It's Just Like Riding a Bicycle

Actually, it's not just LIKE riding a bicycle. It IS riding a bicycle.

Today I went for my first real bike ride since I loaned my 10 speed to my college roommate and he didn't chain it up when he got back to the dorm and someone stole it. (Yes, that was a run-on sentence.) That would have been 1991 or so. Just 20 years.

First of all, I, of course, still remembered how to ride. However, my 10 speed from college didn't really shift gears that well, so I never shifted gears. It was more of a 1.0 speed.  My new bike has 24 gears! An 8 speed shifter on the the rear wheel and a 3 speed shifter on the pedal sprocket. It only took me 5 minutes to throw the chain the first time by changing gears and not pedaling.

Second of all, you might think that since running and biking both use your legs, that strength and conditioning in one would translate to the other. Nope. I went a short (6+ mile) ride around the neighborhood. I could feel it in my thighs in the first mile.

I'm really looking forward to doing some cross-training. There's a couple of duathlons that I've got my eye on for next year.

And, getting a bike gets me one step closer to my first triathlon. Wahoo!