In early August I purchased a bicycle after waiting for many years. I think I always had an excuse at the ready, but just never made the financial jump into it.
That has changed.
As a few friends and I started talking more and more about cycling, I was finally pulled into action and purchased a Cannondale Quick 4 hybrid. Thus far, I have logged over 120 miles and I have found that I enjoyed every minute.
Despite sore legs, I find that my mood from cycling has improved. My start for the next day is vastly more positive and I perform short little jogs to my destination as a way to get a small workout going for my legs in anticipation of another ride. In addition, I plan to also use it to commute around my town and eventually to the bus stop for my daily commute to work.
My First Cycling Tour
On the last weekend of August, I participated in my first cycling tour. This cycling tour I knew would be a challenge as it would be the longest I’ve ridden since getting the bike and it contained a lot of hills. I was equally excited and frightened. Nearly 30 miles, in nearly 3 hours resulted in some very sore legs, a leg cramp and lower back pain flare up. With that said, I survived, and learned a few things along the way.
5 Things I Learned From My Cycling Tour
#1 Take Your Time
“This is not a race.” is what I told myself. I wasn’t attempting to go for a fast time. I wasn’t trying to beat anyone across the finish. This was simply something fun to do with some friends. With that said, I knew this course would contain some hills, some I couldn’t image being as steep, but I wanted to try to conserve my energy for those. During the tour, I had to remind myself of this very fact, telling myself that I had 10 more miles to go and they would mostly be hills. So, “take your time.” This wasn’t more evident until we detoured off the street onto bike paths. The scenery was beautiful and it provided a nice relaxing setting to ride.
#2 Don’t Try Anything New
I purchased new pedals, with a flat side, and cycling shoes. I practiced in my garage clipping in and out and took the bike for several spins up and down my neighborhood. I wore these on the cycling tour. Before you start laughing, I didn’t fall… My water bottle did. I took a pull from the water bottle and bent to reinsert it into the holder when it fell out and into the street. I panicked momentarily and wanted to stop, but then previous experience of randomly stopping told me that was a bad idea. Secondly, I had “unclip” running through my mind and a friend yelling that to me as well. I unclipped, scanned the area and pulled to the side of the street and waited for other cyclists to ride past. A gentleman out for a morning walk, grabbed my bottle and handed it to me. The moral here is to don’t try anything new the day of your tour or race. I wasn’t super comfortable with reaching for water bottles with the new shoes and the resulting panic could have caused some major road burn.
#3 Hydrate Often
When cycling, especially longer rides, you want to make sure you stay hydrated. On previous rides, I’ve come home to major headaches due to the lack of hydration. For my first cycling tour, it was a beautiful leg cramp on my last stretch to the finish. With my water bottle incident earlier, I only hydrated at rest stops, which were every 7 miles or so. I didn’t want to chance reaching for a drink and face planting in the street because I couldn’t clip out. Big mistake. That cramp took me out for a good minute or two until I was finally able to limp it back to the finish. Worse of all, those that passed me must have though I’ve given up so close to the finish. It was a leg cramp, I swear!
#4 Position Is Everything
How you fit on the bike is key. I’ve gotten the height of the saddle to where it doesn’t destroy my knees and my wrists do not hurt. My hands no longer go numb as well. With the cycling tour and its excessive hills, I find I like to sit much further back in the saddle on a climb as I feel I have more power and it’s more comfortable. Therefore, I will need to adjust my seat so that my riding position is comfortable in and out of the hills. It also wouldn’t hurt to look for a more comfortable saddle.
#5 Have Fun
I had a blast. The atmosphere, the cool looking bikes, and just seeing how many people were participating was great. I would definitely do it again, despite how much I hated those hills. From all that I learned that day, this was the most important and it’s one you should remember. It doesn’t matter how fast you rode, or how long you rode. All that matters is that you had fun!
Challenge Yourself
I challenged myself by going the distance and doing something I could never have imagined I would be doing a year ago. What about you? I dare you to challenge yourself.
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