Because it took me so long to plant flowers on Sunday, we never did get to ride our bikes over the weekend. I was a little disappointed, but I was happy that I had been able to spend a lot of time outdoors - and as a bonus, I actually accomplished something as well!
Brian said we would definitely go for a bike ride on Monday. Then he casually mentioned that we would ride our bikes up to his parents' house to return a movie we had borrowed from them (Sideways, which we both enjoyed). Upon hearing this, I kind of flinched a little inside. His parents live in a neighborhood located about halfway up the side of a mountain - OK, not a mountain like the Rocky Mountains, but what passes for a mountain in this area. He reminded me that I said I wanted to get a better workout from biking than I had been. I then reminded him that I got more than enough of a workout the other day, riding 16 miles with my brake rubbing my rear tire! :-) However, I decided I was ready to accept the mountain-climbing challenge, so after a quick supper Monday evening, we took to our bikes and started our journey.
It's not really that far to Brian's parents' house from our house, and the ride to the base of the mountain is actually quite nice - a couple of gentle hills, but nothing too demanding. I even got to do some really good coasting at one point, which was quite fun.
But the fun ended not too long afterward, as we got ready to start the climb. Brian said the first section, up to the point where the road curves, was the worst. I was sort of surprised at that comment, since from my experience with driving up the hill, it seemed like there were steeper portions later on, but I soon discovered he was correct.
Wow! Was it tough! I was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf, but it didn't seem like I was making any progress. I felt rather pathetic as cars drove past at 35 mph and I was struggling mightily to go 5 mph. I suppose I should have tried standing up off the seat, but I really didn't think about it at the time, and I'm not sure I'm quite comfortable with doing that yet.
However, somehow I did make it past "the worst part" without having to stop. And what a relief it was when the incline became more gradual! We went a little further up the hill until we came to a little gravel area off to the side, and then we stopped for a moment to get a drink and catch our breaths. Then it was "onward and upward" again.
The funniest part of the whole trip was when a car drove by us, and we realized it was Brian's dad's car! We both waved wildly as the car continued up the hill, but there was no indication that his parents saw us.
Finally, after some more uphill biking, we got to his parents' house. When his mother opened the door, she was quite surprised to see us in our cycling attire. We told her that they had just driven past us a few minutes beforehand, and that we even waved, but she said she didn't see us at all! I guess they were deep in thought or conversation or something.
Anyway, we dropped off the movie, drank some more water, and then began the fun - but slightly scary - part of going down the mountain. It was certainly much easier than going up, but we did have to be careful not to go too fast, and we had to really watch our rear-view mirrors for cars coming up behind us, because with the wind rushing in our ears, we couldn't really hear much. But we made it down the mountain safely.
After we got back to level ground, we took a slightly different way to get home, and when we got back to our driveway, my trip odometer was at exactly 10.0 miles. So it wasn't my longest ride, but it definitely had the most challenging part to it that I've done so far. And I considered it a personal accomplishment to have "conquered" that mountain, because the last time I rode a bicycle, before I got my own a few weeks ago, was quite a few years ago (more than 5, I'm sure) when I borrowed Brian's sister's old 10-speed bike (which was too small for me, although I didn't really realize it at the time) and rode with Brian up and around the hills of his parents' neighborhood. It was not a very great experience for me, and I believe I did end up having to walk the bike up a hill at some point. So I was happy that this ride in that neighborhood went much better than my last one.
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