Training Log Archive: Lori

Biking up Centennial Blvd! Well...this ride didn't go as planned. The air was in the high moderate range today, and forecasts suggested it might get worse, so I wanted to head out for a ride. My arms and wrists were a bit displeased from last week, so I just went for the Centennial loop. My legs were a bit tired from yesterday up the hill, but it was super nice to be outside, and I was having a good time. I passed all the annoying people on the hill (fewer than usual because it was earlier in the day and I guess smoking while the air is smokey isn't so fun?), and headed down South Park Drive. There's a big gate at the bottom of South Park Drive because the newt closure is still in place from last winter because of COVID, so I got off my bike at the bottom of the hill to walk it into the ditch around the barrier.

As soon as I got off my bike I started hearing an ominous whooshing noise. I tried to pretend that this noise was not coming from my bike, but of course it was, and I could actually feel the air coming out around the valve on my back tire. Ugh. I did not have an extra tube with me, so I called and texted Sam. Sadly Sam's phone was in the bedroom, and he didn't hear me calling or texting. Sam had been on the computer when I left, so I emailed Sam, thinking maybe he'd check his email. I thought there was also a chance he'd check facebook, but I don't have facebook on my phone, so I called my sister and asked her to facebook message Sam. (She was very confused about why a) Sam wouldn't have his phone with him and b) I couldn't facebook message Sam myself.) Sam was also not on facebook. OK, so it was going to be a long walk home with my bike.

I set off on my 4 mile journey. The first mile or so was sort of sketchy because the roads in Tilden don't have shoulders or sidewalks, so I was kind of walking just in the dirt/leaves next to the road with cars whizzing past and trying to avoid all the poison oak that was growing right next to the road. I eventually made it out of the park and into the residential neighborhoods uphill of our place. I decided to go the more direct route down instead of the route I normally run. This wasn't a brilliant idea because I don't know the streets super well in this area, and on the rare occasions that I go this way, I make judicious use of the little trail/staircases between the roads. Oh, and cell service is pretty limited in this area for reasons that are unclear to me. Turns out, carrying my bike down a super steep, narrow staircase is not ideal, but I did get to see some really cute tiny baby deer!

Meanwhile, Sam started wondering just how long of a ride I was planning on going for, and started getting bored, so he decided to check facebook, where he was surprised to notice that my sister had facebook messaged him. Success! Sam gave me a call, and after some googling figured out where I had made it to, and came to pick me up. Since we were already in the car, we then got some bubble tea, so win, win for me :-)!

Normal stretching after a lunch of bubble tea and cheese. That counts as lunch, right?