20th Anniversary European Bike Adventure Part 4: The Training!
We ended up finally settling on and purchasing my touring bike in early July. Between July and late November, I probably rode 1 mile total on said touring bike, split among 4 different rides. Maybe. It may have been less than 1 mile. I admit I was a little nervous once I started riding it in earnest, in case I found out that riding more than 1 mile caused me intense pain or discomfort, and it was probably too late to return it!
But fortunately that wasn't the case. Our first touring bike adventure ride was from our house over to TacoDeli on Burnet. We stopped at Matt's favorite coffee hut on the way, then after breakfast we tooled around the neighborhood, letting me get some practice on this new bike.
Bike to Breakfast: Coffee Hut
And there's some things to practice. The shifters are in a completely different place from my mountain bike, my road bike, or my tri bike. I kept trying to use the shifters at the ends of my non-existent aero bars. That took a lot of getting used to (and I usually still try that once per ride, once I get tired). In addition to being in a weird place, the shifters are also very abusive. If I'm not super cautious when I mount (aka any time I'm leaving a stoplight with a lot of cars around), I end up hitting my knees and thighs on the shifters. Ouch.
The pedals/cleats on this bike are SPD, which I've not used before. My muscle memory for getting into and out of Look pedals is stellar; not so great for SPDs. Fortunately the pedals we got are dual-sided: SPD on one side, flat pedal on the other. Not just so that I can have a fallback for when I fail to clip in, but so that we can ride our bikes in normal shoes if we need to during our trip.
Oh, and new shoes! Mountain biking shoes. We can walk around in them mostly just like normal shoes (except maybe a tiny bit clackier). And they're really cute.
Also got some new socks.
The decision to do our first ride to TacoDeli was not just because we were hungry, but because we were beginning to practice a skill we'll need to hone: ride, eat, ride. We'll be stopping for lunch in random small towns, and we'll need to be able to eat right off the bike, then immediately jump back on the bike with food in our bellies and ride for many more hours. We haven't had any problems so far, but it has helped us come up with routes for our practice rides, in the form of Bike to Breakfast trips.
Bike to Breakfast: Snooze
Aside from our weekend rides, I've also been figuring out the inner workings of bike commuting. I've ridden my tri bike and my road bike to campus before, but usually just so I can get to swim practice before the buses start running, and I usually either took the bike home with me on the bus, or came and picked up the bike from campus on the weekend. I only commuted in one direction.
Now I've been doing true commuting, and it's been fun! Ask me again how I feel about it when it's 100 degrees outside and I have to sit at stoplights for 10 minutes each. Or when I'm doing it more than 3 times a week, which is my max so far.
Commute to work: Sunrise
Right now I have the opposite problem: it's been in the 30s and 40s for my rides to work. I've had to remember how high to wear my knee warmers so they don't end up at my ankles by the end of my ride. I bought new full-fingered cycling gloves because I hated my old ones (but rarely wore them before, so never bothered to replace them). I've been figuring out how best to layer to keep me warm on the way to work, but then have options for the way home, when it's warmer outside. I've had to figure out what to pack for my ride home, since I need clear lenses for my ride to work in the dark, but sunglasses for my ride home. It's been a fun puzzle to solve.
I even did some minor load testing the day before our work holiday break started, since I had to haul cookies for a cookie exchange, peanut butter cups for Bouncemas prizes, and then a bag of breakfast tacos since none of the breakfast places on campus were open.
Commute to Work: Load Test
I've gotten SO much more comfortable on this bike in the 200 miles I've ridden it since my initial TacoDeli ride. I can clip in and out almost without thought now. I rarely hit my knees on my shifters. (Plus we're looking at getting me new bars, if they'll ever come in.) I figured out my new lock. I can put my rear panniers on and off the bike fairly easily. Still haven't tested my front ones, but that'll be coming soon.
Bike to Breakfast: Magnolia Cafe
One notable thing about my touring bike.. my average pace is astoundingly slow, and I'm really, really okay with that. When I take my tri bike out and ride it with friends, I DO have fun. Because of the friends. But I am much slower than my friends, and I make them ride paces they would normally be embarrassed by. On my touring bike, I'm usually averaging 11 mph. Sometimes slower. And I'm having a blast doing it. This bike is HEAVY, and that's before I add on bags and lights and gear. Obviously it's going to be slower. But none of my ego is tied to my pace while riding this bike, which was never, ever true with my tri bike, and is one of the primary reasons I've retired from Ironman.
Bike to Brunch, Last Day of 2018: East Side Cafe!
Matt has been so patient with my 11 mph, and we've been having a lot of fun tooling around playing tourists in our city and eating breakfasts.
Yippee Ki Yay art installation in Pease Park
And during our bike tour, the only thing we'll have to do each ride day is.. ride. If we start at 7am and get to our destination at 7pm, that's a day well spent. We have no goal in our daily destination city (we've scheduled in non-riding tourist days for that), so we'll cruise along at 11mph all day, eating snacks and gawking at the scenery and taking pictures.
Bike to Breakfast (er, Lunch): A (chilly) picnic at Zilker Park!
Which leads us to the honing of the most vital skill that I'll need on this trip: The ability to take pictures of my bike in front of everything.
