In the beginning of May, 2011 I undertook a change in pace. May as many of you know is National Bike Month and a local website iBikeFresno.org was holding a million mile challenge. Simple enough, get everyone in Fresno to bike a million miles total in May. That was four months ago and this is what I have learned/done in that time:
I came in 114th place in the challenge with 419 miles biked throughout May. My goal was to break into the top 100 but with people like Paul Moore who came in 1st with 1826 miles I just couldn't do it.
I've biked from the West Side of Fresno to Pine Flat Dam which round trip came out to over 60 miles. Biking that far when you're not used to it really hurts your butt as my friend Jon and I discovered. We had to throw in the towel about 15 miles from making it back to his house and asked his wife to pick up our smelly asses.
In a city as wide open and hot as Fresno, people give you plenty of weird looks when you tell them you've switched over to pedal power. The most common question I get from friends and strangers is "when are you going to start driving again?" To which I reply "I don't know. When it stops being fun."
Road bikes are a lot easier to ride than mountain bikes. I didn't think there would be that much of a difference in the ease of riding until a few weeks after getting my road bike but 28" wheels and smoother treads make all the difference in the world. The one complaint I have about road bikes is that you're always freaking out that you're going to get a flat. In the three months I've had my new bike I've patched it, replaced the tube and had to get the rear wheel re-trued. I never had to get my mountain bike re-trued. So there's that.
People who work in bike shops can't easily convert from metric to standard and vice versa. I mentioned earlier that my new bike has 28" wheels but I found that if you walk into a bike shop and tell them that, you'll be met with blank stares. 26" mountain bike tires is cool with them but 28" road bike tires is crazy talk. It's 700c in case you were wondering. I also learned the difference between a Presta valve and a Schrader valve and when it's appropriate to use which.
Finally I learned that no matter how hard I try I cannot get over my average biking speed of 15mph. I've gotten as fast as 25mph but that was just a sprint. Distance wise I'm still doing 15. I figured by now I could average 20 maybe 25 but again, my dreams are crushed. Maybe I need to get a bike uniform, you know, bike shorts and a jersey. Those guys always pass me like it's no big deal. I did keep up with this one girl wearing a uniform but it was because she had a nice butt and she was wearing skin tight spandex.
So four months in and I am barely scratching the surface of where I can go on a bike. A co-worker and I were talking about installing a solar powered stereo on my bike and I have to be honest, that sounds really cool. I'll keep you posted on where I go in this little social experiment of mine. Till then, keep on pedaling.
