Monday, June 25, 2007

Who would have thought, biking, frusterating.

OK, so I have been biking for a month now and boy I have learned a lot, beaten some odds, and continue to get better, at least on my way to and from work. Lately we have been doing some tweaking as you say. Know this bike is probably one of the first ever made, so it's not top of the line stuff, but it fits the job none-the-less. So we got new handlebar grips. We also got knew pedals that you can fit your shoes in. We purchased gloves, necessary after the first few days I realized it was hurting my hand right below the thumb area. of course we has helmets and thank goodness for that today(that story coming up). So last week we tried switching the pedals. The right side went like a hot knife through butter. Next we started work on the left pedal. Easy factor, not so much. It wouldn't budge. Not an inch. We torqued on it, pounded it, soaked it in all sorts of concoctions, We ran around it, through it on the ground, the pedal didn't come off. So we let it sit for a few days till I could get a socket to remove the pedal arm from the bike. So Friday we gave it a try again. We got the bike pedal off the frame and started to pound on it again. We used Brut force as our clamp, and pliers and a hammer. Now a few days ago I had a notion that the pedal had to be unscrewed differently than when we did the other one, but I blew that idea off and continued in my stubborn manner. Well after struggling, we decided to check the Internet to see what we were doing wrong. Well we found out that the left pedal unscrews opposite the right. So we have been tightening the pedal for hours. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well By this time I am a weeeeeeeeeeee bit frustrated. So I grab the pedal and start hammering it the other way. The pedal goes flying out of my hand flush off the ankle bone. OUCHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Well that was it. I was done. To which in about three minutes Becky gets it off and unscrews it. So She takes the bike and moves it. As she puts down the kickstand, she plants it into her big toe, right on the bone. She could barely deal with the pain. She is a tough cookie, but even that amount of pain is overbearing. So fortunately we are back up and running. Which brings me to this morning. I tried the new pedals for the first time. I found it very tough to get both feet in the strappy things. However I finally got it to work. I made it to me first stoplight at a very busy intersection. Low and behold I didn't have the ability to get me feet out and i lost my balance and fell off my bike pretty hard. In front of I'm sure dozens of laughing car drivers. I was super embarrassed. I twisted my wrist in the fall as well. So it has been a bit of a troublesome last couple of days. I may just want to walk to work now.

3 comments:

Becky said...

WHAT?!! I hope you're okay. Does that mean my grand idea of going for a leisurly ride tonight is out?

Chris said...

It's okay Ryan. Every rider has fallen over still clipped or strapped into their pedals. Consider it a right of passage. My dad did it on the top of a hill at a stop sign. I did it once mountain biking and tumbled all the way down the side of a hill!

You're doing great and soon it will all be second nature. Call or email any time if you have questions. I'll try to get right back to you.

Marni said...

Yeah, I've done that too. Usually after going down a hill, being all proud of myself for not dying on some rocks, and then come to a complete stop and tip over. Nice. Once you get used to them though, it'll be a really helpful thing to have. I've also noticed that bikes have attitudes and try to hurt you some days all on their own. I have a slew of bruises all over my legs to prove that.