Hot Wheels

The month of June has been declared “Bike Month” by Mary at Mary J Melange and she has challenged some of us to write about our biking experiences.

Unlike Mary, and Dan at No Facilities, I have no motorcycle experience – I consider it one of my more successful brushes with sanity – so my stories are limited to the humble bicycle.

I feel a bit like a fraud when it comes to cycling because I didn’t embrace it until I was well into my 40s.

Yes, I had a trike as a child and learned how to ride a 2-wheeler, but even though I grew up in a small town, we weren’t allowed to take our bikes anywhere. Needless to say, that made bicycles a completely irrelevant part of my life.

About a dozen years ago, that all changed.  Our circle of friends included a large number of triathletes and one evening after a social get-together, I got the crazy idea that I could be one too.

That brings me to the first of my learnings as a budding cyclist.

Learning #1 – be careful of who you chose as your friends.  Eventually you will end up like them.

Never one to be satisfied with half-measures, I promptly bought a shiny new racing bike and dove head-first into the world of swim, bike, run.

My first racing bike – a Canadian made Cervelo – saw me through the mistakes and pains of a newbie rider

This brings me to the second of my all important learnings.

Learning #2 – if you would like to be a triathlete, it is highly recommended that you have experience or some level of competence in at least one of the disciplines.

I had neither experience or competence.

The learning curve was steep.  Very steep … and more than a little bumpy.  Making the transition from non-cyclist to racing wannabe was not a smooth one.

Getting used to a twitchy racing bike and the clip-in bike shoes was unforgiving.  On the inaugural ride of my shiny new Cervelo, I crashed and broke the rear derailleur. For those of you who don’t know bikes, read the word *expensive*.

This now brings me to the third lesson learned on my journey to wannabe cyclist.

Learning #3 – keep the rubber side of the bicycle down.

Over the course of the next several years, I would have multiple crashes and 2 ambulance rides compliments of my failure to embrace Learning #3.

… but I was not dissuaded.  With several sprint distance races behind me, I (very optimistically) decided I was ready to tackle the big boy itself – Ironman.

What I lacked in athletic ability, I made up for with wild, unbridled enthusiasm.

Racing bike #2.  She was soooo pretty.  Too bad I looked like a pregnant moose on her.  Actually, come to think of it, I rode like pregnant moose too.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the Ironman, it is comprised of a …

• 3.86 km swim (2.4 miles),
• 180 km bike ride (112 miles)
• and a 42.2 km marathon run (26.2 miles),

… raced in that order, and without a break.

2005 – Ironman Canada

Ironman gave me an introduction into an entirely new realm of cycling experiences … but maybe that’s a post for another day.