Going in circles

After five days off, I was back at it again today. It took about ten minutes, then I was back to frequently riding quite a ways. I made it to the corner a few times, and on the third or fourth time I decided to keep going. The park I'm riding in has several paths that join together, and I've been practicing on one side of one of the loops, so I decided to just see if I could ride all the way around the loop. One of the school kids mentioned last week that four laps was a mile; I'm not sure how accurate that is, but the loop looks like it's about the size of a standard track, so he might have been right.

It took a few minutes to mount using the yield sign as my support, because the sidewalk angles up slightly, and I'm not used to starting out uphill. But after several attempts I got going, and I was able to go down the sidewalk almost all the way to the next "leg" within the park. Another sign helped me get through that section, and another post like my usual launch post got me going on the final stretch. Unfortunately, I UPDed in the middle of it, and there was no post nearby, so I walked the final hundred feet or so. Still, it was pretty fun going all the way around.

I also began starting out in the opposite direction today, using my usual support, but holding on with my left hand. It was very wonky at first, and I think it will take some time before I'm as comfortable as starting out using my right hand. But I had several good 100'+ rides in that direction. I even got used to the one "drop" in the pavement in that direction: the sidewalk's cracked, and there's about a half-inch drop from one section to the other. Not exactly a curb hop, but you have to start somewhere!

I'll be starting in on learning how to freemount sometime in the next couple of weeks. I might look into serious shin guards before I start.