Cycling!

So I've become one of those cycling geeks. I give myself a small amount of credit because I resisted buying the stupid looking "Road Shoes" (instead opting for a much more subtle Touring Shoe) -- but I realized this over the weekend as I got out my pretty new bike and kitted it out with Shimano clipless pedals, a female-specific seat, and a cool little computer that leads to all sorts of geeky excitement.


This whole cycling thing game from a desire to get back in shape when I don't have the physical ability to run the same distances I once did. I started out on "the Beast" (an affectionate name for the old Raleigh Road bike I fixed up last year, and have been riding since --- and recently upgraded to a much lighter, 55cm Aquila racing bike.

The Aquila is also an older model, with index shifters on the downtube - but is exactly what I was looking for in a bike. It's lugged steel frame offers me a pretty solid base, while also being alot lighter than the Raleigh. The index shifters were actually something I was looking for, as self-sufficiency is important to me in my bike at the moment, I know how to fix them -- and don't know how to deal with fancy STI shifters. My only real complaint about it is that the racing drops force me to lean forward more than I had to in the Raleigh drops to brake effectively -- my plan is to ask the bike shop to raise them about 3/4 of an inch to help compensate for the pressure this puts on my shoulders.

Otherwise, I've been debating which wheelset should stay, and which should go, but that's pretty minor.

I've been riding to/from work alot lately --- averaging about 10-15 km a day on the bike minimum -- with a cruising speed of about 20km/hour. Not so bad!


Today's Ride Stats:
To work:
Maximum Speed: 42km/hour
Average Speed: 20.9km/hour
Time to Work: 18 minutes


P.S. -- Yes, my plan is to run again..... I'm just trying to get back in shape before dragging my heavy carcass out and putting all that pounding on the road.