I don't mind the rat race but I could do with a little more cheese.

The Bike Me DC group met up at the Herndon Depot yesterday for a casual ride to the Vienna Depot and back, and I rode the three miles from home to Herndon to meet the group for the ride. We had lovely weather despite one member wearing his cursed jersey again. It rains every time he wears that jersey (the Reston Century riders can thank him), except for last night. Hooray!

We took off shortly after 6pm and the speed demons left six of us in the dust. Eventually, another woman -- Rebecca -- and I pulled ahead of the last four folks. Rebecca and I had wound up pushing our bikes up the final hill during last year's Great Pumpkin Ride and discovered that our cruising speeds are compatible. We rode side by side and chattered happily about upcoming group rides, vacation plans, and bicycle maintenance. We even continued chatting as we rode up the hills that both of us find troubling. It felt great to have a riding companion with similar strength.

( Danger! Intrigue! And a skunk! )

I thought that I'd be exhausted when I got home, but coasting for a mile or so revitalized me. I was tired and hurting because it's been a while since I've ridden over twenty miles, but I did manage a total of 24 miles in just over two hours, plus the twenty minutes or so of bike repair. And one of these days I'll get to complete a Bike Me DC ride with the whole group.

Y'all are going to get bored of my biking posts, I fear. It's my current passion like walking/jogging once was and even sewing/costuming. I may move on to some other passion the way a bee moves from flower to flower and/or I may not post about biking as much when the novelty of what I'm doing wears away. In the meantime...

courtney_d_h hosted a Lia Sophia party this afternoon (like Tupperware or Partylite, but jewelry) and I'd been going back and forth mentally on whether I'd drive or bike. As of this morning I was still pretty tired and sore from yesterday's excursion and, for the first time ever, I was not excited about the prospect of riding. The overpass bridges between my house in Sterling and hers in Reston are steep and I was afraid of the mile of playing in traffic I'd have to do between trail and her neighborhood. However, as I showered and dressed my enthusiasm returned and I felt jazzed by the challenge of trying something new.

My ensemble of heels, tights, skirt, tank, and bolero (I stowed my cardigan in my bag so it wouldn't be all sweaty) garnered a few stares along the route. I felt so prissy and girly with a bag in my basket and dinging my bell to alert pedestrians I was passing. The overpasses weren't nearly so tough today; probably because I was taking it nice and slow to keep the sweating to a minimum. The playing in traffic part of the trip wasn't nearly as scary as I'd feared it would be, either. Court and everybody else in attendance at the party were amazed that I'd ridden my bike the 7.5 miles there, and in dressy clothes no less. Hee!

The first part of the ride home held a bit of excitement, mostly because I had forgotten the number of turn lanes to get onto the street that would take me to the trail and I wound up in the leftmost left turn lane. At the top of the lane, too, with cars stacked up next to me and behind me. Interestingly, I was faster off the line than the truck in the lane to my right. After making that turn and determining that the right lane was open, I signaled and moved over. The car that had patiently stayed behind me continued past at a polite and non-threatening speed. Bless.

The rest of the ride home was uneventful except for being startled by three does leaping across the trail just after I'd crossed the county line. Apparently I have a preferred expletive for deer crossings because it's the same word I used Thursday night.

It was full dark again when I left work tonight but I felt little fear with my trusty head- and tail-lights and blinky lights and reflectors and near-fluorescent jacket. Rawr. Traffic was a breeze and I got an appreciative up-and-down look and smile from a cute guy in the SUV next to me at the stoplight. Oh yeah, the plaid skirt, red tights, and red heels got me a LOT more attention than jeans or lycra ever have. Heh.

Once on the trail, I tried not to let the feeling of isolation get to me. I've been able to follow another female cyclist most of the way to Pacific the last two nights, but she wasn't around tonight. I got a little mesmerized by the moon but quickly put my attention back on the trail and made myself not ride ahead of my light.

I'm so glad I remembered to do that since a ghostly, deer-shaped form appeared at the farthest reach of my illumination in one of the darkest parts of the trail. I dinged my bell a few times and the doe startled and jumped off the trail. Unfortunately, a second doe jumped onto the trail. I think my scream scared that one off.

I passed a couple of west-bound commuters further up the trail and hollered "deer ahead!" I didn't hear any screams or crashes, so I guess everyone got past the danger successfully.

There was one semi-casualty this evening, though. I hit a speed bump too fast in the neighborhood across the street and wound up ripping one of the rivets which holds my Basil Mirte's hooks. I heard a grinding crunching sound behind me and the bike shuddered and skidded. I thought I'd popped my rear tire. Nope. The poor, overloaded bag had shifted down and back and the corner was caught in my back spokes. I wasn't happy about that, but at least I didn't have to change a tire for the first time in the dark or walk my bike the quarter mile home. I limped over the other speed bumps (good lord, there are a lot of them in our neighborhood!) and got home without further incident. I should be able to put in a new rivet to fix my bag. I hope so anyway. In the meantime, I'll just use my Basil Shopper as my glove compartment/trunk.