Journal Tsunayoshi's Journal: getting in shape is so painful (and expensive) 2
First off, why am I not surprised there is no journal topic for "Fitness" on slashdot?
As for the journal subject, I don't mean painful as in aching muscles or overworked tendons. back in August I started up mountain biking with some friends/coworkers who had been doing it for a few months. My friend bought a new whamp-a-dyne bike so I got his older one off of him for $200. Only ridden about 5 or 6 times at this point. As of last Saturday I guess I can say I started kayaking. Same friend bought a kayak since him and some other guys signed up for one of those outdoor adventure races (orienteering, hiking, climbing, biking, kayaking). His training partners were all busy so my first kayak experience was a 6.3 mile cove route in about 20-25 knot winds and 1-2 foot waters. More on that. Back to the bike, the first 2 times I rode I didn't necesarily fall hard, jsut enough that my legs were bleeding from the various thorns or roots I managed to land on/in. The last 2 or 3 weeks of serious riding I have been doing I don't really fall anymore, although the foot does hit the ground for balance on hills or logs.
Now to recap my weekend:
Did the aforementioned kayaking on Sunday afternoon. After 2 hours you would have figured I would learn to quit scraping my thumbs on the side of the kayak when I paddle. Pulling nylon fibers out of scrape wounds is an experience everyone should enjoy
Monday afternoon went riding. Somehow a tab or something broke off in my rear gear cassette, so basically when I went to coast the cassette would catch and knock my chain into a lower ratio'd gear. This made getting up a hill after a downhill pretty much suck since I could never get in the gear I wanted. After 6 miles of this I can justifiably say that this was the worst ride I have ever had, as in the whole time I was wishing it was over. FYI, once you go in the trail, you pretty much have to go the whole way. Hence the 6 miles.
Replacement cassette: $25 installed, not too bad.
The above endeavors are all back in Chesapeake since I go home on the weekends (wife and kids haven't moved up to DC yet)
Tuesday I got off work early because I wanted to do a nice long ride since it is getting pretty dark around 7pm. I of course now had rear gear problems due to the new cassette. Luckily another rider stopped to help me look at it and put a temp fix on the prob that would let me ride the rest of the day. Happened to also be the owner of a bike shop so i was going to stop by after the ride to get it looked at by his techs. Not five minutes later the real pain kicks in. There is a small roller-coaster/whoop-d-do section on top of a hill that I usually ride the brakes on. Today I decided to take it a little faster so went easy on the brakes. Oops. I completely left the ground on the 2nd of three rises and landed basically perpendicular to the slope of the 3rd and last rise. Basically the bike stopped, I kept going the extra 3 feet into the ground. Took a minute or two to get up, during which time if anyone had ridden that section we both would have been toast since it is sort of blind until the last minute, and my bike an I were occupying the landing zone. After getting up I realized that (1) my knee was missing a nice chunk of skin and (2) my front wheel got slightly bent from the impact. Basically I had to limp/walk out of the trails, luckily it was only about 1/2-3/4 mile to the parking lot.
However, I got a good deal at the bike shop. Brakes and derailers tuned up and front wheel put back in shape for only $30.
So end result of the weekend:
$55 in bike repairs on a $200 bike.
One limping sysadmin with scarred hands.
One wife who thinks I am crazy.
heh (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
that reminds me i need new sticks.