Just wanted to tell you all, yesterday I finally got a chance to get out on the new Giant Escape. I didn't mess with going to the bike trail and just took off from the garage.
Have to say, WOW! I am loving this thing! I ended up doing about 9 miles and with it being all up and down hills and coupled with the fact that I ended up exploring a bunch of dirt roads around my house, I averaged 7.7 mph.
I started out just running to my little local town but that was too short so I veered off on the way back. Like I said, I ended up on some dirt roads back in the farmlands. I was passing by a field trudging up a hill and was watching a hawk circle around the field. I turned around shortly after this point and headed back and when I reached the field again, I didn't see the hawk. Then I noticed up in a tree along the treeline, it wasn't a hawk but a bald eagle was perched up there. Exciting! I love those things. I stopped this time and sat there for a bit to see what it would do. After about 10 minutes it swooped down from the tree, circled the field and flew off. I'm kicking myself for not bringing the camera with me as I figured I could run the strap over the left shoulder and have the camera hang on the right slightly behind me at my back and still ride (it's a superzoom, so not terribly bulky.)
Ridewithgps.com tells me my ride was 9.1 miles with 689 feet of climb. That stuff nearly killed me on the old bike the few times I ventured in behind my house. Toughest hill was 4.5-5.4% for about a half a mile.
I headed out after work this afternoon as well. Just ran the same route (except for the run to town part which is only 2 miles.) I was coming up on that same field and as I passed the end of the treeline, there was my buddy the eagle in the middle of the field having a snack. When I appeared he flew up into the trees. I turned around again and stopped to watch him and he again swooped down after a few minutes and took off out past the trees. I definitely need to remember the camera next time as I wanted to bring it but again forgot.
Man, I'm loving shifting the gears on this thing. I am so use to having to twist the grip shifters and prepare way early for hills, but still needing to stop on them, lift up the back and get it to finish shifting with the old Walmart job. I'm going to wear this thing out because I'm shifting constantly just to shift because it's so smooth, LOL.
Next time I'm going to plan on a longer loop around rather than just turning around and going back. I'm really liking riding on the roads now. I need to get use to riding up hills since all I did was ride the flat bike trail last year except for a handful of rides.
My cell phone has a really crappy camera, but here's a shot of my ride. The bald eagle was in the field that would be just to the left of this picture. Still need a pic of the bike.
