My schedule and the weather finally cooperated late last week in allowing me to finally go on a “long” bicycle ride. I took a spin through Cherry Creek State Park on a gorgeous Thursday afternoon. Skies were partly cloudy and the temps were in the mid-70s. I figure I racked up roughly 14-16 miles on this ride.
My primary mission on this ride was to just get back out on my bike. Up until Thursday I’d only cycled a couple of short rides, maybe 8 miles total, and one of those rides was cut short by a flat tire. So I just wanted to get my legs moving, my heart beating and get some sun on my skin to generate some vitamin D.
Along the way, I figured this ride would be a good opportunity to see how Spring was progressing outside of my little garden enclave. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t ride to be the fastest or go the farthest. I ride because I enjoy it. Bicycling is a good way to see both wildlife and wildflowers. However, the only wildlife I saw was a couple of geese and some prairie dogs. The only “wildflowers” in bloom were dandelions.
The first sign of Spring I espied was right before the I entered the park. I am not 100% certain what type of trees these are, but I have a strong suspicion they’re Callery pear trees. While the Callery pear looks good in bloom, it is considered a nuisance tree. It’s over-planted in the Denver metro area, it’s somewhat invasive, it’s prone to storm damage due to its super fast growth rate and it’s aroma when is bloom is, well, sub-optimal.
The fragrance produced by this pear tree has been compared to rotting fish, and that is why I suspect that these are indeed Callery pear trees. Because they stunk like a fish market!
Still, I can see why it still remains popular in many landscapes in spite of all its flaws. From a distance, it does indeed look nice.
From this point I rode under Parker Road and into the park proper. Cherry Creek State Park is very popular with bicyclists. A lot of trails and roads to ride and the car traffic on the roads is usually minimal (except on weekends). Plus there is a lot of nice scenery, and in the height of summer on a hot ride it’s nearly orgasmic to pull your shoes off and wade into the cool waters of the reservoir.
Once in the park I worked my way toward the south end. It was about at this point that my ischial tuberosity, known in the bicycling world as “sit bones”, began to hurt. In spite of the their moniker as sit bones, the truth that it takes several bike rides to get the ischial tuberosity conditioned to sitting on bicycle saddles. Even though I wear mountain bike shorts with a chamois pad in the crotchal area, my sit bones were feeling a might abused. Besides, I found a nice spot to take a break.
Were y’all aware that the muscles that pull our eyeballs to look up atrophy as we grow older? This is because we spend most of our time looking down and rarely look up at the sky above. So when I ride my bike I try glance up to the sky from time to time. Sometimes to keep an eye on encroaching storm clouds, but mostly because I enjoy the passing pageant occurring overhead. As you can see in the picture to the left, the sky on the day I rode had a summertime look to it.
After my short break, I continued to head south. My pace began to pick up because there were dark clouds moving in from the west. They didn’t look too threatening, but since I was only wearing my riding shorts and a t-shirt I would get a tad chilly when the sun hid behind the clouds.
With the sun playing peak a boo with me, and my butt getting more sore by the mile, I decided to turn around and head back to my truck. But not before taking one more photo. Below you can see some Cottonwoods just starting to leaf out.
Once I got back home I finished off my ride with a tasty protein smoothie. My smoothies are very simple and easy to make. I use a packaged protein drink, then add a tablespoon of peanut butter and some fruit to it and blend it all together. My two favorite smoothies are a chocolate/peanut butter smoothie with half a banana; and a vanilla/peanut butter smoothie with a handful of either blackberries or raspberries.
I have found that following a good ride with a protein drink helps me to recover much quicker.
I have also found that drinking a shandy style beer also helps me recover lost electrolytes. Samuel Adams Porch Rocker and Leinenkugals Orange Shandy are two of my favorite sports recovery drinks.
Unfortunately, the only thing I’ve found that helps a sore ass is to take a day or two off before going out on the next ride. With a few weeks of consistent riding, the sore ass syndrome will resolve itself nicely.
