my new bike

Oh. Ow.

The reason for the pain is that I bought a bike, and just put the first 3 miles on it. This is a big deal because the last “bike” I owned had a motor, and before that, it was a 1993 Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike which I used to ride up and down and all around the hills of Central PA. I was younger then, and more…svelte.

I had been trying to get back into running, with limited success. I’ve determine that the reason for my failure is that I like the concept of having run but not the actually process of running. While I’m making excuses, I’ve also realized that running in the city is almost as not fun as running on a treadmill: concrete pavement hurts, and I don’t like having to jog in place at a stoplight, only to have to sprint by 5 lanes of traffic to get to the only non-sidewalk I can find that I don’t have to drive to.

DC was a much more runner-friendly city. Lots of good paths, and it wasn’t hard to find a great trail-running site; running through the woods is just about the most fun you can have while you’re running. But, this is Boston, and plenty of other people seem to run right by our condo with minimal difficulty, so I guess that means the problem is me.

The other thing is, I never before got to the point where I couldn’t go out and actually run a 5K. It may not have been a fast 5K, but I could always keep moving for 3 miles or so. Somewhere in the last year, my out-of-shapeness progressed beyond that point, and I can’t even keep the legs moving past about 20 minutes without having to walk for a bit.

So I started thinking again about bikes.

I’m not sure why I stopped riding; I guess I just didn’t have the time, and I figured that running was better exercise–which it is, in terms of sheer calories burned per time interval. But, since grad school wrapped up and I’ve been looking for a fun activity to take up some of my non-billable hours, the thought of getting back into riding somehow slipped into my brain.

And riding is fun in the way that running is not, and for every uphill climb, there’s a downhill coast to catch your breath. Worst comes to worst, you drop into a crazy low granny gear and just sloooowly make your way to the top of even the most painful ascent. On foot, the only thing worse than going up the hill is turning your quads into jelly on the way down.

From a practical perspective, it kind of makes sense: we live in the city, within a short riding distance of grocery stores and bike paths. Walking to the store sometimes takes just a little too long to be practical for short errands, but taking the car seems like overkill. Wouldn’t it be nice to combine the two?

I did some research into the state of the art right now and determined that a hybrid-style bike made the most sense; I’m not doing any real mountain biking, but I like the upright riding position of a flat handlebar bike. And I wanted to be able to put a rack on the bike for those alleged errands.

As it turns out, Trek decided to start making a line of bikes with road-sized 700c wheels and road-bike geometry, but a flat handlebar–their FX series. It’s a step up from a “comfort” bike and actually designed to go fast in an urban environment, as opposed to a lot of other hybrids which are geared towards a more casual audience. Not that I’m Lance Armstrong or anything–you will recall that I hurt from a 28-minute excursion on moderately hilly pavement–but I do like going fast. And, just like my guitar, I like the idea of having a bike that’s going to play a little rough, that’s going to push my abilities, that’s going to say “I may not have drop bars, but you should be able to hit 35 going down this straightaway.”

Here she is: The Silver Bullet:

So I’m pretty happy so far, if a little out of breath. Also exciting: the matte silver paint job, and my matching white and gray helmet that reminds me of the old white Bell helmet I used to wear the last time I did any real biking.

And most exciting of all is the prospect of finding a fun way to get some exercise again. I think that riding could be the domino that helps all the rest of the pieces of my life fall into place: more exercise means better sleep and a better sleep schedule; more energy means more drive which means getting more things done.