Monday, April 14, 2008

Cycling Rite of Passage

Sorry it's been while since I've posted and the bloody toe keeps popping up at you every time you check my site. Personally I am quite thrilled every time I see the larger than life size bloody toe pop out at me...but apparently not everyone is equally excited about having that image burned into their retina's! Go figure??

In my haste to come up with a new blog topic I have decided to give you a run down of my afternoon ride. Today was the third day out on the road bike. Naturally with no major mishaps up to this point I was feeling pretty confident in my cycling skills. Thus, I volunteered to fly solo and brave the 5 minute ride to Steph's apartment by myself!

In preparation for my solo voyage and subsequent ride I decided to check my tire pressure and top off before I left my apartment. In my feeble attempts to inflate my tires a little more I miraculously managed to completely deflate both tires!! After a good twenty minutes of grunting and covering myself in bicycle grease I managed to fill the back tire but remained completely evaded by the front tire. By this point it was obvious I was not smarter than the bike pump and would need some help in discerning the problem.

Ultimately I had to confess to Steph my struggle with the bike pump and ask her to meet me at my place once again. In my defense, the inner tube had somehow developed a tear and thus all the air was escaping as quickly as it was being pumped into the tire. I then sat back and marveled as Stephanie changed that inner tube in what was quite literally two minutes tops!!! I'm pretty sure she could win some type of award for that!

Okay, so Steph, Ann, and I finally set out on our ride! It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I figured the odds of having another cycling mishap the same day were pretty slim. Well folks, never underestimate my ability to defy the odds!! Probably ten blocks down the road my stupidity struck again! As I approached a red light I cautiously unclipped my left foot in plenty of time to stop and catch my balance. I'm pretty sure there was a strong gust of wind or something because after coming to a complete stop I somehow managed to lose my balance falling toward my right side. Not a problem except for the fact my right foot was clipped into the the peddle making it impossible to catch my fall and further more dragging the bike down on top of me.

Yet, despite the humiliation I was somewhat glad to get this "cycling rite of passage" out of the way. It's like being bucked off a horse for the first time, it's bound to happen sooner or later and I feel like I have less to fear once I get the first time out of the way. The rest of the ride went without a hitch...Steph kicked my butt as usually and I sucked air in my pitiful attempts to even keep her in eye's sight!

Okay, sorry that was a bit longer than anticipated but thanks for reading...here are some pictures.

This is me and Ann posing after the ride. I do wear a helmet riding but since you are all now keenly aware of my large head insecurities you can understand why I am not wearing my helmet in this picture. Neither am I wearing a lick of make-up, so please do not copy this image for blackmail purposes.

This next photo is of my battle wounds acquired from the fall. I know, it's pretty sissy looking, I'll try to crash harder next time I decide to fall.

5 comments:

sunnydaycamp said...

cheers to battle wounds, to funky sunburn lines, and to many more rides to come this summer.

Katrina said...

Stelle, you rock. Keep it up.

Me said...

Crystelle!!!! Your first biking wound. You are official now! I am so proud (and sorry for the pain - I promise I know that it sucks).

Steph said...

Welcome to the biking battle scars club, you no longer are a biking virgin! You made me sound like some expert at the tire changing thing, let me note that the day earlier I spent maybe 45 min trying to change the tire on my own bike...yeah, luckily I got the hang of it to make me look like some pro :) The real pro is YOU for getting back on after falling...a couple times...:)

LA GUERA SALSERA said...

Ha, ha...little did I mention I fell again, and this time from a complete stand still!!! Only me...I'm an idiot.