Will *cycle* for coffee

All through college, Kent worked part time in a bike shop.  After we married, he took on a full time position until it was time to put his degree to good use.  With an enthusiast of a husband who knows bike maintenance better than anyone in all of Vancouver, Washington, I have no excuse to NOT ride a bike.  Except for the accident factor.  Kent has been in a couple of gnarly accidents in the past 18 years.  One of them was just a few weeks before our wedding.  He landed the gravel road face first.  The other was just a few years ago.  He was hit by a pickup truck, and that accident left his (right) upper body paralyzed.  Ever since the last accident, I can't stand looking at all of his bazillion bikes hanging from the garage ceiling.  I was really hoping he'd sell them....or burn them.  That accident nearly took his life, and none of us have been the same since it happened.

I've been mentioning how I'd like to start taking more spin classes at the gym for cross training. He asked if I'd be interested in a road bike.  As soon as he asked, I could tell he was considering cycling.  Since I can't forbid him from riding ever again...I might as well join him.  Just like running, I'm a slow cyclist.  Perhaps that will knock down his accident factor a few notches. {I can hope, right?}


After a weekend full of stress, Kent surprised me with my new (to me) road bike!  We ended up going 17.5 miles our first time out, and it was actually a lot of fun.  We had three hills that made me work a lot harder than I expected.  The worst was that last one over on 11th street.  I had to stop twice on that one.  My quads were burning SO BAD.  Even with my very practiced, deliberate endurance breathing, I had a hard time catching my breath.  The breaks were only a few seconds each.  Before I knew it, I was at the top of the hill!  Kent went ahead on up the hill without me, and was shocked to see me not too far behind once he looked back.   

Three big hills...but I made it!

Proudly showing off my new ride.

Great view at the top.  We could see the top of St. Helens.  Look just above the tree line {middle of picture}.

A look DOWN the hill.

This road bike is so different than my old ten speed from late elementary school.  It's also drastically different compared to the mountain bike I used when my kids first learned to ride bikes.  (We went on a few little bike rides as a family, and that was about it.)  It's super light weight, which is great.  However, I can't seem to get used to my butt being higher in the air than my hand placement.  It might not really be that way, but that's certainly the way it feels.  Even with the padded gloves, my hands were KILLING ME by the end of this 17.5 mile trip.  Those first 4 miles of downhill really did a number on my hands & lower arms.  By the end of the ride, I figured out how to stabilize with my core instead of putting all my body weight on my hands.  Kent really, really wanted me to use my new cycling shoes with toe clips for this ride, but I insisted on getting used to the feel of this bike first.  I'm glad I made that choice. There was a point when rounding a corner...on big hill #2....with a car whizzing just a foot or so from my left side...that I almost fell off the bike.  I can't imagine having to deal with clip shoes in that circumstance. It was all I could do to get the bike moving up that hill again.  I did it, though.  

I can't say biking is going to be my new thing, but 17.5 miles of cycling sure goes way faster than 17.5 miles of running.  Plus, my knees didn't hurt.  Yes, we stopped for iced soy lattes at the end of our ride.  :)