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On the road again

June 29th, 2008 · Posted by Skuds in Life · 1 Comment · Life

Well, I picked up the new bike on Friday, which was a bit of an experience.  Technology has moved on a lot since I bought my last bike – some time in the 80s I think.  I do hope nothing ever goes wrong with it  because anything I ever knew about maintenance is not going to apply to this thing.

Almost immediately I was annoyed by those grippy harness things on the pedals that you are supposed to put your feet into.  Maybe its something you can get used to, but I just couldn’t.  The problem is that gravity makes them hang down, but to get your foot in you really need them on top.  I ended up letting them hang down and then got annoyed by them clipping the floor sometimes. I made a mental note to either get used to them really quickly or take them off.

The real problem was the height of the saddle.  It seemed OK at first, but after a few hundred metres I decided that it could do with coming up a bit as I could not really extend my legs properly.  When I stopped to adjust it I found that, unlike my old bike and the various kids’ bikes over the years, you need an allen key, which I didn’t have on me.  After a couple of kilometres it became less an irritation and more of a real problem because it was dead uncomfortable.

When I got home my legs were killing me.  Part of that is obviously down to not being used to exercise, but I hope part of it is down to not being able to stretch my legs properly.  Back home I dug out an allen key and moved the saddle up.  I think I’ll go for a little spin tomorrow to make sure it feels good.  Today I also removed those harness things.  I’m sure some people swear by them, but I’m a little set in my ways and far happier doing without.

I think I’ll wait to see if the cycling causes any weight loss and firming up before I inflict the lycra shorts on everyone else though…

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One Comment so far ↓

  • skud's sister

    Oh, goody. I can put bike maintenance book on my mental list of possible birthday/christmas presents….