An Uneventful Ride

New Bike, No Problems

Last night I got home, I checked the weather, (54 degrees and sunny thank goodness), and got stoked to get in my first good ride on the new steed. I braved the fingerless gloves again, although I stuffed Becky's teal gloves in my pockets just in case. I gave the new bike the once over. Air in the tires...check. Ok, I guess I didn't really have a long checklist, but hey, its a new bike, everything was looking good.

I pulled out of the garage and headed out, planning to do the "quick" down and back 13.7 mile loop. I'm happy to report that I don't really have anything funny or crazy to write about today. As I pulled out, I passed the UPS man and smiled thinking maybe we would play leap frog again, but alas, it wasn't meant to be, I didn't see him again all ride.

The new bike was serving me well. I could choose any gear I wanted and the bike did what I told it to do, shifting smoothly into the requested gear. I have to say, while this new freedom was great, it posed a whole new challenge for me. How do I know what gear to be in? Do I pick a higher gear and burn my legs pushing hard, or do I choose a lower gear, and get winded spinning the pedals like crazy. I think I'm figuring it out but I'm sure if I had a coach or someone experienced with me, they would have some advice for me.

I'm a little under the weather, so the volume of snot on this ride was particularly high, I definitely broke in my new gloves. Also, my neck is still not used to this road bike position and screams a bit after 7 or 8 miles. Other than that, I just rode down, turned around and rode home. Nothing crazy, no real problems; in other words, it was awesome. Maybe boring to read about, and less things for me to poke fun at, but at this point, an uneventful ride is a good ride. Now I just have to keep upping the mileage. As you may have guessed I still haven't put on the clipless pedals, so when I do, the "uneventful" thing might go out the window for a bit, but for now, things are rolling smooth.