Wheeee!
I'm back on the road, thanks in part to the fresh inspiration of Grapenut who's just starting to walk her borough in NY and to the neverending inspiration of Spike who will have walked and photographed and discovered the history of every square inch of Woy Woy and its surrounding area before that walk is over.
It is so good to be back on the road! Using the bike, I was able to walk up hills and coast down them, and if it's not exactly the same as walking, I think it may be just as good, while the weather holds. I knocked off a little over four miles of road, although I walked and cycled more than six. I had a walkie talkie on me so I could keep in touch with my "pilot car", in case I had a flat or fell off and hurt myself. The range on the walkie talkies should have been about 3 miles, but because of the mountainous terrain it was only about 1 mile, which I found out after coasting down a nice long hill and trying to check in with Caravan One. (Like Air Force One, only made by Dodge.) Then I had to push the bike a mile back up the nice long hill to get to a place where I could make contact.
Biking is wonderful and doesn't feel like cheating at all. You feel every inch of the road through your hands on the handlebars, your feet on the pedals, and the base of your spine on the bikeseat. (I'm going to have a serious case of bike butt tommorrow!) The weather was perfect, cool and clear with a steady breeze and deep blue sky. Just me, by myself, was glorious. I could hear everything. I could hear the slight rubbing of the brakes on the back wheel, the creak of the pedals turning, my heart beating. I could hear the occasional car or truck approaching me from half a mile away, and the crackling in the power lines, and the wings of an enormous raven pushing through the air as it lifted itself off a tree branch. There was the constant sound of wind making the telephone wires and fence wires sing, and the sound of road signs rattling and struggling to get free from their posts and sail into the air like kites.
On the drive up to my starting place I saw four javelinas at the edge of the road. It seemed like a good beginning.
It is so good to be back on the road! Using the bike, I was able to walk up hills and coast down them, and if it's not exactly the same as walking, I think it may be just as good, while the weather holds. I knocked off a little over four miles of road, although I walked and cycled more than six. I had a walkie talkie on me so I could keep in touch with my "pilot car", in case I had a flat or fell off and hurt myself. The range on the walkie talkies should have been about 3 miles, but because of the mountainous terrain it was only about 1 mile, which I found out after coasting down a nice long hill and trying to check in with Caravan One. (Like Air Force One, only made by Dodge.) Then I had to push the bike a mile back up the nice long hill to get to a place where I could make contact.
Biking is wonderful and doesn't feel like cheating at all. You feel every inch of the road through your hands on the handlebars, your feet on the pedals, and the base of your spine on the bikeseat. (I'm going to have a serious case of bike butt tommorrow!) The weather was perfect, cool and clear with a steady breeze and deep blue sky. Just me, by myself, was glorious. I could hear everything. I could hear the slight rubbing of the brakes on the back wheel, the creak of the pedals turning, my heart beating. I could hear the occasional car or truck approaching me from half a mile away, and the crackling in the power lines, and the wings of an enormous raven pushing through the air as it lifted itself off a tree branch. There was the constant sound of wind making the telephone wires and fence wires sing, and the sound of road signs rattling and struggling to get free from their posts and sail into the air like kites.
On the drive up to my starting place I saw four javelinas at the edge of the road. It seemed like a good beginning.
posted by Suzanne44 @ 1:25 AM
4 Comments:
At 9:12 PM,
Spike said…
Excellent post and excellent to see you back on the roaqd again. Bikies is just as fun as walkies.
At 11:47 PM,
Suzanne44 said…
Yes! Even more fun, coasting down a steep hill with the wind whipping through your hair.
At 1:50 PM,
You're going to suffer. But you're going to be happy about it. said…
Good for you! Those pics are fantastic. I really dig photography (www.photoshow.net/dancingbean). That's my photo site. Congrats on the biking thing. Seriously, that totally counts. My partner and I did the Northeast AidsRide in July 2001 from NY to Boston. It was four days of hills and as you say, bike butt....man that hurt. Cycling is good. Bring lots of water!
At 10:36 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for commenting on my blog! I just added you to my blogroll -- sorry I didn't do this earlier; when I was getting my blog set up this summer I looked here and thought the blog was no longer active because of Feb. being the last post. So happy to see you are continuing it. Great photos!
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