So, I took my new bike for a 20 mile spin yesterday morning! It wasn't 20 miles all at once by any means--we stopped a few times for bathroom breaks, snacks, and water, so the adventure wound up taking over 3 hours. We mostly were on paved roads and a paved path... though the path did have a significant stretch (probably not a mile, but it felt long enough) that was unpaved, kind of sandy and gravelly, and pretty uneven. I freaked out a bit at that point since this is my first bike with skinny-ish tires, but she performed admirably! I bounced clear off my seat once, but for the most part was able to pretty easily navigate around or gingerly over the bumps and never lost control.

I was drained last night, but I feel pretty good today! A little tense in the upper back/shoulders (though that's really not unusual for me) and my sit-bones aren't feeling toooo bad. I'm actually surprised how well that region is feeling, considering I don't have any bike shorts yet and was just wearing regular ol' cotton panties and light cotton shorts. My right wrist is sore (the only thing that was really bothering me DURING the ride, besides my saddle-parts at the very end, were my arms--soreness in my wrists, and just arm fatigue overall.) I'm not sure if I was gripping too hard, if it's a positioning thing, or what... I guess I'll have to spend some more time riding before I figure that one out.

Anyway, on to the pictures! I have a few...

Here's my bike parked near one of the overpasses over the river, which, as you may have noticed, doesn't have much water in it.


My bike and my boyfriend's mtb that he's had since he was like... 10 years old. Boy, is he excited to get his cyclo-cross bike.


The next 4 don't have my bike in them, they're just for fun!
Many of the bridges along the path had fun little mosaics and such at the ends... here's one featuring a Joni Mitchell quote:


I still get really excited whenever I see a lizard outside... I think it'll take me a while to get that lizards are just what they have here, instead of squirrels and chipmunks like I'm used to in the midwest...


Playing around with the macro settings on my camera in the trees... I really like the effect of the sunlight through the leaves.


Finally, here's a woman who rides... horses! It was fun to see someone out in the riverbed giving her horse some good exercise.


We joked about taking a Chicago hold-up style picture at the end, but I was far too wiped out to think of anything but getting lunch at that point.

So... there ya go!