Published on
August 29, 2004 at
15:56.
Yesterday I did my first ever organized bike ride, the HOT 100 in Murfreesboro. I have to say that it was a great experience. I went into it not really knowing what to expect, but I can say that I was pleased. Some of the things that I thought would happen like a huge crowd at the beginning and a starting gun didn’t happen, but it was still a great ride. Our group was me, Juan,(guy from the cafe at work), Scott, and Scott’s dad. Chris also went, but he did the 31 mile ride since he had to get back to be at work. We started out as a group of four, but then Juan and I went ahead some. Scott didn’t drink enough fluid, and had to stop for a bit to get some more hydration, so he and his dad came in after us. There were about 400 riders yesterday and it was a cool experience to pull into the parking lot that morning and see a sea of bike racks on cars and tons of cyclist getting ready for the ride. The hosting bike club was the Murfreesboro Bike Club (http://www.mborobike.com) did a great job of having everything ready including well supplied rest stops with PBJ sandwiches as well as water and sports drink.
As for the actual riding, I was able to handle it better than I thought that I would. I did have a leg rubbing against the saddle towards the beginning of the ride, but I got used to that, and that is something that I will address before the next long ride on September 11. My feet were the thing that bothered me the most, and that will be easily solved by adding some insoles into my cycling shoes. Overall, it was a good first ride experience, and is leaving me looking forward to the next ride.
**EDIT** Since I didn’t say so at first, I only did the 65 mile version of the ride. I did not want to tackle to much on my first go out.**/EDIT**
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Published on
August 25, 2004 at
15:44.
Today I did something that if you told me 3 months ago that I would do it, I would have called you crazy. What is this amazing feat you ask? I shaved my legs. I have my first big ride on Saturday and I am ready from a riding front, but I have been doing tons of reading about cycling lately and some reading about crashes etc. One of the big things that can help you heal from a crash faster is if you had shaved legs when you went down. Now I know that this sounds really odd, but let me explain. When you go down when riding at any speed, your legs will pretty much be the main thing that comes in contact with the ground. They will slide across the pavement which is known as road rash. As you slide, small bits of rocks, gravel, sand etc. get ground into your skin. Think of it as rubbing pepper into a steak when you are marinating it. It just kind of goes in without that much effort. The first thing an emt does when they see a case of road rash is to use a disinfectant scrubber on the rash to clean it. This will pull out the hairs on your legs and make the whole process much more painful. When the stuff grinds into your skin, if you have hairy legs, then it will get tangled deep into the hair which will make it worse.
I do have to say that I have much more respect for women in their whole having to shave their legs process. It is hard. It took me almost an hour and a half to do it, and it was a difficult process. Shaving the back of the legs is damn near impossible. Once again, props to all the leg shavers out there.
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Published on
August 20, 2004 at
15:18.
Published on
August 16, 2004 at
03:26.
Published on
August 9, 2004 at
03:51.
I like riding my bike. Lately, it would make sense to call me obsessed. My mountain bike just wasn’t cutting it anymore for the road riding that I was doing. I had to make a decision. I sold my upright bass and used the money to buy a road bike.
The bike is a TREK 1500. Her name is Starr. Since I have had her, I have logged almost 150 miles on her. My love for the bike is extending to the fact that I have signed up to do a 65 mile ride on August 28. I am also planning to do rides on Sept 11, Oct 3, and Oct 9. The shortest of these rides will be 50 miles, but most of them will be 65. Eventually I will do the full century rides which are 100 mile rides.
Thanks to a link that Michael posted on his website, I have been tracking my rides through the website bikejournal.com This site allows you to compare your rides to others across the country. If you enjoy cycling, then be sure and check it out.
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