Thursday, February 22, 2007

Beware of Flying Bike Accessories

The warmer temps this week have gotten me so excited that I decided to ride my bike into work this morning. The trip is about 18 miles each way, maybe a little more if you figure in the detour to Briar's school (he rode his bike as well). The trip was....uh...well...let's just say maybe it'll be better the next time. Keep in mind my bike has been sitting on the trainer for over a month now. My main concern was the slick back tire, but it didn't give me any problems. The 3 miles to Briar's school went well, and after leaving there I started down McArthur Street towards Tullahoma. Mistake. It was 7:35 a.m., and all of Manchester's lovely high school kids were making their way to school.

McArthur street has no bike lane.

Manchester's high school kids have no respect for the biker slowing them down.

I actually refrained from screaming the explitives I was thinking and held off the heart attack until I got to a point where I could make a detour and get on the back road to Tullahoma. About a mile into it I noticed that one of the bottle cages had a lost a screw. And it was flopping over getting in the way of my pedaling. I tried to put up with it for a while, then decided it had to go. So I pulled off to the side, ripped it out, and continued on. About another mile and I see something fly off and hit my quad and fall down to the road. I wasn't sure what it was, but my computer was still intact and my IPod was still on my arm, so I just kept going. A few minutes later I notice that it was one of my aerobar pads. I knew these things needed replacing from all the sweat they had endured while I rode on the trainer, and I have a new set at home, but about 5 miles into my commute to work that doesn't help me. So I continue on, non-aero style. I finally make it into Tullahoma, only to be stopped for 8 minutes while waiting on the longest, slowest train ever. I finally get past the train, take a right into the wind, and finally make it to my office. As I walked into the locker room I checked my phone for the time, and saw that I had a meeting in 15 minutes. I showered, dressed, applied make up, dried and fixed my hair, and ran in my heels and dresspants across the parking lot and to my office. I walked into the meeting room 5 minutes late, but no one was in there yet....whew!

Hopefully the ride home will be better.

Yesterday was a good day. I got up in time for 5:30 a.m. toning class before work. Then I ran 4 miles with Holly at lunch. And since it was Wednesday, I went with Michele to our tri swim class in Franklin after work. Swim class was the toughest yet. I struggled to keep up as usual, but it was definitely a good workout and hopefully I'm improving. Hopefully time will permit me to get back in the pool a little more often than I've been able to do lately.

14 comments:

Cliff said...

At least now u know what need to be fix to get the bikey ready for spring.

I envy u...snow is still coming down here :(

Brooke said...

High School drivers are crazy. I would've been scared too.

Michele said...

Guess we are going to have to retrain the drivers around here to watch out for bikers!

It was windy today, hope the ride home went ok.

Phil said...

Aerobars with traffic should be interesting! I won't ride in traffic. It's bad eneough running with traffic, but ride a bike is just plain scary.

TJ said...

i don't ride my bike to work for the reasons you described.
too bad bike lanes aren't mandatory on all roads.

Lance Notstrong said...

I'm amazed that you could get ready in 20 minutes!!! It takes me between 15 and 20 and I don't wear makeup :-)

DV said...

cheers to survival, (and a woman that can go from sweaty to done in 15 minutes - wow!)

Laurie said...

You are such a stud riding to work like that! Where do you get the drive to push that hard? I wish I knew. I'm starting a Tri class at the rec center this Sunday night. YAAAAAYYYY!

Ellie Hamilton said...

My goodness, you are falling apart, pull yourself together LOL!!

I carry a little flat "roll" of duct tape in my saddlebag... a piece of that could have stabilized your bottle cage. I've used that duct tape for more than one emergency repair of something!!

RunBubbaRun said...

I used to bike ride to work, but it gets a little crazy out there. Glad you made it back okay... Your bike is another matter.

Changing in 15 minutes, your T1 times must be fast.

be safe out there.

Stephanie said...

18 miles each way to work?
You ARE superwoman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rae said...

Man, you should enter competitions for getting ready for work in a flash!! Great job with the training, I hope you're finding the balance you've been looking for!

Janet Edwards said...

So goes life...way to keep it together!

I guess I am not the only forever running around like a chicken with my head cut off...rushing to get ready, already running late! We certainly do at least get more bang for our buck with the time we have though, I figure!!

DV said...

are you still there lana? i hope everything is ok!