I'm going to start out just listing my bicycling progress.
Saturday, May 29, 2004 - Bought the bike. Cheap Mongoose DXR-AL mountain bike. I remember when Mongoose was top of the line. When did they start selling them at Walmart? Aired up the tires at my sisters, rode to the end of the street and back, about three blocks. Mostly uphill on the way back, legs burned quite a bit. This will be a workout. Little did I know...
Monday, May 31, 2004 - Memorial Day, nothing much to do, so I figured I'd take the bike out for a ride. It was about lunch time, and I live a few minutes from one of my favorite meat and threes, so off I went. Now, I live on top of a big hill. Almost a ridge, but not high enough, but certainly long. And where I was going was downhill, almost all the way, about 2 miles. When I got there, I was a bit winded from going up the small hill to the parking lot, but ok. They were closed, so on down the road another quarter mile to the McDonalds. I get a grilled chicken sandwich and a large water, because I had the feeling a heavy meal wouldn't be too good, and I did realize that going home would be uphill. Yeah, understatement of the century. Now the first half of the ride back wasn't so bad, but I was blowing pretty good when I turned off the main drag to the street heading home. Here's where things got interesting. I've never really noticed the gradual upwards slope leading to the steep part of the hill. This is only about a mile, maybe a little less. But after half of it, I was in agony. Couldn't stay on, and I was veering enough I was afraid I'd veer into a car, so I got off the bike and walked. I walked about a block, and started getting some mobility in my legs, and so I got back on and rode the rest of the gentle sloped part. Which brings me to the hill. The hill'o'doom. Now, the bike route has you taking the left fork in the road and going to the far end of the hill, then back by my house, but the right fork of the road goes straight to my house, bypassing the loop. Its steeper, and narrower, hence the bike route going the other way, but I wasn't going to ride. No way. So up I went. Now it was getting hard to even walk. I saw two people I knew drive by, but they didn't recognize me (I mean, me, on a bike, come on!). Anyway, I made it to the top, and rode the last 100 ft to the house, more because my legs wouldn't move and it was mostly a slight downhill grade I could coast. That led me to my first top ten rules.
1. I am not capable of riding up hills. No, not even the little ones, unless there is a big one I can go down first and coast over it.
2. Just because it is a 3 minute car trip doesn't mean it isn't
A Long Way.
3. Walking is not embarrassing. Walking is your friend.
4. Helmets make me look like a fat Tron figure.
5. You can not stand up and pedal in the same gear you were in when sitting down. You will break your leg if you try.
6. 1st ring 1st gear is absolutely useless on the street. Perhaps it has use climbing the side of a building, I don't know and don't care to find out.
7. 1st ring 2nd gear is also useless. I believe it was made for climbing church steeples.
8. Bluegrass is good riding music.
9. I need an iPod.
10. Stretch. Often. Just Sayin™
Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - After the debacle of the hill'o'doom, I decided I'd start taking the bike to work and ride on the relatively flat parking lot that circles my building. Driving around it in the truck, the building is right at .25 miles around, so every 4 laps is about a mile. I did 10 laps, and was very winded by the 4th. When I got off the bike, my legs were jello. Took about ten minutes of stretching to get to where I could walk without shuffling my feet.
Friday, June 4, 2004 - I decided that I'd try to keep doing a little more each time I ride, hoping to finally get up to some decent flat mileage before doing too many more hills. So this time I went half a mile further, 12 laps. If I try to take things too fast, I'll either hurt myself or get discouraged. A coworker pointed out one of the reasons my legs hurt. My bike is too short. I'm not getting full extension on my legs, which is what is making the tops of my thighs hurt. I started hanging my legs down to stretch when I coast down the slight grade in the front of the building, which helps a bit.
Sunday, June 6, 2004 - Since I don't work on Sunday, and didn't want to drive anywhere, I figured I'd start from home. As I said, living at the top of a big hill doesn't help, but the top is big, so I tried to stay on top as much as possible. The apartment building down the road is on the highest point of the hill, and a road goes around it, so I went down that road and back up to my road and back. The problem is, it goes down at first, then up and down and the end is all back up. Plus, I had trouble shifting down as I started up the steepest hill, so I lost all momentum. It was only about 1.5 miles, but hurt as much as anything so far, and took just about as long. I raised the seat some, which helped. I might be able to get a little more out of it.
Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 16 laps, or ~4 miles. It was a bit easier today, I didn't really start getting winded until about the 8th lap. I've adjusted the seat post as high as I dare take it. I'd be afraid to sit on it any higher. It still isn't quite enough. Still stretching my legs on the grade in the front of the building. Standing up on the smaller grade on the side of the building also helps.
