The Katiefriend overheard me mulling about biking at one point and offered to kick me in the crotch every morning as preparation for sitting on a bike seat all day. She thinks it would substitute for hours of training. I had to decline. {Im}Politely. Though I'll admit it's hard to be skeptical about the effectiveness of that approach...
Instead I ventured into the REI last Saturday, bought the clipless pedals I've been eying for a while, and set to fixing up my dad's old road bike.
Today's goal was to install the pedals on my bike, add the cleats to my bike shoes (that I've owned for over 2 years now and still haven't put to use...), and wear my padded bike shorts for over an hour. Kind of like diaper training?
Baby steps.
I mean, just getting the bike out of my kitchen and on the road was a big (baby) step! It's been the eyesore of my house since Christmas. Well, that and the dead plant. I walk into my house every day, see that plant, think "I should replace that plant", and then get over it and move on with my evening.
It's so much of a ritual now, I think the plant will have to stay. I mean, I might miss it more than I would enjoy the looks of a live plant. The dead one's just a part of the family now. And I kind of have this thing for dead plants. In college I bought a miniature rose bush, only to have it die a few weeks later during finals week. (neglect...it was a necessary sacrifice). But I felt bad about it and kept the potted plant skeleton as decor for the next few semesters. I just couldn't part with the thing. (his name was jake).
But back to the bike.
Installing the cleats and pedals took all of 15 minutes. I was kind of disappointed because I was expecting it to be an ordeal and give me a good blog story but no such luck. A couple rice crispies and a screwdriver and the job was done.
(if you read between the lines, the instructions did suggest eating 2 rice crispies for dinner, while installing, for best results. i wanted best results.)
Seeing as how I had planned on playing bike shop for a significant portion of the evening, I took this freed up time to do some actual riding. I figured that might be slightly more effective than walking around in bike shorts all evening.
It took me a few standing practice tries to get used to the "clipping-in" of the "clipless" pedals (don't get me started on that...if something makes a distinctive "click" sound, there is clipping involved! but maybe that's just me...). But, after 5 minutes, I was ready to hit the trail.
Have I ever mentioned that sometimes I go a little overboard? Maybe once or twice? Yeah, well, tonight was no exception. I got on that bike and it was such a great feeling. The pedals are crazy good! Being able to "pull up" on the pedal makes tackling hills seem almost effortless...and kind of fun...and I can keep a good speed. It's like I was one with the bike....meditative hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm...and it made for a really good ride. Until I realized how far I'd gone...oops!
So, over two hours later, I finally made it back. I think for a first training ride, it was pretty successful. I haven't put more than 2 miles at a time on my bike since September though so we'll see how I feel in the morning!
Now excuse me while I go nurse feeling back into my lower extremities.
Have a great day :-)
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