so much for the not bleeding part
I gotta say, I had a great time Saturday morning in the MS Bike ride practice thing....all things considered.
It was on the other side of J'ville from where I live, and I thought I left in plenty of time to be pretty early. I was wrong. I still made it on time, but when I got there I was rushed, and they were scrambling for places for people to park, because the turnout was huge. Still, I got registered and made it behind the start/finish line before they said, "Go!"
It was a great overcast morning...not too hot and definitely not cold. We started slow and cautious, and then people started separating out into groups at different speeds. I was pretty much in and out of groups, and sometimes by myself for the first 20 miles or so. Then we hit a rest stop. I stopped, had a snack and left about the same time as two guys I had seen several times so far. For the next few miles we were all riding single, occasionally passing each other. One guy was real strong on hills (and yes, west of J'ville there are some hills) and would pass me on the uphill side every time. Then I'd catch up and pass him on the flats, because I learned, the other guy was a friend of his and they were riding together, and he'd wait on his buddy. Eventually the three of us were riding as a small group, and I was doing all the stuff....hand signals and yelling "car back" and all of it. It got to be my turn to lead, and I did it. I kept us going at a steady 20 miles an hour for about 5 miles. Somewhere in that five miles though, unbeknownst to me, we picked up a few more people. When I signaled that I was breaking off the lead and stared moving back down the line, people were thanking me for the "pull" (what they call it when you lead and people draft off you) and complimenting me for going so long...and there were about 20 of them. I kept looking back thinking, "damn...where did all you people come from." It was so cool though...to do that and do it right, and have people say thank you.
Most of them stopped at the next rest stop. I continued on with the two guys I had been riding with. We ended up catching and blending with another larger group. We stayed with them pretty much of the rest of the way. Somewhere in there though, we started slowing. Everyone yelled "slowing" and I did, but then for reasons I never figured out, we stopped. There was someone from the ride on the side of the road who got hurt, and they had medical people there helping her....so I don't know why we stopped, but we did...abruptly. There I was...new in this whole clipless pedal thing...not moving and not fast enough getting my shoes off them. I fell over, skinned my knee, and my bike chain came off. I fixed the chain with a little help from another rider, and continued on...bleeding just a little. Found out later I also broke the cleat...the little thing that keps the shoe on the pedal. It still works, but my foot can slide around on the pedal a lot more than it should.
So now I have this huge raspberry thing on my knee that doesn't hurt all that much, but will take some healing time. ...and I have to buy some new cleats (about $20). Other than that though...the experience was a huge confidence builder. I'm glad I went.
It was on the other side of J'ville from where I live, and I thought I left in plenty of time to be pretty early. I was wrong. I still made it on time, but when I got there I was rushed, and they were scrambling for places for people to park, because the turnout was huge. Still, I got registered and made it behind the start/finish line before they said, "Go!"
It was a great overcast morning...not too hot and definitely not cold. We started slow and cautious, and then people started separating out into groups at different speeds. I was pretty much in and out of groups, and sometimes by myself for the first 20 miles or so. Then we hit a rest stop. I stopped, had a snack and left about the same time as two guys I had seen several times so far. For the next few miles we were all riding single, occasionally passing each other. One guy was real strong on hills (and yes, west of J'ville there are some hills) and would pass me on the uphill side every time. Then I'd catch up and pass him on the flats, because I learned, the other guy was a friend of his and they were riding together, and he'd wait on his buddy. Eventually the three of us were riding as a small group, and I was doing all the stuff....hand signals and yelling "car back" and all of it. It got to be my turn to lead, and I did it. I kept us going at a steady 20 miles an hour for about 5 miles. Somewhere in that five miles though, unbeknownst to me, we picked up a few more people. When I signaled that I was breaking off the lead and stared moving back down the line, people were thanking me for the "pull" (what they call it when you lead and people draft off you) and complimenting me for going so long...and there were about 20 of them. I kept looking back thinking, "damn...where did all you people come from." It was so cool though...to do that and do it right, and have people say thank you.
Most of them stopped at the next rest stop. I continued on with the two guys I had been riding with. We ended up catching and blending with another larger group. We stayed with them pretty much of the rest of the way. Somewhere in there though, we started slowing. Everyone yelled "slowing" and I did, but then for reasons I never figured out, we stopped. There was someone from the ride on the side of the road who got hurt, and they had medical people there helping her....so I don't know why we stopped, but we did...abruptly. There I was...new in this whole clipless pedal thing...not moving and not fast enough getting my shoes off them. I fell over, skinned my knee, and my bike chain came off. I fixed the chain with a little help from another rider, and continued on...bleeding just a little. Found out later I also broke the cleat...the little thing that keps the shoe on the pedal. It still works, but my foot can slide around on the pedal a lot more than it should.
So now I have this huge raspberry thing on my knee that doesn't hurt all that much, but will take some healing time. ...and I have to buy some new cleats (about $20). Other than that though...the experience was a huge confidence builder. I'm glad I went.
Labels: It's all about me
John put this out here at 6:50 AM
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