Quote Originally Posted by Lise
Yeah, Yellow, you know normally I can handle the city traffic just fine. Today I was off; instead of navigating intersections, I was making turns I didn't want to make, I couldn't clip into my new pedals right, I felt afraid of the cars...I almost never feel really afraid of the cars. Alert to them, annoyed by them, but not afraid.
Sounds like my ride a couple of weekends ago. I think a lot of what I am having a hard time with is the loss of quiet and the introduction of, well, chaos. I used to ride down my driveway make 2 rights, and I was on a quiet, 2-lane country road with very light traffic (sometimes none at all) and fabulous hills to conquer. Riding was peaceful and allowed me to clean the junk out of my head. I need to relearn the process all over, I think, with this introduction of background static. Unfortunately I can see myself not riding my road bike AT ALL with my head the way it is.

(Oh, and my yard doesn't look that great yet! Just trying to take control over it at this point. Since it's a new-to-me yard, I have no idea what it's going to do. I did announce to my neighbors yesterday that I was going to nuke the lawn and xeriscape the area...and then the dog was out there last night laying in it and oh so happy. I did have to buy a lawn mower, but I got a manual reel-type mower that works on human power.)