After our last bike ride on Old Walland Road, I told John that it was time to throw in a few more hills. I had successfully powered up a couple of short, marginally steep hills on our ride to Townsend and my confidence had taken an excessively big bump. He agreed, we talked about it a bit and dropped the topic. Last weekend came and went (we biked the VA Creeper Trail-no uphill there) and I kinda forgot about my gung ho attitude toward hills. So it was with a certain amount of naivety that I agreed to ride the back roads of South Knoxville for a “change of scenery.”
We started from Pinkston Library, a popular parking spot for bicyclists. A couple of serious looking cyclists pulled in the spot beside us so John rushed me to get on the road and get a nice head start. I don’t think his ego could handle them passing us and considering my sub-average average speed, they WOULD pass us.
We cycled on Martin Mill Park for less than 1/2 mile before we turned off, traffic still makes me skittish. As we made the turn and looked up, I heard John in the “background” apologizing for the b-i-g hill in looming ahead so soon in the ride. Whoops! I gritted my teeth and pedaled on, I ran out of gears and pedaled on, then I swore and……pedaled on. First hill over.
The next 5-6 miles were a repeat, some hills smaller, some larger. I cried on the way up and and squealed on the way down. I even discovered some new muscles in my forearms (going faster than 29 mph downhill is currently not an option for me, especially on a very curvy 2-lane road). My seat hurt, my calf muscles screamed and I ready to be done. Another 12-14 miles later we were within striking distance of the car. John offered a “bonus” 4 mile repeat. My response, “no thank you, I have had enough today and I headed back to the car.
Here are a few photos from our bicycle ride:
Does anyone know where we are? Apparently John does and we have more hills to climb, just right around the corner.
Yesterday was full of fun stuff! For starters, I slept in late, decadently late for me. Considering that we usually wake up between 5:30-6:00 AM 6-7 days a week, 7:30 AM was, well, late. Coffee in hand, I lounged around for a while before heading out for the iwin 5k. The race is called iwin for two reasons: 1) I am the only participant and 2) I always win.
The 5k course includes a little downhill, even more uphill and some flat. I run the course once every couple of weeks to measure improvement and Saturday was a double thumbs up. I won with my fastest time yet (still too slow post) and I was happy! Bicycling is paying off. My legs are noticeably stronger, I am pushing harder and I felt great. Cooler AM temperatures didn’t hurt either.
After the run, I spent some quality time with the lawn mower and knocked down several weeks of grass (err, weed) growth in the front yard. Then I took the weed eater for a spin. One of our front gardens is harboring an active nest of yellow jackets and John is emergency room allergic so I got the job. Getting rid of the nest is on our “to do” list but the nest sits right next to the house, so the gasoline-fire bomb is out. We are researching other options.
With exercise and yard work out of the way, it was time to head to Blount County for a baby shower for my boss. Nice afternoon with work associates and my boss’s family. Then home, quick nap and dinner time. I was starving, craving barbecue so we hit the early hour at Sweet Pea’s and mingled with the boaters coming off the river with big appetites. We ended the evening downtown at the movie theater where we had some good laughs watching, “The Campaign” with Will Ferrell. Funny stuff!
Hope you had a good weekend too!
