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2.22.2023

What is a Regular Weekend Anyway?

Thank you to all who commented on my last post. I am taking all of your advice into consideration! However, I am still doing some digging, so if you have not weighed in yet, you can still go here and let me know your thoughts. 

Last weekend was a long one and it gave me the perfect opportunity to get some stuff done and still have fun too! I was thinking about what a regular weekend around here looks like and of course it depends on the weekend, but a regular weekend at home generally looks like this: prepping meals for the next week, laundry, house cleaning, working in the yard, a run (or two), reading, working on the purging project, and meeting up with friends for a hike/run/coffee. However, weekends lately have been a little different! 

Remember my post about being uncomfortable? Since I wrote that post, I have been even more uncomfortable! That ride was about 40 miles; after that was a success, on New Years weekend, I decided to ride to my brother's house in Santa Rosa, which is about 70 miles away from where I live. Before I started, since it was supposed to be a little wet, I got new tires and put them on Bertha. A quick backstory: Bertha is old, maybe even older than me, but I am not really sure, as I have been told that it is rude to ask a lady her age. She is a ten speed, of which maybe only three of the speeds work and her brakes have not been changed the whole time I have had her, which has been about ten years. So she is not really in tip top shape, but she gets the job done. 

The day that I planned on starting, Mother Nature was not having it; you may recall that this was the weekend where we were hit with the bomb cyclone? So I had to wait a day and shorten the ride, but in the end, I started off bright and early on Saturday morning from Richmond point and went across the Richmond bridge for the 2nd time in less than a month. Surprisingly the weather was good, the winds were in my favor and I got through San Rafael with no issues. 

I don't really know (but am learning!) what normal cyclists use for navigation, but I used Google maps and kept my headphone in while riding so that I could hear the directions as I went. Sometimes they are confusing, like when she says, "turn right, then left" but really she means, "stay on the same path" so I did go the wrong way a couple of times since I was not actually looking at the map, but generally it was fairly easy to follow. My route took me through San Rafael, Novato and Petaluma before putting me on Stony Point road, which was 14 miles long and actually went straight to Santa Rosa and almost right to my brother's house. 

Once I arrived there, we took a shake out walk and went for New Years Day pho before relaxing in the hot tub and then in front of a movie with ice cream. Broski and Mrs. Broski always treat me right. 

The next day, I got up early and left as it was supposed to start raining again at 11 am and I wanted none of that. I had gear and everything but one of my fears is slipping on the wet street and falling in the middle of traffic, or even just on the ground on a hard bike path or street. Not to say I will never ride in the rain but for now I would like to avoid it when I can. It was great riding back along Stony Point with the sun rising and no cars on the road. 

As I said above, my route generally followed frontage or access roads near highway 101, but often took me into the downtown areas of the towns I went through and I will not lie, although I have been to and driven through these towns before, I had never been to some of their downtowns and they are very cute. For example, Petaluma has a nice old town downtown with cute shops and everything! I will have to come back to explore more as I was trying to outrun the rain, but who knew! Petaluma also had a bathroom that was open, which I was very grateful for, as I had made a pitstop in the bushes the day before. 

I got back to Richmond only slightly damp and it actually started raining shortly after that. Score. What are my takeaways? I learned that I am not a fan of padded bike shorts. So, when I say uncomfortable, I really do mean physically this time. I nicknamed them my "diaper" and have a few TMI things to tell you about this. First of all, did you know that you are supposed to wear them without underwear? I can't tell you how glad I am to get to my destination and take off the shorts and put on underwear. It's my new favorite thing. I learned that I need new brakes, which I have since bought and not yet installed. 

One of the most useful things I have learned on this adventure but also in life, is that you don't need special or fancy equipment to start a new adventure. You just need to try it with what you have! I put a change of clothes and some tools in a dry bag, strapped it to the back of the bike with a bungee and used that as my "paniers," I clearly do not have a state of the art bike, I wear old running shoes (another use rather than gardening!) and I wear whatever is comfortable. I get passed by sleek riders, dressed in fancy matching spandex with $16,000 bikes made of air, as I huff and puff on my 57 pound bike up a hill with my lowest of three gears. But you know what, I arrive home tired and happy and proud of myself for not letting any of that stop me. Not to get on a tangent here, but the same goes for everything! Don't let the lack of gear or the lack of experience or the fear of looking silly hold you back. 

