Welcome!

Well here we go!  Welcome to my first post on Bike at 115 Degrees!

As you probably guessed from the title this blog is about cycling when it's hot out.  I live in Palm Desert Ca. and yes I do ride my bike when it's 115 degrees out!  I commute on my bike to work.  I've been doing it since September of last year and I have about a 13 mile commute each way.  I started commuting on my bike when my car broke down.  I didn't have a way to get to work and due to the scheduling at my job there really wasn't a feasible way for me to carpool with any of my co-workers.  I had an old Marin Northside Trail hardtail just collecting dust so I took it over to the bike shop and got it tuned up and I was off!

The first day I rode to work it was 115 degrees out!  Yes, it gets to 115 degrees here in September!  That's where the inspiration for the title of this blog came from. 

 At the time I started riding, I wasn't in the greatest shape in the world either.  I was 32 at the time and I weighed about 235 lbs, I hadn't ridden a bike in close to 3 years, and my job consists of sitting in front of a bunch of monitors 10 hours a day.  So needless to say just hopping on my bike and riding it wasn't just a simple thing for me to do.  Plus I didn't have a helmet, gloves, or even a water bottle.  So there were a few things to work out. 

Now I decided to take a test run a few days before I had to ride to work for real so I could make sure I had enough time to get to work and not be late!  About 5 minutes into my ride I thought I made a mistake.  My legs were burning!  (I also hadn't figured out that lower gears are your friend.)  I decided to just tough it out and go as far as I could.  I had arranged for my fiance to pick me up at my job so I wouldn't have to try the roundtrip all at once.

As I mentioned before, I didn't have a proper water bottle.  I bought a bottle of Aquafina at the gas station by my house and put it in the bottle rack on my bike.  That turned out to be a real great plan because about halfway through my ride my water was so hot it was undrinkable!  Luckily there is a Ralphs about halfway through my ride so I was able to stop and get another bottle of water.  I just hoped that one would last me all the way to work because there would be nowhere else I could stop to get any more water.

I was in luck and the rest of my ride went pretty smooth.  I made it to work and lived to tell you the story.  it's a good thing I had my Fiance come to pick me up too. While I was putting my bike into the back of the van I noticed that the rear tire had gone flat on my bike.  I wasn't carrying any spare tubes....

Well that about wraps up my first entry.  Thanks for reading!  In the future I'll let you in on some of the lessons I learned the hard way.  I have to ride on a budget so hopefully I can pass on some tips I've learned along the way.  Most of all, I hope whoever reads this blog actually enjoys it!