Takin' a Tumble

Yesterday I did a nice long bike ride with my good friend Bill. Bill is a very accomplished cyclist, in the process of becoming a certified personal trainer, and generally one of the kindest, most generous people you would ever hope to meet. He is training for a two day, 200 mile bike ride the end of the month and and wanted to get in some miles.

I am still very much a newbie to cycling. I trained for last year's triathlon on my big heavy hybrid that just screams 'I'm a mom pulling my kids in the Burley!' This Spring I bought a new, wonderful Trek 2.1 road bike. It is a fantastic bike. I totally feel like I am getting away with something when I ride it. Riding with Bill was great. Not only did I enjoy his company, but he was generous with his knowledge of cycling and kind in his praise.

We did a long (for me) moderately paced ride, that was mostly flat on a trail between West Des Moines and Waukee. (Next ride we are going to do some hill intervals so he can give me some tips on the gears - the place where I probably need the most help.) I have been using bike cleats and clip pedals for the first time. This Winter I used the cleats in Spinning and got the hang of getting in and out of the pedals. I've taken a handful of rides on my bike and grown increasingly confident with them. So naturally as we are coming up to the intersection at the end of a 34 or so mile bike ride I've grown comfortable enough in the pedals that I roll up to the intersection and completely forget to unclip. I went down like a sack of potatoes right into the grass. Nothing hurt but my pride. I probably won't do that again though....

I will close with a shout out to Hilary! We did a quick visit to Minnesota this weekend and Brian was generous to watch all the kids while we did a 3 mile run each morning. First morning - 3.2 miles at 9:47 pace. Not bad at all. Second morning we grabbed that route by the throat and did it again, but this time at a 9:29 pace. Oh, BTW, Hilary is 18 WEEKS PREGNANT. If I didn't like her so much I'd probably hate her a little....