Racing Deer, Playing Chicken with Geese, and Shaving a Squirrel’s Tail: Adventures in Biking

            It has been close to a month since I got hurt running, and running is still the one activity that makes my leg hurt, especially going fast. In the past three weeks, I have been able to log over three-hundred miles, initially on my mountain bike, and then on my new road bike, once I decided this might be a longer term situation. This has given me a chance to see the surrounding area in which I now live in greater detail than running could have, and it has been awesome.

            So the rides began with my mountain bike. I had no real idea where to go, but I knew that there was an alternative entrance to Village Green, so on my first ride, I found this other exit and then turned left. I had looked at a map, and I had been contemplating some different loops, but I had no idea of their length, just guesses.

I quickly found some rolling hills in Van Buren and Van Buren Park, which looks like a grassy oasis with a playground. The rolling hills continued until I reached what can only be described as a valley. There is a massive drop and then a massive climb on the other side. It sounded absolutely awful to do, so I went for it. The drop was immense, and I was flying down the road, and honestly, I was terrified. I had not gone that fast on a bike in a long time, and although I was in control, my brain kept saying one small slip, and I would be in for a serious injury. Then there was a sign saying that a stop sign was coming, so I was happy to hit the brakes and slow down.

            Once that road is crossed, there is another shorter steep drop that immediately got me back up to speed, before a quick flat, and the climb began. This was equally steep, if not more so, and it was slow going. I tried to put my bike in the lowest gear, but when the front gear went down to one, the chain fell off, so I switched back to two. Once I made it to the top of the long grueling climb, spending most of it standing on my pedals for added force and momentum, I took a quick rest, lightly pedaling on the flat, before turning around and doing it all again.

            In the rides since then, I have yet to meet any hill as treacherous as these, and there are times when these hills are avoided entirely, actually, most of the time, these hills are avoided entirely, but my routes still mostly start the same to get out to the farm country as quickly as possible for the less busy roads, and there are still plenty of hills in the surrounding area.

            So after having some gear trouble with my mountain bike, which also consisted of the front gear not being able to go to the third gear as well, leaving me with just the second gear, I started to look on Facebook Market Place for road bikes. I found a beautiful one that was yellow with blue accents that was right up my alley, but when I googled a quick size guide, it said that it would be too small for me, but just in case, I messaged Randy, who has always touted his willingness to help in the bike department, and he confirmed that it would indeed be too small for me, but he offered to help me look for something.

            Then a day or two later, he reached out with a bike that he found on Craigslist. It was sleek and all black with white lettering, and it was a Cannondale. I do not know much about bikes, but that name is recognizable, because I am pretty sure that they only make bikes. So I reached out to the guy and set up a meet up so that I could give the bike a test ride. After a couple of minor adjustments and some education on how to shift the gears, I bought it for $250, which the seller said was a good deal (eventually I had to take it to the shop, and the owner also said that it was an incredible deal).

            Now, I was ready to fly. The frame of the bike was made in America, and which I now learned, they no longer do, and it also has some carbon fiber components to it making it incredibly lightweight. It is like a feather to pick up given its size. It is a 30 speed, and the gears move nicely. It has some hiccups now and then when shifting them, but sometimes, I think it is more user error than the bike’s fault. I now average two to three mph faster than I did on my other bike, but the new bike does have one problem. The brakes.

            On my first ride with it, I went back to my valley, and when I was doing the decent, I was now flying down the hill even faster, but the brakes were not incredibly responsive. I had my hand jamming the thing as hard as I could, and I would not come to a complete stop. There were no tires skidding, just a gentle deceleration. Thankfully, by the time I was at the stop sign I was slow enough to be able to stop for the traffic, but that was a little terrifying. Nonetheless, I went to the other side and went up and came back down, less terrified, because the traffic is not as bad on that side. The climb up was not nearly as hard, now that I could go into first gear in the front and the back.

            Since then, I have given some other hills a go. It honestly feels like riding a roller-coaster. The chain of the bike can even make a similar noise sometime as I go up the hill, and then you summit and release into what feels like a free fall, and just like a roller-coaster, I can feel my stomach drop as my bike does. I climbed up the back side of Devoe last Friday, and by the time I made it to the top, I started to chicken out, I was like maybe I do not want to do this, but there is no immediate stop sign at the bottom, so I knew if I wanted to, I could fly to the fullest extent of my abilities down this hill, so I let it rip…

            It was immediately terrifying, and even with my hand firmly on the brake, I was going almost 30 mph. Then I hit the middle lull and let me hand of the brake and then came the really steep part. I started with my hand on the brake, but once I got lower, I fully released, and I hit 37 mph, which is the fastest I have gone, and I am sure if I had not been such a chicken, I could have at least hit 40.

            The landscapes are really what continually captivates me on these rides. I feel like I enter farm country almost immediately, and all these fields leave room for some great views, and it makes the landscape feel so vast, especially when these fields are atop of hills, the view goes for miles. There is a bonus to these views as well, and that is the houses and barns. There are two good options for this, and there really is no in-between, either the houses and barns are brand new and absolutely gorgeous, or they are super old and run down, but they have beauty in their own broken way. Both peak my fancy, and it makes it more fun to go down new roads.

            It has also allowed me to interact with wildlife in a unique way as well. There are some serious speed limitations to running, but on the bike, I can go much faster. So the other day, I was riding, and in a field, and there was a deer, and when the deer saw me, it started to run, and I was going neck and neck with it. Every time I looked over, the deer was right on pace with me, and then the deer entered the woods, and eventually disappeared, but that was such a cool feeling to frolicking with a deer, not losing an inch of ground as it sprinted away.

            Another time, I was riding on Van Buren, and there was a line of geese. This line of geese extended five lanes, with multiple geese in each lane, including one just laying in the middle of the road. A car was coming up behind me, but once they saw the sight, they slowed down, slower than me, so I had to be the one to lead the charge. I yelled out as I went, and for some reason, even the geese that had basically crossed the street turned around and went back, and our two lanes were clear, now it was just a problem for the car coming the other way, who now had to patiently wait for the rest of the geese to clear out of the way. Honestly, I was probably just as scared of the geese as they were of me, but they were so panicked that they did not even hiss at me. I felt a little bad, but maybe I saved them too?

            Also with my newfound speed, I have had some close calls with squirrels. There have been at least two times, where I have almost taken a squirrel’s life with my bike. Actually, I am not sure what would happen if I hit a squirrel… but they have run right in front of me, and the most recent time, I was positive I was going to take it out. If my front tire did not get a follicle of hair on that poor guy’s tail, I would be very surprised.

            So there are some aspects to the bike that I am still working on and becoming completely comfortable with, but for the most part, I feel like I have started my journey off well, and that I will continue to learn how to handle it better and smoother. I have some go-to-routes, but I still love hitting new roads and finding new landscapes, like on Sunday when I came across a lake I did not know existed. So I might not be able to run right now, but I am finding an amazing alternative to help me stay in shape, I just wish it burned more calories given the time I am spending, but nothing can beat running in that department.