My first bike ride & my thoughts on selfies

              Yesterday I took my first bike ride. Well, not my first ever, but my first actual ride on my new road bike. I had taken it on a test ride where I discovered my brakes did not work, but that didn't count as a ride. I had originally set out with a goal of riding 10 miles. Three weeks of this stupid cough and I am still feeling like crap, so I should have known this was very ambitious.
              Riding a road bike is a lot different than riding a mountain bike. It is taking some getting used to. There is something thrilling and terrifying at the same time when you are zipping down a hill on this skinny skinny tire leaning way forward to the point that you feel you may just tumble off the front of your bike. At about 3 miles I started coughing really badly and I couldn't take a deep breath so I decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to push myself to 5 miles before I turned around. So I turned around at 3 miles and headed home. After my ride I was trying to think of a route that would be fairly flat, but as it turns out my town is super hilly everywhere! You don't notice this so much when you are driving up them, it's that whole using your own power to get up them that makes you realize that even small hills are a big deal. One of my main goals was to ride all the hills. It would be so easy to just get off the bike and walk up them, but that's not the point of my training. I am proud to say that I biked them all! Not super fast, but I did it and that makes me pretty proud of myself.
            It was only my first training ride so I wasn't expecting miracles, but I have realized I have a long way to go yet. Based on my average pace yesterday my century would take me at least 11 hours. I think I am shooting for a goal of about 6 hours for my century time, but I'm not totally stuck on time, I want to finish. I have a friend that keeps up a pace of at least 16mph, someday I will be as awesome as she is hopefully!
             I learned a few things on my ride yesterday:
1. Biking is relaxing even when you are terrified of crashing, hey that's what helmets are for.
2. I need to make a playlist for my rides, mushy love songs do not do much to push you on a ride.
3. Ow! I have not invested in a new saddle yet, but I will be ordering one tonight. Standard seats are not made for lady parts.
4. My helmet gives me a headache. As someone prone to migraines caused by like everything, this doesn't surprise me so I am hoping that I will get used to it. Until then I will just stay prepared. As my Dr. says, there is no point in suffering through it when you can stop it. I'm not all about taking medications and don't do it if I can avoid it, but I have learned that trying to suffer through a migraine just makes me dumb. Plus my medication is non addictive so that makes me feel better.
5. I realized that I have never in my life owned a bike helmet before. Kind of says something about my mother....nuff said about that.
6. 100 miles is a long distance. Like no joke, a long distance...but I have come up with a training plan that will prepare me so I don't feel overwhelmed.
7. I'm fat. I already knew this, but riding a road bike all leaned over confirmed it. My knees were all up in my gut and it made me laugh. But, I'm working on that so maybe someday I can ride without gut punching myself.

       Overall my ride was pretty good. Today I feel pretty good. My legs feel great! I thought they would be all like sore and junk, but they feel great! Other parts, not so great but I will survive. My arms feel like they got a pretty good workout too, I am glad that I have been doing strength training with them. I have read that cyclists often forget about them, but that's a big mistake. Who wants tired weak arms on a 100 mile ride?

Here it is, my post ride selfie....along with my thoughts on selfies. Selfies have become the new "thing". In general, the term annoys me. I mean really, basically every photo is a selfie simply because thanks to technology we no longer need someone else to take a picture for us. I think this is a good thing because you don't have to worry about someone running off with your camera or phone. Selfies are now the biggest spreader of head lice, and that gives me the creeps... While it does annoy me when people feel it necessary to take a photo of themselves in every single outfit they wear, I don't think I have a problem with selfies. A lot of mine are of me after I have done something I am proud of, yay good selfie! Or of things I do with my bestie, yay good selfie! Or me and my son, Yay super good selfie! So I say go for it! If you feel super cute in your outfit, selfie, if you have done something awesome, selfie, I guess if people have an issue then just keep scrolling. My bestie is almost 38 weeks pregnant and I look forward to her selfies!
   My first of many training rides is in the books, I've told you some of my thoughts on selfies, there you have it.

Until next time,
Love ya!