As you may know, I recently bought a road bike!
Well, now that I have my road bike, I’m training for a 60-mile bike ride! Nothing like jumping right in!
My friend Russanne asked me earlier this year if I would do the bike ride with her (to celebrate her 35th birthday, which is the day of the race!). Without hesitation, I committed to doing the ride with her, despite the fact that I only owned a fixie bike. It’s the cutest bike in the world, by the way. The BF got it for me for my birthday last year. He custom made it to be super amazing.
I had been looking for a road bike for over a year because the BF has one and I wanted to be able to keep up with him and do longer rides with him. But I just couldn’t find a bike that I could afford, or one that I liked (I really wanted a bike with pink on it).
But I found my perfect bike at Full Cycle in Boulder during Memorial weekend, which was perfect timing because Russanne and I are starting our training program Sunday! Look how sporty, yet fab my new bike is. It was love at first sight.
I’m actually a little nervous because I don’t know a whole lot about biking. I mean, I know how to ride a bike, but I don’t know a lot about changing gears, hand signals, where I should ride in town (or out of town), etc. Luckily, I do know a bit about cadence and intervals since I teach cycling classes.
Speaking of cycling classes – I do have a base level of fitness for biking since I teach a pretty intense cycling class once a week. But I’ll definitely have to build up my endurance for our long ride.
I’ve actually done a 20-mile ride before. I did it two years ago with Russanne and the BF, and I didn’t train at all. I borrowed a friend’s road bike and just showed up to ride. My legs were on fire about halfway through the ride. I am more fit now, but I definitely need to train for this 60-miler.
We’re following this training program from Shape Magazine, but we’re cutting the mileage by 30 percent since we’re not training for a 100-mile race.
I feel a bit unprepared to start training this weekend – I don’t have padded shorts, clip-in shoes or pedals for clip-in shoes, gloves, a gear bag or extra tubes. I do have a helmet, so there’s that. Luckily, our first few weeks are shorter rides. I’ll slowly start purchasing gear as I do my training. Maybe by the time the ride comes along, I’ll be well-equipped for it. I can’t believe how much stuff you need for biking! And I thought I had a lot of running gear!
Oh, and we’re doing the Kool-Aid Classic Bicycle Tour Saturday, Aug. 9.
I am excited about training for this because it’s something new and different! I’ve been running for almost 7 years now, and I generally cut my mileage in the summer because it gets way too hot. I’m hoping that biking will allow me to workout outside during the summer without getting sick from the heat (which generally happens when I run in the heat).
I need your advice! What gear do I absolutely need? What advice to you have for a biking beginner?
(I found this painting on a wall in Denver last summer. Cute, right?)