Bikes, etc

I don’t think I’ve mentioned here that I’ve signed up for a triathlon that’s next month.  I’ve figured out that I just don’t carve out the time to exercise unless I have a goal.  Back before I had kids, I ran marathons.  I still have dreams of someday qualifying for Boston, but I knew I wasn’t willing to make the time commitment needed to train for one.  So I got this crazy idea that I’d do a tri.

What makes this really crazy is that I didn’t learn to ride a bike as a kid.  I grew up in NYC, and my parents were never going to let me ride in the streets anyway, so it wasn’t a priority.  They spent a few evenings running around hanging onto my bike while I tried to balance, but when I didn’t pick the trick up, they didn’t persist.

At this point, I’m neither sufficiently trained to be confident that I can complete the race, nor so untrained that I think it’s stupid to try.  My goals, in decreasing order of priority are:

  • Have fun
  • Don’t get hurt
  • Finish
  • Finish in less than 3 1/2 hours.

I went for a ride yesterday, and was really pleased that I made it up to the top of a hill where I had needed to walk the bike the previous time.

We had a pretty unscheduled weekend, so on Saturday I asked the boys what they wanted to do.  They both said they wanted to go to the water playground (which we did do) and I said that my priority for the weekend was to get a bike ride in.  D promptly said that he wanted to go for a bike ride too, and he wanted us to take his training wheels off.

So we’ve been running around hanging onto the back of his bike helping him get the feel of it.  He’s actually got pretty good balance for a 5 year old — he’s going a few feet at a time each time we help him get started.   The problem is that he’s getting scared as soon as he picks up some speed, so stops, and then promptly falls over.  The nice thing is that everyone walking by has encouraging words for him.

Meanwhile N is completely uninterested in pedalling his tricycle, but has decided he likes scooting it along like a flintstones car.

3 Responses to “Bikes, etc”

  1. Jennifer Says:

    I love triathlons, but I’ve never tried something that far – good luck! I’ve only done sprint (half Olympic) My main goal (beyond finishing) is usually not to walk in the run – to give you an idea of my recent level of fitness.
    I recommend (you’ve probably already tried this, you seem pretty sensible about exercise) a couple of sessions of short bike rides followed by immediate runs – it’s amazing how tired your quads feel straight off the bike.

  2. Anonymous Says:

    Good for you, Elizabeth! My bicycle riding is definitely recreational in nature these days. As a young girl, I was bit on the thigh by a German Shepherd and wiped out while going fast down a hill my first time riding my bike out of my hometown and I think that cast a negative glow over bicycling for me for years. I recently got and have been enjoying a neat old “Free Spirit” 10-speed that seems perfectly tuned up so I may start adding bicycling to my exercise routine.
    When I was helping my son learn to ride a two-wheeler, I took him to a hill and just let him go down increasingly steeper/longer grades. I think it allowed him to first focus on balancing, then stopping, and then finally pedaling to go forward rather than all at once. Or maybe he was just ready to ride that day. Sounds like D is over the hump though – good for him! That will be a fun new activity for you to do together! Enjoy!

  3. MarathonRunner Says:

    I watched a triathlon once a few years ago (Columbia). At the time I was considering training for one. The weather was cold & rainy & windy. Everyone was miserable. I decided that it was nuts (& I’ve qualified for & run Boston). The transitions looked like they were the hardest step. You can lose a lot of time with a slow transition.

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