Dating a Cyclist and Becoming One (Erin)

Where to begin this story?

Are you clumsy? And I don't mean maybe-I-fumble-and-spill-a-drink-every-five-years clumsy, I mean flat-surfaces-can-be-a-problem clumsy.

I am soooo clumsy. Balance has never been a strong quality of mine.

Well, keep that in mind as we re-live a very interesting Saturday morning.

I think I've said before that Will is a cyclist. In fact, he was on the cycling team in college. He is one of those hardcore, wearing-my-spandex, over 20mph sort of cyclists. It's serious.

I have toyed with the idea of cycling before. If you remember, Tony and I rented bikes last spring to try them out. And Stephen is a cyclist, so he was always throwing these little facts into our conversations. "So, Erin, how many calories did you burn on your run? 400? Well, I burned 1200 cycling today!" I was really interested after that particular conversation...

Since Will and I have been dating, we've talked about cycling here and there. So finally I said I'd like to try going out on a bike with him.

Ok. Have you ever been on a road bike before? It's a totally different experience. There are comfort bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids, and road bikes. Most of us ride comfort bikes. Tony and I rented hybrids when we went biking. The really serious cyclists all ride road bikes. Here's what I'm talking about:

As you can see, this bike puts a person into an interesting position. You are leaning forward, so a significant portion of your weight in on your hands. If that isn't tricky in itself, your hands are also closer together. All of that is great for speed and forcing your legs to do major work, but it's an adjustment. 

So Will and I took a couple of his bikes out to a local trail where we met Tony. Tony rented a road bike to go along, so I told my 20+mph honey to go on ahead and enjoy his ride. We'd hang back and work on adjusting ourselves to the bikes.

Well...*ahem*...this is where it got interesting.

You remember I said I'm clumsy, right? 

Tony and I started pedaling down the trail. It wasn't too bad. In fact, it felt kind of good. Unlike running, biking doesn't make me impatient to be finished already -- which is why I always thought I might pick up cycling sometime. 

We went a little ways, and I started to notice it was harder for me to steer. I'm not sure if it was because I was leaning forward and putting weight on my hands, which made them feel less free to pivot and turn -- or maybe it was that my hand position was so much closer together. I never could figure out why it was harder for me to steer. At the same time I started to realize how much less balanced I felt on the road bike than I did on the hybrid. 

Then I saw another cyclist headed toward me, so I started trying to guide the bike to the right of the sidewalk. But...it's hard to steer! OH NO!! Why isn't this working?! In my panic to miss the other cyclist, I overcorrected. Now the bike was headed OFF the sidwalk! OH NO!! I heard myself start making that long ohhhhhhhh sound that grows in intensity by the millisecond until you're finally SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS! You know the one? 

So then I saw the wooden frame of a flower bed. It was standing about 4" high. Then I realized I was going to hit the flower bed HEAD ON! My scream, at this point, was probably blood-curdling. The front wheel hit, it flipped me OVER the handlebars, I landed in the flower bed (missing a pole, thank GOD!) and went skidding across the rocks in the bottom of the flower bed until I came to a stop. I felt the bike land on top of me. (There were no flowers, but I swear it was a flower bed. Weird, right?)

It. Was. A. Mess.

The other cyclist, who was passing me when the incident began, turned around to check on me. Though I couldn't move for a couple of minutes, I was able to see I was alright. He was very nice to check on the clumsy girl. Very nice.

I looked down the path and Tony was still going. Really. He hadn't turned around. Imagine Tony riding a bike with a very unattractive helmet on his head to the tune of the Andy Griffith theme song. It was just another lovely morning on the trail! No worries! 

I started screaming for him, and he finally turned around. I think his blood sugar must have been low or something because he said, "Oh. I heard you scream, I just figured it was nothing." 

I almost killed him. With witnesses around. 

I digress.

After schooling my best friend on how a scream ALWAYS means you need to check on someone, I got up and dusted myself off. I had an impressive cut on my leg and some bruises that developed later; however, the worst part was riding the bike back to the car afterward. I was really, really nervous the whole way back. 

All that to say, this whole road bike thing may be a little too advanced for my current abilities. BUT I am going to start cycling...ON A HYBRID! I enjoy being outdoors, and it such a great workout. It's easy on your joints, but it definitely gives you a good workout.

I actually bought a hybrid bike last weekend. Will and I  went out on Sunday for the inaugural ride. Me and the hybrid, we get along. I passed several joggers and cyclists without incident. I'm looking forward to trying this thing out -- for real. It'll be good for me. More to come on that.

Ok, that's enough said for now. I'll be back soon. Stay encouraged!