Total miles: 105 (54 + 51)
Time taken:  10 hours (5.5 + 4.5)
Bridges crossed: 1, but I crossed it twice (Richmond)
Modes of transport: 2 (car to Richmond, bike)
Map of my trip: https://caltopo.com/m/E803B 

What does your regular weekend look like? What does your out of the box/adventure weekend look like? 

11 comments:

  1. Ah, cycling gear. I don't care much for padded bike shorts myself, but I am a knickers girl. I also require padded gloves because my hands get sore very quickly when I ride. Anyway, I think it's so brave that you made such a long ride by yourself. I'd definitely be too nervous to do that. Go you!

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  2. Wow, what a fantastic weekend! I am looking longingly at those photos since we have had a huge amount of snow this week, plus very cold temperatures. I have a padded bike SKIRT; well, it's a skort actually. Padded shorts under the cutest little skirt.
    This weekend I am going to do my usual stuff, which isn't very exciting, but it will be cozy.

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    1. I did not even realize a skort was an option; I know they have that for running as well, but I have never tried it for that either. Are the padded shorts comfortable? We are getting bad rain this weekend in the Bay Area and snow in many of the other parts of CA, so I think a lot of people are going to be trying to keep cozy!

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  3. Those pictures are gorgeous! I'm looking at them longingly, too, since we are going to have snow for so much longer! We got another dumping this week while I've been in Chicago.

    Our weekends tend to follow a template, at least Saturday does. We usually do the library then gymnastics, come home and have lunch then quiet time. In the summer, we always go to a farmer's market and park on Sunday mornings. I usually try to find something to do outside of the house both days to keep us from losing our minds!

    I've never tried padded bike shorts but I have wondered if I should get them because I was quite sore from some very long rides - back when I actually used my bike. It's been collecting dust since the summer of 2017! Maybe this will be the year I get back on it!

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  4. This sounds like an amazing trip! And I totally understand your fear of slipping in the rain. That would prevent me from wanting to ever ride in the rain, too. Beautiful sky shots along your route!

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    1. Well, I did fall once years and years ago because the road was wet. It was in San Francisco and it was right on a busy street and I went down pretty hard and was stunned but also knew that I needed to get out of the way of cars! I guess it has stuck with me.

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  5. I love it! My adventures these days are more about trail running, but you can definitely go much farther on a bike. And I like your life lesson here- if you wait for everything to be perfect, you'll never do it. I've been embracing that concept more and more these days.

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  6. That's an awesome adventure! I lived in Santa Rosa for 3 months and had no idea how cute Petaluma was until I lived close. There are a lot of nice things in that area!

    I always forget you're not supposed to wear underwear with padded shorts. I do because I find it way more comfortable. I always think recent time in saddle is a way better indicator of comfort.... There are shorts which can make up for me not riding my bike.

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  7. What an amazing adventure! That's so cool that you were able to bike to see your brother. Is there a way to mount your phone on your bike so you can look at the GPS while you're biking?

    I got a new pair of yoga pants and every time I wore them, my underwear fell under my butt! It was so annoying. Then my friend told me she NEVER wears underwear with yoga pants. I was astonished! I stopped wearing them with these specific yoga pants and it feels sooooo weird to go commando.

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  8. That's so fun that you decided to ride your bike to Santa Rosa. I mean, why not! What a cool adventure. I am glad you went for it.

    My usual weekends look a lot like yours - we don't really do that much on weekends, but I always look forward to weekends when I go to meet up with friends.

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  9. That hurts my butt just reading about it!! I need a new bike. I meant to replace mine a few years ago but we decided to get kayaks instead of new bikes. And then I never got around to it. Typical weekend here is a lot of reading, returning bottle empties ( we are years behind returning and are incentivizing the kids to help us return before a trip for "fun money"), watching sports, usually a steak dinner / bottle of red, watching glee and playing / cleaning. Thats fall/winter weekends. Spring summer is more outside, yard work, drinking outdoors with friends, pool, camping, fires etc.

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