Cycling

I Now Own A Road Bike: Allez Sport 2008

I suppose this was a long time coming.

When Steve first took up road biking, he would sing its praises for hours on end (and in fact, he still does). Once I tried it, he said, I’d never look back. But I never had an interest. After all, I had a mountain bike. And I liked my mountain bike, because it let me go wherever I liked. A road bike, I would tell him, was too restricting in what I could do. And too expensive. And too demanding of my time (those 100km rides? Forget it). And. And. And.

But Steve persisted. And I could tell my attitude was changing because after I few beers I was soon thinking about it, instead of making fun of Steve vociferously, which is what I usually did.

I think the final straw was when I decided I was starting to look … rubbery. I’m not significantly overweight but I haven’t shed that 10-15 pounds I gained after my knee surgery. I wasn’t losing it by playing ultimate and softball once a week, mixed in with the occasional 7k run. I couldn’t get myself outside to run on a regular basis because I just found it a pain in the ass. I needed something else to motivate me to get outside on a more regular basis.

Enter the shiny new road bike.

After some test runs and a bunch of calls made by Steve on my behalf, we ended up at Chain Reaction Bicycles on Dundas Street West. And before I knew it, I was the owner a Specialized Allez Sport road bike.

I bought the sucker on Tuesday and went in Wednesday to get fit. I also picked up  a new helmet, some shoes, pedals and jersey… and an hour after I walked in on Wednesday, I rode out with the bill stuck down my shirt.

Steve and I then met up with Ross, and the three of us rode around the west end for a while – probably 30 clicks in all. To me, the toughest adjustments from a mountain bike were:

• Getting used to the crazy speed you can build fast
• The ultralight nature of a road bike, which makes you feel somewhat insecure about falling when compared to a mountain bike (especially out of the saddle)
• The damn clips on your shoes. I thought I had this part down until I slowed up to an intersection and toppled over. They say everyone does that once …

Once it was over I honestly felt like I’d just completed a day of riding at Whistler – I wanted to eat thousands of calories and go to sleep. And I know I enjoyed it because all I can think about is when I’m going to be able to make it out again (answer: Saturday).

© 2008 HighlyObsessed.com | The Snowboarding and Cycling Blog