foreign butts

yes i rode to the beach again. it was my first really truly carefree “ride for the sake of riding” ride in a while. everything else has been for work or to meet people or whatever. this was simply to ride.

i’ve been reading about “training” cuz in my head i think i want to try to race. i want to be fast. i want to try really really hard and then lose. i want to fail after dedicating massive amounts of time and thought and actual physical energy and see how it feels.

so one thing they always talk about is these things called “recovery rides”. it’s a ride where you literally just go out and don’t try to go fast or even begin to push yourself at all, you just ride slowly. i figger if i’m gonna be a racer i should learn how to take it easy. it sounds dumb but i really have no idea how to go slow. i’m not saying i’m like fasty mcfasterson but i have a tendency in all things to go as fast as i can. eat fast. drink fast. walk fast. fast or stopped, that’s me.

so off i go on my leisurely pleisurely ride. i have yet to invest in a proper air pump so i stop at the local 76 station to juice up the ol’ tyres (that’s british for tires) and then it’s off to venice blvd where the traffic moves fast and all the lights are green. i have to consciously think about not putting in effort.

my compromise to myself for reducing speed and effort was that i would hit the bologna trail and then go to the beach because it’s a nice long 17-ish one way miles of uninterrupted pedaling.

about two miles after getting on the trail i see a guy ahead of me and i’m gaining on him fast. this annoys me to no end. my whole vision of the day is seeing people rip past me like they are the in the millenium falcon when it’s entering hyperspace and here i am passing some big oaf while i’m doing like 10 miles an hour.

so i blaze my saddle and say “good morning” as i pass and then tubbo (okay he wasn’t fat but i want to make fun of him.) decides he’s gonna try to keep up with me which i notice because from the position of the sun i can see his shadow overlapping mine and it annoys me even more. i’m sorry, i don’t know why it bothers me to hear ol’ boy wheezing behind me. i see his shadow drop off after about 10 minutes and then i can breath again.

i pass several more people while never traveling faster than 12 mph (except on the down-hills) and then run up into the ass ends of two old men. they are traveling along right at about 11 mph and jabbering on incessantly in what i believe to be italian. they look back and see me and wave and i decide to go around them but then there is a lady pushing a double wide baby stroller (with only one baby) on the bike path and she’s right next to the sign that says “bikes only” and i decide to not be annoyed any more and just ride behind the old me for as long as they decided to ride.

they decided to ride just exactly as far as i was going to ride which is to say that they went all the way to the pier in whatever little redondo-esque-type area that is where the bike path ends that i’ve never understood how or why it exists but it does and it’s a good spot for turing around.

i couldn’t resist on the way home when the wind was at my back of doing a little bit of 20+ but only for a few minutes and then it was right back to relaxing. i have to maintain my discipline. i’m training you know.

chirp,

hillary