Is My Bike A Death Trap?

This was the question of the evening last Tuesday when my friend Sean, who is an avid bike rider, came to give my bike a once over to make sure it won't kill me on race day. Well, he was able to do a few things to it, such as make the brakes tighter and give me a few more gears that I had lost throughout the years. Let me preface this by saying that my bike is at least twelve years old and is a mountain bike. Definitely nothing one should really be riding in a road race, but oh well. The new bike will have to wait until Christmas.

So...I was very grateful for Sean's expertise to come and help keep me safe, and I promised him I'd stop riding this bike after the race to limit my chances of getting killed, haha.

Wednesday I was excited to try out my improved bike. Having brakes that actually work right away is pretty thrilling stuff. The entire day at work I tried to keep up the momentum, knowing that I'd have to go home first before heading out to ride. Knowing myself, heading home before doing anything is pretty dangerous. The couch is just so comfy, and really...there is always some mindnumbing television just calling my name. Not today though. I was able to pull through, go get changed and get my bike out there for the world to see.

Unfortunately two blocks into my ride I think I lost one of the gears Sean had just given me the previous night. Major blow to the motivation. I also have a major problem with my route. I enter Central Park at the top right before the Great Hill, and pretty much use every last bit of energy getting up that hill. I didn't hit a good stride until the E. 70's and by that point I was almost done. The next time I do this, I am going to enter the park at 96th St. so that I am not faced with the hill right off the bat. We'll see if that makes the difference that I'm expecting it to.

So yes...I continued around the park at an okay pace. I'm definitely not going as fast as I'd like, but that's okay. I'm not dying, and I'm not falling off my bike. Those two things alone equal success. I used my gears to the best of my abilities and tried to make it easier on myself when I could. From what I have heard of the bike portion of the sprint, the course is the hardest leg of the swim, bike, run. Go figure. While I was riding around Central Park, I had it in my head to do two laps, but by the time I reached the top of the park it was starting to get dark and "mind over matter" was nowhere to be found. So I exited the park and headed home. In all I bike 7 miles (or so) and was happy with it. Again, not the time I'd like, but that's alright.

When I was done I took a walk and called my mom. After the phone conversation I had just walked a half mile, so I decided to run the second half back to the grocery store to pick up some dinner. It felt good, and I felt somewhat accomplished. Definitely more biking to be done this week though. My goal is to do two laps, it's a must.


Happy biking!