TriSupporter

I got Horny

It's been a couple weeks but I thought I should put it out there that on May 9th I entered a world that my husband has been enjoying for years. I resisted but it was time for me to get Horny.

Meet Horny.

 

Horny is my Gary Fisher ARC Super and it's a road bike--with SPD pedals and all! I finally gave up on my old and heavy Specialized Hard Rock I bought from Village Cycle Center in Chicago in 1992.

I checked out a few bikes, the Specialized Dolce Elite and the Trek 2.1 but I chose the GF partly because, well, the color. I love the color! And it was in stock in my size and it had a bit more carbon in the rear...that should help my...rear...right?

So what does a new road bike mean? New pedals, new shoes, new gloves, new sunglasses, new gear plain and simple. I'm turning into my husband!

How do I ride this thing?

When we went to pick up the bike and test it around the parking lot, the very helpful Trek dude passed the bike over to me and said, "Here you go." I looked at him, and said, "Um, I don't know how to use these pedals." So began the humiliating process of having him straddle the front wheel and hold me up while I learned to clip in and out without falling over. Rianman simply held onto my purse while watching (and probably laughing) from at least 10 feet away. I didn't fall and it was fairly easy. After some adjustments to loosen the pedals to make it easier for me, I tested it around the parking lot and did not crash...though they did have to 'catch' me when I couldn't quite get out of my clips after the first loop.

I spent the next couple days just practicing going up and down my street and getting used to shifting and getting in and out of the pedals.

In the 10 days since, I've been out with friends, alone on the streets, and in my first official group ride with the Spin Pizza Monday night group. That was a hellish first group ride because the first half was very hilly and I'm not in great shape. My legs can get me up those hills but my heart was like, "You have got to be freakin' kidding me?!" It's a great ride but I won't be back till I get my cardio in check and try out some flatter beginner friendly rides.

I've ridden the last two nights and I was going to join the Ride of Silence tonight but I've got Golfer's elbow and think I should take it easy and get Horny fitted.

Why Horny?

I almost forgot...it's really not a great story...just driving home with the bike and needing a name. I was thinking, It is green...toads are green...Horny. Now when I say, "I gotta get Horny" you'll know what I mean.

Here I am getting Horny for the first time.

 

 See you out there!

 

From Cycling to Motorcycling

You may recall that Rianman got me a scooter for my birthday just before the Ironman. It's great! We've been riding it around town and I've even let Rianman ride it with me on the back...scary considering we weren't licensed yet.

Well that's all changed! This past weekend Rianman and I spent 20 hours at a Basic Rider Class at Kansas City Community College that included classroom and on-the-bike training and is based on the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class. It was a fun class. We had about 20 people and four instructors: Ben, Rich, Liz and Karen. The class was divided into two groups for the entire on-bike portion of class. Rianman and I were in the same group.

It really was neat how they progressively taught us skills. Saturday was the basic skills: stopping, shifting, stopping, turning. On Sunday we put our skills together for real world type experiences, stopping at higher speeds, stopping quickly through a curve, weaving, making tight u-turns, etc. I had my biggest scare while practicing stopping during a turn. You are NOT supposed to brake while in a turn, you should upright the bike then stop quickly. This was Very difficult for me as I nearly dropped the bike. The rest wasn't so bad. I'm pretty good at stopping quickly!

There were about four scooter riders in class and by the end all but me wanted to ride motorcycles! I'm a scooter girl through and through! I don't need to deal with shifting and the clutch. Just give me two brakes and a throttle.

 

Rianman passed the road test part with 0 points deducted meaning he got a 100. I think he has the benefit of having put a lot of miles cycling. I got an 88. You could lose 20 points and pass....21 and you didn't pass. Our entire class passed...that doesn't always happen apparently. And if you drop your bike during one of the four sections of the road test, you fail automatically! I never dropped my bike in the test or in practice but I was close twice.

 

All in all a great class, very worthwhile. Excellent instructors and now I know I still need to practice!

 

Rianman now wants a motorcycle! He has two tri bikes, a brand new road bike (more on that later), a hybrid and now he wants a motorcycle. Maybe he should just learn to ride his bike faster and he won't miss not having a motorcycle ;-)

 

 

Is there a bike mechanic in the house?

Bikes aren't complicated, right? I mean I don't really understand all the physics of them and the gears and the shifting. Last night I read a section in "Going Long" that "gear down" means shift up and "gear up" mean shift down? What??? Heck when I ride my Specialized hybrid, I leave it in the middle ring and just shift around from there. I don't know what those other rings are for and I'm too lazy to figure it out.

But, fixing them isn't supposed to be complicated is it? There's no motor. No computer. No muffler. It's all exposed...right there for a person to fix. But there is no bike mechanic in this house and that is one thing this TriSupporter is not going to become.

This morning, Rianman called to say I've got to bring the bike into Trek to see what's causing a new rubbing sound and get it ready for this weekend.  Okay, fine. I'll go. But.....

Why doesn't he fix his own bike? He took an all day bike mechanic course in NC. He's got a book with pictures. He's even got a killer stand and tools. It's all collecting dust in the basement.

He's not mechanically inclined. I need to accept that. It's not just the bike...he doesn't fix things around the house either. I know this after 12 years together. It's why we have a regular handyman.

And, why I'll be leaving for the Trek store soon.

Sharing the road with cyclists

This morning I was driving around town completing some errands. After a stop at Starbucks, I was making my way home through scenic residential neighborhoods. As I was rounding a bend, a dump truck was stopped in my lane forcing me into the oncoming lane, which also had a parked vehicle.  But as I approached, I almost didn't notice the two cyclists, maybe on a training ride, coming towards me...so I stopped and waved them through before weaving my way through the parked cars. They thanked me as they passed.

I'm glad I stopped...but as I continued on, I wondered if my own husband weren't out on the streets several times a week, would I have stopped? Would I have even seen them? If it had been another driver, would he or she have stopped?

I think Rianman taking up triathlons has been a good thing for a number of reasons and one is that I'm much more aware of cyclists (and runners). I think I always was, but maybe I didn't defer to them as much as I do now.

Rianman isn't big into group rides, despite me begging him to ride with others. Everytime he leaves, I worry. I don't worry so much about him being stupid by running lights or anything, but I worry about all the  drivers. The ones that aren't paying attention, that don't defer to cyclists, and those few that actually have disdain for cyclists.

It's hard to tell all the drivers to share the road, but I hope that when I or anyone else stops or slows down for a cyclist, that other drivers are paying attention and they learn to be aware and Share the Road--it's our husbands, wives, moms, dads, children, sisters, and brothers out there.