I (kind of) like biking!

I love triathlons. I really, really do. Last year when I finished the triathlon in Racine, I was all smiles, completely in love with the experience. I immediately started blabbering on about how I was going to do it again and that I really, really wanted to race the Wisconsin 140.6 Ironman as well.

I remember Scott listened patiently and then said, "I'll support you in anything, but you know that means you're going to have to spend a lot of time on that bike, right?"

"What are you talking about?" I responded, "I love biking!"....ha, right. That's called being delusional after a happy ironman experience.

Fast forward to January of this year. I deemed it "the year of the bike" for myself and set out to conquer this, um, fear of mine. Scott thoughtfully gave me aero bars for Christmas and I had every intention of starting right up in January.

Well, that didn't happen. I didn't touch that bike until April when the calendar said it was time to start training for Racine. I knew I had to get going, so reluctantly I scheduled an appointment at our local bike shop for an installation of my aero bars and a bike fitting. It was time to stop hiding from my bike.

I walked into our local bike store last week with my bike, biking shorts, shoes and aero bars. Right away I liked the guy working in the store and he immediately made me feel comfortable saying that biking wasn't my strongest suit.

Over the next hour, he had me hop on and off my bike which was on a trainer. Each time he measured angles of different parts of my body. The angles of my legs when they were bent and straight, the angle of my hips and back, shoulders, etc. I was fascinated! At one point he told me that the angle of my back was off and this might be why it always hurts about 20 miles into a ride. He raised the seat a few inches and what do you know? My back felt magically better!

The addition of the aero bars was also a huge comfort to me. I have a long torso and short legs. The aero bars make it easier for me to stretch out over my bike and keep my back flat instead of crunched. The difference I felt immediately was awesome.

When the fitting was over I felt like someone had given me a new bike. I couldn't wait to get out on the road and see if it felt as good out there as it did in the store.

This weekend I finally got my chance. Two wonderful friends and I headed up to Racine to bike part of the course. The wind was brutal, and the hills were still there (I was hoping someone got rid of those!) but the most amazing thing happened, I actually enjoyed biking! My back didn't hurt, I didn't feel crunched up in a ball and I wasn't terrified of falling. I still don't love to ride my bike, but I am feeling a billion times better about it. I'll take it!

Biking along in Racine!