Well, this has been a humbling experience. I always knew I was not "built for biking." Ever since I was young, I never enjoyed bicycle riding, mostly because it seemed to require so much effort. Others could just hop on and zoom away, but I always felt so much tension and resistance in my legs, I would get off and walk the bike at even the smallest incline. This led to my never riding my bike anywhere--not around my neighborhood, not around the various campsites we visited, not anywhere.
Unfortunately, now that I have chosen to train for a triathlon--scheduled for August 23--I am forced to remount my bike and pick up where I left off: at pain and suffering 101.
I decided to try out an exploratory ride today, in order to start charting my route down to Coney Island. This will entail quite a lengthy ride involving much uncharted territory and many unfamiliar streets, so I mapped out my route and set off at the early hour of 6 p.m., fully intending to be back by 7 at the latest. At 7:30, I still hadn't even crossed back into Queens. My full route ended up taking me down toward Brooklyn, across the Manhattan Bridge, up the east side of the island, and then back across the Queensborough Bridge and onto my usual running route (the one I used tirelessly to train for the PIttsburgh Marathon). In all, however, despite taking me nearly 2 hours to complete, the route ended up only being 12.1 measly miles long!
Clearly I have my work cut out for me.
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