Flat Bike Ride
By Pigglies
@Pigglies (9329)
United States
August 30, 2009 6:31pm CST
Well, this morning I went out on an 8 mile bike ride to see if I'm ready for the marathon tour. My dad and brother went too since they want to go on the marathon tour now as well.
It looks like my brother is clearly in the best shape out of all of us for biking! But I think I can do it. I just need to up the training a bit. Plus, the marathon course is supposed to be fairly flat. We don't really have any flat areas near us, so we just went for the least hilly rather than flat.
I managed to maintain an average speed of 15 mph, and on the really flat parts I could easily go to 20 mph. So I think that assures me that I'll finish in under 2 hours.
So far, my brother is freaking out about how early in the morning we'll have to get up. So I'm not sure if he will do this one anymore. Plus I guess 26.2 miles is a short distance for him, so he didn't think an hour long ride sounded all that great. My dad is probably just a bit too out of shape.
Eek! So I think I'm gonna possibly be doing this one with no one there to help fix my bike should the chain fall off or anything go wrong. But I still want to do it. I want to see what a marathon is like so that I can prepare to eventually run one.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
31 Aug 09
You can do it! Learning to fix you bike is the easy part.Being in shape to marathon is hard!You know what tjis means? If you can swim,you can enter a triathlon!
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
31 Aug 09
"You know what tjis means?" Nope, no idea... sorry! Please explain that one to me.
Next summer I plan to learn how to swim so that I can do a triathlon. Well, not one of Olympic distance or anything, just one of the local ones. Currently, I'm not good at swimming properly and I feel like I must be doing something wrong.
1 person likes this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
5 Sep 09
Oh duh, sorry! I should have caught that typo because of the letters being near each other on the Qwerty keyboard. Typing on a Dvorak keyboard is ruining my skills at interpreting Qwerty typos. And whenever I make typos I'm sure people think I'm insane because the keys would appear to them to be no where near each other... people must all think I'm just a really horrible speller, lol.
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
1 Sep 09
Sorry .I meant that you can do a triathlon.I can think better than I can type!
@thea09 (18305)
• Greece
31 Aug 09
You certainly must have some stamina Pigglies, there's no way I'd be up for that. I do have an exercise bike and it's possible I may have clocked up a few kilometres by now but I'll never know as the speedometer doesn't work nor does the mileage, dodgy wire I believe and didn't get round to replacing the clock bit before the shop ran out. But I have managed ten minutes at a time before getting off as the seat's not too comfy.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
31 Aug 09
Funny, that's the same thing with my exercise bike... the uncomfortable seat!
We got ours practically for free because the electrical panel on it went bad. My brother installed a new one on the side with corresponding buttons, but the display won't show mph. However, the bike doesn't keep going unless you keep a speed of at least 20 mph. It's generator powered. So I can only ride at that speed for about 15 minutes.
I definitely prefer the real bicycle, except that you can get stuck out somewhere if you ride too far.
I used to ride 100 miles a week, so now I feel really out of shape wondering if I can even do 26.2. But I'm sure I'll be able to do it. I've still got 6 weeks to train!
And I only trained for 6 weeks before my first 5K, which was way harder than riding a bike.
@GardenGerty (160996)
• United States
31 Aug 09
That sounds like a really neat idea to me. So, your brother is in too good a shape to do this with you. How early would you have to get up to do it? I think your dad maybe should come out and watch you, and be there just in case you need him.
@GardenGerty (160996)
• United States
31 Aug 09
I know about knee pain. Yuk. I am glad he will be there.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
31 Aug 09
My brother would definitely pass me up quickly, which I knew to begin with. He didn't mind doing it though (I told him I would pay, since he doesn't have a steady job right now). But the race starts at 6am, and it's a little over an hour away. If we could just wake up and be ready to go, we'd still probably have to get up at 4am. Which I know I'll be able to do for a race. But he is even less of a morning person than I am.
Yeah, my dad agreed to come watch and see how it is. Maybe next year he will actually be able to ride in one. I think if he hadn't injured his knee earlier this summer at work, he probably would have been good to go. But with the injury he hasn't stayed in good shape.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
31 Aug 09
My husband is training for a century ride. Right now he is training on his mountain bike since we can't afford a decent street bike. He is planning on putting on the street tires in spring when he really get into it. Right now he is doing 15-20 miles rides without any problems.
Where is the marathon that you are planning on riding?
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
31 Aug 09
That's what I have too, a converted mountain bike. I had a racing bike before too, but I just didn't like it. With the thin tires, I would hit rocks and stuff you shouldn't hit with those and go flying. So I prefer street tires to racing tires. And then I didn't really need a street bike since the mountain bike is heavy, but not so heavy that I can't lift it if needed. The weight doesn't really slow me down enough to bother me.
I was training for the century ride in Solvang several years ago. Never made it though. I got up to being able to do a 40 mile ride easily, but then just never got around to signing up and all of that.
The marathon I'm planning to ride is in Long Beach.
@tabatha1989 (314)
• New Zealand
31 Aug 09
Firstly good on you! You sound like your fit enough to cycle this marathon tour. My dad is a cycle enthuist and recently took me on a offroad cycle 10km uphill and 10 downhill. I managed this feat even though I hadn't cycled much as its winter here and often windy and raining. So if you keep training you should be fine. Perhaps your dad or brother could attend the event as support crew with a car, incase your bike needs adjusting. However as this is an event there should be support staff ready to assist you.
You'll be amazed how much easy cycling is when your with hundreds of other people in a fun event. The same goes for running, its really motivating.
Good luck
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
31 Aug 09
Thanks! That is good to hear that there should be support staff to help. I think this isn't an event where you can have a support car, but I know some events others in my family have done have allowed that. But this one has runners starting after the cyclists and it isn't as long of a course as the ones my crazy family goes out on.
It is definitely very motivating to have others around you. I know with the 5K I did I was afraid I wouldn't even be able to run the entire thing at first, but then I had so much fun passing people that I couldn't bring myself to stop! So hopefully the bike event should be similar. As long as I'm not the last one I'll be happy.
