I and My Bike...

SPECS:
"I" - 31 year old female, fourth year riding
"My Bike" - Specialized Dolce series, blue and white, shimano clips with sidi shoes, aero bars (don't use them much though), shimano tiagra/sora parts, I did just upgrade the tires to bontragers. Ok so it's not much for specs....but anyhow....

We've been together since 2006. She's blue and white not really my first pick but that's what they had on hand at the time. Plus she was CHEAP! ($850) Anyhow...how did I come to meet her? (Makes me sound gay doesn't it? not that I care, but she is a girl bike so I refer to it as a her which is funny because she's really just an it.

Well I found myself getting on the heavy side after having my fourth child. I normally weigh around 140, but I was at the 200 mark and the weight this time around was not coming off. That was freakin' me out. I have four brothers, two of which lived close to me. They were experiencing the weight problems of a sedentary life for too many years. All of us have been quite athletic in our youth so we started exercising.

Okay first off exercising is one of those things where you really want to, but the first week is the worst. You're sore and out of breath and feel like it's just an impossible fete to get anywhere close to being in shape. If you make it to week two you're still feeling like crap and the "impossible" just became twice as impossible. And then if you make it to week three which most don't then you're still breathing hard and it all becomes crap. So if you haven't quit by now and actually make it to week four then this is the week for you. Your body is starting to realize "hey...maybe we should start changing so we can take this crap." Then if you get to week five things are really starting to motor along and you realize that you're not going to die and might actually start to relish the pain and gain because you know that you will see results.

Sorry for that tangent...I just about unleashed "and me" into some more philosophical conversation.

Ok. So where were we....yes that's right I was explaining that we decided to actually start exercising. So the thing about our family is that we are all very competitive. So why start out with one when you can do three? That's right Triathlons! Here I am starting out on week one and hey lets skip right to competition. Of course what am I gonna say...HELL YEAH!

So it was on. We signed up for our first triathlon and well the rest is history. I'd like to say that I bought my bike from race one, but such is not the case. I did the tri with a rental bike and then took it back and that week bought myself a bike.

So for 2 years we raced triathlons. The third year was hectic and I didn't get out as much. But the start of this fourth year is promising. I've had to replace many parts which cost half of what I paid for her. Well all in all I've paid for her twice all in all these past four years. I have cheated on her by lusting at other bikes in the shops. Some day I will trade her in and that will be a sad day.

So have you noticed yet that I start my paragraphs out with "so"? I'll try to fix that.

Tthis year promises to be a fun one for long and longer rides. I got myself up to 35 mile rides before winter set in. January came along and I decided to brave the cold. So I took her out to work with me. She sounded like a very unhappy camper...so on my way home I stopped at the bike shop. We found out that I put the spring in the quick release on backwards (just one of the many knowledge voids that I have about repairing my bike). We came up with a list of things that needed to be done anyways. So $400 and two days later she was humming as we rounded the corner out of my apartment complex. I came up to the diagonal railroad tracks and my new tire got crooked in the groove and we had ourselves a nice flip and tumble. I decided to just brush it off and take my injuries and continue on. Nothing was broken. 7 miles later I realized that my back tire was flat. So I've not had a lot of flat tires, but I do know how to change it. I happen to actually get to work and flipped it over and proceeded to change it. Now I've never used the compressed air bottles, but I've been instructed on how to use them. (not the same as seeing it done.) The first attempt I think I burnt my hand. Note to self: the compressed air gets super cold fast. Somehow my tube busted and didn't hold any air. Luckily I had another tube. Stuck it in and decided to try again. This time the bottle didn't get cold but the tube's stem froze and broke off. I caught a ride home obviously.

So my bike sat there for a few weeks until I went in and got some tubes. I asked about this problem and had received some info that led me to buy a new release mechanism that's a little more controlled. Hopefully it will work (crossing fingers) the next time I encounter a flat repair and I'm out in the middle of nowhere.

I got home and proceeded to change my flat and then also replaced the now 2-3 year old tube in the other tire as well. I was about to jump on and take it for a spin when I realized that when I spun the bike tire a small point of it was rubbing against the brakes. Well that can only mean that I bumped something in my crash and the tire needs to be trued. Another trip to the bike shop. (yeah...more money!)

That saturday I woke up and having not received word whether it was done or not I proceeded to be optimistic and gathered all my biking gear and drove down to the shop with every intention of riding it from the shop.

This is where I'm going to stop...it brings us to the present and my next post is all about the inspiring ride I went on.