Sometimes It's Good to be Full of Hot Air...
I finally broke my bike out of storage and decided I would do my Sunday afternoon errands on my bike instead of driving. I wanted to go to Bulk Barn which is about 8 km from my place and stop at Shoppers along the way and I thought that was a very doable bike ride - I was in no hurry so I could leisurely ride along and it was straight south on Bank Street so there is a bike lane for part of the way at least and sidewalks along the entire route.
The first hurdle came when I was trying to get out of the parking garage. The ramps are pretty steep down there and my little legs were pumping pretty hard to get my bike up them at each level. I made it though without having to get off and walk, except at the garage door because you have to use the FOB, and that wasn't happening without stopping and waving it in front of the censor resulting in a loss of any momentum I had going... Anyways, I was out and on my way down through the Glebe and towards South Keys area.
I hadn't biked in awhile and after about 1km I was feeling it! I thought this was odd considering that I have done a lot of running and rollerblading recently and there's no reason that my legs can't handle a little pedaling action, but I pressed on and didn't think too much about it. About half an hour in, I made it to the Shoppers and stopped to get some photos developed. When I got off my bike, I was literally dripping with sweat. Now to be fair, I was wearing a sweatshirt and the day was somewhat muggy so again, I didn't think much of it, I chalked it up to being overdressed.
I got my pictures developed and continued on to Bulk Barn, another couple kilometers, mostly uphill (plus one erroneous turn that lead me around the Canadian Tire and back to the same spot on the road...). I got to Bulk Barn finally and was getting what I needed and called Jenn (I'd missed her call when I was biking). After I told her how long it had taken me and she reminded me that she had warned me that it was a far trip that I shouldn't make on my bike, I got to thinking about it. I know my bike isn't exactly a top model (Canadian Tire special last summer $109.99), but it still should have performed a little better than that. I got my goods and headed back to the bike, dreading the return trip (especially since I now had 5 pounds of nuts strapped to my back - I couldn't have purchased light items). I checked the bike over to see if there was something not functioning properly. I played around with the gears, but still no real improvement. I stopped on the sidewalk at the first hill and felt the tire...imagine when you squeeze a ripe banana vs. squeezing a brown one... my tire resembled the feeling of the brown one. I kept on trucking, feeling stupid and pulled into the first gas station I came to. They had an air pump and I went into the shop to ask the guy if he could help me. He spoke little to no English and when he followed me out and I showed him what I needed and pushed at my tires to indicate my predicament. He also pushed at the tires and gave me a rather sympathetic (i.e. sorry you are so stupid) look then started the air machine. I offered to give him money because the pump needs coins to run, but he took pity on me and wouldn't take anything (perhaps my panting and sweating scared him slightly...). I quickly filled the tires and literally sailed home from there.
Sometimes it is good to be full of hot air after all...
The first hurdle came when I was trying to get out of the parking garage. The ramps are pretty steep down there and my little legs were pumping pretty hard to get my bike up them at each level. I made it though without having to get off and walk, except at the garage door because you have to use the FOB, and that wasn't happening without stopping and waving it in front of the censor resulting in a loss of any momentum I had going... Anyways, I was out and on my way down through the Glebe and towards South Keys area.
I hadn't biked in awhile and after about 1km I was feeling it! I thought this was odd considering that I have done a lot of running and rollerblading recently and there's no reason that my legs can't handle a little pedaling action, but I pressed on and didn't think too much about it. About half an hour in, I made it to the Shoppers and stopped to get some photos developed. When I got off my bike, I was literally dripping with sweat. Now to be fair, I was wearing a sweatshirt and the day was somewhat muggy so again, I didn't think much of it, I chalked it up to being overdressed.
I got my pictures developed and continued on to Bulk Barn, another couple kilometers, mostly uphill (plus one erroneous turn that lead me around the Canadian Tire and back to the same spot on the road...). I got to Bulk Barn finally and was getting what I needed and called Jenn (I'd missed her call when I was biking). After I told her how long it had taken me and she reminded me that she had warned me that it was a far trip that I shouldn't make on my bike, I got to thinking about it. I know my bike isn't exactly a top model (Canadian Tire special last summer $109.99), but it still should have performed a little better than that. I got my goods and headed back to the bike, dreading the return trip (especially since I now had 5 pounds of nuts strapped to my back - I couldn't have purchased light items). I checked the bike over to see if there was something not functioning properly. I played around with the gears, but still no real improvement. I stopped on the sidewalk at the first hill and felt the tire...imagine when you squeeze a ripe banana vs. squeezing a brown one... my tire resembled the feeling of the brown one. I kept on trucking, feeling stupid and pulled into the first gas station I came to. They had an air pump and I went into the shop to ask the guy if he could help me. He spoke little to no English and when he followed me out and I showed him what I needed and pushed at my tires to indicate my predicament. He also pushed at the tires and gave me a rather sympathetic (i.e. sorry you are so stupid) look then started the air machine. I offered to give him money because the pump needs coins to run, but he took pity on me and wouldn't take anything (perhaps my panting and sweating scared him slightly...). I quickly filled the tires and literally sailed home from there.
Sometimes it is good to be full of hot air after all...