First up let me introduce you to my road bike. It's a men's, around 4/5 years old and second, second hand. It cost me £100 and I've very happy with is at the moment. I'm currently using pedals with cages, which you simply slide your feet into, but I am definitely looking into buying some proper cycling shoes and cleats. My road bike and I have decided to train for two big events I've signed up for next year. One, held in May is a 100 mile bike ride called a Gran Fondo. It'll see me cycling 160 kilometers, climbing 3500m and spending a lot of time training for the day. The second is being held in September and is bigger than the Grand Fondo but a bit more on that in the next couple of months.
So far me and bike are getting along okay but it hasn't been an easy ride at some points in our journey so far...
We didn't get off to the best of starts. To begin with I had zero clue how to change the gears. I'd never ridden a road bike and knew there were a few differences with it compared to a hybrid, but I didn't think I'd get stumped at changing a gear. We could change the gear down to make the resistance great, but we had zero idea how to change the gears back up again. When I say "we" I mean my dad and I. Yes, two of us had trouble changing the gears. For about 10 minutes we were literally pushing everything on this bike to try and change the gears. With not a clue how to change the gears, out came the phone. A quick Google produced the result that you push the brake sideways. Seems incredibly simple and somewhat logical now. Thumb to change one way, sideways push to change back up. Sorted.
With the gears finally sorted we move onto the next stage of the story. I decided to head out for my maiden voyage on the bike. A mile loop where I live was just the place to take it for a spin. about a minute into the ride, and heading up a hill, I changed gears. The wrong way. This resulted in the bike completely disagreeing with me meaning I quickly had to get off before I fell off. Quick stop stop and a struggle to get my feet back into the cages later, I set off again. Lap two went considerably better and I came back home feeling a lot happier with riding.
We've since then had: the incident with the chain coming off, a couple of wobbles and a few more gear issues. Which brings me to my most recent bike tale of my fall. I've actually written a full post about my first bike fall going into a bike more detail and picking yourself up again after that first fall. It wasn't pleasant, I didn't enjoy it but I learnt to get back up again.
So that's the story so far of my road bike and I. If you have any recommendations on any kit for road biking or any useful tips please send them my way or tweet me @afloralcrown.
I'm posting everyday as part of my 24 days of Christmas Fitness. Make sure to check back each day for a new post all the way up until Christmas Day!