Sunday, May 23, 2010
Buying the Bike!
I have discovered that there is more to buying a bike than choosing a pretty colour - believe it or not!! The guys at Yellow Jersey helped me find a suitable road bike which was best suited to me - I sat on a few, peddled along with the help of the windtrainer and asked a million questions.
In the end, I decided on the Giant 2 Defy - now named Gigi. In addition to buying Gigi, I also had to buy all the cycling kit
- knicks (those are the highly fashionable cycling pants with the padded bum!)
- Jersey (Kindly, I got a very pretty jersey for my first ever Mother's Day)
- Helmet
- Spares kit - not really sure I know what to do with any of what's in it but at least I have one!
- Drink bottle holder (I think I need a few more of these - I've found cycling is crazy thirsty work!)
Before you ask - no I didn't get clip in shoes. I hope to in time however for now, I opted to just get normal pedals so I can focus on gears and braking LOL!! I think if I had - I probably would be dead by now (ok, maybe this is a slight exaggeration but you get the drift)
Now this is where I was stupid - I was warned - "buy some gloves" they told me..... And I was too cheap and stubborn to listen - and boy oh boy did I pay for it!!!
So, my first ride.......... Well I was SOOOOOOO excited, I got into all my kit (and felt like a pro rider and was tempted to enter the next Tour De France) and jumped on the bike.... Only to ride down the hill (Hubby said to be honest and change this to GENTLE SLOPE) outside my street, panic because I was going very fast, forget how to brake and change gears, try to step off and cant because the seat is quite high and then go straight over the top of the handlebars and taste the bitumen!
Very embarrased, I pick myself up and walk the bike up the street.... I can taste blood in my mouth, I have no skin on my right hand and only half the skin on my left hand, My knees and shins are feeling pretty sore and I'm concerned that I've grazed my chin... My brand new Jersey is BLACK from the dirt and my knicks are covered in dirt too...
And Gigi - well she had a few scratches too, the chain had come off, the right hand gear/brake lever had bent but otherwise she survived.... (I bet she wished she hadn't - poor thing is not doubt going to be tortured whilst I attempt to learn!).
I called Hubby - not expecting much sympathy and got laughed at (I will admit that I had a good laugh at myself too!), checked ebay to see how much I could sell the bike for (Gotta love my attitude!), called the Bike Shop (and gave them a laugh too) and cleaned myself up! It took 3 Preen's/washes to get the jersey back to a suitable state and it took a bit more than that to clean myself up!
I cant believe how much grazes hurt - Honestly, I had a c-section with Ethan and didn't have half the pain I swear!! I hadn't knocked out any teeth and managed not to have lost any skin on my chin... The knees and shins - well thank goodness I bought Pearl Izumi 3/4 length knicks as these SAVED the skin on my knees - I'm just black and blue from knee to ankle!
Well that was the first ride - did I quit??? Well as tempting as it was, I didn't. I got back on the next day on the grass (after Hubby had fixed my bike) and tried again - and NO I didn't fall off this time!
Will keep you posted!
In the end, I decided on the Giant 2 Defy - now named Gigi. In addition to buying Gigi, I also had to buy all the cycling kit
- knicks (those are the highly fashionable cycling pants with the padded bum!)
- Jersey (Kindly, I got a very pretty jersey for my first ever Mother's Day)
- Helmet
- Spares kit - not really sure I know what to do with any of what's in it but at least I have one!
- Drink bottle holder (I think I need a few more of these - I've found cycling is crazy thirsty work!)
Before you ask - no I didn't get clip in shoes. I hope to in time however for now, I opted to just get normal pedals so I can focus on gears and braking LOL!! I think if I had - I probably would be dead by now (ok, maybe this is a slight exaggeration but you get the drift)
Now this is where I was stupid - I was warned - "buy some gloves" they told me..... And I was too cheap and stubborn to listen - and boy oh boy did I pay for it!!!
