I'm such a chickenshit Cyclist

Today marks a bit of a big day.  I won't lie, I'm afraid of the cars.  They are crazy and large and could hurt me really badly.  Somedays it seems like cars are out to get me.  So for that reason I don't like riding in traffic.  I much prefer the bike lanes and the bike path.

Currently I've been going west on the waterfront bike trail as the trail goes a really nice long way before it dumps you out into traffic again.  The eastbound bike path on the other hand has a section around Harbourfront that just dumps you into traffic in a reasonably narrow spot.  Most likely why there is no bike path.

I tried going that way once last summer and go freaked out and came back.  Tonight I tired it again as my hubby suggested I visit the footy practice at Cherry Beach.  You know, drop by and say hi to the guys.

Funny enough, if you do it late enough in the day, there isn't all that much traffic and it was nowhere near as bad as the last time I went.  It was a nice ride and I think i'll do it again in the near future.

Always good to have options as it can get a little boring doing the same ride over and over and over again.

Also, I've never really spent much time in the Cherry Beach area and it would be nice to explore.

Back in the Cycling Game

Today I went for my first actual bit of distance ride since October and before the whole cancer incident.  I went down to the waterfront and biked to the Humber Bay Bridge and back (King & Bathurst area).  From Google Maps it looks like it's about 20 k (well if you drive on roads that far so......).  I was kind of afraid that I wouldn't be able to do it, being so out of shape and all from sitting on my ass for 2-3 months.

However, the ride was awesome.  It was almost like I hadn't stopped.  Mind you I'm feeling the effects now.  My hamstrings are very unhappy with me.  Mind you they weren't so happy with me to begin with after yoga on Thursday.

This is a good thing as someone at work has been trying to talk me into doing the Becel Ride for the Heart this year and do the 50 k option.  I was thinking the 25 k would be the option to do, but on the basis of the ride today, I think I might be able to do the 50 k option.

It's funny, in the early fall I had been thinking that doing something like the Ride to Conquer Cancer.  But then all the stuff happened.  I still might do it next year, but I think you have to do serious fundraising for it.  I'm not sure if I'm up to the serious fundraising.

New Yoga Studios

So a group of us have been looking for a yoga studio that can be the right fit for a bunch of us.  We're still working on it.  We tried a new place this week called the Octopus Garden.  Not the right fit.  I was mostly ok with it.  It was hard and more flow than I really wanted to do.  I figured it was extra hard as I hadn't done much in the way of exercise and nothing in the way of flow yoga for more than a year.  Which may be the case, but it is now two days later and I still hurt.  So yeah, not the right place for me at the moment.  The good thing is is really wasn't the right place for the rest.

So onwards and forwards with the hunt.

In addition to doing yoga with the group, I've found myself interested in this type of yoga called Yoga Nidra.    Mostly due to the fact that I do not sleep well so anything to help out is worth trying.  So I may be making a trip or two to the Downward Dog as it seems to be one of the only places in the city that offers this type of yoga.

Now off to see if I can my bike off the wall and go for a ride.  My hubby installed a bike hook this week in the kitchen and we hung it up last night for the first time.

Biking.

Sunday morning I was all excited about the idea of going for a bike ride. I haven't been on my bike since the middle of November and I really miss it.  Last year I really started bike riding again and I've got plans to try doing some distance biking this year.


I hadn't gone out on Saturday night so I was up at a reasonable hour an got myself all dressed up in a my biking gear and away I was going to go.
Then..... denied. The tires were flat. I forgot what happens when you don't ride your bike for 4 months. This is usually an easy problem to solve as we have more than one air pump for inflating bike tires, real tires and footballs. But no, apparently my fancy bike has a special tire valve that I didn't know existed. But a trip off to MEC yesterday and voila for $1.25 I now have a valve adaptor and tires full of air. All set for riding now, but I look out the window and see rain. So no riding for me today. I have a couple of other items I should pick up for the bike, but they didn't seem to have them yesterday in the spring rush. I need some new gloves. Mine fell apart last year. But all they had were the expensive ones. Perhaps next time.