Two Wheels.

Saturday morning, bright and breezy the wife and I set out for a jog. I had that shin twinge again quite early on and rather than push it I insisted that we turned round. We managed a half hour run though but that was just a prelude to a good day. I have been planning on getting a bike for some time now to aid with the cross training and general fitness, and this Saturday was the day we went shopping.

I haven’t ridden for ages. My last bike was a mountain bike that I wrapped around a pedestrian crossing in the fog more than six years ago. I was commuting to work at the time and I remember one day pounding down a hill at full pelt, really exerting myself and some bloke on a racing bike wafted past me with a friendly “Morning” while not even pedalling.
I couldn’t see myself chucking it down muddy banks anymore, I wanted to road ride at speed just like that commuter 6 years ago, so I was looking for some kind racing type bike. Actually I think they are called road bikes but I am pretty new to this riding fraternity. Either way, low rolling resistance and streamlined pedalling position was now what I wanted.

After some shopping around I was really pleased to find a bike which fit my criteria (drop handlebars, skinny tyres etc) and was within budget, because it seems this sort of bike seems to cost thousands of pounds usually. I am under no illusions, it is a budget racer and if I am going to start triathlons I am going to have to upgrade but it is perfect for me at the moment.

As soon as I got the bike home I was changed and back out on it for a play, heading off to bomb around the country lanes. Hunkering down to reduce wind resistance on downhill bits and standing up on the pedals and hauling the bike from side to side going uphill, I kept imagining a Peloton bunched up behind me, it was great.

I used to cycle 12 miles every day when I was commuting too and from work and I thought I was more than man enough to cope with a little half hour session. It turns out that six years away from a bike can leave some muscles not quite up to standard, by the time I got home I had no energy left in my legs. I did a quick measure of the route I took and was a bit dismayed that I had only covered about 7 miles. I had visions of covering larger distances than that before getting puffed out.

I had a new toy and was going to take it out on Sunday as well. The main mission was to get some average speed times so that I could work out what sort of range I could conceivably aim for on the bike. I discovered almost instantly that I was a bit saddle sore, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I covered 9.4 miles (though I only remembered to start my stopwatch after I had covered a couple of miles) at an average speed of 14mph. A long day in the saddle could see me cover 100 miles… When I am fit enough to spend a whole day in the saddle that is.