A week of Very Bad Ideas.

You know me as An Urban Cyclist (or, more likely, as Megan, because that's who I am). For two years I have regaled you with stories of my exploits on the bike, both as a commuter around Atlanta and as a participant and mentor with the Team in Training cycling team. I have become less consistent with posting these stories because I lost the habit, and habits are hard things to rebuild.

Yesterday was Thursday, which meant it was a ripe day for riding in the neighborhoods of Brookhaven. I had ridden to school (8.5 miles) in a lot of traffic (long waits through multiple cycles at various lights). The ride in Brookhaven starts at 6:00p now because of the earlier sunset, so I knew I wanted to get up there around 5:30p or so. I could do this in one of two ways: ride my bike up there (about 8.5mi up Peachtree) or take MARTA (about half an hour). Rather than spend the two bucks required for a half hour train ride, I left the office at 4:30p and set off on my northward journey. I really like the route up W. Peachtree and Peachtree, it's neat to ride out of Midtown and up through Buckhead to Brookhaven; the only problem was the traffic (and one other cyclist). Most cars gave me plenty of room (three lanes in each direction on Ptree, one way traffic on W. Ptree), but some just couldn't be bothered and came within inches of my bars as they passed. I would totally ride up to the start again, but I would have to leave earlier in the day to avoid the worst of humanity (which is, of course, Atlanta drivers and entitled cyclists during the rush).

Stats
Commute:
Maximum speed: 28.1 mph
Average speed: 11.8 mph (because of slowly rolling up to lights)
Distance: 8.5 mi
Time: 0.42.58

Ride to Brookhaven:
Maximum speed: 30.8 mph
Average speed: 12.8 mph
Distance: 8.2 mi
Time: 0.38.16

Ride in Brookhaven (1 loop):
Maximum speed: 29.8 mph
Average speed: 13.1 mph
Distance: 10.3 mi
Time: 0.47.07

The loop around Brookhaven was nice, but even though I'd eaten well during the day, I felt weak and shaky toward the end and decided another 10 miles wasn't the best idea. L and V were riding with me and were also due for shorter rides, so they didn't mind calling it quits early with me. It was a great recovery-paced ride, and nice to ride with these ladies.