Drapetomaniac

Tonight I take a bus to Houston so that I can bike for two days back to Austin.

Here’s a few lessons I’ve learned from going from zero miles to 150:

• If it keeps raining every time you want to bike or train, ride in the rain. Turns out it’s supposed to rain the weekend of the ride, so at least I have practice now
• If you’ve never used gears on a bike, ask a few people, because you’re probably still using them wrong
• Higher gears means about 20 lower hearts beats per minute and a saved min per mile. After figuring this out, my fear of a heart attack decreased substantially.
• Don’t bike at high speeds with your mouth open unless you don’t have any protein bars handy and need the extra nutrition
• The “old” ladies passing you aren’t illusions, but your youth might be.
• Don’t get discouraged with the big guy in a Santa suit passes you. Especially if you’ve already gone 25 miles and this is his only lap of the day
• Bikers aren’t whiny (Well, many aren’t). You really will be honked at by aggressive drivers who, even if you are nowhere near them and in a bike lane
• When the driver honks at you, both of your heart rates are racing. One from stress, one from exercise. Guess who lives longer?