On the spin cycle

I am injured. It is beyond shit. Today’s “test run” was failed so it’s off to a sports doctor for me to sort out what the fuck is happening with my right knee. I am pissed off. Sad. Grumpy. Irritated. So… in an effort to pull myself out of my grumpy arse slump I thought I’d reflect a little bit on the riding I’ve managed to do in lieu of running over the past few weeks.

1. Bike Paths

Right, so I’m new to riding. A bit like running, I don’t know where the hell TO ride. So on my adventures around the neighbourhood it becomes clear pretty quickly that riding in the burbs is shit. Crossing over streets, watching out for cars etc. Balls. So I found myself a bike path next to the train line. Excellent. 3 kms up the road my ride literally comes to a screeching halt as some arsehole has just ended the bike path at a road intersection. Ummmmm… wut? Where is my path? Where the fuck do I go now? Literally, no path on the other side of the road. Waahhhhhh…. So I turned around and rode home. Awesome. Suddenly you start thinking about how fucking annoying that was, and who should do something about it. Also, you become aware of just how shit it is when some dickhead smashes glass on the path. One random act of idiocy can cause you to:

(a) blow a tyre on your bike; or

(b) fall off your bike as you attempt to swerve the glass so as to avoid (a).

Never thought about it before. As a runner, you can just step over glass. I can’t express how pissed off I’d be if I was kilometres from home with a bike I could not ride. Then what happens?

Oh and if you’re on the footpath – the same issue with glass applies AND you get to deal with inconsiderate pricks who park their car across the footpath. Whyyyyyyyyy?? I’ll admit I’ve done that before (I am an inconsiderate prick it seems)… but I won’t ever again. In the past I’ve always thought, oh fuck it they can just go around…. yeah – do you know how difficult it is to navigate around a car on a bike when that car is like a foot behind another car in a driveway? Fucking hell. Oh and on my last ride I was on the footpath which I understand to be for pedestrians and slow cyclists and a lady was walking towards me. I slowed down and realised way too late that she was NOT moving to her left to allow me to pass. What the actual fuck lady? She continued to walk, in the middle of the path and as a result I had to come to a skidding stop right at her toes and she just kept walking! Whaaaaaaaat ladyyyyyyyy????

2. Bike helmets

Nobody looks good in a helmet. You just have to get over it.

3. My Bike

Good news is that I have a decent bike. My physio asked about it and I proudly said yes I own a bike and it is white and it was $400. Those are the 2 things I know about my bike. Physio was positive and agreed that riding that bike would be like learning to drive in my mum’s 1981 Toyota Corona: perfectly acceptable mode of transport lacking all the luxuries that make your life easier. By virtue of the fact that my bike is not a $5,000 racing bike, it will be giving me a better workout. Winning.

4. New injuries

Pain in the crotch is inevitable. Why can’t they make a bike seat like a couch or something? Jesus… And when your husband puts your seat up to “the right height” and you accidentally slip off your pedals while mounting (I’m a novice ok) well… dayum…. someone bring me my icepack. Also, who knew it was possible to whack yourself in the shins with your own bike pedal. What a winner.

5. Riding is faster

It’s a shitload faster than running. And once you DO discover where exactly to ride, it’s pretty good. You feel athletic. You can go fast or slow. You can listen to music. You can take in the scenery. Now when I drive 2kms to the shop I think “I should ride here”… I may just do that. And some arsehole may just steal my locked up bike.

6. It’s a family affair

You can take your whole family out riding. Unlike running which elicits epic complaining from all family members, everyone wants to go riding. We have attempted a few family rides, and I must say, you have to remember you can only ride as fast as your slowest rider, in my case our 4 year old with little legs. So forget trying to punch out a session with the kids on the weekend, unless of course you want to master the thigh burn. This happens when your 4 year old needs to stop halfway up a big hill. So you stop. Then you push off again and he needs to stop again. And repeat 6 times til the top of the hill as stubborn child refuses to just walk it. And the wheels will come off quite quickly when one bigger child rides off ahead and you have to stop for a smaller child whose bikestand has come loose and will not go back up (fuck I have too many children)…

7. The bike lane

I finally realised that some of our local streets have bike lanes. Wow, I never really noticed before. So on my last ride I braved the big road. My first thoughts as I pulled off the footpath and out onto the road where “Oh my god I hope the cars realise this is a bike lane” and just like that my whole perception about cyclists changed. Yes they are a pain in the arse sometimes when you’re driving and you have to go around them, and they’re not always adhering to the road rules exactly but jesus, who’s going to come off second best in an accident? No good running over a rider and saying “yeah but he wasn’t in his lane”… he’s still dead… I really was very nervous. And the bike lane ends as the road hits a roundabout forcing a rider into the main traffic stream. Holy shit if the car behind me doesn’t see me (despite my ridiculous high vis shirt) he’s going to run me over! So I spent a lot of time looking over my shoulder and hoping I was going to be ok. It was stressful!

So as I lament the extent of my knee injury and wistfully watch my 2015 running events go down the toilet, I know at least I can jump on my bike and still try to maintain some fitness… No doubt I’ll have other observations to share about riding soon 🙂