Written by: Rebecca Johnson
Whelp, today hurt. I had not ridden my bike since October, and that was painfully clear when I got on my bike today. On the plus side, I had a lot of things working in my favor. The weather was pretty great. Chilly in the morning (40’s) then sunny and warm in the afternoon (70’s). Clear skies, no rain, not windy. I also did a decent job of taking a minimum amount of gear with me, so I was not overloaded.
Sadly, I skipped an important step, of checking out my bike after it had been sitting for 6 months. Turns out riding on a flat tire was not doing me any favors. Riding on flat ground felt like a hill, and riding up a hill felt like a pretty good opportunity to get off and push.
Even with my slow pace, I did have an advantage riding home after work. Traffic was really backed up and barely moving due to construction, and it felt good to bypass a gigantic line of cars. It took me about the same amount of time to ride home as it would have taken to drive, but I had the advantage of getting to enjoy a really nice day. And, hopefully I learned a lesson about paying more attention to my bike, so my next ride can be much easier.
