Birthday on a Bicycle

Yesterday was my birthday and I completed my longest solo ride to date. I would have loved to ride with friends, but I still had a great ride on my own.

 

 On Saturday we had some friends over and played some games. Then on Sunday the hubby and I went to Six Flags with a friend and his girlfriend to celebrate both of our birthdays. I had a good time, but this left me with no time to do any training. So, on Monday I knew I needed to get out and do a ride. I haven't been on my bike out on the road for a couple weeks. So I knew that I really needed to ride and put in a good amount of miles. My team is up around 40 miles right now, so I figured I should get as close to that as I possibly could. I headed out on the road (once it warmed up, because I wasn't riding while it was in the 40's) and decided I would try for at least 30 miles.

I wanted to explore a little and take a new route that I saw on ridewithgps.com. So I headed out the way I usually do, but where I normally stop to take a break I headed down the other road in the Y. I ended up on Petaluma Hill Road which took me all the way up to Santa Rosa. The road was good for riding because there was a nice flat wide shoulder for me to ride on. It didn't even bother me that the speed limit on the road went from 45 mph to 55 mph. Thankfully there wasn't a ton of traffic on the road and like I said, the shoulder was nice and wide. The scenery was pleasant as well. I just love this area, reminds me of home (Pennsylvania).

There is always some interesting farm life along the roads up here. I saw this cute little donkey grazing alone. 

 

It is amazing how green the grass is for how little bit of rain we've been getting around here.

 

I've noticed that several houses up here have these little tower structures. I'm not really sure what their purpose is. This one stood alone. I love how the sun hit it and made it look like it had a halo glow. Seeing things like this are why I love exploring this area by bicycle. This is something that you would drive right past without even giving it a second look. 

Even though my ride was pretty flat, I got in a good 36 miles. This was the longest ride I've even done on my own. I think that it is important for me to do these solo rides and keep pushing the limits of how far I can ride by myself. I'm sure this may seem odd, but my thinking is that the better I can do on my own, pushing myself the better I can do in a group. One of my biggest struggles is usually the desire to give up when I'm tired. I tend to want to give up even though I actually have it in me to keep going. This is something that I really want to work on and I can already tell I am making progress. I LOVE riding with friends, but knowing that I can confidently ride on my own will make me a stronger rider, mentally.

So my birthday ride was a huge success!