The Little Things
June 23, 2015

Last week while I was out biking I almost got hit by a deer! Crazy, right? So I headed to the trail following a route I often go, and as I was cruising down a hill on the trail I see some bushes up ahead rustling a bit, and then about 20 feet in front of me a deer hops out onto the trail. I of course hit my breaks (but was also flying down a hill) and luckily the deer bounded across fairly quickly, so I was safe!

For those of you who have seen Gilmore Girls, I of course thought of the episode where Rory is hit by a deer, and I got a good laugh about it as I biked along. This happened around mile 3 of my 43 mile ride, so I had a long time to think about it!

bike ride

Grass is growing. I posted a picture from the same spot two weeks ago for comparison’s sake.

I turned around at mile 5 and headed back up the trail, as my intention was to get off on some country roads that I haven’t biked on since last year! I cruised along until mile 17, and everything went fairly smoothly except where I had to slam on my breaks once again because a muskrat was being lazy and had no real intention to hurry off the trail! At mile 17 I paused for about a minute and a half to eat a honey stinger waffle. I love that these have a bit more substance to them, and try to eat them about half way through a long ride!

Honey Stinger Waffle

I then turned off the trail and, unfortunately, turned straight into oncoming wind… and some slight upward incline. My pace went much slower, and I was hitting about 5:05-5:15 minute miles Those six miles seemed to slowly grind along as I put my head down and pedaled against the wind. I’m getting a bit better about not being quite so frustrated by these moments, as I know that they are beneficial to training, even if it messes with my overall pace!

I turned around right around mile 23, and my pace immediately dropped into the 3:30-4:00 range for the almost 16 miles. It felt great to fly a bit faster after having that strong headwind.

biking splits

you can tell exactly when I turned around!

I had only planned on going about 40 miles, but was feeling great so I took a windy path back through my neighborhood, clocking in at 43 miles.

Here’s what I ate and drank:

Overall the ride was fantastic, and I loved being outside in nature… even though I almost got hit by a deer!

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