Today was bicycle day. Basically the whole point of coming to Martha's Vineyard was to rent a bike and use it to explore the island. That being said, I hadn't actually been on a bicycle for about 14 years, and then it was just once to borrow a friend's bike to go drop off an assignment in college. I rode a lot growing up, but basically stopped sometime around age 14 or 15. My original thought was to cycle around the entire island, but upon closer inspection of the trails and routes, I reduced that and did only 18 miles, between 3 of the 6 towns here on the island. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The day started with breakfast here at the B&B. Now, I've come to expect great breakfasts at bed & breakfasts. But today's breakfast wasn't much more than granola, yogurt, fruit, and toast. Basically a continental breakfast. Plus the other guests were quite rude, in my opinion. There were 2 couples that went to a wedding last night and myself. They basically ignored me at breakfast, talking amongst themselves about possible bicycling trips to take in Europe. The one couple didn't even say hello to me. When I finally excused myself, realizing that there wasn't going to be a hot breakfast served, as I walked away, I heard them asking each other about if they knew anything about me and my travels. They could have asked me directly while I was actually there!!! To quote Stephanie Tanner, "How rude!"
It rained on and off for a while this morning. I hung out at the B&B until it looked like the rain was basically done and then walked over to the bike rental place. It started raining again when I was about 4 blocks away. But it's ok, cause I carry an umbrella with me at all times. I hung out at the bike shop until it finally stopped raining, right around 11:30. Now, most people that I had seen riding around the island weren't wearing helmets, but it had been 14 years since I last rode, and hi, I just lost a friend of mine to a cycling accident, even when she was wearing a helmet. So, yeah, definitely wore a helmet the whole time. I got on my bike and took off. Very weird to be back on a bike. I rode over to Oak Bluffs to start out with. It was much further than I expected it to be. At one point, I pulled over and checked the map to make sure I was still headed in the right direction. I made it over to Oak Bluffs just as a random parade was going through town. It was basically all of the town's emergency service people and vehicles throwing candy out at kids. True story.
I was hungry at this point - limited breakfast and new physical activity will do that to you. So I found a place to get a lobster roll. Yummy!! I window shopped around town a bit and then got back on my bike and rode down to Edgarton. This ride was even longer, but it was still pretty easy - very flat, and mostly on bike paths, rather than the road. Once I got to Edgarton, I had to reward myself with ice cream. It is national ice cream day, after all. Then back on my bike and back to Vineyard Haven. This is the leg that almost killed me. I'm not sure how it's possible that the first two legs were basically flat and this leg was almost entirely uphill, but that's how it was. Had I to do it over again, I would have reversed the direction I went. I made it back to the bike shop and returned my bicycle, having survived my journey. I walked back to the b&b and immediately took a shower since I was drenched in sweat.
So what is my assessment of my 18 mile bike ride? Well, I'm already sore. My calves, my glutes, my quads, my knees, my shoulders, my hip flexors, basically everything. Oh, I forgot to mention about changing gears. When I first got on the bike, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to change gears. Took me a good 5 minutes or so until I finally figured it out. Thank goodness I did - I definitely wouldn't have survived the last leg without that. I live in Austin, which is a big bike town, and I've thought many times about buying a bike, but I don't know how it would fit into my life. I wouldn't want to ride it for commuting, both because I'd arrive super sweaty and because I carry too much stuff with me on a daily basis. I don't usually go straight home from work, rather going to a meeting, or a class, or a rehearsal, so that would be quite difficult. But I definitely enjoyed the bike ride, but I'd adjust the seat next time. I wanted it further back on the bike. Where it was positioned today, my leg positioning was unnatural and straining on my knees. I do wonder how the lean back bikes are - they seem to have a more comfortable seat and leg positioning. I'm not running out to buy a bike any time soon, but at least renting one occasionally at home is a definite possibility.
I was going to just stay in this evening and relax, trying to combat my soreness, but I got hungry around 7 PM, so I ventured out and found some food. I ate at Cafe Moxie. Good food (I had the seafood pasta), but it sure took a long time to get to me.
That's it for today. My ferry off the island isn't until 4 PM tomorrow, so I'll go explore some lighthouses before heading out.
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