This ride was powered by pastries: an eggnog cruffin (croissant/muffin - don’t knock it until you try it bc OMG!!!!!) and caramel-drizzled monkey bread (the thing that looks like a mini roasted turkey in the pic. It’s this ooey-goey flaky bread that obviously has a metric (*not* imperial) fuck ton of butter, and this glorious sticky drizzle of thick caramel that you have to suck off of your fingers afterwards.)

After the run, we made a 45 min line in the cold at the Bakehouse in downtown for those. They were absolutely worth freezing for!

I had a massive sugar high afterwards so I decided to go burn some carb and fat calories on the road bike.

HOLY SHIT. MY WATTS!!!! I was consistently between 150-200 at easy speeds with lower RPMs (70s.) It was SO COOL to see what I can do on the real bike! 6 weeks on the trainer + being clipped in + bike fit adjustments = I feel like a completely different athlete on the bike. The difference is insane. I can accelerate in the blink of an eye, and I was able to pedal out of the saddle even on flat terrain without thinking about it.

This was deliberate practice coming to stop signs and road crossings, hence the super slow speed. The clipping in and out practice on the trainer helped tremendously - this ride was about facing my biggest fear: not being able to unclip at a crossing.

I was doing GREAT! On the way back home, there is this steep uphill with an abrupt road crossing at the top. Cars were coming so I unclipped pre-emptively…except my right cleat clipped right back into place! I toppled over in slow motion onto the grass and just lay there laughing my head off. It was hilarious. Someone should have seen it so they could shout, “TIMBERRRRRRR!”

I bounced back up. “Haha! There! I did it! I got that out of the way!” 😂 Swung a leg over and got back on.

I need to practice unclipping and shifting my feet slightly off of the clips so my shoes don’t automatically clip in again!

Anyway. This ride was phenomenal!!!! I would have gladly kept on going but I have so much more I need to get done today (there’s a Christmas dinner party from my partner’s job that we have to go to) I had to cut it short at 10 miles. 😭