Reflections

[shootingstar]

Well uh..nearly 17 yrs. ago..lst year when I returned to cycling...9 kms. hurt. It was on flats. But I was stoked.

Then 5 months later I went on 500 kms. self-loaded bike trip with my partner in Vermont in early fall. I was such an idiot...I still didn't know how to use my gears properly.. If Vermont wasn't such a beautiful state..I would have hurt alot more. I wasn't wearing cycling shoes and didn't even use bike shoe cages to give myself more leverage.

During that lst year during another (shorter) bike trip, I also camped for the lst time ..in my life (at 31 yrs.). At that time, he had a ...canvass tent. Our 2nd night, the tent floor leaked in rain..

At least now I can use my gears better ...though I don't put on the cyclometer to measure distance. In my first 5 years, I was maniacal to track my distance daily in journal. It makes great reading plus bits on tripping.

But I didn't start wearing cycling jerseys until 5 years ago.

[redrhodie]

It's so funny to read how we were all so green once! Being pushed up a hill, Crank! I think that would have been my first AND LAST ride. Not knowing how to shift. Remember forgetting to shift into an easier gear before coming to a stop, and being unable to get going again? Those were the days.

I remember in the beginning, having my saddle sooooo low because I had to stop and start from a seated position. I remember actually shaking when I test rode my first road bike. And for the longest time, I only rode on the bike path, back and forth over and over again. I knew every blade of grass.

5 years from now? I can't even imagine! Maybe I'll be poppin' wheelies by then (but I doubt it). More likely, I'll be riding my same routes, getting a little less winded on the hills, and remembering when each one used to be harder. How's that for ambition!