bottle of water with me along with emergency supplies. I left a couple of water bottles in the truck. I took a long lazy loop that took me past the truck a couple of times during the ride and each time I passed, I paused briefly and swigged water. The birds were singing. Many fruit trees are flowered. There were just enough hills to make it work, but not enough to kill a beginner. I saw two large groups of bicyclists and a few solo riders besides myself. At one point I went about 1 1/2 miles down a MUP at a very leisurely pace. As the MUP is mainly used by people who break their work day with a stroll during lunch, I saw no one else on the MUP. Despite having it to myself, I did stay well below the clearly posted speed limit of 10 mph on the MUP. While on the road, I found that 12 mph seems to be a typical average pace for me. I did see some cars-- there's always someone who has to work on the weekend, but they gave me wide berth for the most part and I never really felt threatened. There was one guy pulling a trailer behind his pickup that passed a little closer to me than I am comfortable with and then started to get back over a little too soon but I slowed way down and survived. There were a couple of construction entrances that I hadn't planned on that made me a little nervous, but I passed them without incident. I do always worry about what is coming up behind me. What do you use to keep watch on what is behind you? While on a very straight part of the MUP where I had visibility for quite a distance, I decided to see if I could get an energy bar out of my handlebar bag, open it and eat it without stopping. I was awful wobbly and don't think that I'll ever try it again. I'll only eat or drink while stopped. Do any of you ever eat or drink while riding? I can't imagine that I will ever be coordinated enough to do it safely. I ended up riding 30 miles, which was a little less than I expected and I know less that what some of you ride on Saturday. I decided it wasn't too bad though considering that a little over a month ago I couldn't even sit up for more than a few minutes at a time.

OldTryGuy

You got in 30 miles more than I did.

qcpmsame 

Sounds like a nice ride, you will get used to being on the roads, with more miles and time there. As for seeing behind you, I use the "Take-a-Look" mirror, it mounts to the left arm of my glasses and can be adjusted to focus and to your riding position, easily. There are many different options, bar end mounted mirrors, the old style bar clamp mounts, etc. I believe you are on a hybrid, so the specialized drop bar type mounts, like the "Mirrycle" won't work. Some folks are hard core, "just look back over your shoulder", types, but the spinal fusions stop me from rotating around far enough to see far enough, or in a wide enough arc.

As OTG said, 30 miles this quickly is pretty darn sporty, well done.

Bill

rumrunn6

drink yes, eat no.

but sometimes I bring my auto GPS and keep it in a small bag on my top bar and I figured how to whip it out, turn it on, get my bearings, turn it off and slip it back in. this is useful if I'm with the family on a new route and they are curious "how much longer Dad" or "where are we Dad"