Lessons learned on my first 10 mile ride

[residentgeek]

Today was my first 10 mile ride ever (10.6 miles to be exact). It was just me, my knobby mountain bike, and the 2yr old in a trailer with a big ol' flag sticking out. We were quite the sight on those back country roads.

I learned a few things while I was out and about (most of which people have already posted about, but you don't really understand the significance until you try it yourself ).

1. Seat position is pretty important. I'm pretty sure I've got the seat high enough, but I think I need to move it forward a bit because I'm sitting more on my front than my sit bones (I can feel the difference when I force myself to sit back), and my girly bits don't really appreciate that much. Ouch. And I should save up for some bike shorts.

2. A black cotton t-shirt is perhaps not the best thing to choose for a ride in the sun. I totally spaced when I did my gear check and didn't even think about grabbing my dri-fit shirt. Thankfully, I had enough water to make up for the extra sweat loss.

3. If you focus on the road right in front of you and don't look up too much, even the big hills look the same as the flat stretches. As soon as I look up to see how far you've got to go, though, my legs lose all their power for the next couple of strokes. Mind over matter, I suppose.

4. I decided to set my bike computer to just tell me the distance, and not the average speed or anything else. I was just focused on getting to 10 miles and not killing myself, and that really helped.

5. It really helps when the little one naps - then he doesn't care how fast/slow you're going, what bumps you hit, or how hot it is. And no "I want to go home" in three part harmony. He slept through about 80% of the ride, including the really big hills, so I didn't hear a lot of complaining from him when I needed a break. And when he finally did wake up, he provided some entertainment with his own renditions of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and "The Ghostbusters Theme Song"

6. Granny gear is your best friend.

It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure after hauling the little one around I'll be even better on the hills than I was before. He weighs about 25 pounds, plus whatever the trailer weighs. It *really* sucks when we hit a headwind, because the trailer acts like a drag chute, but it rocks going downhill - we hit almost 25mph on one of the huge downhills.

And, of course, the biggest lesson I learned was "I will survive"

And don't forget the sunscreen.