I hurt….everywhere.
Ever since I signed up for the Eppies Great Race in Sacramento I’ve been running a couple of times of week to work up to the 6 miles I need to complete for the first tier of the race. I make this sound like it’s been forever, but really, I only signed up on April 14 so it’s been two weeks.
But running 6 miles isn’t why I hurt. It’s the biking that’s killing me. I swear, my butt will never be the same.
FIRST I GOT THE BIKE
With the race being 10 weeks away, I thought I should plow ahead into Phase II of my training and buy a bike. The Great Race consists of a 6 mile run, 12 miles on bike and 6 miles by kayak, and if you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I haven’t owned a bike since I was 10.
Even though it's been a couple decades, I was really hoping it would all come back naturally and I would ride like the wind. Yeah…well…not quite.
It’s not the bike’s fault. I actually did a lot of research beforehand and after talking to people, I ditched my first plan of buying something cheap from Craig’s list – not that Craig’s list is bad. I have actually sold lots of stuff on the online board. But I learned last year when I decided to buy golf clubs that size really does matter – especially after I bought ladies clubs and then had to pay to get them extended by a couple of inches. Yes, I’m apparently a giant.
If you haven’t gone bike shopping in a long time, they come in sizes and not just adult and kids. It turns out because of my height, I needed a 57” frame.
When I walked into City Bicycle Works, I had my heart set on a Trek road bike. Not only is this the brand Lance Armstrong uses (except he has the expensive model and I was looking at the lower end cheapy one), but the three people I interviewed about bikes all had that brand, too. It seemed as if it was the brand for winners.
So did I get that one? Nope. I got a Specialized road bike and here’s why: While I do agree the Trek was faster and I liked the way gears shifted better, the bike I got had breaks on the top part of the handle bars in addition to the traditional place and it felt a little more comfortable.
Of course, fast is probably better when it comes to racing, but let’s face it…I’m not going to win this race. My goal is to finish it somewhere in the middle. Plus, when it’s all over, I plan on taking my snazzy bike out to the coast and doing some distance cycling on the weekends – so comfort…and not speed will be important.
Besides, this bike was on sale so it was slightly cheaper than the Trek Bike. Bonus.
THEN I RODE FOR 30 PLUS MILES
Now that I had the bike, I had to ride it. And ride it, I did. I went for 30 miles along the American River path and felt great for most of it. I admit, the last 5 miles on the way back were a little killer. My knees were starting to hurt (I still have to get the bike adjusted so this doesn’t happen) and I could no longer feel my butt. No really. It was completely numb.
Let me tell you a little secret that nobody told me -- Get bike shorts! Riding that long with regular shorts is not a good idea.
The feeling did come back and believe me I wish it didn’t. It hurts to walk, sit and move today.
There will be no more biking until I invest in the padded shorts.
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