This morning, I did my first bit of exercise since the weekend - a nice
easy 30km ride, and I mean EASY. I did not want my heart rate up at all,
I did not want my muscles to even vaguely feel like they were doing
anything. I just wanted to get an idea of any tweaks, etc. (Got a few
niggly spots but nothing I'm worried about, a bit more massage will fix
'em right up.)
So by EASY I mean I averaged 23.8 km/h on an almost-flat course. And I
kept waiting for a "commuter-type" (1) to proudly struggle up and
overtake me with a big grin... I couldn't wait to feel smug as they
passed me. I was imagining how it would feel to say, "Oh, wow, you're
fast, how did you recover from the 100km run so fast?" which, of course,
I would never do... but it was that thought that had me feeling very
smug - that people passing would feel good about it, but have no idea
what I had done...
But then no one chased me down. One guy wheelsucked me for a bit but I
dropped him on a hill. Not deliberately... any slower I would've been
backwards. He didn't look too fit but I was really impressed he was out
riding, we need more of that.
Speaking of which, coming along Wynnum/Lytton Rd at about 0615 this
morning, I see a gent riding pretty much in the gutter. You know when
they paint the yellow "no parking" lines just out from the gutter? He
was riding in between that and the gutter. As I rode past I said, "You
shouldn't ride in the gutter, you should ride out here more, so they
have to change lanes." He didn't catch what I said and actually called
out to me to wait and say it again. I was really impressed to meet a
cyclist who wanted to take advice. He had an accent so I figured he
might be new to riding in BrisVegas. I waited for him and explained
that if he rode in the left wheel track, he'd force cars to change
lanes, and he'd have more room to react if someone cut across him, and
he'd be riding on better road surface. He said, "That makes sense" and
thanked me. I nearly fell off my bike. It was so nice to have someone
just take on board a suggestion. Dude, whoever you are, you rock, ride
safe.
Tam
(1) Not to be confused with commuters, who ride their bikes to work,
etc. Rather "commuter-types" are the ones who think their daily commute
is some big important race and take all sorts of stupid risks to prove
how good they are. Pretty similar to "roadie types" actually, but
encompasses all types of bikes.