I want to document my biking so others can see what it is like to take it up and can see they are not alone in the issues they may face and so that hopefully they will not give up too soon. Since my first ride in late April of this year where I was ready to fall over dead, I have logged a total of 20 miles and have made great strides in being able to start to ride longer distances. Now I do realize 20 miles is what many people can do in one ride, but I am following the baby steps approach to biking, don’t get me wrong it is very disappointing and aggravating to sit and watch other bikers zooming all over, able to climb decent size hills and ride long distances, but I am still building myself up for that and only time will tell. Honestly I think I try to ride too fast and that is something to get used to, I can average 13-15 mph over these 5+ mile trips, but hopefully this will help me out in the long run. Hills are still difficult, but getting better, just need to use the right gear. Hopefully, someone will read this and will understand they are not alone in having a hard time starting to ride.
Now to the particulars, since the last time I wrote, 5/24, I have logged 15 miles and have set personal bests on a number of fronts including fastest time around my short 1.8 mile loop of 6:42, fastest average speed over the ride of 16.02 mph, I also cut my time from almost 23 minutes for 3 short loops down to 21 minutes, another best I set is most miles ridden in one day which 7.2 miles, which I am going to try to go over 10 tonight. Keep in mind we have just had the highest temperatures in my area so far for the year, made it to over 95 for a few days with high humidity and I still set these bests. Like I said baby steps, now I need to start to get some proper clothes for riding, baby steps on that as well.