Things that happen...

[Bruised&Happy]

Well, it's been 3 months now since I've starting cycling and I've had a great time!

Thought I'd share my top 10 experiences so far....

1) Bonked on my first long ride (20 miles). Had to stop at a convenience store for energy items.

2) Tried out clipping in - forgot to unclip the left foot on my first ride and promptly fell over and cut my leg, bruised my butt, bruised my ego, bruised my leg! Thought I'd learned my lesson...NOT

3) Tried to rescue a lost bulldog - stopped, reached down to grab him and forgot to unclip my left foot...AGAIN! Promptly fell over on top of the dog! Checked out his tags, thought, Yay, I can save him! Let go of dog to get the bike off of me and he booked it! No dog saving that day! Bruised AGAIN!

4) Ran over a piece of glass. Flat tire. No worries, the BF changed it! Cool

5) Hit a pothole. Flat tire. No worries, BF changed it....AGAIN. Yay

6) BF decided I need to learn how to change my own tires. Got lesson. (little does he know, I'm not going to have another flat tire )

7) Almost collided with BF on trail. Had to swerve into dirt. Almost ended up in canal but recovered. Wouldn't have been fun to try to unclip in rushing water!

8) Rode along the canal and ended up with a mouth full of knats. Yuck Not doing that again... those little suckers hurt when pedaling fast!

9) Passed a girl. Yay!

10) Got lectured by a hammerhead about passing. Not sure why he was lecturing ME, I wasn't passing anyone!

Still having the time of my life!

I'd like to hear your stories! Anyone?

[jelee1311]

Okay so I am not the only one withbad clipless pedal & flat tire karma. The first time I rode clipless I made it through my ride fine only to crash at the top of my driveway. A week later the next time I got up the courage to try clipless again I completly turtled over at a very busy 4way stop. I was so embarassed because one of my customers witnessed it & asked me about the next day. Many other foibles going clipless . So I am still new to cycling and somehow have a gift for shearing off my valve stems when I pump up my tires. I did this last week so my husband showed me yet again how to change my tire. I then three days later pinch flatted close to home , so I decided I was going to go home and change it myself..I did it all by myself! And then proceeded to blow up the tube. I used all of the tubes I had. My husband said we needed to stop investing in mutual funds and start investing in bike tubes.

[warneral]

what an adventure, eh? Lucky you were riding with BF to change the flats! I need to learn how to do that. Thinking about joining a girl's bike mechanic class this fall

[Cataboo]

One of the best things I did when I first started cycling and was having flats all the time was to invest in like 40 innertubes, buying in bulk...

AFter doing that, I never had flats anymore.

I got tons of innertubes though

[FunSize]

I always bike out to the country on the bike path which is all wooded. So, i always get bugs in my helmet, mouth, eyes (no sunglasses), and jersey. The bright side is that, out of necessity, i've gotten very good at riding with one hand on the handlebars to get bugs out of my eyes.

I made my bf teach me how to change my own tire. I've never had a flat on a ride, but had a spoke poked through my old rim tape and left my wheel flat by morning. He lucky bought really flexible tires for me so changing the flat is really easy. I'm just paranoid about pinching the tube inside.

The other day I was on the bike path and 6 older men on not serious bikes were trying to keep up with me but couldn't. I'm glad to say I'm faster than those 6, 60-yr-old-ish men.

[marni]

I got tons of innertubes though [/QUOTE]

and you can take one of those and make yourself a handy dandy collapsable clothes line.

and spare boots for your entire riding group.