Getting Ready to Ride a Road Bike

Tomorrow morning is a big day in the history of me riding a bike - I am going to be riding a road bike for the first time and plan to cycle 50km on a special ladies ride organised by Cyclery Northside.

Once I had decided that I would like to go along on the monthly event there were a couple of issues:

 1.  Should I ride my own bike?  Problem, my own bike is a mountain bike and although I do ride it on the road, I am often over taken by "roadies".  There was no way I wanted to do a 50km group ride being the only lady on a mountain bike and most probably struggling to keep up the pace.

2. But if I chose to use a road bike I wouldn't "know" the bike. Bikes are all different and I know mine well, it is a bit like riding a horse, I suppose. Each one has its own was of changing gears for example.

Putting these concerns aside,  Cyclery Northside kindly offered to lend me the use of a road bike for the weekend so I could try it out and they also specially fitted the loan bike for me.  It was a long complicated job, involving many measurements, taking nearly a couple of hours.  I certainly did not realise the science that goes into bike riding and how important it is for the bike to be just right.  The service was incredible.

Getting the Bike Measurements Right

So this evening when I started to get all my gear together for tomorrow morning, I realised that I had left my cycling cleats (shoes) at the bike shop!  Luckily, I have managed to borrow a pair close to home, The Cyclists's feet only being a shoe sizes bigger than mine.

Here I am being fitted for the shoes, like Cinderella, only not a glass slipper and I my big feet are lot lot more like the Ugly Sister's.

It was another long complicated procedure to adjust the cleats for my pedals.

Adjusting the Cleats

That is just to prove that one should always check ones gear the night before and preferable not leave it until the last thing in the evening.

By the way, I had my favourite breakfast for supper (oats , nuts, etc) and some extra nuts and am planning to have a piece of peanut butter toast when I wake up.

Finally,  The Cyclist is setting up my Garmin on the bike so I can record how it goes.  I hope the ride itself is a whole lot easier than preparing for it!



Would you ride a road or a mountain bike?

Do you always get all your training equipment checked the night before a session?

What would you eat the night before a ride/ long run?