I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike! ~ Queen

I've never been a real "go getter" with exercise but this past year I was bit by the triathlon bug. I did most of my training indoors, because, let's be honest, I don't really like to run along the side of the road huffing & puffing where everyone can watch me...and I'm deathly afraid of getting raped or kidnapped. Okay, that aside, I didn't own a bike, thus really preventing me from biking outdoors...nor do I have an Olympic sized pool in my back yard (what? you don't either, weird).

But this year, things a few things have changed.

1) Eric and I now live less than a mile from a well lit 13 bike lane & running course that is flat & along the river. And the same distance bike as a sprint tri. Glorious.
2) My friend Liz, who is in Ethiopia doing medical missions for a year++, and who happens to be my size, loaned me her road bike indefinitely.
3) I have a husband who likes to swim, bike, and run. And he is a "go getter" when it comes to exercising.

Well, in order to start outdoor training I needed a few small pieces of equipment.

• running bras from my parents house
  
• fall/winter running clothes from my parents house
• capris instead of bike shorts
• trading out the clips on the bike from true road clips to trainer/mountain bike clips (what I have from spin classes)

So over the last few days I've been getting that together - yeehaw! And today, finally, today! I went for my first outdoor ride :)

In order to keep up with my go-getter husband I decided to go for a solo ride to adjust to riding with clips on a road bike, vs the spinners. I also needed to readjust my thinking from the breaking & gear shift system of a mountain bike to a road bike. I thought it better for me to do this alone, and not while going 15 MPH trying to keep up with his 21 MPH.

I must pat myself on the back. I only fell twice and was able to unclip fast enough before totally face planting along the Greenway. I figured out that I need to tweak the cleats on my shoes before we hit Stone Mountain on Saturday, but I practiced breaking, shifting, various riding positions, fast hair pin turns, and keeping a good cadence.

Now, if I could only over night ride 19 MPH :) And don't worry, I will still be a gym junky the first day it's cooler than 60 degrees!!!