I told Hubby one day earlier this week that I would like for him to take me and my bike to school "a couple" of days this week. I told him that mainly because once I say something like that to him, he won't let me forget it. I was running kind of late this morning, but when he asked if I wanted him to take me, I said "yes" and proceeded to throw all the things together that are required to make that happen.
I had to air up my tires, make sure I had water, pack a bag with my cycling clothes (almost left out the shorts, which would have negated the whole thing), pack my lunch (it was already made), and of course get dressed and ready for school.
Brownie point #1 - Taking the bike to school anyway, when I could easily have said, "Screw it, I'll do it tomorrow."
At the end of the school day, when we did NOT have a meeting that I thought we had, I was about to go change clothes when I heard one of the administrators on the walkie talkie say, "Don't send the middle schoolers out yet; it's raining."
Raining. I don't DO rain on my bicycle. It's not so much getting wet, or the grime that I get covered with, or the slight chill since temperatures have been lower the past few days. It's more the issue of being visible to drivers. And since the lying slore of a weatherwoman said this morning that it definitely was NOT going to rain, I didn't take my high-visibility yellow jacket with reflective stripes.
I texted Hubby, and we went through a series of "Come get me" "Don't come get me" "Call me if you need me to come get you" and "It looks like it has stopped" text messages. Finally the rain stopped and I went to change clothes. I went out the back door, which locks behind me, only to discover that the rain had NOT stopped.
Brownie point #2 - I left on my bicycle anyway.
I took my usual route home, 8.5 miles, which is not really long enough for a bicycle ride. I don't usually bother getting my bike out for a ride under 20 miles. So I was literally at a crossroads (I've always wanted to say that) trying to decide on a different route. Straight would take me on the same route home I took last Thursday, turning left would add some mileage.
Brownie point #3 - I turned left.
It was a very nice route. Only one mildly strenuous hill, one on which I have reached 37 mph coming DOWN it, and Katydid and I hit 43 mph on the tandem. Still, I wouldn't characterize it as a killer hill. The dogs that sometimes chase me when I'm a mile from home were not out, and I climbed the last big hill before home on my big ring. It was a good ride.
When I rode home last Thursday, I averaged 12.4 mph. Please don't laugh at that. I'm trying to work up to a 15 mph average. I'm old and I'm slow, but I'm by God persistent. My goal today was to average 13 mph. Because my GPS shows me the average, I knew when it dropped to 12.8. I was devastated. But then I hit a little flat spot a couple of miles from home, and I realized it was slowly climbing upward. I pedaled hard, flew down the hill into my subdivision, and turned onto our little road on two wh.....
Never mind.
I averaged 14 mph. I was stoked. Out of breath, but stoked.
And I would still like to have my brownie points. In spite of the fact that when I looked at the GPS upon arriving home, I discovered that the little turn I made to increase my mileage actually made the route one-half mile SHORTER.
Damn it.
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