10miles >30miles

As much as Bridgeport is an armpit of human coexistence, it's a great spot for cycling. Head off in any direction and you're going to find a big, fat hill. Cheap rent, lots of pizza joints, Bars, and hills. Everything the aspiring cyclist needs.

Thanks to rain and cold weather, plus a holiday for good measure, I hadn't been on my bike for about two weeks. Instead of coming back easy, I decided I needed to just pick up where I left off. I'm fucking stupid. Instead of returning to the safety and familiarity of the bike path, and it's wonderfully flat nature, I decided I wanted to tackle 23. Route 23 is a beautifully laid out road with tons of curves and hills broken up by little towns. It's a great driving road, which makes it a great riding road. It cuts through Bridgeport and becomes Bridgeport's main road, 4th St. If you take 23w you are almost immediately hit with a long, low to medium grade hill. I had never done this hill until today, and since I was brimming with confidence, I figured I'd take 23 for about 10miles or so and then turn around and come back. "A nice easy welcome back ride" I thought.

The hill wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I made it up at about an 11mph pace without using my 26 or 28 cog. I continued following the road and kept hitting more and more hills. Tiny hills, but they started adding up. By the fifth mile, I was done. I felt like I need to puke and my legs were shaky. I found a parking lot to turn around in, and rested.

My front brake had been making an awful abrasive noise, so I took off my front wheel and inspected everything. I didn't feel anything, I didn't see anything, but the noise wouldn't go away. I put my wheel back on, fired some snot rockets and was on my way.

The best part about the ride home was that even though my legs were gone, it was mostly down hill. Two short hills were all I had to deal with. Before the second hill I was coasting, just enjoying myself, when I came up on a bit of shade. Before my eyes could adjust I hit a pot hole something fierce. I was sitting, and I hit with such force that my seat pillsed me. So now I felt like I had to puke again. A shot to the junk will do that to you. To make matters worse, I had to immediately tackle the last hill before me descent back to Bridgeport. I've dealt with more painful things in my life, but i don't think I'm going to make it a habit of kicking myself in the balls before riding my bike.

If you take away the not easing myself back into riding, and my nuts getting wacked, I enjoyed the ride. I'm hoping to be ready to do it again by next week. Once I'm comfortable with that, there's another hill over on King of Prussia Road that is longer. I want to give that a shot within the next month, because if I can make it up and still have some strength left, I can ride to work, and that would be great.