Newbie weekly achievement thread

[blue_angel]

Hey gals Well, I'm almost complete with my fixie build. It's going to be awesome. I'm eager to surpass my current biking stamina.

Don't forget to post pictures and a description in the Fixed Gear Gallery!

[Bike Writer]

About the handed thing...last year when I got back into riding I did not think I would ever be taking my hands off the bars, not even one. A friend I rode with would remove her water bottle, drink and put it back, all while riding and pedaling along and I was in awe.

This year, no problem. I prefer keeping my left hand on the bar and am stronger with that one one but in a pinch, either will do. No hands Not yet. As a kid and teenager I rode no handed all the time and recall once riding for over a mile no handed just because I wanted to see if I could do it. No problem. Young = invincible, older = scaredy cat. About some stuff anyway...

[hansbrea]

Hello, ladies. I am so glad to find this forum, too. I have tried a few others and there was a lot of bashing on them and didn't seem to be many woman. Plus, they were all super competitive. Since I am a newbie and just starting again this particular thread seems to fit me so well. I do see there is a mix of long range riders in here, too. I'm guessing you started out as a newbie?

I started riding again 2 weeks ago. I wanted to ride races when I was a teenager but never got any support from my parents so I didn't do it. To ride in a bike race is on my bucket list before I die. A SIL is starting triathalons and somehow I got in the mood to try a race, too. My first race, and only this year probably, is next weekend. Yup, three weeks after I start. I would like to do one later but there isn't one so this is it. This one is perfect as it is a fun ride for a cause so not too stressful.

The ride I am doing is 15 miles and so far the farthest I have gone is 10 miles. I did that last night and came home and felt like I could easily go do more except it was dark. Obviously I'm not pushing myself hard enough? The first one I did two weeks ago of 6 miles was killer so I find it odd that I can already do 10 fine.

My goal is to lose weight and have fun. We're toying with adding to our family again so I'm not going to get too serious right now even though I'd like to. I'm hoping all the exercise will get me in better shape for babycakes. Tomorrow I am hoping I can go a longer ride since it is DH's day off.

Thanks for reading my yappy post and I'm looking forward to visiting with other lady cyclers.

[Mako]

hansbrea,

Just wanted to say hi and welcome!
I'm new here too and joined because it seemed so friendly!

All the best with your cycling! It's totally addictive, you'll keep upping your mileage in no time

Good luck!

[hansbrea]

Thank you, Mako!

I went for a 6 mile ride tonight since I am still sore from yesterday's 10 mile ride. Sigh, I'll get there eventually. I had 20+ mph winds at me for half of it and I pushed myself to try and get better time. Plus I removed 2.4 lbs. of stuff off the bike. I still wound up with the same time I've had of 5:30/mile.

Tomorrow I am going to work on getting the bike geared up, hopefully figure out something for tires as apparently I have "really aggressive mountain bike" tires, figure out something for a new cushioned recessed seat or get a gel cover for the one I have.

I am look at tires on http://www.nashbar.com and am not sure what to get. What would be good for road racing tires? I have a low budget but want something that won't cause me to slide off the road, too.

[jelee1311]

Welcome to all the new ladies of the past week. I've had a crazy week I broke my deraileur cable right in front of my house,we fixed that then 2 days later when I went to go for a ride my back tire was flat. I fixed it and then struggled to get the tire back on when I finally did the tire went flat again. I pinch flatted it and then had no more good tubes , covered in grease I sat down and cried. DH fixed my flat that night when I was at work. The next day I was 2 blocks away from my house and my chain fell off.I walked home and was cracking up when I called DH to tell him.I'm. Getting some good practice with bike maintenance and I consider myself sooo lucky that the problems happened near or at home. Four days without riding was killing me so tonight my DH went for a 20 mile ride with me. The weather was perfect so we went around a local lake and it was beautiful. Its good for me to ride with DH because I wouldn't be alone if I had anymore bike technical difficulties. Maybe next week I will have better bike carma

[Nick]

Hello again everyone. I had my best ride yet today. I've been practicing skills I learned at the mountain biking clinic, particularly going downhill with my body pulled behind the seat, with my chest low. Today I took the rather steep incline (but not overly long) which is paved and a good place to practice descents. A multigenerational family was walking up the hill as I made my way up. When I sped past in mountain biking downhill position, I heard a "wow, daredevil!" -- coming from one of the younger adult males. That was so funny, lol! Going downhill terrifies me, which is why I keep practicing... and I use the body behind seat position because it feels so much safer, not to be daring. It was a good ride, and my one handed riding is going well -- both sides are getting much stronger at that. I have a lot more skills to learn, though, and need to build stamina for those uphill climbs.

[hansbrea]

Ah, hugs, Jelee1311!

Hmm, the clinic sounds interesting. I didn't know people even gave clinics on how to ride but it makes logical sense people learn technique somewhere. I am going to try the seat trick downhill, too, and see if that makes a difference for me.

I rode the 15-mile race route today for practice. I also bought new tires and tubes today - and they are WAY too big. I'm going to have to return them and go the bike store instead. Apparently WalMart doesn't hack it.

The ride went well at least and I finished within a minute of the time I wanted to. I'm hoping with slicks and adrenaline I can do a little better next Saturday. No headwind would be nice, too. I spent 5 miles battling the wind.

Oh yeah, and I also got hooted and hollered at by a two cars full of teenage boys speeding around. It took me a second for me to register they were yelling "love you butt!" as they waited behind me for a car to pass. I figured it out when they were hanging out of the car waving at me, etc. That is first time in my life I've literally had anybody hoot or whistle at me, literally. My thought was "don't they see I am a mid-30's overweight lady?" as I got a big smile on my face and laughed.