Commute to Work: UT Tower
I never thought I'd have a bike with a kickstand, but now I'm not sure I can ever go back. HURRAY, KICKSTAND!
But fortunately that wasn't the case. Our first touring bike adventure ride was from our house over to TacoDeli on Burnet. We stopped at Matt's favorite coffee hut on the way, then after breakfast we tooled around the neighborhood, letting me get some practice on this new bike.
Bike to Breakfast: Coffee Hut
And there's some things to practice. The shifters are in a completely different place from my mountain bike, my road bike, or my tri bike. I kept trying to use the shifters at the ends of my non-existent aero bars. That took a lot of getting used to (and I usually still try that once per ride, once I get tired). In addition to being in a weird place, the shifters are also very abusive. If I'm not super cautious when I mount (aka any time I'm leaving a stoplight with a lot of cars around), I end up hitting my knees and thighs on the shifters. Ouch.
The pedals/cleats on this bike are SPD, which I've not used before. My muscle memory for getting into and out of Look pedals is stellar; not so great for SPDs. Fortunately the pedals we got are dual-sided: SPD on one side, flat pedal on the other. Not just so that I can have a fallback for when I fail to clip in, but so that we can ride our bikes in normal shoes if we need to during our trip.
Oh, and new shoes! Mountain biking shoes. We can walk around in them mostly just like normal shoes (except maybe a tiny bit clackier). And they're really cute.
Also got some new socks.
The decision to do our first ride to TacoDeli was not just because we were hungry, but because we were beginning to practice a skill we'll need to hone: ride, eat, ride. We'll be stopping for lunch in random small towns, and we'll need to be able to eat right off the bike, then immediately jump back on the bike with food in our bellies and ride for many more hours. We haven't had any problems so far, but it has helped us come up with routes for our practice rides, in the form of Bike to Breakfast trips.
Bike to Breakfast: Snooze
Aside from our weekend rides, I've also been figuring out the inner workings of bike commuting. I've ridden my tri bike and my road bike to campus before, but usually just so I can get to swim practice before the buses start running, and I usually either took the bike home with me on the bus, or came and picked up the bike from campus on the weekend. I only commuted in one direction.
Now I've been doing true commuting, and it's been fun! Ask me again how I feel about it when it's 100 degrees outside and I have to sit at stoplights for 10 minutes each. Or when I'm doing it more than 3 times a week, which is my max so far.
Commute to work: Sunrise
Right now I have the opposite problem: it's been in the 30s and 40s for my rides to work. I've had to remember how high to wear my knee warmers so they don't end up at my ankles by the end of my ride. I bought new full-fingered cycling gloves because I hated my old ones (but rarely wore them before, so never bothered to replace them). I've been figuring out how best to layer to keep me warm on the way to work, but then have options for the way home, when it's warmer outside. I've had to figure out what to pack for my ride home, since I need clear lenses for my ride to work in the dark, but sunglasses for my ride home. It's been a fun puzzle to solve.
I even did some minor load testing the day before our work holiday break started, since I had to haul cookies for a cookie exchange, peanut butter cups for Bouncemas prizes, and then a bag of breakfast tacos since none of the breakfast places on campus were open.
Commute to Work: Load Test
I've gotten SO much more comfortable on this bike in the 200 miles I've ridden it since my initial TacoDeli ride. I can clip in and out almost without thought now. I rarely hit my knees on my shifters. (Plus we're looking at getting me new bars, if they'll ever come in.) I figured out my new lock. I can put my rear panniers on and off the bike fairly easily. Still haven't tested my front ones, but that'll be coming soon.
Bike to Breakfast: Magnolia Cafe
One notable thing about my touring bike.. my average pace is astoundingly slow, and I'm really, really okay with that. When I take my tri bike out and ride it with friends, I DO have fun. Because of the friends. But I am much slower than my friends, and I make them ride paces they would normally be embarrassed by. On my touring bike, I'm usually averaging 11 mph. Sometimes slower. And I'm having a blast doing it. This bike is HEAVY, and that's before I add on bags and lights and gear. Obviously it's going to be slower. But none of my ego is tied to my pace while riding this bike, which was never, ever true with my tri bike, and is one of the primary reasons I've retired from Ironman.
Bike to Brunch, Last Day of 2018: East Side Cafe!
Matt has been so patient with my 11 mph, and we've been having a lot of fun tooling around playing tourists in our city and eating breakfasts.
Yippee Ki Yay art installation in Pease Park
And during our bike tour, the only thing we'll have to do each ride day is.. ride. If we start at 7am and get to our destination at 7pm, that's a day well spent. We have no goal in our daily destination city (we've scheduled in non-riding tourist days for that), so we'll cruise along at 11mph all day, eating snacks and gawking at the scenery and taking pictures.
Bike to Breakfast (er, Lunch): A (chilly) picnic at Zilker Park!
Which leads us to the honing of the most vital skill that I'll need on this trip: The ability to take pictures of my bike in front of everything.
Commute to Work: UT Tower
I never thought I'd have a bike with a kickstand, but now I'm not sure I can ever go back. HURRAY, KICKSTAND!