Inaugural Bike Ride

I ventured off today for my very first bike ride in approximately ten years. I purchased my bike, helmet, and pump (very exciting) yesterday at the Bike Line, which is conveniently located three minutes from my apartment. Jerry was hugely helpful in setting me up with my very own navy blue (to match the truck, obviously) hybrid Trek bike. It’s a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike, so it can do a little of both. The tires are a middle thickness, and I was shocked to see just how thin road tires are. It’s been a really long time since I had anything to do with bicycles, clearly.

I definitely have some more things to purchase before I’ll consider myself properly set up, even just for training purposes. I know I need an odometer so I can track my distance and progress. I absolutely need a water bottle holder, as I drowned myself in fluids upon my return. And in order to be able to cycle with the Lehigh Wheelsmen club that I just joined (http://lehighvalleywheelmen.com/ $12 for a year) I need a spare tire tube, inflator, and a master link is recommended. I now know that I have a lot more research and learning to do (I can’t decide if that last item is for your bike chain or your bike lock. I think it’s the former). I also have to figure out a way to transport the bike in the truck. I would like to engineer some low-cost mechanism, seeing as how I have several bars already in place. There has to be some way of using what I have instead of buying everything new. The next low-cost solution is to cut (or find someone to cut for me) a 2 x6 to fit snuggly in the bed of the truck and then attach the bike lock I did purchase. This seems promising, but I’d like to challenge myself to be resourceful and crafty. We shall see.

So how did the first ride go? Better than I anticipated, mainly because last time I rode an actual bike, and not a cycling class bike, I thought I was going to die. I was maybe fourteen and went off from my house, up my enormous hill of a driveway, and around the block which is maybe a two mile loop, and that’s being gracious. I was pretty sure adolescents couldn’t die from cardiac arrest until that day; I remember returning home and collapsing into a chair and a catatonic state for about half an hour until my heart rate returned to normal and I could move again. Needless to say, less-motivated, younger Ashleigh didn’t quite get back on the bike the next day. Had I, perhaps I would have found something I quite enjoyed.

My inaugural ride went well, but I also have a new appreciation (and fascination) for the cyclists I, like my father before me, used to rage against when driving along side or overtaking on the road. My father is probably rolling in his grave knowing that I joined a cycling group and may, at some point, be a part of one of those massive amoebas he loathed so passionately. Hehe. I kept to the back roads, generally so small as to have no lines whatsoever and, as I’d hoped, very little traffic. I figured I had enough to worry about (cardiac arrest, falling off, hitting a tree, sore crotch, etc) without negotiating major traffic quite yet. It was simultaneously harder and easier than I’d thought. I came across more hills than I’d wanted, but managed to get up them better than I’d forecast.

As I write, out on my balcony, a man twice my age just pedaled by on the enormously busy Center St, flannel shirt flying out behind him, quite upright. Now I feel slightly less proud of myself, and a bit chagrined by my clinging to back roads. All in due time, I suppose.

Anyway. For some reason, hills were less difficult than I’d thought but negotiating my gears was about as confusing as I’d anticipated. I found myself cursing as I shifted up instead of down in the middle of a hill, but kept going. Now that I understand the concept of gears and shifting as aids to riding (as opposed to the “I have a bike with gears, not a bike that could possibly have training wheels” differentiation of bygone cycling times), I am happier. My bike has three speeds, 1-3 controlled by the left hand; and then 1-7 controlled by the right. Shifting in preparation for going uphill means you shift to a lower gear, so you pedal faster and have less resistance moving forward and up. Shifting for flat or downhill means you have more resistance and pedal slower. So far I know that I should generally keep the left gears, which control the ring next to my pedals, in second; changing to first or third is a bigger shift and has a greater impact on the other set of gears. Essentially, if you need a big shift, change left; otherwise leave it alone and change the right gears, which are next to the rear wheel. For a refresher, I’ve found this to be helpful: http://bicycleuniverse.info/eqp/gears.html. It’s amazing how much you can learn online, and I know that seems obvious, but since I’m attempting to legitimately learn about cycling and not just skim the surface, I’ve found a deeper appreciation for how helpful the internet can be.

