Yesterday I got out my bike for the first time in probably a year aside from some bike rides with the kids. I give the whole ride a D+. I am still struggling to clip in and out at intersections. I thought taking back roads would be easier versus main roads. It really wasn't because I had to keep crossing over main roads and that was almost worse. There was so much stop and start I felt like I was hardly on the bike for more than a few minutes at a time. I really don't mind biking with traffic. It doesn't freak me out. I struggle more with crossing traffic. City biking in clips is not going to work for me. I went a little less than 10 miles which isn't bad but the whole experience just plain stunk. I am going to try biking along River Road and starting out there. I'll park at the gym out there. Or finding places a little bit out of the city. Even biking Sunnyside Road to the Rees Hill neighborhood is less congested in the mornings and there is no traffic light after Mildred. I give myself a hard time about only sticking to Minto Brown but it is such a nice and safe place to bike--there are no cars. If we lived in a place with long bike paths, I would be on those paths versus the streets. I may even look into biking with one of the local clubs. I really can do this. I beat myself up over it yesterday and it caused me some anxiety. I even thought about quitting triathlon. But I am feeling better today.
Today I ran four miles with Tracy and we talked about anxiety and biking anxiety which was helpful. I also did my first open water swim of the season which went exceptionally better than my first bike ride of the season. I swam about 0.4 miles. I felt super strong in the water and I stayed relatively straight on.
So it's not all bad.
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