Okay, so this isn't going to be so easy

[pegkerr]

I pulled together my kit, got the bicycle out of the garage and tried to mount up. My intention was to do a trial run to the office.

Well, that was the plan, anyway.

It took me an absurd amount of time just to get the pannier open: I couldn't figure out how to get the release latch to work. Finally, I got the bike loaded and my helmet on. Rob came out to watch.

I felt awfully insecure just trying to mount the thing. Folks, I haven't BEEN on this bicycle since college. I had rented a bike when we were on a camping trip about four years ago, a touring bike. This bike, however, is a men's racing ten speed. It was hard for me to believe that I actually rode this thing confidently all the time when I was in high school.

The first thing I had to do, immediately, was lower the seat. Lord, did I really ride it with the seat set that high, way back when? I had trouble just getting my leg over the damn thing--I could feel the problem with my hips that had given me such problems in karate. I finally got mounted and tentatively started rolling it in a forward direction. I felt damn precarious. "I think I'm just going to start by riding it around the block."

"Walk it down the hill, don't ride it," Rob advised. I rolled forward six feet and stopped, unnerved. "Um, I think I'll start out unloaded."

"That's a good idea," said Rob.

So I took it out the alley and down the block. I was scared. Good god, I used to ride this thing? I had thought that the muscle memory would be there a lot more reliably, but the hiked up position felt extremely unnerving. How did you change the gears again? Ohgodohgodohgod. I managed to get around the block, but I felt shaky just raising my arm off the handlebar to signal my turns. I took it back to the garage. "I'm not going to be able to ride this all the way to the office," I told Rob ruefully. "Not yet, anyhow."

"Well, I think it's still a little early for you to start commuting," Rob replied. "You haven't even been on a bike for years; you don't need to cope with the ice and snow while you're still trying to remember the hang of riding it."

I had to admit that this was true. "I think I'm just going to take a ride around the lake. On the bike path, rather than the street."

So that's what I did. I was astonished and humbled at how quickly I got winded. Lordy, I thought I was in pretty good shape, but the half hour ride wiped me out. I quickly got very thirsty, and I don't have a water bottle mounted on my bike. Something else for the check list. My nose ran like a faucet, too. I managed to get back home without spilling the bike, but I'll admit I found the whole experience pretty discouraging.

"So maybe you're not going to be able to do the whole thing at once," Rob said. "That's okay, you'll get there. Just work your way up to it."

"I could take the bike on the bus or the light rail on the way in, and then ride it home."

So, I guess I'll spend the next few weeks, every chance I get, just trying to get back on the bike and riding it without a load, getting myself accustomed to simply riding again. The folks at the Hub had mentioned, when they tuned it up for me, that I might want to change the seat, which is awfully small, hard and narrow. Given that my ass is much bigger than when I last rode this bike, I would have to agree. naomikritzer, you were right; it's going to take a while to get my bum broken in on riding a bike again. Not to mention the rest of my body.

Comments

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, my first few training rides for the last Boston/NY AIDS ride I did (which entailed 100-mile back-to-back days- yikes!) lasted for all of perhaps two laps around the path in Central Park (perhaps six miles). Hang in there; it'll come back to you.

[longtimegone]

It sounds completely reasonable to take this all more slowly. Rob makes a good point about the snow and ice and such.

Maybe set yourself some endurance goals, with an ultimate goal of making it all the way to and from the office in three months? Just in time for summer weather!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lindsay_/]

keep truckin' peg!!! I admire your tenacity! I have two comments though:

1. Even though the seat seems hard and narrow I think ultimately that is more comfortable than those horrible huge seats, on a longer distance I think that feels a lot better. Just my two cents.

2. Does making your own bread really save money? We have a bread machine but usually I only use it if I don't feel like going to the store or I really want freshly baked bread. Bread just seems so cheap (or maybe we just get the crappy 89 cent bread?) but I would love to feel like I'm saving money too!

[volkhvoi.livejournal.com]

I can get flour on sale for 70 cents for 5 lbs. That is less than a loaf of 89 cent bread. 5 lbs of four is (according the the bag I just looked at) 18 cups of flour. That works out to, at 4 cups per 2 lb bread machine loaf, 2.5 loaves. I think you would have to add more than 2 eggs, a cup of milk and a little sugar and butter for brioche to tip the balance.

[sraun]

Good luck building up to it! I didn't realize that you hadn't been on a bike in so long - I'd probably have raised a cautionary flag. Work up to it.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention that some of your shakiness may have been chemically induced. ;)

Still, working up to the ride in to the office seems a wise course of action. You could move forward at some stage by biking to a bus/train stop, riding a ways on the bus, debarking and finishing up on the bike. Slowly make your bus ride shorter and your bike ride longer as you build up your endurance.

Hang in there!

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I hope you are not too discouraged to work on it. Riding home from work unloaded sounds like a good idea - it doesn't matter if you get sweaty, if you go slowly, if you stop to have a popsicle or a coffee ...

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I bicycle somewhere in the range of 1500 miles a year. Every spring, after the six-month layover of a Maine winter, I start off with a mile ride, then two, then four...

But then, I'm an old geezer.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Very smart move doing a trial run, and a good decision to work up to it, especially since you have trails in the area. I jumped straight in but I never really stopped riding.
Don't get discouraged, the next few weeks will give you skill and strength, and when you're ready, it'll be nice weather too!

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

2005, trying to start cycling again, and I could barely keep up with my friend I rode with.