So, my first ride.......... Well I was SOOOOOOO excited, I got into all my kit (and felt like a pro rider and was tempted to enter the next Tour De France) and jumped on the bike.... Only to ride down the hill (Hubby said to be honest and change this to GENTLE SLOPE) outside my street, panic because I was going very fast, forget how to brake and change gears, try to step off and cant because the seat is quite high and then go straight over the top of the handlebars and taste the bitumen!
Very embarrased, I pick myself up and walk the bike up the street.... I can taste blood in my mouth, I have no skin on my right hand and only half the skin on my left hand, My knees and shins are feeling pretty sore and I'm concerned that I've grazed my chin... My brand new Jersey is BLACK from the dirt and my knicks are covered in dirt too...
And Gigi - well she had a few scratches too, the chain had come off, the right hand gear/brake lever had bent but otherwise she survived.... (I bet she wished she hadn't - poor thing is not doubt going to be tortured whilst I attempt to learn!).
I called Hubby - not expecting much sympathy and got laughed at (I will admit that I had a good laugh at myself too!), checked ebay to see how much I could sell the bike for (Gotta love my attitude!), called the Bike Shop (and gave them a laugh too) and cleaned myself up! It took 3 Preen's/washes to get the jersey back to a suitable state and it took a bit more than that to clean myself up!
I cant believe how much grazes hurt - Honestly, I had a c-section with Ethan and didn't have half the pain I swear!! I hadn't knocked out any teeth and managed not to have lost any skin on my chin... The knees and shins - well thank goodness I bought Pearl Izumi 3/4 length knicks as these SAVED the skin on my knees - I'm just black and blue from knee to ankle!
Well that was the first ride - did I quit??? Well as tempting as it was, I didn't. I got back on the next day on the grass (after Hubby had fixed my bike) and tried again - and NO I didn't fall off this time!
Will keep you posted!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Well Hi There!!!
Well where to begin - ok, how about with a little bit about me? Boring I know but it'll help create an atmosphere I'm sure!
My name is Alicia, I'm 23, a full time mum to my lovely 9mth old baby boy Ethan, a full time wife to Luke, part time physiotherapist and photographer and a wannabe road-cyclist. What made me decide to attempt to get into cycling??? 2 friends and fellow physiotherapists are CRAZY triathletes! I was continuously amazed by their training and their competitions. I have absolutely no ability to run and as for swimming - well, let's just say that if I was on a sinking boat 100m from shore, I'd probably choose drowning over swimming kinda puts me out of the triathlete category. However, the world of cycling, seemed to excite something in my brain.
Now that Ethan is 9mths (and weighs as much as the average 3 year old) I'm looking for a new way to exercise (pushing the pram is getting old!). I decided to go in to The Yellow Jersey Bike Shop in Ipswich and explore my options.
Let me just plug these guys a bit - THEY ARE AMAZING!!! They honestly deserve an award for having more patience than anyone could be expected to have!
So, what's my cycling history like to date??? Well honestly, I have NEVER owned or ridden a bike with gears and the last bike I had (Which happened to belong to my Grandmother!) braked by backpeddling!
This should be interesting right???
My name is Alicia, I'm 23, a full time mum to my lovely 9mth old baby boy Ethan, a full time wife to Luke, part time physiotherapist and photographer and a wannabe road-cyclist. What made me decide to attempt to get into cycling??? 2 friends and fellow physiotherapists are CRAZY triathletes! I was continuously amazed by their training and their competitions. I have absolutely no ability to run and as for swimming - well, let's just say that if I was on a sinking boat 100m from shore, I'd probably choose drowning over swimming kinda puts me out of the triathlete category. However, the world of cycling, seemed to excite something in my brain.
Now that Ethan is 9mths (and weighs as much as the average 3 year old) I'm looking for a new way to exercise (pushing the pram is getting old!). I decided to go in to The Yellow Jersey Bike Shop in Ipswich and explore my options.
Let me just plug these guys a bit - THEY ARE AMAZING!!! They honestly deserve an award for having more patience than anyone could be expected to have!
So, what's my cycling history like to date??? Well honestly, I have NEVER owned or ridden a bike with gears and the last bike I had (Which happened to belong to my Grandmother!) braked by backpeddling!
This should be interesting right???
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