I’m Not A Roadie

August 24, 2010

Yesterday I rode my longest-ever road bike ride, 44 miles. That’s not the longest I’ve ever ridden a bike in one shot; I’ve ridden a mountain bike longer than that – much longer. But on a road bike you can do 44 miles in two hours; that’s hard (impossible, almost?) to do on a mountain bike. On a road bike you can get serious mileage in the time it takes to drive to the gym and lift/treadmill/sauna, and burn way more calories to boot. So I saddled up and attempted my longest ride ever, and it wasn’t even that hard.

I don’t even like road biking that much. I just do it for the fitness benefits, which are considerable and overshadow the negatives, which are: my road bike is uncomfortable and I get scared by traffic (thanks, 18-wheeler that felt the need to pass me with literally six inches between the side of your trailer and my handlebars! And a special shout-out to you, Sudden Valley-living, Land-Rover-driving blonde woman whose late afternoon errand was so urgent that you had to run a stop sign and make me brake hard to avoid, well, dying), and I can think of other fitness-based activities that are more fun. But the benefits of two hard hours on the road bike cannot be denied. So I do it.

But here’s the thing. I rode 44 miles in just a couple of hours, that is a lot of miles to my MTB-oriented senses. Prior to yesterday, my best was 25 road miles. This was a big jump and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. But I won’t be satisfied with that, now, no: I am going to have to do 50 miles the next time. And 50 more after that. Seventy-five at some point. And not too long after that, break the 100 mile barrier. IN ONE GO. You sick road biking freaks! Look what you have done to me. I was solidly a mountain biker but now that I am effortlessly ten pounds lighter with a blast-furnace metabolism, I can’t possibly stop doing this. And I have to do more, and more, and more as time goes on! Where will I find the time to ride 100 miles in one day? I have things to do, you know!

So this is just a dramatic way for me to brag that I rode 44 miles in two hours on my first try.

This is the Life

July 21, 2010

Ah, the life of a gear tester. It’s pretty good. Everything I do outdoors usually involves some sort of new gear to test which goes hand in hand with composing new reviews in my head as I try to enjoy myself. Try not to feel too sorry for me.

Now, if you know anything about the gear testing gig, you know it’s pretty simple in a lot of ways. You take the gear, you use it like you normally would, you see what you think of it. Sometimes you get gear to test that isn’t what you usually wouldn’t think to use, though. Case in point: the shoes in the pic below. Crossover water shoe things…eh…I had to make myself try them. I would never have thought to buy such a thing. Usually I wear water sandals, so water shoes were kind of a new thing for me. And now I love them. And I have the side benefit of having a fun time at the lake and getting these great pics taken.

So my new favorite product to test is water shoes, because testing them gives us days like this one. In a few months I’m sure I’ll be back to liking skis the best, because of the days I get to have while trying them out.