I swear I know how to ride a bike.

Bike Ride

Distance: 16 mi - ish

Time: 90 min - ish

Location: 56 Bike Path

Today's bike ride was fraught with difficulties, which is ironic because as I started out I decided I was finally comfortable on my bike and ready to try a different route then my typical out and back.

First I realized that as I've improved my fitness I can go longer and farther, but the bike path ends and so I decided to venture out a little further on the roads (insert dramatic scary music here, as I live in fear of being run over due to my beginner skills in biking). Unfortunately this had me riding down the steepest hill I've ever seen (and what goes down must go up...at least on an out and back ride) and to top it off my brake got stuck which just didn't bode well for the uphill climb.

After I got that all figured out and made my way back it started to rain. Now I've never been a huge fan of running in the rain but that is nothing in comparison to biking in the rain. The storm clouds came and the temperature dropped, meanwhile i'm cruising along and it felt like every ice cold drop slammed into me.  Finally add in the rushing wind factor, as biking is generally faster than running (except when I"m biking up steep hills...that's a toss up).

I was almost home and waiting for the green at a very busy stoplight when I heard a strange noise to my left. As I looked over I felt my center of balance shift and...yep, I fell. I hate falling! Not because of any pain but because a) it usually scratches up my bike and b) It's really frigg'n embarrassing. This time it totally bent the brake/shifter on my handlebar so now I need to take it in, which is actually ok timing because it needs a tune-up anyways.

So I managed to survive but didn't exactly get the nice recovery bike ride I was looking for. For now I'm heading to Pipes (breakfast in Encinitas) and then to the Moving Shoes (running store) as a reward for making it through the morning.