I decided to be brave today and rode my bike about 11 miles. I scoped out a "bike-friendly" road on my way to run this morning. I've only ridden on roads once before (and my first ride was entirely within a park).

I fell once at a four way stop. I unclipped my right foot but didn't set it down. Instead I kept moving slowly waiting my turn to go. A cyclist coming from another direction didn't wait his proper turn and I ended up stopping completely to let him through and of course, tilted over the wrong way I've got a bloody knee (and I'm sure a nice bruise under that in the morning) and my poor bike got scuffed up (happily not the frame...bar tape took some damage, chipped the little plug that goes into the handlebar at the end, and my saddle got scuffed) but I'm sure it could have been worse. I'm so glad my left foot unclipped as I was going over because if not I would have been stuck under the bike without a way to gracefully get up

The one thing about biking that I'm not used to are the hills. When you run, you're working the whole time. On the bike (especially since I'm scared of descents and speed) I'm coasting the whole way down hills and feel like I'm sort of cheating as the mileage goes up.

I almost died chugging back up the hills coming home. I sure did wish my bike came with a triple instead of the compact double! But I made it and can only hope it gets easier from here on out.

All in all, I'm proud I got out there. This whole biking thing is still really scary to me, and I hope I can get more comfortable.