throwbackthursday

Throwback Thursday: Red Rock Scenic Loop

~ reluctantroadie ~ 7 Comments

I was looking through some old photos on my computer a couple of days ago and I came across a few pictures and a video of my first ever road bike ride.  In honor of “Throwback Thursday,” I am publishing said video.  Since I currently have a free wordpress account and not a fancy premium one, I don’t have enough space to upload a video directly in this blog.  So, dear readers, please click here to view the video on youtube.  You will note that I am not saying much in the video.  This is for obvious reasons:

  1. the Red Rock loop is full of climbing (i.e., it is hard!).
  2. I am annoyed at SAT for recording me in my hour of pain.
  3. I am annoyed at SAT for talking, laughing, and just generally being annoying.
  4. I am annoyed.

You may also note that I am wearing sneakers instead of bike shoes that clip into the pedals; this is, again, for the obvious reason that I would have fallen on my face and broken my neck had I had “clip-in” style shoes and pedals.  I had enough trouble maneuvering my bike up and around and down that darned loop.

So, there you go.  Digital proof of how I was tortured during my introduction to the sport of road cycling.  Sigh.

Thoughts

~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

I’m approaching the end of my third week of training and I’m currently wondering if I can actually do this.  Some days have been easy to get on that bike and pedal, while other days have proven to be more difficult.  I still don’t LOVE riding my bike, although I like the IDEA of doing something as big as a double century.  (I do enjoy the massive amounts of food I can eat without guilt!)  One factor that is leeching out any joy in riding my bike is the neck and shoulder pain I am constantly experiencing.  Typically, I feel pain about an hour into any ride.  I’ve been stretching on and off the bike and starting to research solutions; so far, the most obvious solution is to figure out if my bike fits me correctly.  My SAT and I will probably get me to a professional bike fitter in order to see if I am correctly aligned and pedaling efficiently.  If I feel pain an hour into a ride, I can’t imagine what I’d feel like after 15, 16, or 17 hours (my projected time for completing a double century).

That is a painful thought.  So….let me think about something more fun.  I was going to post another “Throwback Thursday” article yesterday, but got distracted by work and other stuff.  Better late than never, right?  A handful of years ago, my SAT and I were in London and when I researched online for things to do, I found a bike tour company that seemed fun.  I booked our bikes and we enjoyed a really cool tour of the main tourist attractions while getting a bit of exercise.  It was fun to see the tour buses get caught up in traffic while we rode around obstacles and accessed places the buses couldn’t go because of their size.  🙂  The bikes we rode were these big, cushy cruisers and since our route was pretty flat, the biking was easy.  It’s funny for me to think back on my past and recall more bike moments than I remember having!

IMG_3052 IMG_3041

(Photo 1: me on my bike.  Photo 2: trying to run through the wall to get to Platform 9 3/4 in order to catch the train to Hogwarts and see Harry Potter!)

Throwback Thursday

~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Since it is Thursday, I thought I’d post a few pictures of bikes from my past in honor of “Throwback Thursday” (a.k.a., #tbt on the internet!).  During our long ride in Yuma last weekend, my SAT and I were sharing stories of our first bikes and describing those wondrous pieces of machinery that got us around in style in our respective formative years.  The first bike I owned was a pretty nifty blue BMX that I rode everywhere (I know this because my bike sported “BMX” on the frame).  I didn’t go fast, but oh, the independence that I flaunted whilst pedalling that blue BMX!

IMG_9344

(Blurry, but it gets the point across.  I think I was about 6 years old here.)

I graduated to a white, girls’ bike that accommodated my growing height and girth.  Perhaps not as cool as my BMX, the white bike more than did its job in getting me from point A to point B.  I remember being quite fond of the front reflector, for some strange reason (maybe because I have a penchant for shiny things?).

IMG_9343

(I had no sense of style back then.  Please excuse that!  I think I’m 8-9 years old here.)

When I turned 10, my big birthday gift was a 10-speed Raleigh.  I can’t find any pictures of it, either online or in my photo albums, but rest assured that I was darn proud of it and rode that adult bike like the big kid I was.  I had that bike for years.  My first real adult bike was one my mom gave me; she had a CCM (Canadian low-end brand) ladies’ mountain bike that she sort of-kind of-not really learned to ride.  She eventually got fed up with her lack of skills, so she gave it to me.  Again, I can’t find a photo of that bike, but here is a similar one from the Canadian Tire website (current retail price is $199.99 CDN):

IMG_9345

(The above is a photo I took with my phone of the website.  I don’t have the technological know-how to do anything fancier than that.)

My first “nice” bike was a 1996 Norco “Tango” (Canadian brand) and according to bikepedia.com, it weighed 25.1 pounds/11.4 kg.  It felt pretty light at the time!  I had the 15″ frame (smallest one), which fit me really well, and rode that bike to (grad) school for many years. Click on this link for all the specifications.

IMG_0023

(Going to class!)

There you go.  That is my bike history.  It was a fun little jaunt down memory lane and it’s amazing to see how far bike technology has come over my lifetime!  Readers: what bike stories do you have?