I'm at a loss.  What do you do when you have two very different road conditions to travel through but most bikes are made for one or the other?

I talked with a couple of local bike shops and everyone looked at me with this glazed over look of huh?  Obviously no one deals with rural roads that are either ashpalt or rough gravel and you have to go through both to get anywhere.

My mountain bike is terrible on regular roads and hills.  It was made for rough terrain, perfect for the back gravel roads, but not here in town or for long distance.  I went 7 miles today and I hated it.  I even changed to a different tire and added more comfortable handles.

I looked at several bikes yesterday:

The street/racing bikes where you are bent over are uncomfortable and with the skinny tires, they wouldn't last 2 seconds in the back roads.

The comfort bikes are just that..comfort.  They aren't for the back roads and I don't want to ride through town with a bike that was made for flat roads.

The cruiser bikes are for cruising.  Think old people going through the park with no concept of time.  Not even close to what I could use but DH bought one yesterday; the Townie.  Look it up.

You have the hybrids which are supposed to do both, but I wasn't impressed. 

The commuter bikes are for going through urban areas like in downtown cities.

I give up for now.





 

I fell off my bike Friday.  There's nothing more embarrassing than falling off when practically stationary and my kids doubled over in laughter.   I bought some fancy pedals with shoes that click into the pedals.  I had one foot locked in and was trying to get the other foot into the pedal.  I accidentally moved the pedal forward and somehow clicked the shoe in and with both shoes clicked into the pedals, I lost my balance and fell over.

I'm glad I had my helmet on as I hit the pavement pretty hard.  I didn't think anything of it until yesterday when I still had a headache and a sore neck.  One ER visit and a CT scan proved I was okay, but I still have a headache and my neck is sore.  ER doc said if I hadn't had my helmet on, I'd probably have a concussion.  DH has banned me from riding until further notice.

I'm still not a big helmet fan, but I know enough that a helmet will at least protect your head from being cracked open on the pavement if you land on it.  I'd like to keep my skull in one piece.



 

I haven't disappeared.  Just been doing nothing along the quilting end.  Just in one of those "don't feel like doing much" moods.

I did bike four miles yesterday so I have been doing something.

I had a breakthrough moment yesterday while on a date with DH.  When you order a glass of water instead of a soda at dinner, something is up.  It's called severe caffeine withdrawal.  Why have I been a mess the past week?  Little to NO caffeine and not as much sugar intake would make anyone turn into a monster.  That also explains the bad headaches and wanting to sleep all day.  

Gasp.  I even ate a banana or two the other day.  I hate bananas, or thought I did.  I even made a PB and J sandwich yesterday.  I don't like bread but it tasted wonderful.  All the foods I thought I hated suddenly taste incredible and a lot of the junk food I normally go for don't.  I hope it stays that way.

I bought a pair of clipless pedals today for my bike.  My shoes should come in end of next week.  They have "cleats" that click into the pedals for better efficiency.  The pedals also flip over for regular shoe use.

I'm still wheezing up the hills, but DH went with me today and I did better.  The hills really make biking frustrating.

On the sewing end I'm still working on the cross stitch:

            
You can see the path, part of the basket/roses and part of her skirt.

It's been a horrible week. 

Biking has not been fun.  Something is "off" about my bike and I can't figure it out.  Since I'm not sure what I want anyway, I shouldn't complain.  I've used sewing machines enough to know that "off" means we aren't bonding.  It's not like you can just return a bike and get something else either. 

I'm sick of going 20 miles just to get something adjusted or another needed thing from the store almost every day.  I'm sick of helmets, shorts, shirts, and all the stuff you "need" while gone:  first aid (my daughter fell over and scraped her knee up pretty good.  Didn't have a band-aid), patch kit, tire pump, bike locks and where the crap are you going to put all this stuff on mountain bike?  I'm not about to ride with a backpack.  It's all I can do just to do a few hills. 

I hate Snow Leopard, Safari and I hate Flash even more.  Can't get them to work together.  I can't even type up a blog entry in Safari.  I shouldn't complain.  Windows sucks even more.

I'm ready to go on permanent vacation from everyone.  You want 3 fighting teenagers that are non stop all day?  They are all yours.  I shudder to think about summer.

I lost my needles for the cross stitch project.  That would mean another 20 miles up to another store for a small package of needles.

That same city that the bike and fabric store has rerouted everyone because of road work.  It takes forever going through the neighborhoods just to get by the 1/4 mile of roadwork they are doing. 

Frustrated that a few days after my son gets his bike, his friend's mom accidentally backed into the bike totaling it.  Bike shop says it's fixable, but it won't ride the same again.  Now I remember why I haven't ridden a bike in 17 years; they break easily and you can't afford the crap you need.

Hoping your kids don't make show choir since you don't really have the money to pay for all that crap because you just spent it on bikes, helmets and everything else.  Plus if I have to hear the audition song one more time, I'm going to duct tape them.  Hey..that might work for the fighting issues.

I'm going to take a nap.  I at least made it a mile and a half going up/down hills today. 

Remember my "Lucky" issues a few weeks ago?  He's done really good and isn't keeping the neighborhood awake anymore.  We've actually started to become friends since his kennel is now 2 inches from my property.  He's a pretty good dog and we've had a few good conversations.  He's starved for attention and loves any petting I give him.  Their other dog is stupid but I look into Lucky's eyes and see that's he's so intelligent and smart.

I not only have Lucky to talk too, but I found a stray cat that is living under my deck a few days ago.    I've known something lived under there as you can see the openings, but I figured it was a rabbit.  It wasn't until I caught part of the tail and realized it was a cat.  I put some food out and the cat came out inhaling food.  When it caught sight me, it froze and carefully made it's way back under the deck.

He or she's fairly shy but has let me pet and take a picture of him/her today  I've told the kids that this cat stays outdoors.  They want to name it, but then that means you get attached to it and want to bring it inside.   He/she could really use a bath and it's fur brushed out.  It's probably full of fleas and who knows what else.  Do not get attached.

Now I know why bikers have specific shorts.  Regular ones ride up and feel funny.

I thought I'd be cool and go further than I usually do despite the 90 degree weather.  It's a 1/2 mile from my house to the street light.  I rode up and made a left.  Feeling great, I went further down the road where it goes more rural.  I follow it all the way to the stop sign and my body gives out.  I've gone two miles and now I have to figure out how to get back home another two miles.  I also made the mistake of going 15mph over the bridge to see if I could do it.

I start pedalling back home and make it about 1/2 mile before I have to stop and take a break.  I'm inhaling water as fast as I can and start up again.  I'm going about 5mph and less.  I suck it up and get to a hill.  There's no way I'm going to make it up so I walk the bike up at 2mph and most of the way home.

Lessons learned:

* Don't push yourself.  You do have to get back home.

* Don't go so far in hot weather.  I'm grateful I didn't fall over from heat exhaustion.

* As much as I hate to admit it,  looks take a back seat in biking.  I'm getting a pair of spandex shorts and if I look like a muffin top, hopefully it won't be for long.

* I may need a mirror.  You can hear the cars coming, but you don't know exactly how far away they are.  If you look back, you run the risk of going down the embankment.

This is fun.  Really.  I also thought I'd be limping around the house by now, but I'm not.

Don't the basketball shorts rock?  Well, maybe not, but they are really comfortable.