The Cyclist and the Soccer Mom

Yesterday's ride was historic for two reasons.  First, it was 40 miles, the longest ride I've ever attempted.  We rode south along Wasatch Boulevard, past the entrance to Big Cottonwood Canyon, on towards Sandy, then down into Draper, which is the southern-most community in the southeast part of the Salt Lake Valley.  The lead picture, above, is taken from Wasatch Boulevard and shows I-215 below and the valley stretching out to the south and west.

Since we quite often ride along Wasatch, I went back this afternoon and took some pictures to give some context to our exploits.

We first ride up 3900 South to Wasatch.  I never tire of seeing the majesty of Mount Olympus which we can see from our back yard and which rises above the first part of the ride.

This hill is where I experienced the death wobble for the second time.  It's steeper than it looks.
I hate this hill coming back home

This first part of the ride, until we pass the mouth of Big Cottonwood, is fairly level and we can usually cruise right along - unless there is a strong south wind.

Looking west out over the valley.  I-215 is below.

The mountains between Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons and beyond come into view.

The entrance to Big Cottonwood Canyon is at the foot of this mountain.

Once we pass the mouth of Big Cottonwood, we are confronted with our first significant hill (below).  Each time I do this hill (we did it Thursday, too), it gets a little easier.  The first time I went up it, I thought I'd die.

Once we reach the top, things level out again, and we continue to enjoy gorgeous mountain views.  I cannot recall, during the 16 years I have lived here, ever seeing snow on the mountains on the first of June.

As we continue into Sandy, we encounter another fairly significant hill, pictured in the distance below.

Once we reach the top of this hill, it's generally downhill along the east bench of Sandy, then we turn and go down a significant hill which leads us into Draper, which can be seen in the distance in the photo below.

We have never gone beyond the base of this big hill before, but today we went on into Draper and cycled another 5-6 miles before turning around and heading back the way we came.

Quite the design.  The huge descent is coming down from Sandy into Draper.  The ascent in the middle was where
we started climbing up South Mountain before turning around at 20 miles out.

This is where the soccer mom fits into the picture and accounts for the other reason the ride was historic.  We were on our way back and were cycling up a small hill to a major intersection in Draper.  The road took a slight curve to the right, and the bike lane disappeared.  It was precisely at this moment that a woman in an SUV came whizzing around the curve, cutting me off and almost hitting me. She literally missed me by inches.  It was very upsetting.

She was waiting at a red light at the intersection.  I glared at her as we came up beside her.  That's how I knew she was a "soccer mom."  I was tempted to give her a piece of my mind, but I didn't.  I heard Mark say behind me, "You need to give us more room!" He said she looked at him and made sort of a sign of apology.  Of course, if I'd been dead, the apology would have been kinda weak.

I'm sure I'll have other experiences like this involving thoughtless (read idiotic) drivers, but this was my first.  As we rounded the corner at the intersection, I told Mark I had to take a little break.  I was literally shaking.  The heart rate monitor graph tells the tale.  The sharp spike just after "01:40" shows what my heart was doing after that woman nearly hit me.  The deep valley occurred when we stopped to rest in the shade of a tree while I waited for my trembling to stop.

This was the first time I had used the heart rate monitor that came with the Garmin watch Mark gave me.  Unlike a lot of exercise enthusiasts, I haven't really been into monitoring my heart rate, etc.  But I found it interesting when I checked my numbers from today's ride and compared it to numbers from several internet sites that calculate fitness heart rates.  According to my Garmin, my maximum heart rate must be around 184.  According to the sites I checked, the "normal" maximum for a male my age is almost 20 beats less per minute.  I guess that means I'm in pretty good shape for my age.  As long as another soccer mom doesn't cause a heart attack, I will probably be just fine.