More miles, still like it

Last night after work I got inspired to take my Ninebot One on it’s longest ride so far.  I went down our road to the first cross street which has very minimal traffic.  Heading down to the side street made me a bit nervous as I passed a couple vehicles going to opposite direction as I was riding on a single wheel, which sounds a bit crazy.

Once I got on the side street I was less nervous.  The long, straight stretches of asphalt were good for practice.  I did pretty well although I still had issues with wobbling which would kick in during the ride.  I wanted to try to do some turn practice.  A couple times I managed to complete a turn within the radius of the width of the road but it was VERY shaky and much more difficult than it should be.  After coming out of one of those shaky turns I developed a bad wobble that turned into a pretty bad crash where I came down hard on my wrist.  I had my lifting gloves with wrist wraps on but that crash convinced me I need to get full fledged wrist guards.  The last thing I need is a broken wrist. Both of my wrists now are hurting.

There are weird mind games that go on while I am riding.  I will be cruising along more or less smoothly and I will start thinking about losing control and crashing.  Many times these thoughts are followed with feeling unstable with wobbles returning.  I also got nervous a few times where I was going fast enough to initiate the automatic tilt back which kicks in at 12-13 mph.  I was surprised I was going that fast (first time) but once I was, I again thought about the implications of falling at that speed.

I find my lower body fatigues when I ride, probably because I have so much tension in my legs.  It seems like the deeper I go into a ride the more shaky I get.  My longest single ride last night was probably over a half mile in length.  In total I put in somewhere around three miles, obliterating any prior distance totals from other sessions.  The one fall I had however was a reminder that I am still far from ready to be riding in environments with a lot of people, vehicles or other obstacles.  This weekend I want to get more wheel time, hopefully practicing a lot with turning.  I watched a video last night that made me realize a few things I was fundamentally doing wrong that makes turning harder than it needs to be.

When I got back Cindy was a bit freaked out.  I had not told her I planned to ride down the road so she had no idea where I was or if I was upright or on a stretcher.  I told her she didn’t need to worry since my life insurance premium is up to date. 🙂

Even though last week I suggested that perhaps the idea of the Olympic games may have run it’s course, I still have found myself watching the games quite a bit and enjoying it.  Michael Phelps has been nothing short of amazing.  To perform at such a high level across four Olympics spanning 16 years is unprecedented and unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.  It really doesn’t matter which sport is on, I’ll watch it, unless it’s soccer.

This weekend should be pretty normal with work around the house, a Sadie visit, some endurance training, Segway riding and whatever else sounds fun.  With the new WoW release some virtual relaxation will be on the docket as well I am sure.