On top of the world!

Today I kicked off my weekend in style: I rode my bike from Bridgeport to Twin Lakes for a round-trip total of just over 27 miles in about an hour and forty-five minutes. It was grand.

But back it up: yesterday I finally met the other stabilisation crew guy, Dane, on his way out to go for a bike ride. I had been informed that he was a serious biker, and so I threw out that I was also and that my bike was here. Before I knew it, I was hearing from other coworkers that Dane and I were going to go on a bike ride Sunday. I hadn't been aware of this, but I was down with it, and when we bumped into each other later that night he asked me and I said, "Sure!"

So today we met at 10 o'clock and drove down to Bridgeport for a relatively flat (and thankfully not-so-windy) pedal up to Twin Lakes and back. I could tell by the way he was talking that Dane didn't think I was going to be up to the challenge - he kept reminding me that we only had to go as far as I wanted, and I told him that I'm a stubborn girl. To his credit, he had done this same ride both days prior and with much heavier winds after having been at elevation much less time than me. But I led the whole way up, and the whole (except for one mile) way back down (which was largely into the wind). It felt AWESOME. I love a good bike ride, and this certainly was up to par with my standards. The whole way up I had Noah Gundersen singing "Jesus, Jesus" in my head; that lasted part of the way down until we got back out of the mountains and onto the windy flats when my mind cleared completely and I focused only on the cadence of my pedals. I averaged about 14mph on the way up, and managed to bump that up to almost 17mph on the way back down, in spite of the mild headwind.

Back in the truck on the way back home, I was pleasantly surprised that I continued to feel awesome and not the least bit sore or tight. Dane admitted that he had expected me to wimp out on him and turn around part-way and that he was very impressed. He proudly and enthusiastically told my coworker at the kiosk that I knew "how to hammer it!" I thanked him for the fun ride, and he did as well, adding that I was a very good rider. I'm glad to hear it: cycling is so much a part of my life, it'd be kinda sad if I wasn't any good at it. ;)

 Thanks to all my cycling teachers out there.

~Jaclynn

P.S. I also got to see a coyote, live and in the wild, while riding today. Fantasmargonical!