2006, losing and having lost 8 kilos (about 16 lbs), and slowly getting more fit through walking more and especially walking up a steep hill once or twice a week (to get to the station). I find I can finally ride my bike again, although it takes me a week or two to be able to ride up the hill at faster than walking speed.

[katakanadian.livejournal.com]

You've taken some important early steps. Good! Just get out there as much as you can. At least you have more daylight in the evening now for training rides.

Ganbare! (Do your best!)

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. The first time I went riding again after ... I think it was three years? Because I went for a bike ride the day before I found out I was pregnant with Meg, and then I didn't ride again for until she was two or so. Anyway, we put a child seat on the back for Meg and I was terrified to get on the bike with her until I'd really gotten back on and made sure I was steady enough.

It will come back quickly, and soon enough you'll be zooming around. And I think it's really cool that you're doing this.

[elfundeb.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, I didn't realize you hadn't ridden for so long. You were smart to do a test run, and make the decision to ease into it. Long-term, bike commuting sounds like a great option for you, even without taking into account financial issues. It's great exercise, and I do lots of productive thinking on my bicycle.

I've been thinking for years whether I could try biking to work (my distance is about the same as yours), and comforted myself that by walking a mile to the subway each way, I was getting the same benefit as biking. Will you be riding in heavy traffic? On designated bike routes? (I would have to thread through our horrific traffic and road-rage drivers, plus do a stretch on a path along the river underneath highway overpasses in order to reach the bridge across the river; it's fine on weekends but can be very lonely on weekdays.)

If your seat is very hard, I recommend a gel seat. But if cost is an issue, I'd see if yours became more comfortable after a few rides. Even with the gel seat, the first couple of rides (I bought my current bike in 1990 after not riding at all for 10 years) left me rather sore in the rear.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I totally second the gel seat recommendation. It'll still be sore, no matter what you use, but I find the mens' bike seats to be the most uncomfortable things ever--they make my joints hurt, not just muscle soreness that can be expected. (and I can't see how they can be comfortable for men either, for that matter.)

[syntonic-comma.livejournal.com]

If you're shaky on the bike, it's too early to commute. Just do some recreational riding to get comfortable with the bike again, and to get confident about the distance. The weather's still getting nicer, so you're not missing the best commute days. It is easier to control and ride without a load, so get used to that first. (Whenever I let people try out my recumbent, I always take off the panniers, and the batteries too if there's time.) Adding a load once you are comfortable with the bike isn't difficult.

Seat designs and materials have changed a lot. Terry (http://www.terrybicycles.com/saddles/index.html) is known for designing saddles (and frames) especially for women. Or you may find your old saddle familiar after a little practice. Getting on/off the bike will become easier with practice too. (Maybe lift your foot over the bar, not your leg over the seat?) Once you are more comfortable, the seat height is set relative to the pedals, not the ground, so standing when stopped may mean getting off the seat.

My nose usually runs like a faucet when I ride too – summer and winter. I don't know what the deal is. Maybe I have a gamut of mild seasonal allergies. I just blow my nose at the end of my ride.

I felt damn precarious. Bicycles are precarious, until you develop the balance/steering reflexes. That's probably why the Wright brothers were the ones who figured out how to control an airplane.

Stay with it. We're all rooting for you. (One less car, one less car....)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I carry a handkerchief when riding or rowing. I can keep it stuff in my trou, either down the waist or up the leg and it doesn't get soggy as a tissue would. I use a women's hanky; they can be hard to find but the men's ones are needlessly big and annoyingly bulky. The Vermont Country Store carries them, but before I found those I made my own by buying a pack of men's handkerchiefs (cheap), cutting into four and hemming. I added a little embroidery just for the heck of it.

Do your daughters do any hand-sewing? I used to make little felt pillows and things just for the fun of it, and might have liked a project like that at their age.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I've just been through this. We used to do a fair bit of mountain biking (nothing harder than intermediate trails) but when they opened the lake near us in about 2000 we started rowing again and other sports got pushed aside. Here in the Netherlands, though, commuting by bike is often easier and faster than going by car. So we bought commuter bikes here. I'm 5'2"; my mountain bike is something like 14". This commuter bike, the smallest I could find, is much bigger, and given the size of the average Dutch person, I think it's a bit too big for me. I can only just b-a-r-e-l-y touch the ground. I was definitely wobbly at first, between not having been on a bike in years, the sixze of this one, and learning my way around a new system of bike paths. But after a few months of occasional rides (we mostly use them to get to the boathouse - work's a little far to ride in winter) I'm a *lot* steadier and more comfortable on the bike than I was.

[dentar.livejournal.com]

Don't give up! Get the new seat and make sure they fit the bike to you again. At the bottom of pedal travel, with the ball of your foot on the pedal, and your foot almost flat (toes can be down slightly), your knees should be very slightly bent. Put the seat too low or too high and your knees can hurt.

Get out on the trail and ride and you'll discover that in very little time, ten miles will be easy. I ride every other day if I can, and my "quota" is 20 miles, meaning I try to make each ride at least that. Last year and the year before, I did a 100-miler, referred to as a century. Those are real tests for your buns and knees to endure.

You can do it! You'll surprise yourself!

[laurel]

kaustin even has to work up to biking to work whenever he starts it up again after winter and he bikes and walks a lot (he doesn't drive).

Give it time, you'll get there. And that means more time for the snow to melt out of the way-- it's darn hard navigating the streets in cars right now, on bikes I imagine it's gotta be even harder.