Has bike, will travel.So far I've been getting up by Nine and riding around for thirty minutes or so here in Hyde Park. It's a hilly mofo; I realize now I've specialized my bike and my body for the flatlands. I feel so weak. I always wonder how my Virgin-I-A cycling skillz will translate to other areas. I've discovered that as long as I'm not climbing mountain grades, they translate pretty good.
Today I climbed a hill (which is damn steep, I'll take video) and an old snail with a walker and a bad hip passed me. But I didn't get off the bike, and that's all that matters to me. As a consolation, I was able to keep up with traffic on the main street once I got to the top, though.
There are a million miles of "bike lane" here. I use quotes because in some spots the cement crumbles away into nothing, and every half a minute or so there's a drainage grate that takes up 95% of the lane. However, today my grandma, my six year old second cousin, my girl, and myself all went driving around, and the bike lane didn't ever end. I can see how it'd be nifty for tour-ists, but I'll take the road any day I can.
I changed out my tube today, using tire levers for the first time and my lil' Crank Brothers hand pump. Everything went well, and now I don't have a fifty-two hour leak in my rear tire. My cousin even hung around and asked a bunch of questions. I imparted all the tube-changing wisdom I know upon her little half-dozen year old brain. Maybe one day it will come in handy.Kasey has taken a lot of good pictures of the area, once we get home I'll link to them. We even have some kick-ass Polaroids. I love those damn things. She's a real trooper; she stayed up with me on the entire drive after waking up at Four AM on about three hours of sleep, working until Noon, then coming home and immediately hitting the road. I would have had a mental and spiritual breakdown with all those turnpikes and toll roads without her.
I'm off to take a nap. I'm on vacation, I can do those sort of things.
Peace out, be safe, get some.
- David
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