I have been thinking about how I enjoy bicycling recently. I really do enjoy riding my bike, most of the time. There are certainly days where I would rather not ride, but I know it is good exercise for me, and so I do it. And with the accident and loss of my primary bike more thoughts have gone through my head recently regarding biking
Then there are days when I think about how I would like to do “bigger things” on my bicycle. I tend to ride around 100 miles a week. Which for some people will sound like a lot and for others will not sound like that much at all. For me it is the right amount since it is what I can afford time wise during the week.
I always ride in my general neighborhood. I don’t travel anywhere to then ride. I will venture as far as 12 miles from my house while riding, but I always start and finish at my house.
But what about doing something different?
The other day I was wondering what it would be like to ride in a race. I am not a competitive person so the race side of things wouldn’t mean much to me, but I was thinking about the process of the race. Would I be able to finish a 40 mile race in a reasonable amount of time? Would I end up being last? Would I finish it without feeling like I want to die? I think I could do it. There are a number of small races around Arizona that I have looked at, but I have never taken the plunge to do them. I always have “great” excuses as well, “It is on a weekend when I already have plans (usually out of town plans)”. Or “Wow, that is expensive, and not worth the cost.” That is the big one for me I think. I find it hard to justify the cost of a race since I am not in it for the win. But maybe I just need to do it someday. And I should probably think about doing it sooner rather than later since I am not getting any younger.
The other thing that has entered my mind about bicycling is location cycling. I think it would be kind of cool to ride my bike along the “Going to the Sun Road” in Glacier National Park in Montana. Glacier National Park is probably my favorite national park, and that road is an amazing site. Of course it is long (about 50 miles I believe), there is significant elevation change along the road, there is a lot of traffic, there are sheer drop offs, and there is snow most of the year (at least when I would be able to get there). So, while I think I would enjoy the views, I am not sure I would enjoy the ride. I think I would be too preoccupied with all the possible issues that could arrive. I am sure I would be underprepared to do the climb up to Logan Pass (the highest point on the road), and the trip back down I think would be a bit nerve racking. But boy what a site it would be.
The other ride I think would be pretty would be Zion National Park. This would be a much easier ride compared to Glacier since the road into the park is only 7 miles and is fairly flat. Of course you would have to start farther away than that since you can’t get close to the park entrance due to the amount of people that visit Zion. I think riding through the canyon would be a great way to see all that beauty. I wouldn’t have a car or shuttle bus around me blocking my view. And with Zion being a lot closer to my home than Glacier I think this is something that is certainly doable sometime in my life.
The downside I see to riding in a national park is that I also enjoy hiking, and I wouldn’t have the ability to do both at a given time. I wouldn’t have my hiking gear available to me if I was riding and so I would be limited to seeing what was around me on the road while I biked or only just short walks off the road that I could do in my bike gear (and I would have to carry a lock so my bike wouldn’t disappear while I hiked some).
So, those are some bigger idea goals that I think I may want to tackle at some point in my life. I am not sure I will even do it, but maybe I will someday. And if I do, and if I am still writing this blog, then I will write about it and add pictures to show it all off.