Sad news. The schweet blue bike tires that Steven bought me for my birthday are not available yet anywhere in the US.
The person at the bike shop asked me if I wanted them to put black tires on instead.
Ha ha ha.
NO.
Now that I know there are blue tires out there, I will wait for blue. Steven said “When I saw the blue ones, I knew those were the ones I had to get you.” He knows me too well. Unusual bright color?! Yes, please!
So I wait. I wait for my schweet road tires that will make me exponentially faster on my bike. In the meantime, I am trying to make my bike more efficient in other ways.
Steven took my bike in for the tune-up he got me for my birthday. I picked it up last Friday and I could tell my bike was riding smoother just by pushing it out of the shop. Exciting! We went on a bike ride Saturday and it shifted and rode so nicely. Hells yeah!
I also had the shop add pedal straps to my bike. Because I haven’t fallen off yet and this is sure to do it.
All joking aside, I am hoping the pedals will make my pedaling a bit more efficient… and allow me to pull, maybe a little. Because dammit! The faster I ride my bike to get to my french fries, the better!!!
I think 50% of my bike rides this summer have involved a mid-ride snack of french fries. While it’s not quite 100%, it’s a start.
Only one bike ride has involved a mid-ride rope walk. Definitely less important than the french fries. Fun, but less important. Was it odd that I was the only adult waiting in a line of kids to do this, hmm?*
Was it odd that I wore my schweet new bike jersey for a 7-mile round trip ride? One of the people in this photo below thought so…
I think that person was just jealous that the bike jersey had THREE pockets in the back that could hold money, a phone, keys, napkins, candy, a piece of pizza… VIRTUALLY ANYTHING.
Okay. Enough silliness.
Do your bike pedals have straps/cages or are clip in?
Do all of the things you eat on your bike ride negate any calories burned, like they do for me?
No wonder I love biking so much!
*Ha! I meant for this to be a period, then “Hmm” as a sentence on its own, but as I proof-read it, this sounded more Yoda-ish. So me gusta.
I’m glad you’re enjoying your newly tuned-up bike! It sounds like the bike shop made some good improvements, although it’s a big fat bummer that the tires you want aren’t available yet, although I’m sure that will make them even more awesome when you are finally able to get them on your bike.
First…I love that you use French Fries as motivation. I find that knowing there’s food at the end of my ride motivates me to finish faster!
I have straps/cages on my pedals. They came with my bike. I’m not sure I’m ready to start wearing fancy bicycling shoes with clips.
I don’t usually eat much during my ride. Sometimes I eat a light meal afterwards. Other times, I pig out. One of my favorite rides for food was to an A&W Root Beer…footlong cheese coney dog, cheese curds, and two huge root beers.
This post was hilarious! Would you like me to spray paint your tires for you? Any color you’d like! I’m laughing about the person who thought it was “odd” to wear a bike jersey for “just” 7 miles wore a button down shirt. Hmm.
It’s great to see what not having a cold, french fries, and bike up does to a girl!
Gina, button down shirts are appropriate for any occasion. In fact, I cannot think of an inappropriate occasion for a button down shirt: biking, working in the garage, sleeping, hanging out on the beach…
it his highly inappropriate to wear a button down shirt while running. Or while spectating a run. People will laugh at you and call you names.
I channeled (sp?) my inner Gina-ba-bina to try to make this post humorous 🙂
If you are going to color them, of cousre I want them ORANGE.
P.S. Saw a guy in the Loop during lunch wearing an Oscar the Grouch jersey. NEED.
Oooh, I love the blue tires too! I’m getting my handlebars re-wrapped in blue soon, too. Because my bike should match my tri suit.
I love those tires! And I agree with Kelly, you should get your handlebars wrapped a fun color!
I never even thought of that! That is a fun idea! Oh wait. My handlebars are rubber 🙁
My triathlon books tell me that those foot cages will, in fact, help you to be more efficient! I want some too!!!
YES! PROOF!!!!
I have clip in pedals, and I definitely ate it big time the first few times I tried to stop in them. This summer I switched pedal types, and put mountain bike clips on my road bike. The road bike clips have shoes with the clip on the outside which makes it impossible to walk. And since many (meaning all) of my ride involve stopping for food and fun, it’s nice to be able to walk.
Yah, if I had a bike (which I actually do, but my brother broke it after taking it when I told him no he couldn’t borrow it and has yet to repair the damage), I wouldn’t settle for black tires if I could get the blue ones. Those are freaking awesome.
I want to comment something, just for the photo of the fries. Which by the way is the perfect food and I could eat them every day all day and never get tired of them. But I am totally clueless when it comes to bikes. I can bike, maybe, without hitting anything, but that’s as far as it goes. So, I have no strong feelings towards bicycles or pedals. With that in view, I wouldn’t care about the color of the tires. Black is a cuter color than blue either way.
Those blue tires are FABULOUS. If I had those tires, I would double my speed on my bike! (Which is not saying very much considering how amateur I am with biking, LOL). So it goes without saying that I have never tried to clip myself into a bike (the super-basic bikes usually don’t offer those options! 😉 )
So, what did you think of the pedal straps??
Also, those blue bike tires need to get here soon. They’re going to look so sweet!
I liked them! My foot felt a lot more secure, if you know what I mean. It was easy to get in and out too.
I CANNOT WAIT FOR MY TIRES!!! AHHAHHAHHAHAH
I don’t have pedal cages or clips. I considered getting cages before my tri but never got around to it. You’ll have to let me know how the road tires go when you finally get them. I didn’t even realize you could get road tires for a mountain bike.
I’ve never stopped mid-ride for a snack before but my rides have been pretty short. I wish I had more friends who were into riding/running.
My future BiL told me about it last year! I was like “DERP! That is brilliant!” (okay, I didn’t say derp back then)
Have you thought about joining a local club to make more friends who like to exercise? 🙂
Love the blue tires! So worth the wait! I don’t ride a bike much – only at the gym But I would really love to have one. Just a cheapie one that I can ride around the neighborhood I guess.
When I used to ride a lot in the 90’s, my road bikes had clip on pedals. They were hard to get used to, but works very well for solid riding for miles. The cage pedals always caught on my shoelaces, so I never really felt secure in those. The clip release took some practice, but once I learned (i did test falls near large grass areas), it made me feel more secure for being able to release if I needed to dump and roll.
Ooh, the blue tires – AWESOME! Definitely wait for them!
It’s great that you are tweaking your bike and getting updates for it to be speedier. I love getting a tune-up. Wish that I could do it myself but, sigh, that isn’t happening yet.
I do have the clipless (or clip-in, whatever you call them) pedals. It took me many falls to get used to them, but I can’t imagine riding with out them now!