Afternoon ride to Fernal

Last Friday I was in a bit of a funk and had that "want to do something but don't know what" feeling, so I decided to take ride my road bike to Fernal Shores, which I'd been talking about doing all summer.

yes, I took this picture while riding

It's only 14 miles, but there turned out to be a lot of hills that I never noticed before while driving there. I knew one would kill me, and I didn't even get a chance to find out, because of how tired I was before it- it started on mile 12 or so, right after an endless sort-of uphill- one of those hills that isn't even necessarily noticeable until you realize you can't get any speed going and every time you want to take a break, you don't really go anywhere. So even though I vowed to not get off the bike until I got there (even going so far as to pull my phone and food out of the pack under my seat while riding, which was incredibly hard and stupid), I had to walk up the hill. It also has some of the worst tar ever on it, so it was probably good that I walked it. I did get some nice instagram photos though.

It was a nice night, even though the ride was tough and a bit boring. Road riding just isn't that exciting. It's more about the completing journey and arriving to a planned destination than mountain biking I guess. Towards the end, I realized I either needed a ride back, or I'd be half dead and riding in the dark. Josh came and saved me, which turned out to be really good, since I got a flat tire a mile or so into riding back, and even though I had the stuff I needed to replace it, I couldn't get my pump to work right, so it would have probably been pitch black dark by the time I got back on the bike. So, THANK YOU JOSH.

This ride was also about trying something new with my Gopro too, so it came along and I put it to the test.

Always feels good to cross something else off the summer list. 

"Afternoon Ride to Fernal Shores" from Mike Alexander on Vimeo