Finally outdoors again

I finally did it. Armed with the right mask and a healthy dose of social distancing, I took Hyro and rode outdoors.

This brings to a close eleven months of membership in the shut-in cyclist club. Granted, it was a short ride, nothing more than an errand run, and I chose to do it underneath the hot noontime sun. That didn’t matter; I enjoyed every minute of it.

Maybe it was all those months on the indoor trainer, with the relatively “dead” feel of pedaling for hours on end, but riding Hyro out on the streets felt as if I had thrown fetters away from my ankles. What was once labored had now become relaxed. Simply being able to coast and freewheel transformed the experience of riding a bicycle into something akin to flying.

This ride marked a number of other firsts. It was the maiden outdoor ride of a number of new parts I had purchased the past year: Revelate Designs’ Mag Tank top tube bag; the custom Novatec x H Plus Son wheelset I got second-hand; and my second crack at LizardSkins’ DSP v2 bar tape, which was quite the disappointment the first time around. I was just too preoccupied with the fun of riding outdoors again, though. Collecting my thoughts on these items will have to wait until next time, perhaps after I’ve logged longer stints.

Hyro, our old dog Max, and our beloved governess Yaya Cora.