No Longer a Virgin

The questions that ran through my mind. When I do this for the first time...will I have a clue what I am doing? Am I going to be clumsy? How bad could this hurt?...You know the very first time you go for a "real" bike ride. Not the kind of ride you did as a kid...but a ride where actually have a distance and cadence in mind.

After taking a couple of days of last week, I started back into boot camp on Friday...only really having about 70% to give ...but I could feel I was coming back. On Saturday, I did about 30 minutes of core work then did 2 back to back 1 hour spin classes. Ok...good...I am getting back...things felt normal. So that leaves the long awaited Sunday...

On Saturday evening I had picked up the fixed gear bike from Lynn...earlier in the week I had made the necessary purchases (helmet, bike shorts, etc.) to go for a ride...and now it was time. Full disclosure, I was a little apprehensive...really riding with cars around me...on the road...and operating the fixed gear...there were a few questions there.

At 0630 Sunday morning...not wanting to burn daylight....I was off...with intentions of going between 30 and 40 miles. My legs were a little cooked from the previous days spin...but I was anxious to get out on the fixie...

The course I road had a lot of rolling hills...which was really great and I had the time of my life...yes I am hooked on the cycling thing!

The biggest lesson learned this day was that many of the red lights were at the bottom of a hill...so let's talk about this for a minute. My bike is a fixed geared track back...which means it originally did not come with a brake. Lynn Ballard had the foresight to put on a front hand brake to help slow down. Keep in mind you DO NOT want to lock up the front wheel...last thing I want to do is go over the handle bars going 30 MPH. So when you decide you need to slow down...you have to start using your legs to resist the bikes momentum to get it to stop. So when you have a stop light at the bottom of a hill...you have put some stress and energy in your legs to stop...then more times than not...it is uphill when you get through the light...DANG...always fun starting up a hill from a standstill on a fixed gear. The only other small challenge is clipping into the fixed gear pedals...since they are always moving....but I quickly got the hang of that after about the 4th stop light.

When it was said and done...I rode 35 miles...and averaged nearly 18 mph. I tried to maintain 17 mph up hills...but sometimes that was just impossible to do without blowing the engine...and sometimes slipped to 13 to 14 mph up the hill...20 mph on a flat road was normal...and well, the down hills...isn't that what we ride for...

So there you have it...the first real ride. Nothing epic except that I didn't get hurt....The first time wasn't bad.

On the family front....opening baseball/softball day was Saturday afternoon as both Luke and Macy had ballgames...so about 5 hours were spent at some sort of ballpark...I love this time of year.

You guys have a good week...Run On...or should I say at this point Ride On and Play Ball!