Fun, Oh Fun!

Oh what a WONDERFUL weekend!

I had so much fun this weekend, and am utterly exhausted.  Friday was a pretty relaxing evening as I met up with a friend for tea and chit-chat.  Always love our time together, and a relaxing evening was just what I needed.  Will have to do more of this ... soon.

Saturday was a bit of a thriller!  My new running friend has done a couple of Ironman competitions before and she just happens to have an extra road bike ... and is about my height.  My husband and I went out riding with her and her husband on Saturday.  I have NEVER ridden a road bike before.  A mountain bike, yes, plenty of times ... but never a road bike.  And this one had the clip in pedals (which I swore I would never use).

We get there and first thing I get told is that my red tank on her completely color-coordinated yellow bike just will not do.  I'm given a yellow bike jersey to wear.  And my baby blue Walmart special helmet is also a no-no.  I even had to be given a yellow ponytail holder for my hair.  Too funny!  Luckily I was just able to squeeze into her biking shoes.

Next comes the lesson about how to clip into and out of the pedals.  I felt like such a tool.  For the first 5-10 minutes I could NOT get into those things and had to be helped in.  But eventually I got in a couple times and she said it was time for a trial run.  We wheeled around her neighborhood a few times learning how to clip and unclip, changing gears, how to drink from the fancy water bottle (yes, it's a skill) and a few other things.

No this isn't me.  No, the bike wasn't quite this fancy. 

But see that straw thingy there in the handlebars?  That's the water bottle.  Nifty, eh?

Then we were off!  There was the three of us on these tri bikes and my poor husband on a regular mountain bike.  We're all in color coordinated gear and at least look professional and he's wearing just basic shorts, t-shirt and his Walmart special helmet.  But he was a trooper.  Had I just gone with the other two on their road bikes I probably would not have realized how different it was in speed from my mountain bike.  I can ride pretty decent, but do struggle to keep up with my husband.  But with him on his mountain bike, riding as hard as he can, nearly busting a gut ... I was just cruising along like a casual Sunday stroll with minimal effort.  He estimates we rode 30-40 Km.  I would have guessed about 15 by the effort, though we did cover a lot of area.

I am DEFINITELY interested in one day getting a nice road bike.  Sadly it will have to wait a while, but before I kind of thought I might one day want one ... now I KNOW I want one.  So much fun.

And I was deeply honoured to find out afterwards that she has NEVER let anyone ride that bike before and she is extremely protective of it.  I am so thankful that she did though.  I was just told that if I was going to tip over for any reason to put myself between the bike and the road - hahahhaa. :)

Tomorrow I'll share about how today's run went.  Here's a clue ...

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Heidi