Like a typical girl, I love to shop. I went shopping for my bike. I got a spedometer, a pink water bottle and bottle holder, a tire repair kit, a new jacket, and most importantly a bike rack.
Putting my bike rack on my car made me regret making fun of Egal at the last training ride for the challenge that she had with her bike rack. I fought with it for a bit, and I was about to give up when Brainy Bird came out to see what I was doing. “Cool, Mommy, Can I help?” With his help, I had the bike rack secured to the car in about five minutes. I told him to add taking my bike on and off my car to his task list. This made him happy. He has a random list of chores that look nothing like my chore list when I was a kid.
With all my new gear I was looking forward to the next ride. I had also found people to ride with, which was a major issue with the first ride. Out in the middle of no where by myself was a horrible feeling. At one point, I had to stop for directions.
The next ride was in Montgomery. It is a beautiful place. I enjoyed the drive. This time I was confident when we took off. I was worried about finishing the ride at a good pace. What I should have been worried about was my bike. I hadn’t test driven it since I picked it up from the shop with my new gear. All of the adjustments were off. The brake seemed stuck on the front wheel. With in a mile or so of the start, I had to stop. Luckily, someone stopped with me. It took him awhile, but he fixed my brake, and my wheel. Everything was working again except my spedometer, which was the only thing that the bike shop was supposed to have touched.
I took off again alone on the course. Just like last time. I was on about mile five trying to figure out how to shift my gears when I went off the side of the road. I tried to catch myself from falling with my left leg and I hurt my knee. The ride marshall was right behind me. First he looked concerned then he looked amused. He asked if I was okay, and he inspected my bike. My knee hurt, but I said I was okay. No way was I going to quit.
I rode along in pain. Luckily, an old boss caught up to me. Mr. LSU rode the rest of the way with me. The ride flew by, and he showed me how to shift the gears on my bike with out running off the road. My knee was killing me on the uphill climbs, but I was not tired after the ride. Mr. LSU and I agreed that we would think about pace on our next ride.
The next day at the office my knee was tight. I tried to walk as if it weren’t hurting, and I think that made it worse. I survived. This time I was looking forward to my next training ride.