Biking Progress Report

TWO brakes!!

I have been riding a few times each week, mostly to SPEA, but occasional trips around Bloomington. Along with some help, I placed a back brake on my bike which is loads of help when I need to..brake. I also managed to crash into a few stationary things while learning how to use a back brake because response time is drastically slower than the front brake.  I screwed up a few times, cutting the plastic line too early (and then I manage to do it again, but oh well), and not wrapping my handle bars tightly enough,  but other than that, having two brakes is nice.

My Battle Scar

I’ve  gotten so comfortable with biking, that I proposed a Lake Griffy biking trip to Scott one sunny Sunday afternoon, which is only about 2.5 miles from where I live.  Besides, the massive construction zone on the bypass meant an entre lane just devoted to us bike riders. And it felt great, riding 2 miles on concrete with no lights, stop signs, or people and cars to look out for. Except there are things called curbs. Since we were biking on the road, we needed to hop a small curb to get back over the sidewalk onto the road that goes to the lake. Being a novice biker, I side-swiped the curb, resulting in my bike my bike going one way, and my body the other. Read: My body was the only successful thing going over the curb.  It was not fun. 

Standing in a very dry Griffy Lake

I decided to keep on going, despite my now-throbbing hand (I imagined little armies of white blood cells rushing to the wounds to create scabs). I really wanted to see Lake Griffy all dried up, surrounded by the fall foliage.  And it was pretty; definitely worth going out for. But what I had forgotten about was the fact that leaving Griffy Lake would require going up a massive hill. No, really, a massive hill. I also failed to mention earlier that although there are gears on my bike, there is no derailleur to change gears. Currently, due to chain size, it is sitting on the lowest gear. For you bikers out there, imagine going up a massive hill on the lowest gear. I got about 50 feet up the hill, and then I started walking; at least I made it up 50 feet!

I’m not going to lie and say that accident didn’t shake me up a bit.  I’m always a little hesitant to get back on after bike accidents. But  I always manage to get back on. Until next time, curb... I will conquer you.