Birthdays, Burger King Crowns, Cards, Flip Cup, Beer Pong & Lots of Beer = A very good party!
Well the weekend absolutely flew by!
Saturday's road bike update: Saturday was the virgin ride the new bike. As I left the house that morning, the sun was trying to peak out and it was dry, so I figured it should not be too bad of a day for this. As I drove towards Hinkley which is a good 50 minutes away it became rather cloudy and it was somewhat of a snow / sleet mix. After arrival, I did a leisurely 3 mile loop with fellow CTC guy, Brent. Luckily I was not cold at all at this point an even started to sweat a bit. What else is new?
Then as we came into the parking lot after the run, we saw that there were quite a few others who had come out to train. Elizabeth was there and I joined her and we tried to figure out the whole the tire pressure thing and adding some air. I was absolutely no help to her. And then I went to add air to my tires and snapped the valve off...just my luck! I was so thankful to Brian as he had an extra tube I could use. The other CTC people helped change this out real quickly so I took note to watch carefully so next time I will be adequately prepared to do this on my own.
And then we were off on the wet roads. I was happy I had sunglasses on to keep the white stuff out of my eyes. I was trying to figure out how my gears were on my bike because it had been awhile since I had left the store when they went over everything. Liz and I decided to hang back and just do a leisurely ride. All was going OK up until about a mile in. Apparently I was not shifting properly and my chain came off....just great! With no one else really around, I got off and figured this was one I was to handle myself. Without too much difficulty I got the chain back on and caught back up to Liz who had stopped just a little bit up the hill. From there on, it was smooth sailing...about time!
I felt pretty comfortable with everything after the initial troubles and finished the 15 miles on the bike without feeling too tired. We were only lapped by Brent and Lou, so I suppose that is not too bad. I learned from last week to wear more socks so my feet were much better than the prior week and did not ache so horribly as the run started. After the ride, we did a leisurely 3 miles to finish me up for my duathlon full course. Guess I will do this all again come April 9...but hopefully in some warmer tempartures, without the problems, and much faster!
After the ride, I changed in the car (this always gets me for some reason) and I went up to Bike Authority to get my shoes and pedals put on. I realized the reason I was so confused as to the mounting...there were no cleats for my shoes that I had originally took home but Bike Authority got me all squared around. I bought an extra tube for the future so I would have one and one to give back to Brian, who just so happened to be at the store. All in all, a great way to start off a Saturday!
4 comments:
Had a great time riding with you! You kicked my butt on those hills!
Consider all the experience a learning. It's better to learn in training so on race day you'll be ready to handle the unexpected. One of the secrects in mulitsports is you can expect the unexpected but learning to handling it with a cool head can make a difference.
Alright Daisy! Sounds like you had a great ride and an even better celebration afterwards!!
You're welcome for the tube; and thanks for replacing it so soon, but not really necessary. Bikers are giving each other tubes and bottles and gels all the time, you just do it for the next guy.
Chain coming off: don't know what you were doing at the time it slipped, but try these two things.
1.On the front gears, don't shift from the large to the small gear quickly. That can often send the chain right past the small chainring and get caught in between your pedal crank and the frame. 'Massage' it slowly and you shouldn't have this problem. But it happens to everyone once in a while.
2.Anytime your shifting gears, decrease the pressure you're applying to the pedal for an instant as the shift is made. You'll still be moving the pedal, just not forcefully like when you're pedaling hard going up a hill. Try to learn to make your shifts before you HAVE to going uphill as it will be difficult to decrease the pressure as above.
Eventually, as you ride the bike more you'll gain a 'feel' for how sensitive it is and learn how to do it just right. Happy riding and have fun at the Buzzard Du. I have to miss it this year as I'll be in TX :(
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