This last Tuesday, with a little assistance from our buddy Ann, Katie and I got bikes (as seen on K’s blog). And let me tell you I got the best Huffy bike that $80 can buy (and I say that with both sarcasm and honesty). I’m not expecting too much from this bike. I just wanted to get something simple to roll around on and get a little exercise.
I’ve never been very good on a bike. I didn’t learn to ride one until I was probably 10 years old or something like that, I was never that good on it, and I got my driver’s license when I turned 15. Goodbye bicycle, hello cruisin’ with Homeskillet and Billy. So bike riding was never that big a deal with me.
They say you never forget how to ride a bike, right? Well, for years it seemed that I was the exception to this rule. Since childhood, anytime I would attempt to ride a bike I could barely stay upright, falling over and barely able to roll forward. One terrible instance in Cape May involved me struggling along until I just slammed into the side of a parked minivan. Sad but True. So it became accepted wisdom that “Chris can’t ride a bike.” Which would make sense, because
a) It involves balance.
b) It involves physical exertion.
However, the last few weeks have revealed something quite interesting: During a visit from Ann W. and her new roommate Christina, who had ridden their bikes over to our place, I jumped on one of their bikes and lo and behold, I actually could ride a bike. Evidently, I had only been riding bikes with thin little tires, but on a simple bike with two-inch wide tires, I was OK. It was much like when everyone assumed my sister Erica was a terrible driver until we realized she just had a really shitty car. VINDICATION!
So now to the wuss part. We rode the other day and it was fun, but we rode again this morning and HOLY CRAP RIDING A BIKE IS HARD. I mean, I had to walk the bike up a hill that had, MAYBE, a 5-degree incline! Terrible. I was sweating and panting and wobbling and struggling to keep up. I assumed that I always had muscles in my legs, but I may have been mistaken, evidently. I know/hope it will get easier as I ride more, but I just hope it doesn’t take long until I am no longer stumbling in the front door and scrambling for my inhaler after 30 minutes of light riding. Oi!
6 comments:
Always ride with Katie by your side. She keeps you balanced.
"Muscles" is not a term I associate with you. So don't let it get you down. Your fitness will rise to your level of interest or need.
Now, about the Prizm, the Prizm was a good and decent vehicle that we drove many a mile before Erica, through lack of attention and God knows what other abuse, turned it into a "shitty car".
Thank you. (The above comments are by David Reid.)
mmmmmmmm, bikes.
Woah, Daddy-O. Dropping some harshness there. The car was good, and Erica did put it through hell (remember the cop that told her he'd give her a ticket if she didn't clean out the INSIDE of the car? Ha Ha). But let's give the old girl the benefit of the doubt and blame the car. Even if she did make the car a POS, she drove better than we thought.
And to Cap'n Hardqore, all I could think about while riding the bike this moring was the phrase "Jeremy is my hero...Jeremy is my hero...Jeremy..."
I can completely relate to feeling like a complete wus on a bicycle. I do much better with the motorized kind. Zoltan convinced me a few weeks ago to bike along with him while he went for his 13-mile long run in NH. So I took my mom's bike (thin tires and older than me) and went bravely along. I mean, how bad can it be, right? Ha! NH has some HILLS. Won't do that again any time soon! (unless it's a little flatter...)
So I ended up going on a solo bike ride Tuesday afternoon. After cruising around for about ten minutes and suffering in agony, I decided to take a breather and swing by our friend Ann's house, who was incidentally just leaving HER house to ride her bike. Well, she got on my bike and messed with the gears before giving it back to me, and even though the gears are in what should be a totally incorrect position (High Setting, Low Gear) MAN it felt so much better to ride.
Ann and I proceeded to take about a 30 minute ride around the 'hood and it was just what it needed to be, good excercise on the legs, but I wasn't on the verge of tears. I look forwarrd to riding again tomorrow!
I don't even know what to say.
At least my brother loves me.
(the above comments were made by Erica, whose spirit is now crushed)
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