Yesterday I took my first bike ride in over 2.5 years. There were a number of uncertainties going in:
I went on my normal path of the Montour Trail. Typically I'll get on just off the Montour Run exit from the Parkway, but the Parkway was closed this weekend from 79 westbound, so instead I drove up to Coraopolis.
One thing I'd forgotten was that the trail goes slowly but steadily uphill. I used the My Tracks application on my phone to plot the course; it told me the elevation change from start to midway was about 350 meters. Fortnately, that means that the ride back was downhill.
Another thing I'd forgotten was how to downshift! Seriously. I'd only ridden this bike a handful of times after I got it in 2006, and it's the first road bike I've had. Eventually I figured out that moving the brake lever inward (for the rear gear) downshifted. Dumb.
I wound up covering nearly 22 miles in 1.75 hours. Not a great pace, but better than I expected. No tip-overs. And physically things were okay, though I'm a little sore the next day. But it's a good sore, like a "my muscles are there" sore, vs. a "I don't want to move" one.