So, we bought a bike!! I am now the proud owner of an Iron Horse Triumph 5.0 road bicycle. We bought it from Amazon.com – it was a GREAT price for the bike, especially for an entry-level road bike. We picked it up from UPS on Thursday and put it together that night. In expectation of getting the bike, my friends from the gym (Fallon and Christine) and I had planned an early morning bike ride for Friday morning for our workouts. I still have Christine’s bike she loaned to me and had told her I’d ride that if we couldn’t get my bike put together in time.
The bike got put together thanks to Rich. I could not figure out a lot of the pieces, and I thought it was more complicated than it actually ended up being. I learned quite a bit about bicycles Thursday evening. The bike came with Crank Brothers Smarty Clipless pedals – AND the cleats for the cycling shoes. Rich had suggested I wait for awhile until using the clipless pedals (they came with snap-on platform pieces so you could ride the bike with regular shoes instead of the special cycling shoes. I didn’t want to wait, so before going to bed, I switched out my cleats on my cycling shoes. I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to use them or not in the morning, though.
So, Friday morning came, and I was nervous but excited to take my road bike out for its first spin! I knew there was one thing we hadn’t been able to figure out, though – the stem of the bike was a little low for what I needed, so I was leaning down a lot more than I needed to. I didn’t think that was a show-stopper, though. So, out I went to the gym to meet Christine. I had the platform snap-on pieces and was wearing my regular gym shoes instead of the cycling shoes when I headed out. I got to the parking lot with time to spare, then suddenly realized I didn’t have my helmet! So I quickly cycled back home to grab my helmet. While at home, I decided to swap out to my cycling shoes and try out the clipless pedals. Back I go to the gym – late now – and meet Christine. We head out to meet Fallon, and met up along the road. Things were going pretty smoothly, we were cycling away and headed towards Richland. Our plan was to ride as far into Richland from Pasco as possible before needing to turn around and get back home. We were only on the road a short while when, lo and behold, I hit a rock and my front tire went flat!
Christine took out her CO2 tire pump (had no idea these things existed!) and tried to pump up my tire…no dice. It wasn’t going to be that easy. Fallon headed back to her house to pick up a spare tube she had while Christine and I started walking back the way we’d been coming. Fallon came back with the tube and started taking my tire off my bike to fix the flat. I had no idea what a process that was going to be. I’d read about fixing flats — just take the tire off to show the tube, replace the tube and replace the tire and you’re good to go, right? Sure…sounds easy until you actually have to do it. AND, being a new bike (another tidbit I didn’t know), the rubber on the tire was super duper stiff. Fallon had said when the tire went flat, “Well, we might be having more of a learning ride than an actual ride!” Little did I realize…….
So, there we were, three girls on the side of the road, Fallon and Christine trying to fix this tire, while I looked on, totally clueless on how to do any of this. Fallon broke one tire wrench trying to get the tire OUT, but it finally came out, the tube was exposed and she replaced it. Then came the big struggle to put the tire back ON. I had no idea how tight that tire could be!! It took all three of us working together to get that tire back on. I think it took about half an hour. I felt SO bad. No, there wasn’t much I could do, especially since the tube that had gone flat didn’t have a single hole in it that I could see! I learned then that sometimes, the valve could end up unsealed and create the problem we had.
Well, tire fixed, back we go.
As we headed back, we had to come to a stop. One thing about cycling shoes and clipless pedals is that these shoes actually clip IN to the pedals. When you come to a stop, you twist your foot out to release it from the pedal. I’ve been using the cycling shoes in the spin classes I’ve taken at the gym, and the bike Christine loaned me had the special pedals, too. So, I’ve had some practice clipping in and out. However, I haven’t had practice with these particular pedals. As we all came to a stop, I found myself struggling to get my right food unclipped from the bicycle. Fallon and Christine were both in front of me just a few feet, and I think they probably just suddenly heard me go, “Whoa!” as I fell down. Next thing you know, they’ve turned and I’m on the ground! Because my foot was stuck in the pedal, it was a pretty good fall – I scraped my knee nicely. I limped off to the side of the road, and Fallon started laughing. “I’m so sorry, Z, but I just can’t help but laugh – you’re just not having a great morning!”
I was okay, just a sore knee, and we continued on our way. I’ll admit I was shaken up a bit, and my neck and back were starting to hurt just a little bit with how low my handle bars were. But I was aiming to persevere! So, off we go. We got to a traffic light that was red. Fallon was about to head out into traffic, which seemed clear, but there was a truck coming. She stayed back, and we had to stop…again. Which meant…I fell…again. See, I hadn’t realized that my right foot had actually clipped back into the pedal, and I didn’t think to check it before having to reach a point we might have to stop! This time, though, Fallon and Christine weren’t be only ones watching! No…there were cars behind us who got to watch this crazy person suddenly stumble. I didn’t fall completely over and managed to get my foot out just in time to catch, but the bike DID go out from under me a bit. Fallon and Christine were probably wondering if I was ever going to get with it with the whole bike riding thing! Fallon said she try to make sure we didn’t have to stop again on the remainder of our ride…
At the turnoff for Fallon and Christine to head back to the gym, they asked if they should turn back or if they should ride back with me to my house. I asked them to ride back all the way with me, since I wasn’t sure of my ability to get back home without more incident!!
So, bruised and a bit shaken, I came home and told Rich about my spectacular adventure. He headed off to work, and I got into the shower. Getting OUT of the shower, cleaning it out, the door scraped me. At that point, I just started laughing and wondered if I should venture outside at all!
Later that day, I called Rich and was telling him that I was sharing my adventure story with my co-workers. He said, “I can’t believe that you can take a fall going 30 miles an hour but you won’t go on a roller coaster.” I didn’t realize he thought I’d been TRAVELING when I fell! So, I told him, “I hate roller coasters. I was at a stand-still when I fell…both times.” He really got a laugh out of that.
I took my bike into a local bike shop for a tune-up and mentioned I’d already fallen on the bike. The guys there asked, “No, seriously? You just got the bike!” “Yeah, I biffed it…twice. At a stop both times.” Needless to say, they laughed at me.
So, with a lovely bruise on my right leg, I’m looking forward to getting fitted to my bike and then going on another ride!!
