Never again… December 20, 2005
Posted by Kylie in : Training Thoughts , add a commentSo I will never again do the full ride home from work. At least not until I have some one to ride with, find a better route, and it's staying light later. So let's play a little game called "things that can go wrong on a bike ride"…
- Directions with a road closure: check and check again
- Construction: check
- Traffic jam: check
- Weaving around cars to find the next one is a cop: Check
- Sketchy areas: wayyyyy too many checks here
- Sun going down too fast: check (the directions issues didn't help)
- Random guy yelling "BE CAREFULL!" after you: check
- Thorn puncture: check (and for a bonus in the middle of a really sketchy area! which leads us to the next one…)
- A slow enough leaking flat in a bad enough area that you ride it for 5-7 miles: check
- A pinch flat: check (pothole in the dark and a slow leaking tire = evil)
- Carrying the bike: check (1/2 mile to a gas station with lights and people for changing the thorn punctured and pinch flatted tire)
- Impossible to get off tire: check (finally successful –woo!)
- A light going out: check (good thing I had 3 little front ones)
- Almost getting hit by a car: check (cell phone drivers are still supposed to pay attention to light colors I thought… and use both pedals…)
- Coming to a light where you need the foot you usually leave clipped in out (to reach a crossing signal button) only to have it not come out, and the other one unclip, but the bike falling to the attached side: check (woo cool hip bruises).
- Getting home about 1.5 hours late and missing the start of the BBQ at your own place: check
So yeah… what doesn't kill you makes you stronger… but that doesn't mean dumb risks are worth it! Yeah, I got a 1 mile and then a 10 mile ride to work (to first train station, and from train to work), and then a 40 miler (36 + closed roads) on the way home (basically took Baseline from San Bernardino all the way to Claremont). But from now on, it's a ride buddy or metrolink between San Bernardino and Fontana or Rancho stations. If I want a longer ride, I'll just ride more in the parts I know.
And then the commute today? Well, I get in right at 8:30 and then still have to shower, and with an 8:30 meeting I drove 
Just to get here and find out the meeting was canceled at 8:20ish. Oh well… there is always next year (as I might not come into the office again until then… we shall see).
I had a good six mile run today though. Still need to read the papers from Libor and figure out what HR I should be running at, so I'm not sure if I'm going to count it as starting the schedule yet or not…
