My brother Brian hosts a weblog that chronicles not only his cycling team races but also his various heart stopping training rides. We grew up in a cycling family but I parted ways with the hobby in my early teen years. My parents learned that putting a ten year old in spandex and then parading him around on a road bike in front of the neighborhood kids probably wasn’t the best idea.
This past weekend, Tara and I went out for a ride on our freshly tuned bicycles (thanks Brian). I felt it appropriate to record all aspects of our epic training ride much as Brian does. Keep in mind, I haven’t really ridden a bicycle in several years.
Breakdown:
Breakfast: Brunch at Macrina - One large orange juice, one glass of water, fried egg sandwich, red potatoes drowning in ketchup and two leaves of salad to make Tara think I ate part of it.
Maintenance: Pulling the bikes out of my trunk knocked the chain off the chain rings on both bikes. Paper towel in hand, I silently cursed the chain back into working order.
Ride Food: Peanut Butter Power Bars and a SIGG of water.
Ride Route:
After finally figuring out how to get my feet in the toe clips we were on our way. Starting at Tara’s apartment, we took off towards the Woodland Park Zoo. The ride started on a gradual uphill grade which was a great way to get the heart rate going. We weaved through some of the side streets to avoid a busy intersection. Moving at a leisurely pace, Tara would comment on the occasional bunch of colorful tulips, a comfy looking porch swing and state that victorian architecture doesn’t really do much for her.
I took this side street opportunity to work on my intervals, you know, working on my explosiveness to break from the pack. This, unfortunately, didn’t last long because I was told that I was difficult to talk to when I’d randomly sprint off in the middle of a sentence (see: element of surprise, booyah).
Eventually, we came to the steepest part of the ride and I quickly began to regret my earlier interval training. Tara left me in the dust with my legs burning and heart rate on the verge of failure; ten minutes into the ride and I had already started to bonk… hard. Lucky, the hill was only about fifty yards and rounded into the Woodland Park Zoo parking lot. Thankfully there were some sprinklers turned on that I (the resourceful type that I am) used to cool off and regain my composure before I caught up with Tara who was already waiting for me at the zoo’s south gate.
While Tara bought tickets for us to gain access to the new Flamingo exhibit, I was able to secure our two bikes and two helmets using two cable locks. And just like dad taught me, which I feel applies to even cable locks: “If you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot.” Those bikes weren’t going anywhere.
I’ll spare you the zoo details because this is supposed to be about our training ride. So, all I will say is that the Flamingos were visually one legged, very pink and the hawk lady’s hawk flew away during the birds of prey demonstration. Seriously, it did, they had to stop the show to go look for it. Awesome.
After the zoo, we took a back trail through Woodland Park towards Greenlake. My keen sense of direction only took us the long way twice on the trail, but we eventually made our way down to the lake path. Moving counter clockwise in the bike lane - we dodged, nearly clipped and sped past the weekend walkers who thought they owned the entire path, share the road… err, path people!
Halfway around the lake we made a pit stop at Gregg’s Cycle. This time I only used one cable lock, Tara left her helmet on the sidewalk and I wore mine in to look all bicycle professional cool, “Yeah, I ride, you too? Sweet.” Though I’m sure my disheveled cargo shorts, my bow legged gait from chafed boxer briefs and my slight wheeze gave me away.
Anyway, I went in to buy a bike pump because I had been riding on two tires that my brother swore were at a high enough pressure. Needless to say, every time I hopped a curb I first felt the slight cushion of my shocks followed by the hard crunch of my rim meeting the asphalt. While I talked bike pumps with one of the sales people, Tara tested out all the different types of bicycle bells and horns, three inches from my ear. She even struck up a conversation with another customer on how brass sounded better than regular metal… who knew!
Soon we were on our way back around the lake and we decided to hit the QFC for a little dinner grocery shopping. We each strapped a shopping bag to our handle bars and wobbled our unbalanced bicycles back home. For dinner we made soft tacos, rehydrated with Bud Light and relaxed on the couch watching Analyze This while enjoying a bowl of ice cream on a warm evening.
All in all it was a killer five miles, not counting the walk through the zoo. Tara and I had a lot of fun, we found a new activity we both enjoy and I did it all with out wearing spandex… and that lady lost her hawk.
