I think I have put running on the back burner. At 329 pounds running was killing my knees, back, and ankles. Well let’s just say my entire lower half. So, I wanted to switch over to road biking. I figured it would be easier on my knees and more enjoyable. So, I went to Mike and asked to borrow his dad’s road bike, since we are both larger men his road bike would be a good option to see if I even like this new activity. I thought I would get a road bike, ride some, train for the next years “Bike to Jack and Back” event and everything would be good. Well, plans were slightly changed and there was this little saying that” there is no time like the present”. It’s not my quote, I don’t even like the quote, but some crazy person thought it was a good think to say it. So, I decided to register for the “Back to Jack and Back”. It took a lot of coaxing from Mike, but I decided that “there was no time like the present”. I really was apprehensive about the whole biking 155/175 miles in 3 months. As I write this I am still apprehensive, but I am a little more optimistic after a training ride or two. I don’t know how the heck I am going to do this, but I am going to try my best to complete the ride.
The first day I got on the bike the not even a 20 feet down the road the back tire blow out. As I walked the bike back to Mike’s house I was totally freaking out. I am thinking crap I am to heavy for a road bike. Well there goes that idea. Once, I get back to Mike he tells me not to get discouraged, and he figured it would happen due to the tire having a bulge in the wall already. I pick of some tubes from DSG and a tire from Wal-Mart. The tubes were fine, but the tire from Wal-Mart would not go on the rim correctly. After several attempts to put the tire on the rim we decided to take the defect tire back to Wal-Mart and hit Cumberland Transit since I had a gift card. Once we picked up a proper tire and got it on the bike. We started training. The 1st ride was not too bad. I think it was 10 miles, 2nd ride was 9. Then turning the week I put in 2 days of 7 miles and 1 day of 5 miles. Then Saturday August 6 we did 18.5 miles. Not a bad start for two weeks into training. During the ride Saturday I had issues with shifting the gears and then at mile ten I bent my rim. After bending the rim it was all downhill from there, it just felt like I could not do anything right. Shift, brake, pedal, everything just felt difficult. I was just pissed off the last 8 miles of this ride, but we pushed though and made it back to the house. Even though it was not a great ride, I was still glad I was able to do it.
Sunday and Monday I was suppose to ride, but I did not. I just did not feel like doing anything, during the week I try to ride in the morning before work, but I just can’t force myself to wake up in the morning. Then, if I don’t go in the morning, I don’t feel like doing it at lunch. It’s been difficult to train during the week. I did get out Tuesday during lunch and get in 5 miles. I need to ride some hills Wednesday to check the gears to see if they are shifting correctly. If not another trip to Mike’s to see what the problem could be. It might just be human error.
No comments:
Post a Comment