Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Chick with Speed

Today I welcomed my pre-loved, 9kg aluminum monster into my life alongside my worn swimming suit and resting running shoes. Picked it up at the owner's house around lunchtime.

When you buy secondhand, the phrase, "you get what you paid for," could be a reprimand you do not need. But I have anticipated all the shortcomings - I know I'm definitely going to get what I paid for - except that my boyfriend thinks I probably paid too much. I have to admit, it stretched my budget a little bit, but it is still below 1 grand.

The frame looks ok, but the paintjob has weathered and flecks of rust could be seen. The tyres look ok, and the owner did mention that I should replace the back tyre. We tested the brakes, no complaints there. Changed the gears, ok as well.

In the evening I decided to try it out. Earlier at the owner's house, I couldn't even ride on it as I was having a hard time getting my feet in the pedals - my experience with bicycle pedals was all the normal flat ones - these were curved upwards, like an encased shoe space.

After a few tries I managed to ride on it. Tested the gears and spent about half an hour cruising around the neighborhood.

What I found out:

1) The gear rings make a periodic clicking sound, especially when I switch into the first gear. I tried going to higher gear and down again, and the same noise appears. Have to get it checked.

2) The saddle feels uncomfortable, but I know that would happen.

3) The brakes are far apart from my fingers to fully grasp them. It hurts when going downhill and I have to brake continuously. My wrists hurt too! At the fleshy part of the palm.

Going to ride them tomorrow and tomorrow until the bike and I feel acquainted. Right now we're like wary strangers.

Anyway today went for a swim. Wanted to do a longer distance but had errands to do. My time is noticeably slower this time and I think it's due to the 800m. I probably swam slower.

Warm-up: 1x100m
Set: 1x100m, 1x800m, 2x100m (fast paced)
Cool-down: 1x100m

Total distance and time: 1.3km, 50 mins

Stretching and strengthening classes tomorrow! Back to back for 2 hours oh yeah.

(yes, I'm on annual leave until the weekends heheh)

4 comments:

  1. There'll be a different sort of pain on the bike. Hip, back, bum and quads will be all sore. Hang in there.

    We'll ride this week and we'll take a look at that bike of yours. But first, send it to a workshop to check brakes and gears. And see if the tyres need changing.

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  2. Welcome to tri club!
    Having pain here and there in your initial attempts with the bike is normal. It happens to everybody i guess.
    Yeah, send the bike for a full service at a bike shop, and you can ask them to tune the bike setting (saddle height, etc) to suit your body.
    Enjoy cycling!

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  3. kash and nik: happy new year, looking forward to cycle/swim with the both of you.

    julin julai: happy new year to you. looking forward to read your 30k race :)

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