Like riding a bike

The last time I rode a bike was ten years ago when my brother and I participated in an adventure race. (Yeah, I rode it a couple of times after that, but it was during the race that I rode it the most. I didn’t ride again after that summer.) So I was feeling a little nervous when I climbed on my new bicycle.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran the Lincoln Half Marathon in Nebraska. While I finished strong and felt great doing it, I woke up that night with a very sharp pain in my right heel. All signs pointed to a stress fracture, but there is not much that can be done other than rest it. While I’ve been able to walk better (it was touch and go for a couple of days), I’ve been wanting to get out and jog/run to get ready for the next race.

The pain in the heel came back, so I’ve decided to stay off of it from running/jogging for a while. Since I don’t want to stop completely, I went out and bought a bicycle. It’s not an expensive bike, or a cheap bike. It’s right in between and quite nice. It’s a hybrid bike (somewhere between a mountain bike and a road bike), and it’s very comfortable… At least, it should comfortable once I ride it long enough.

After being off a bike for so long, it was a little awkward at first. My sense of balance had to adjust. All the right messages had to be sent up and down my body, coordinating what I was doing. For example, did you know that you have to turn slightly to one side before you can turn to the other on a bicycle?

And did you know that we really don’t know how exactly bikes stay upright?

Yeah, it’s weird, and anyone who has ever successfully ridden a bike has experienced these effects… Unless you’ve been riding a backwards bike:

So I hope to get on and get around with the bike for a few days a week. But I’ve got to tell you, this new time on the bike felt a lot like the first time. But that’s for another blog post at a later time.