The Biking Adventure

I run with my friend Jackie on a regular basis now. I have been running with her for a few months now, and she has already done two Triathalons, which scares me to even think about doing, but I asked her to let me know when I could ride along with her on a bike ride. I've always wanted to get into biking, especially because I have such great biking memories, and it's easier on my body than running. It's something that I know I can keep doing for a long time. Jackie goes riding with her friend Glen, who has raced and she says that he has really helped her in this area.

Jackie finally found a time where she and Glen could take me along on a bike ride for the first time, which was this morning! Glen came over the morning before with an extra road bike and fitted me to it, and let me keep it until our ride. Unfortunately when I got it home it had a FLAT TIRE! That really made me nervous, but Glen and Jackie re-assured me that it wasn't a big deal. I still rode around the neighborhood on my mountain bike, which I regretted a little the next day... I'll tell you why a little later.

This morning Glen changed the flat in no time, and we drove out to Red Rock. The weather was nice, for a Las Vegas morning with a heat warning that day! I think it's about 115 right now! So we joined probably hundreds of bikers around the area.

Thankfully Jackie picked me up some gloves, I brought my helmet, and a bottle of water. So I thought I was pretty well prepared. The first thing I noticed when I got on the bike was that my butt still hurt from the night before!! So one thing I didn't have was biker shorts, which I quickly noticed has a cushion built into them! Oh it would have been so nice!!! Oh well, I was going to tough it out!

We headed out, and all seemed great. We got to a fairly steep area, and by that time I was trying to get used to the bars being different than a mountain bike. My hands were getting a little numb. Glen stayed right beside me and showed me how to hold on a different part of the bars, which really helped.

We began to pick up speed, which is fun, but a little scary since I have fallen off a dirt bike in the past. Glen told me to be calm, and not grip so tightly. He wanted me to just keep going without breaking, but I was too scared. I had a few little wavers since I was getting used to the bike. Finally I built up some confidence, and I think we hit a top speed around 25 miles an hour. We could have easily hit close to 40 if I let it go. It was scary, but a good feeling compared to running downhill for sure!!!

We ended up stopping at a store in the town of Blue Diamond, and just rested there for a little bit. Glen met up with a few fellow bikers. Very nice guys. Mark is 48, but looks like he's 30 (besides his gray stubble), and not an ounce of fat on his body. They ended up joining us for the hardest part of the trip. The hill that never seemed to end.

Mark hung back with me while the others made it up the hill better than me! Mark kept encouraging me by saying that I was doing good, and I was laughing and joking, so I MUST be in shape - LOL! Funny. We were going 6 mph. That was hard. Made it up without stopping though. So that was good.

I am looking forward to doing more rides with them, if they aren't too annoyed with my slow-goingness!

The adventure doesn't end there though!

After we got back to Jackies I started driving back, and I don't know what it was, but my mind must have been somewhere else. There's a point where it's 25 MPH, but it's on a road that looks like it should be 35. There are houses on the road, so it makes sence. Anyway, I was going 40, and it was the FIRST time in my life when I was getting pulled over. I didn't know what to do! So I pulled into a school parking lot, to avoid the red zone.

The cop came up to my window and looked at me and laughed.

He said, "You know, you should actually just pull over instead of finding a parking lot. I actually thought you were going to try and run from me, or you were a dangerous person. Once I saw you I was very surprised!"

I responded, "I am so sorry, I have never been pulled over before, and I didn't want to stop in a red zone illegally. I didn't know, and I'm so sorry for scaring you. Glad you told me." Tears started to build in my eyes.

He just laughed and said, "You were going 15 miles over the speed limit back there, but don't worry, I'm not going to give you a ticket. Let me get your license and registration, and if your record is clean, like you say, then I'll let you off with a warning"

I felt so bad. I wasn't going to even fight it, since I figured I must have been doing that. I always have to check myself there, especially going back since it's downhill.

After about 30 seconds, he came back to my window in a run, and basically threw my license and insurance at me and said, "Thanks, GOTTA GO!"

What an adventure... Two new experiences in one day! I really lucked out.