Pedaling Away

I've been logging a lot of miles on the bike Tracy bought me for my birthday. So far it's been a great gift. It's pretty similar to the one pictured, except I'm riding with clip-in pedals.

For you non-bikers, clip-in pedals require a special riding shoe that has a cleat on the bottom of it. Said cleat clips in to the pedal, allowing you to pull and push the pedal on uphills etc.

I'm now up to 27.5 miles around four to five times a week. My co-worker, who got me in to this whole biking thing, was gone for three weeks on vacation and traveling for work. Once he got back he learned how out of shape he really was when I punished him on a recent bike ride. I felt like I was waiting for the little kid who didn't want to climb up the hill but knew they had to!

I've noticed the money up front to road bike seriously is kind of hefty. I spent $100 on my shoes, $75 on compression shorts and a Nike fit shirt, $40 on a new helmet, $15 on two water bottle cages, $28 on a nice air pump, $25 on another Nike fit shirt when I realized keeping up with laundry is a lot of work, and $38 total on an extra tube, small under the seat pack and CO2 air cartridge. I learned quickly the final $38 is the best money spent.

It didn't take long to experience my first flat tire. I guess road tires are really thin so it doesn't take much to get a puncture. Thankfully, I was riding with my co-worker and we were only 1 mile away from his house. He pedaled back to his truck and came and picked me up. It was at this point I realized I better spend the $38 for the spare tube and CO2 gadget considering how often I ride by myself and how far I ride from our apartment.

However, it was at an entirely different point that I learned tipping over on my ass at an intersection isn't really painful, just embarrassing. It was one of those "forgot my feet were clipped in to the pedals moments". To unclick you have to turn your heels out. Well, turns out forgetting that and panicking results in tipping over on your ass. A car stopped short on me so I had to stop early in the bike lane losing my forward momentum. I probably looked like one of those grooms fainting on their wedding day. Steady, steady ... he's down! I'm hoping that's the one and only time that happens!