Will was visiting the weekend I picked my bike up from the shop so I was more interested in spending time with him than riding around. But I did get another chance to ride that weekend.
On Sunday morning I decided to ride to Church in, what would be, my first solo ride in traffic. Luckily there isn’t much traffic in the morning on Sundays. I planned on doing some slow-speed practice in the parking lot of a movie theatre before heading to Sunday School. This movie theatre is pretty close so I was able to map out a route of mostly back-roads to get me there.
In the lot I practised my slow speed turns with some figure-eights, some u-turns from stop, and other slow-speed maneuvers. The focus was on things that I wasn’t comfortable with. As predicted the lot was entirely empty so I had lots of space to move around. And before I knew it it was 09:30 and I had to head out to the Church. The to and from Church was entirely successful and I took it entirely at my pace (which meant waiting a little longer than usual at stop signs).
Will and I hung out until he had to leave, then I hit the road again. With my fresh slow-speed confidence I decided to ride around the West end a bit, with a visit to some notable places that were nearby. I then decided to try out the Ottawa River Parkway, just to Island Park, riding back through Westboro along Richmond. I went home and parked the bike, feeling very good.
With lots of beautiful day left, lots of bikes out, and a desire for launching my body along the Earth at many kilometres per hour I decided to do a test ride to work. This would give me an idea of the time it takes, things to look for, speeds to travel at, and hopefully let me do this in a low-pressure (read: non-rush-hour) environment. So off I went to do just that. And with success. So much so that it wouldn’t be much longer until I started riding into work.