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Oct. 22nd, 2010 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vicarzBwa I suck! Ok I did it, finally, I got off my kiester and used my bike in Arlington. Janna loaned me her pump and I now have 1 of 2 bikes with air in the tires (I couldn't get the micro super bike fillers to fit). Some important observations:
I suck at biking. I mean I only went 2 miles, but, going up the first hill had me panting. I run 2 miles on a regular basis and was shocked I found this tiring.
On a related note, I used to brag that I went biking with people who were professional bikers and held my own due to my physical fitness. I also talked about the day I was humbled and nearly killed when I did a ride with Kirstin's friends...including the dude with not only huge calves, but a calf with a bike-derailer tattoo. Between that, conversations, and other rides - I learned that my "holding my own" was likely the product of the fact Kirstin is just nice and happy for company, without some silly douche urge to show how good she is or good you are not at the biking stuff.
Biking is scary. Every car door is a threat. However, those new biking lanes are friggin awesome and large. Buses kind of eat those lanes, as do loading trucks, and entering the traffic lanes is craptacular.
Gel from last night and a bike helmet do not mesh well.
My many-years-old meh bike is a great idea. Sure Brian's bike is all spiffy, but I haven't yet fixed it (or frankly, washed the mud off) and it requires bike shoes. That will be cool for sports biking, but I think I am happy for my crappy bike as a commuter bike. It's heavier than a good bike, but it's not valuable enough to steal-with-effort and can be used with regular shoes. I will need to look for a more convenient lock than my outdated pickable-with-a-bic-pen kryponite lock, and/or change the back wheel from an easy-off to bolted on.
Sitting in Northside Social makes you smell like a fry-grease filled kitchen. I'd rather smell like coffee in the coffee house, but no, it's all unvented kitchen grease.
I'm going to try to keep biking - if I suck at it, well then I get some free fast-growth curve workouty stuff I haven't experienced in a long while.
In other news, I'm hoping I get to travel this week because I could really use a week off from the gym. I'm facing some deep tireds from recovering enough to really hurt myself in the gym. I keep defaulting to the strength stuff, and...well it hurts. Makes me envy people who don't know what they're doing and default to working out with weights you can do while sitting or lying down. Picking up bells and standing up - that's some scary shit by comparison. Bench press? What pussies. I mean sackies.
I suck at biking. I mean I only went 2 miles, but, going up the first hill had me panting. I run 2 miles on a regular basis and was shocked I found this tiring.
On a related note, I used to brag that I went biking with people who were professional bikers and held my own due to my physical fitness. I also talked about the day I was humbled and nearly killed when I did a ride with Kirstin's friends...including the dude with not only huge calves, but a calf with a bike-derailer tattoo. Between that, conversations, and other rides - I learned that my "holding my own" was likely the product of the fact Kirstin is just nice and happy for company, without some silly douche urge to show how good she is or good you are not at the biking stuff.
Biking is scary. Every car door is a threat. However, those new biking lanes are friggin awesome and large. Buses kind of eat those lanes, as do loading trucks, and entering the traffic lanes is craptacular.
Gel from last night and a bike helmet do not mesh well.
My many-years-old meh bike is a great idea. Sure Brian's bike is all spiffy, but I haven't yet fixed it (or frankly, washed the mud off) and it requires bike shoes. That will be cool for sports biking, but I think I am happy for my crappy bike as a commuter bike. It's heavier than a good bike, but it's not valuable enough to steal-with-effort and can be used with regular shoes. I will need to look for a more convenient lock than my outdated pickable-with-a-bic-pen kryponite lock, and/or change the back wheel from an easy-off to bolted on.
Sitting in Northside Social makes you smell like a fry-grease filled kitchen. I'd rather smell like coffee in the coffee house, but no, it's all unvented kitchen grease.
I'm going to try to keep biking - if I suck at it, well then I get some free fast-growth curve workouty stuff I haven't experienced in a long while.
In other news, I'm hoping I get to travel this week because I could really use a week off from the gym. I'm facing some deep tireds from recovering enough to really hurt myself in the gym. I keep defaulting to the strength stuff, and...well it hurts. Makes me envy people who don't know what they're doing and default to working out with weights you can do while sitting or lying down. Picking up bells and standing up - that's some scary shit by comparison. Bench press? What pussies. I mean sackies.
