Wimpy Bike Ride

Last Wednesday, I took my road bike into the shop and it has not re-appeared yet. In recent weeks, I have written about problems with my rear wheel. This week, it finally went out and we decided that my bike needs a new rear wheel. The bike shop says it will be 7 to 10 days until the new wheel comes in! Oh No! Karyn and I had planned a 45-mile bike ride this weekend. So much for that idea. Since we are trying to get in shape to complete a 60-mile ride in October, Karyn decided to ride a shorter road ride without me. I would take a mountain bike ride, just get out on the bike.

I woke up this morning and could not get inspired to go on my ride. Most of my mountain bike routes have steep hills. I was just not looking forward to all of the climbing. So, I kept coming up with excuses to not go on the ride. About 9am, I get a call from Karyn. She is having trouble getting inspired to go on her ride and she asked me if I would like to go on an easy mountain bike ride later in the morning. I am glad that she called; this will inspire both of us to go on some type of ride this weekend.

We start off riding out of town on the bike path to Wilder Ranch. Immediately, we notice the difference of riding on our mountain bikes. They are much heavier than road bikes and they don't roll as well as road bikes. On a nice road bike, once you get going, you can stop pedaling, and the bike will keep coasting. It seems to roll and roll. On a mountain bike, if you don't keep pedaling, the bike will just stop. Another factor is that the riding position on a mountain bike is different than a road bike. You use a slightly different set of muscles. Or maybe it is using the same muscles in a different way? What do I know?

Regardless of all of these excuses, I was feeling out-of-shape again. We were riding on flat ground, but I was working hard and not going very fast. Not a good feeling after all of the riding I have done this year. Anyway, we got out to Wilder Ranch and rode along the bluffs by the ocean. At this point, I am starting to get into the rhythm of the ride and I am feeling comfortable on the bike. Of course, I then hit a sandy portion of the trail, the bike stops and I fly over the handlebars! Very gracefully, I might add. Luckily, I was only going about 2 MPH; the only injury was to my dignity. I will also comment that Karyn sure enjoyed the show. (As an aside, I used to go mountain biking with my friend Steve. He claimed that he had never seen anyone go over their handlebars, so he kept asking me to demonstrate it for him. Some riding partners, hunh?)

So then Karyn decides that she wants to attempt some climbs. She says this with an evil glint in her eyes. I am barely hanging onto the bike on flat ground and she wants to take me up and down hills? Uh-oh! So we ride back under Highway 1 and start to climb into the hills. The first climb is only about 50 to 75 feet of elevation gain over half a mile, not a very big or steep hill at all. We get to the top of this molehill and Karyn is feeling pretty good. I am huffing and puffing. I beg Karyn to turn around and she takes pity on me. This time I follow Karyn down, so she will not be able to observe my graceful technique. Somehow I survive the trip back down the mountain and struggle back into town. Truly a wimpy bike ride today!

This is really pitiful. I am sore, but we only rode about 13 miles and it was a mostly flat ride, over the whole ride we only had 350 feet of elevation gain. Several years ago, I used to ride my mountain bike all around Wilder Ranch. A good ride was 2500 feet of elevation gain over 25 miles. On the other hand, I am not completely surprised that Karyn did better than I did. While I have done more road biking than her this year, she is in much better overall shape. So when we try something different than road biking, she will be at an advantage. Of course, if my road bike is in the shop much longer, I will be taking more mountain bike rides over the next week or so.