Grocery Shopping by bike

October 13, 2008 - A new voyage on Columbus Day

Ok, so not a race. But I thought it was good advertising for Bianchi and my team sponsors. :) Tony and I went into town on our bikes. I rode with the trailer and Tony had panniers. The trailer wasn't as cumbersome without the groceries, but once we added the weight it became much harder. I thought it would be more difficult to go up the hills than it was, but it was a lot harder to turn than I thought. Crossing the 4-lane was the hardest thing. Oh, and any turns where I had to stop prior and then go up a hill. Starting up with all the weight is difficult. And going downhill over 25 mph is very sketchy. I almost fell when I tried to turn from the 4-lane onto Dicks Creek after stopping in the median for traffic.

We rode along River Road into Ingles. It was a 19 mile round trip and a 1 hour 18 minute ride. 14.6 average speed. Apparently, I did hit 31.6 as a max speed. My cadence averaged 73 and maxed at 110.

It was a beautiful, blue sky day. Fall colors made it even more beautiful.

We ran into Chad Hallyburton who was running (he commutes by running with a backpack) to the store and then on home from work.

We bought about $60 in groceries. We put the yogurt and frozen fruit in the cooler. We also had a couple juices, seltzer, soup, bananas, noodles... and I forget what all else.

Anyway, I'd do it again. It was fun. And definitely great for strength training. And I saved 20 miles worth of gas! Yea!