Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Cycling in Frederick
For the past few days I've been able to use Kyle's trainer...and with it his computer, his speakers, his television, and his Nintendo Wii. I'm not entirely enamored of the trainer experience; in some ways (specifically the saddle and the long reach to the handle bars) my bike is less comfortable than those in the gym, and I don't get the constant data feedback that I've come to crave (the bike computer is hard to see since I had to move it closer to the back wheel and it doesn't measure rpms anyway). On the upside I can shift gears, wear bike shorts, and stay on the bike for as long as I want. My pleasant distractions are also more numerous here; along with my usual reading I've tallied up miles watching Heroes and racing MarioKart; the latter is especially helpful since I tend to sprint on the bike as my kart speeds towards the finish line.
Yesterday I was finishing up a 20 mile ride on the trainer (and finishing second in the Shell Cup, again) when Kyle arrived home from school and asked if I wanted to take advantage of the relatively warm weather and go riding outside. I said I was afraid of slowing him down since my legs were about done for the day, but he assured me that he didn't care about miles or speed, he just really wanted to go on a bike ride with me. In spite of all our challenge related trash talk he really is incredibly sweet, and we both love cycling together best. I was so happy as we rode together through town, especially since aside from a strong headwind the weather was indeed perfect. Unfortunately the sun was setting much faster than we had anticipated; we only rode 7 miles and still had to head home in the dark. But it was still a great mini-ride. We had a lot of fun together and I managed to hold on a bit behind him during sprints, really the best I could hope for under the circumstances. Kyle told me that I've noticeably improved as a cyclist, which meant a lot to me. I wish it would warm up already so that we can get in more rides together; we're certainly good at pushing each other to train seperately, but we make a good cooperative team as well. And we don't even try to match our bike gear (see below), it just happens. Bring on the tandem!
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| posted at: 08:04 |
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