road dreams.

It's a good thing I'm trying to post more often, because I mysteriously lost the draft I already made of this post...

Well, on Monday the temperature soared into the 80s here in Ypsi, and I took my baby out for her first ride on real pavement. After months now of training indoors on the cyclops trainer, I finally got a taste of what road riding was like. It was starting to feel a little absurd that here I am riding across the country this summer and I have never even ridden outside yet. And I was nervous. So nervous. Especially after a tense 25-minute rush hour drive in Michigan traffic, I was slightly shaking with the idea that I had to get out on the road with these cars--on a bike. But I did and it was EXHILARATING.

I am deeply indebted to my older, wiser, more experience brother (hehe, I know you're reading this Alex) who can show me the ropes and pick the right roads. We were on the outskirts of Ann Arbor where the cyclists are everywhere, the speed limit is lower, and the cars are more than courteous. The road was even scenic, winding along a small river that made me nostalgic for canoeing. It's a little saddening to be looking forward to a summer without a canoe trip, but on our short Monday ride I was hit with so many parallels between the two kinds of tripping--cycling and canoeing that is--that I think I'll be satisfied. Both have the same struggle with the elements, like wind, sun, and rain. Both will find me in a new campsite almost every night. Instead of whitewater and portages, I'll have traffic to survive and mountains to climb. And I'm sure that I'll discover that like canoeing, the company I'm with will make the trip.

As for the title of this post, I had my first cycling dream last night. I was biking uphill and the woman I was following was trying to teach me how to use both legs on one pedal, and how that was supposed to be so much easier. Somehow I don't think so....