It's been four long years since I last rode my dusty old Specialized road bike (actually its Andrew Berthrong's old Specialized which then became Joey's which, subsequently, was inherited by me). To be completely honest, I was dreading it. It took me a week to finally take the bike into the shop to get tuned up. I think, subconsciously, I was stalling. I picked it up on Wednesday, got a bit excited and then planned my ride for early this Saturday morning. I had plans to go with a
friend, which made it a bit more appealing but then her husband got sick (darn you Todd disease) and she decided to go all selfless on me and not leave him alone in the morning with kid duties. So, alas, I went out by myself...the first time in 4 years! Here's what I dread about road biking: the fear of getting a flat tire, cars whizzing by your comparitivly putty like thighs ( I like to think about the fact that they could turn me into a pancake, or worse, an invalid, in about 2 seconds whilst I'm riding...that's some positive self talk, don't you think?!), flat tires, bum soreness and just the simple unknown aloneness of it all. On the other hand, here's what I love about biking: Speed, early morning light, thinking time, feeling hard core (I know ...I'm so obviously NOT a hard core biker...first time in four years proves my point...but there are those little feelings of grandeur that sporadically arise in my mind that I do love!), the burn in my thighs, being outside etc.
So I went. But only because I have a triathlon to train for. 6:30 am my husband selflessly arises early to get my bike ready for me. He changes my pedals, checks my tires, gets my shoes and helmet out for me. Thanks trainer/manager sir! By 7:30 I was up and rolling. I made it out of town and off the "no shoulder" part of the road within about 10 minutes. I wondered when or if a shoulder would ever kick in. There began my car/pancake thoughts. But they were quickly forgotten when a large, nice, smooth shoulder appeared about 3 miles out. Okay, not too stressful so far. I began to relax. Woo HOO! So much less pounding on my body than running, so much more of a cooling wind at my face! My bum hardly hurt at all. I felt so good that I biked to Duke, the neighboring town about 14.5 miles away! That makes for a 29 mile ride on my first day! Yipee! I finished the ride with a slightly sore bum, numb feet (weird), and even bigger thunder thighs than I had before. Seriously. When you climb off the bike it's like "bam, bam" with thigh mass! But, I'm pretty sure they go back down!
Why don't I do this more often?
