Whee

I went to the Greeneway, and strapped my MuVo to my right forearm–I don’t think you’re supposed to put it there necessarily, but I liked having it there because I could see which track was playing easily–and then headed off, forgetting my helmet in the car. The MuVo was set to shuffle the Kyou Kara Maou folder, so I just left it that way, listening to my favorites from that album over and over.

As usual, I started from the parking lot near the golf course. The new stretch of trail running along the river took me about eight minutes. After working my way up that fearsome hill, I was gasping for breath and I felt terrible, so I stopped at the junction of the new trail with the old, got off the bike, and pulled out my huge bottle of water. After taking a small sip, I suddenly felt very, very nauseated.

“Oh, crap,” I said, and knelt to the ground to stabilize myself. I felt very hot and a little dizzy, and for a moment the nausea wouldn’t pass. I forced myself to take more water into my mouth, but I could sense that my stomach couldn’t handle it at the moment, so I swished it a little and then spat it onto the trail.

After a time I felt that I could carry on, so I did. Eight minutes is a ridiculously short ride, after all. Plus, this had happened before, maybe the last time I came to the Greeneway. I had felt like crap after getting up that big hill, but then continued on and felt better. So I held out hope that the same would happen today, and, fortunately, it did.

I rode no-handed as much as I could, of course, but being out of practice with riding in general, I tended to have to use my hands a lot on the ride up due to the sheer exertion. There was a fair amount of people out for so early in the morning, and I did a lot of nodding and smiling. There was also a cute little bunny on the trail at one point; it hopped out of my path well before I reached it.

I didn’t stop again until the water fountains at the bridge over Martintown, and then I drank quite a bit and kept going, feeling much better. However, I felt that I was getting tired. I didn’t ride much further before I decided to turn around. Checking my Cat-Eye, I saw that I’d been riding for half an hour, and I figured that was plenty, given that I was out of practice. It was okay that I didn’t make it all the way to the end.

So I turned around and rode back, no-handed for most of the way. It occurred to me that I really ought to get a unicycle. Someone mentioned that idea to me once, but I don’t think I took it seriously at the time. Now, though, I think it would be really fun. It would definitely be a nice challenge.

I had passed the Activities Center and was almost to Hammond’s Ferry Road when a pair of deer ran across the Greeneway in front of me. “Oh!” I said delightedly, slowing down. “Oh!” Then I saw two more of them on the other side. They ducked back into the forest rather than crossing. I stopped, rummaged in my bag for my camera, and tried to take some pictures of them as they fled into the woods. They came out horribly blurry, for whatever reason. This is the only one that you can remotely make out:

As soon as I had put my camera away, and I was climbing back onto my bike, the deer emerged from the forest and darted across the trail behind me. “Ah!” I said, watching them. “Assholes!”

Then I continued on, crossing Hammond’s Ferry. By the way, the Hammond’s Ferry subdivision will be adjacent to that road; the empty field to the right has been plowed up. I did not take a picture of this.

Nor did I take a picture of the huge growth of grass near the other construction area along the new trail, though I thought about it both times I passed. The blades were at least two inches thick and as tall as me. I was going to name any picture I took of the growth “Welcome to the Jungle”.

Heading back towards the river, I rode no-handed over the two bridges. A man standing on the second bridge stared at me. I think he was afraid I would lose control and crash into him–the bridges, while parallel, are connected by a diagonal stretch of trail. I suppose someone who isn’t as l33t as me wouldn’t have been able to ride that without using their hands. ;>

I didn’t see any snakes near the river, oddly. It felt like snake weather, but then again, it was overcast–no nice sun for them to lay out in.

In all, I did 51 minutes at 10 mph…not great, but not too shabby. DietPower has awarded me 401 calories for it, at least. It feels really good here in the air conditioned apartment.

I’m thinking of going swimming. Hopefully there won’t be anybody out there at this time on a Sunday.