Went for a bike ride this morning
Posted by monogodo | Filed under bicycling
There’s a group ride on June 8 that I want to do. The route is set at about 35 miles. I’ll have to take the train to Plano, then ride to the starting point 7.5 miles away. So I’ll end up getting in about 50 miles. While I’m sure I could ride 50 miles, it would be slow going. Since I don’t want to suck down the rest of the group’s enjoyment of the ride, I figure I should get in some miles before then. So I got up early this morning and went for a ride before work.
I live in Downtown Dallas, so I have to get out of Downtown to a safe area to ride. For the past few years, I’ve been riding East of Downtown to Fair Park, where I found a 1-mile loop that I can do laps on. Since it’s in Fair Park, the only traffic is Parks department and Police. Except that there’s some sort of construction going on in the middle of the loop, so I couldn’t ride there today. So I ended up riding on side streets back through East Dallas and into Downtown. I got in just under 8.5 miles at an average of just over 12mph.
I’ll have to do some map research and find another good route. I could always ride down to the Katy Trail, except that with the joggers and walkers I can’t get a good pace going. I think there’s a good route to get to White Rock Lake. I could then do a lap or two around it, depending on when I need to get back to get to work.
Tags: bicycling, ridingRelated posts
I am not a Weekend Warrior
Posted by monogodo | Filed under Rant
This has been eating away at me for a few days now. Sunday night, while riding with Matt, he informed me that someone in our riding group (I’ll call her KK) referred to me as a Weekend Warrior. Matt got my back and set the person straight. It still pisses me off, though. My interpretation of “Weekend Warrior” is the almost the same as Wikipedia’s first definition:
People who do recreational activities (such as skiing, snowboarding, or mountain biking) solely on the weekends since they work Monday through Friday and may or may not be local to the area of these activities.
I don’t solely ride on the weekends. Granted, the vast majority of my riding is done on the weekend, but I do ride during the week.
When I think of a Weekend Warrior, I also think of a middle-aged man trying to reclaim his youth. Usually he’ll have gotten interested in an activity and will have gone out and purchased all kinds of brand-new, top of the line equipment in pursuit of the activity. While I may be at the beginnings of being middle-aged, I have no need to reclaim my youth, as I’ve never lost it.
Since I’ve known KK, I’ve added one bike to my stable: a new old stock, 1995-vintage MTB frame that I built up using parts I had, as well as parts that I got deals on.
As far as I know, KK has been riding for approximately 2 years, possibly 3. I’ve been riding since I moved to Dallas in 1989. And I’m not even counting my childhood/HS years. So for over half my life, I’ve been riding.
I have 5 bikes in my stable. I’ve owned one of them since 1989. Other than the newest bike, the most recent acquisition was in 1995 or 1996, so I went over a decade between bike purchases.
Just because she doesn’t see me ride during the week, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. I haven’t seen her ride on the weekend in quite a while. Is that because her schedule only permits her to ride during the week? I used to have a job that was like that: my weekend was shifted to Tuesday & Wednesday. Had I only gone for rides on those two days, I’d have been a Weekend Warrior. If she’s only going for rides on her days off, she, too, would be a Weekend Warrior.
Besides all of the above, does it really matter when we ride? To me, the most important aspect is the fact that we are actually out there riding, not when we’re doing it.
I don’t show up for every single ride that’s planned. Neither does anyone else, including her.
So she can shove her “Weekend Warrior” comment. I’ve never done anything to cause her to make a judgment about me or my activities, and I’ve never judged hers.
Who died and made her the Goddess of Cycling Legitimacy?
Tags: bicycling, commentary