life in the bike lane

 On the days we didn't hike or MTB, we did road rides.  Yes, we.  At the start of the summer, I found a little old Cannondale at a local Play It Again Sports for $120.  I tried riding it but it felt small, so I figured it was a child's bike and left it.  Towards the end of September, I saw that the bike was still there so I had H come with me to check it out.  He watched me ride it around the parking lot and said that it wasn't too small, I just wasn't used to road bikes.  So I bought it; H cleaned it up (for a mid- to late 1990s bike it was in good shape, just needing a wash and lube); and we brought it to Moab for me to ride on the bike path.  If you ride from our house to the end of the bike path at Route 313, then back down and then out and back along the river, you can put together a scenic thirty mile ride.  There's also a really long hill between Arches National Park and the MOAB Brand MTB trails.  My goal for the week was to climb that hill.

It's so tiny and light!

Saturday was my very first ride.  It has been since I was a kid that I've been on anything resembling a road bike and it felt so weird!  It felt narrow and twitchy and I felt like I was way out in front over the handlebars.  With both my MTB and my town bike, I sit up more and my stance (?) is broader with the wider handlebars - I was very nervous on that first ride.  We went from the house, past Arches to the Killer B trail marker, then back down for the out and back along the river.  My average speed was the same as on my super-heavy, one-speed town bike (embarrassing!) but that was because I was so nervous.  Ride stats: 20.19 miles; 11.6 m.p.h. average speed; 22.6 max speed; 1:43:52 time.

For reference, H did the exact same ride Sunday when Milton and I went hiking.  His ride stats were 20.20 miles; 20.1 average speed; 30.8 max; 1:00:14.

We do have new handlebar tape to put on

We got back on the road bikes on Monday, giving my back and wrists some time to shake out.  We did the same route as Saturday except going up just a little further past Killer B, to where that hill starts.  Although it wasn't much further, it was faster and I felt a lot more comfortable on the bike, pedaling more and coasting less.  It was windy along the river and I still hate a headwind, but riding a really light bike like this Cannondale makes me hate it less than when I'm on my MTB.  Ride stats: 21.02 miles; 13.1 average; 34.1 max (H's max, not mine); 1:35:42.

Wednesday we had talked about maybe going cowboy camping up at Sand Flats but with Milton having that foot injury, we decided it would be best to save camping for another time.  Instead, H and I got back on the road bikes.  And this time I accomplished my goal of riding up that big hill!  That hill is a 1.5 mile stretch with a 7% grade, ending up where the Rusty Spur trail comes out onto the bike path.  There are also two cattle guard crossing, just to keep things interesting.  I was very nervous on the descent (I much prefer climbing to descending) but proud of myself regardless.  Ride stats: 24.05 miles; 12.4 average; 32.6 max (H's); 1:56:03.  In non-biking news, we took Milton up to the Slickrock trail parking lot at Sand Flats Recreation Area for lunch and he got to make friends with a bunch of MTBers.

After my ten mile solo hike on Thursday, my legs still had some fatigue when Friday rolled around.  We had talked about MTBing up at Dead Horse Point State Park but decided to postpone the MTBing until I could enjoy it more.  To shake the cobwebs off, however, we did an easy twenty-miler, not attempting the hill again.  Ride stats: 20.26 miles; 13.2 average; 39.3 (H's) max; 1:31:57 time.  We also went back to the Slickrock parking lot for lunch with the dog.  It was really busy and there were so many dirt bikers - way more of them than MTBers, which seemed odd.

We did have to do a half-lap around the

neighborhood to get 30 exactly

Our final road ride was Saturday, after Milton's vet appointment.  And this time we did the whole dang thing, all thirty miles.  It was a gorgeous day, clear, not too warm, not too breezy.  With four rides under my belt, I felt much more comfortable on the bike (except for that long downhill).  I was more confident on the climb to, having done it once already.  On the river portion, there were lots of people out on the bike path - mostly on e-bikes but that's okay, at least they're out there.  And me too - I'm out there now too, now that I'm apparently a road cyclist.  Ride stats: 30.00 miles; 13.2 average; 40.9 max (not me, obvs); 2:15:43; and A had 134.68 road miles on the week.