Biking

lvfunandfit

For those of you who love to ride next week is National "Ride your bike to work" week, I'm not kidding it was sent in an official memo Yesterday. I can't ride a regular bike anymore so I use a handcycle and my trip is gonna be 22 miles each way. Woo Hooo.

So, I got curious as to why you can't ride a regular bike anymore and took a look at your profile. OH MY GOODNESS! You have been through so much! You don't let a thing get in your way! Congrats on all of your successes! You are an inspiration!

I couldn't imagine riding a handcycle 44 miles per day!
I wish I could ride my bike to work --- hard to do since I have to pick two kids up from daycare. But I will ride my bike as often as I can!

sassyg

Biking is awesome. I'm a road biker and a mountain biker. I have a Trek mtb (full suspension), a Giant mtb (hardtail) and a EMC2 roadie.

Don't stress too much abut the clipless pedals! Everyone falls in them sometimes! it's not so bad, cos you fall when you're stopped, so it's just a slow flop to the side :laugh:
One day I wasn't paying attention, unclipped one pedal, put my foot down, then went to put the other foot down still clipped in, and pulled my bike over myself. Quite funny, when I think about it! :blushing: But I've fallen off heaps by just not unclipping in time. I always start to unclip well in advance of intersections now and just do those last couple of pedals with my heel if I need the momentum.
I second the practicing on grass, and practice riding up and down a straight safe section of road or path just clipping and unclipping as you ride

Enjoy!!

lvfunandfit

Biking is awesome. I'm a road biker and a mountain biker. I have a Trek mtb (full suspension), a Giant mtb (hardtail) and a EMC2 roadie.

Don't stress too much abut the clipless pedals! Everyone falls in them sometimes! it's not so bad, cos you fall when you're stopped, so it's just a slow flop to the side :laugh:
One day I wasn't paying attention, unclipped one pedal, put my foot down, then went to put the other foot down still clipped in, and pulled my bike over myself. Quite funny, when I think about it! :blushing: But I've fallen off heaps by just not unclipping in time. I always start to unclip well in advance of intersections now and just do those last couple of pedals with my heel if I need the momentum.
I second the practicing on grass, and practice riding up and down a straight safe section of road or path just clipping and unclipping as you ride

Enjoy!!

Thanks for that! I'm happy to know that falling is normal! LOL I'm sure I'll be in the "normal category" then!

asltiffm

I was doing a MS150 ride on year and this guy was all by himself at a stop light and I and the group I was riding with were coming up behind him. He was doing a track stop (still clipped in) and it looked like he fell asleep, just fell right over and never put his hand out to stop him (good protection for your wrist, by the way) and after we found out he was ok, I laughed in my head and it replayed many times throughout the weekend and I laughed every time.

One day I got new pedals and put the cleats on my shoes and went down the road a couple houses and back to test them out. They clipped in easy so I thought all was well. I always biked as fast as I could to the porch steps to see how close I could get without htting the stairs. I did impressively well that day...but then I went to unclip and I wasn't able to! In my mind, I saw that guy falling and I laughed on the way to the sidewalk. I was laughing so hard that my dad came out to see what was going on. He had to take my shoes off my feet because the shoes were stuck to the pedals. I had to get the bike shop to pry them off. I still laugh when I see that guy falling over. :laugh:

fietsdebbie

I am a biker and love it but I'm not into it for spandex and bike shoes. I have a Dutch sit up straight bike with permanent panniers and it is very comfortable. We were living in The Netherlands and I bought it there and brought it back to the states. It has 27 speeds and shocks so it works well on hills, something that doesn't exist in The Netherlands.

I ride almost every day. About 45 minutes for exercise up a few hills and some straights and also with a kid bike trailer to the grocery store about twice a week. I go to the library and do miscellaneous errands on it. Biking in The Netherlands is a way of life. They bike to work, to the store, to the movies, to a night out. As a result, those tall Dutch people are usually rather slim!

lvfunandfit

I was doing a MS150 ride on year and this guy was all by himself at a stop light and I and the group I was riding with were coming up behind him. He was doing a track stop (still clipped in) and it looked like he fell asleep, just fell right over and never put his hand out to stop him (good protection for your wrist, by the way) and after we found out he was ok, I laughed in my head and it replayed many times throughout the weekend and I laughed every time.

One day I got new pedals and put the cleats on my shoes and went down the road a couple houses and back to test them out. They clipped in easy so I thought all was well. I always biked as fast as I could to the porch steps to see how close I could get without htting the stairs. I did impressively well that day...but then I went to unclip and I wasn't able to! In my mind, I saw that guy falling and I laughed on the way to the sidewalk. I was laughing so hard that my dad came out to see what was going on. He had to take my shoes off my feet because the shoes were stuck to the pedals. I had to get the bike shop to pry them off. I still laugh when I see that guy falling over. :laugh:

Those are both hilarious stories! Thanks for sharing!

RunRideRay

Everyone's got a clipless pedal story, they all end on the ground, and they are all funny :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I do encourage a helmet too. I did actually use (not just wear) one last year. It's great to have ONLY major flesh wounds after a crash. Of course, pulling gravel and dirt out of a leg, hip, and shoulder was a bit painful, and didn't like the cracked $100 helmet either, BUT.... I rode home and made due with bandages and ibuprofen.

They really look fine, feels dorky perhaps, but you can make it look good.

Raymond

lvfunandfit

I went for my ride! 15.27 miles! Only fell (at a stop) 4 times! LOL but I had so much fun!!! It was freezing and windy! (not sure why it was so cold in May in Las Vegas.... but I needed winter gear to wear!). I'm going again in 2 weeks! I loved it!

sassyg

Yay go you! 15 miles is awesome for a first ride.

Good to hear you got the falling out of the way early on. Once you do it once and realise it's not so bad, its not so scary anymore aye?