First Rides

After getting my bike home I did what everyone should do:  I jumped in my car and went out to explore a  bike route!  Of course, that's what you SHOULD do!    So, I drove out from my house out Kaiser road and on to Skyline and then back down Springville and to home.  It wasn’t far--just about 12 miles--and though it had some hills it didn’t seem so bad at all.  Sometime there after I went for my first bike ride.  I put on my fancy Sidi bike shoes,  unaware of the need to learn to clip in--and the critical skill of unclipping--nor the proper timing that goes along with unclipping.   I think it was a Saturday that I went on my first real bike ride.   I started out Saturday morning and started up Kaiser road.   I remember the first hill;  it climbs maybe  30’ or so in total elevation spread over 100 yards or so.   I started up that little hill and to this day use it as my measure of how in shape I am.  When I’m in good shape, I climb it with no issues at all, but it is a little work when I haven’t ridden in awhile.  So anyway I climbed that first hill and then was over the top and racing down and along to the first turn with a second little climb.  Up I would go an even shorter little climb but no less daunting to a new cyclists.  Having met that challenge I would continue on and then fly down the big curving descent on Kaiser road.  Only to come up against the indomitable challenge of climbing up Kaiser to the intersection with Germantown Road.   In those first rides and the months to come I would have to drop down into my triple chain ring and pedal for all I could to climb up the hill to the top.  Once at the top you weren’t done as Germantown road is crowned and you would have to come to a stop on a steep hill prior to climbing over to crown on Germantown, before getting to the relatively flat relatively short part of Kaiser as it passed in front of the horse farm/stables.   Once past the stables the climb started again. On the first ride I remember struggling up the sweeping climb cranking endlessly in my little chainring and big cog as I climbed my way up the hill.  Along the way you had to avoid clumps of cement and black top that had spilled off a truck years ago leaving little speed bumps that though were only 4” in diameter were impossible to avoid as I wobbled up the hill struggling to keep going and to keep the front wheel on the ground!  Cresting that hill there is a delightful old farmhouse and what was a cool old barn.  Perhaps I’ll write about the barn again in a future post.  Anyway passing the barn you continue on the road and get back to the climb up another short climbing/turning hill.  Finally reaching the first nice flat / down hill bit of road since Springville.  I remember there was this crazy big Holstein steer grazing in the field in front of a field of grape vines and a large house set way back from the road.  The Holstein is still out there some 5 years later grazing and living a good all be it oversized life.  He is the biggest poor old Holstein I’ve ever seen, no doubt the experiment of a “tax shelter” farmer turned pet.  Poor guy has no friends, no pasture companions just himself grazing in the field living a life of solitude life grazing in the field.   Well after the steer you zip down the road cranking hard and spinning in the big chainring before making a big right turn only to be confronted with another climb up a seemingly endlessly step hill.  On that first ride I was able to make it to the top of the hill.  Following close along the side of the ride, all the while looking down into the ditch lined with sharp broken rock and dreading the time when I certainly would fall in undoubtedly getting all cut up bruised and broken.  That day I was able to make it to the top of that hill but upon reaching the top I was completely worn out and unable to go on, so I turned back for home.  Going home was much easier than going out, unfortunately you still however need to climb the steep Kaiser road hill, which is quite steep and goes around a blind corner with no shoulder.  I made it home that day and was quite happy though sad that I didn’t make it around my whole 12 mile loop.  I put the Volpe in the garage resolved to try again.