Shiny new bike
Sunday, April 2nd, 2006This last week, the temperature finally got over 50 degrees. It’s about time.
About two months ago, I said that I’d get a mountain bike so I could commute with it and ride trails with some of my friends. I finally bought that bike on Friday afternoon at the Erik’s bike shop in Burnsville, MN. Erik’s is a nice place. They act a bit like zealots at times (like when you go to a CD shop and ask where the rock music is :)), but they still are willing to sell a normal bike to us commoners. My transaction was pretty easy, since I had selected the bike that I wanted at a different Erik’s a few weeks back with my biking enthusiast with me. The bike of choice was a bright red 2006 Specialized Rockhopper. Yeah yeah. I’m not a bright colors kind of guy, but I’m also not an experienced mountain biker. Might as well learn the ropes in style.
So, today was the first big ride. It was supposed to be 55 today, but it was only 42 degrees out when we left my apartment building. Chris showed me around my town and the neighboring town to show me where the major trails are. I’ve been here in the Southern suburbs for about a year now, and I didn’t even know that there are two semi-major biking trails within miles of my apartment. It’ll be great relaxation to ride them once they actually open.
In all, we rode 15 miles today in an hour and a half. Not bad for a first ride! I had an interesting sensation come over me when I got home. I wasn’t thirsty at all since I’d been drinking out of my camel back, but I felt very, very weak. The problem is that when you sweat a ton, drinking water doesn’t replace the nutrients in your body that went out with the sweat; it just replaces the water.
So first I ate a big salty lunch. Hot pockets (favorite food ever) and Pringles. Having eaten so much, I tried to watch a movie, but felt instantly tired. All of the blood of my body was servicing my full stomach and my exhausted body. Naturally, I fell asleep. But then when I woke up 3 hours later, I needed more water. WTF. It sure was a rollercoaster ride for my body.
Not sure what I’ll do next time to keep my body in balance, but I hope there’s an answer that doesn’t involve binging, sleeping, and drinking a gallon of water.