Why a 90 Minute Ride Took Me Three Hours to Complete

This morning, I wasn't planning to ride my bike at all. Not until I checked my schedule to see if I really had to. But Slingshot suggested that we throw my bike in the truck and he'd give me a ride to work. By this time, I was running late enough that I couldn't commute in, but riding home sounded fine. So away we went.

After teaching a Spinning class, and chatting with some class members for awhile, I jumped on my bike and commuted home by detour. The ride home was a really easy ride because about five minutes into the ride I caught up with a girl I knew from class. She was towing her little girl in the bike trailer. She was going the same way as I was, so I rode most of the way home with her - at 9 miles an hour.

Once home, I changed out of my sweaty clothes and turned on the computer to check my schedule. Crap! I still had 60 minutes of riding to do. I considered putting the ride off until later when it was a little cooler outside. Then I changed my mind. I actually don't mind riding in the heat. It's much better than riding in the cold! I grabbed something to eat and changed back into some riding clothes.

I was going to head up the canyon where it would be a little cooler. But as I rode along I decided a visit to my grandparents' house was in order. Grandma J. had knee replacement surgery last week. Since I spent my whole weekend camping and unavailable to the world, I figured I had better check in with the family.

Grandpa was home, but not Grandma. She had been sent to a rehab facility over the weekend. I visited with Grandpa for a while. He gave me the address to the place where Grandma is staying. It wasn't too far from where I live.

I rode back into Orem taking the steepest road I could possibly find. Not on purpose. I was supposed to be riding endurance. I had no idea that hill was a 12 percent grade! It hit me like a ton of bricks! I've gone down it before, but never up. Once I recovered from the hill I decided to go find Grandma's rehab facility.

I was only going to ride by the rehab facility to see where it was. By now, I was pretty sweaty. I'm sure I looked lovely! The next thing I knew, I was parking my bike by the entrance and going in the doors. Boy, did I feel silly in there! Click, clack, click, clack went my cleats on the floor. Everybody, and there were a lot of people in there, was staring at me. I went to the desk and asked for my grandma. Of course, her room was located way down the hall, around a corner and down another hall. Click, clack, click, clack. More people. More staring.

I found Grandma's room. Jim, the therapist guy, was loading her into a wheelchair to take her to lunch. I told my grandma that I had just come by to say "Hi" and that I couldn't stay because my bike was all alone out front. Jim told me to go ahead and bring the bike in. I could put it in the therapy room. He said he wanted to use it in there to scare the patients. He was going to tell them that my bike was there for them to train on. Great. No excuse to get away from the staring people. I went back down the hall, around the corner, and down the other hall. Click, clack...

I brought Rio in and put her in the therapy room. Everyone was really staring now. "Jim said this was okay." Where was Jim now? I wanted him to tell everyone that it was really okay for my bike to be there.

I left Rio alone again and went to the lunchroom to find Grandma. Everyone at lunch had assigned seats and I was feeling pretty out of place in there. I found a chair and wedged it in between the wheelchairs. I visited with Grandma and her new found rehab friends until she had finished her lunch. Then, in mostly an effort for me to get out of there, I pushed Grandma down the hall to therapy. The therapists got to work on Grandma, I got my bike, and I got out of there the fastest way I could find. I don't think I'll be visiting Grandma by bike until she's back at home again.

I still had some time to put in for my ride, so I took the long way home.

I had started this bike ride at 9:50 a.m. and I finished it at around 1 p.m. I only got in 17.6 miles.