So the bike ride went well. I enjoyed my back roads, and I actually think I could do a lot more next time. I was out for about thirty minutes, and while I felt winded at times, I didn’t feel sore or any muscle strain. I take this as an indication that I’m in better shape than I thought, and can push myself harder. I think, per my MO, the largest obstacle I face is mental, not physical. I spent far too much time exploring Google maps this morning, trying to figure out where there were bike trails; how you reach them; how you get back; and so forth. I’m a planner and a dreamer; not so much a doer. I’m amazed that I go to the actual ride at all, but the first time for me is always the hardest. I see it at the gym; I see it riding; I see it skydiving; I see it everywhere. I like to take the first round and do it a little slower, a little more carefully; I like to know how it’s going to work, feel, and understand it before I get into it. My second, third, and most consequent attempts are much better and done with more confidence. I’m glad I know this about myself, and that I’m learning to accept it. Bike Ride No. 1 was probably too short, too researched, and too unremarkable to warrant any big hurrah; but it’s the foundation. And, let’s be honest, I’m all about foundations.

My research, on the other hand, demonstrates to me that there is a plethora of bike trails around, and actually a few that I could bike to, and not need the truck. Pennsylvania is home to a few Rails-to-Trails program that converts old railroads or canal towpaths into areas walking/hiking/biking/etc. I anticipate loving these because they mean I don’t have to deal with traffic. After all, according to my new favorite website, http://bicycleuniverse.info/eqp/gears.html, there are 33,000 car-crash fatalities a year. 1 in 41 is a cyclist. I also know how, as a driver, I get either anxious or irritated maneuvering around bicyclists, and am now well aware as to how little I understand of road etiquette in the car vs. bike debate. Also? I wouldn’t know what hand signals meant if I saw them every day, aside from the obvious left and right indicators. I doubt that other motorists do either.

I’m getting sidetracked. Returning to the point (and away from death statistics), I think my idea of cycling, and how/what I’d like to train [for], is much more oriented to off-road, rails-to-trails, long distance, touring, appreciating nature, and so forth. I have my epic trip taking shape in my mind, and thank God for the distraction. I enjoyed the wind and sun on my face today, and I think I can get to the point where cycling becomes like horseback riding, photography, or reading and that it becomes my Zen activity. I find complete contentment in those, mainly because I get caught up in the moment and everything else melts away. I think getting myself on biking trails, and off of roads, will be a great match. My plan for the second ride is to head down to my walking/jogging path, and follow it beyond where I usually stop and turn around because it goes from my backyard down to the Lehigh River and connects with the D & L Lehigh Valley Canal South. It’s a large loop, but I have figured out (yeah research!!) how to make it a loop, not a “get this far and turn around” sort of deal. Parts of that will force me to deal with traffic, but I think that negotiating roads and cars will be beneficial: you either assert yourself or you die. I work well with those kinds of parameters.

I have to insert here that, above all, I’m excited that I bought the bike and have gone on my first ride. Understanding that half an hour around my neighborhood is vastly different from what I’d like to do, I have to congratulate myself on taking the first step to making that trip a reality. Like I said: I dream and I plan, but I don’t often go and do. I generally make excuses and I procrastinate; for me to have gone and purchased a bike, started my research of where to go locally, and to have actually gotten on the thing is worthy of notice. It makes me think that I actually could/might end up going through with this scheme, and, beyond that, that I am capable of doing so. I have parts of it pictured so clearly in my mind: my truck parked next to RVs at campsites; biking along endless country roads under a bright blue sky; sleeping in the backseat of my truck; writing blog posts in a lawn chair in the bed; and finding a café weekly to check email and post updates.

I’ve yet to mention this to anyone who hasn’t met the idea with, aside from slight incredulity, support and enthusiasm. I’ve also never thought of myself as an adventurer, but I like the way it fits better than office worker; I’ve always envied other people’s excursions but not pictured myself living that lifestyle. Getting the bike and hopping on are giving me a sense of reality, a sense of adventure, and a boost of confidence that I can do it, too. And that’s really all I can ask for right now.