Cycling: the Sport of Freedom and Some Technical Stuff

I'm pretty sure it's because I lived my childhood on a bike, but I never feel free-er than when I'm on a bike.  I first received a fixed-gear pink one with training wheels when I was maybe four, and I finally graduated to a mountain bike when I was closer to ten.  Before my bike, I was relegated to the park across my street, but when I had a bike, I could go to all the parks.  

ALL OF THEM.

I went to the library a few times, and that was across the whole town (big accomplishment for me at the time).  After around sixteen, I didn't bike as much for some reason.  It wasn't until the end of community college that I decided I would pick it back up.  I currently own a Lotus 3000M mountain bike.  Apparently it's vintage.  I bought it at a Play It Again Sports for $50. 

Admittedly, I have a hard time getting into the more technical aspects of cycling, like seat height or changing to the correct gear.  In fact, I usually just stick to the hardest gear (until I discovered hills, anyway).  I don't draft, I don't have fancy jerseys, I don't wear gloves...I ride a mountain bike on roads, for chrissake.  I just discovered that the appropriate psi for my tires is between 40-65.  My spoke broke not too long ago and I didn't even know that they break.  I have a lot to learn, so I have done a few things differently this year:

I bought a Terry bike seat.  There's a lot of hype online regarding Terry saddles and how great they are for women, so after suffering through a Wal-mart Bell seat, I bought a Liberator X at REI (I love REI).  I tried it out for the first time the other day, and I did feel some relief.  I might pair it with some padded shorts in the future, but I'm still giving it a chance.  I only rode on it for fifteen minutes, after all.

The other thing I did for myself is that I downloaded this cycling tracker app on my phone called Strava.  It tracked me on my ride via GPS and I got to see a map of my route, time elapsed, and the elevation change.  I'm not quite sure how the elevation works, however.  I have to look into that.  I was hoping it would track each and every hill, but it seemed to just give me one number.
The last thing I did for myself was attempt to power through some real hills.  All of last summer, I had a usual route that was pretty much flat and I would ride it as hard as I could for an hour.  I thought I was doing really well, since I was going maybe 13-15 miles three or four times a week. Unfortunately, I had to cut last year's riding short since I was called for a dig and didn't bring my bike (regret!). I currently live in a hilly town (though certainly not as hilly as San Francisco or Denver) and I thought I could really challenge myself to work my muscles in this new way.
My cardio does not approve.  It thinks hills are bullshit.  Remember how I said I only rode for fifteen minutes?  I lied.  I might have ridden for eight, and then I was walking up or down hill for the remainder of the time.  I discovered going downhill is kind of scary (too fast!) and going uphill is impossible (too hard!).  My breath was all ragged and everything.  I managed to go 1.3 m and apparently had an elevation gain of 101ft.  I was also able to write some notes regarding my ride:
"More hilly than I thought. Tires need more pressure. Terry seat not bad. Pretty sure townies think I'm a wuss. Temp: 38. Conditions: Mostly melted snow, puddles, roads are a bit cruddy. Some wind from S. Heartrate achieved (HR): ????? Maybe I should get one of those fancy straps."

Hopefully the townies don't actually care, and that next time I do better.  We shall see. I shall conquer these hills yet!  On my to-do list is to properly clean and lubricate my bike, as well as add the appropriate amount of air in the tires.  I might also fiddle around with the seat to see if I can make it even more comfortable.