Category: cycling

It’s likely that someone will steal your bike if you lock it up outside here in metro Denver, especially if it’s a nice bike but even if it’s a crappy $20 bike. If not the entire bike, you might find one of your wheels or even seat missing.

So for that reason, we bring our bikes into the office building, but we’re not allowed to bring our bikes into the building if the wheels are dirty. The building owner keeps this building spotless. It was hard enough to get him to let us bring clean bikes into the building.

Anyway, it rained overnight from Monday to Tuesday and I had to ride through some mud on my way to work. To get the mud off my tires I rode through the grass, which I’ve done with no trouble before. Except this time my tire got caught in a gap between the grass and the sidewalk. My feet were still clipped into the pedals and I hit the ground.

I wasn’t going very fast, maybe 3-5 MPH, but it still hurt like hell.

I record all of my rides in case I get hit by a car because I’ve seen too many cases where cyclists are hit and the driver runs or the driver lies and says that the cyclist is at fault.

Hence, here’s the video of my embarrassing crash.

After recording this video, I also found that I had a bit of road rash on my shoulder and hip and the next day my neck, shoulder and hip were really sore.

My ego was also bruised because I crashed right by a busy intersection 😉

Even though it was a minor crash, I’m still a little shaken up. I’m finding myself being extra cautious on the trail now because I definitely don’t want to crash when I’m doing 12-20 mph.

I went back to try to find the rear light for my bike, but couldn’t find it. Someone must have picked it up. I never used it anyway because I don’t like riding in the dark (I live in an area outside of Denver that doesn’t have many street lights, so it gets really dark and dangerous), so it’s not that big of a deal.

I also need to take my bike into the shop for a tune-up this weekend. Some of the gears aren’t transitioning smoothly and the chain is skipping on the easy gears.

Crashing sucks!

When this cyclist was passing the lady in this video, she reached out to pretend like she was going to put a stick in his spokes, so he swerved.

I had to hit my brakes to prevent a collision. She thought this was hilarious and had a big smile on her face when I passed.

The people you have to deal with on the trail in downtown Denver…

There are areas of the trail that have lines to divide the trail in places where there is limited visibility. These lines are designed to keep people safe. There are also signs on both sides of these areas with warnings of low visibility.

This guy doesn’t seem to care.

I see this couple running on this trail every morning, so I know that they are aware of these low visibility areas and that cyclists come through here often.

I had to hit my brakes, which is not only annoying, but could have been bad if there was another cyclist coming up behind me. If I was going any faster, or if it was another cyclist who rides faster than I do, there could have been an accident.

Last week, a coworker of mine asked if I wanted to do the MS150, which is a 150 mile bike ride here in Colorado to benefit multiple sclerosis. He talked our boss into sponsoring us by paying for the registration fees and the jerseys, and gave us permission to ask our clients for donations so that we can meet the $400 donation requirement to race.

We haven’t had time to talk much about it since then, and I haven’t registered yet, so I’m still thinking about doing the race. I’m very likely to do it though, which is why I went to the flea market and bought a cheap ($25) used bicycle trainer, so that I can get as much cycling training as I can before the race.

I’ve done a lot of research into bike trainers over the last year, and I never thought I would buy a crappy magnetic trainer, but I don’t have the money for a nice $300 fluid trainer, so I bought this one (in the picture above). Anything is better than nothing, right? By the way, I actually bought a new $120 wheel and a trainer tire (not in the picture) to switch out on my bike, so that I don’t wear out my current tire. I hear regular tires can burn out in a couple of weeks on a trainer, while trainer tires can last a lifetime, or at least several years.

I actually really like it and I’ve been using it a lot already. I’ve never used a fluid trainer so I have nothing to compare my magnetic trainer to, and I won’t try one either, because I don’t want to ruin my experience with the one I have already. At least not until I have the money for a nice one. 😉

It feels good to ride my bike again. My butt is sore from the saddle and my legs get tired fast, but I’m getting back into the groove of things. I’m excited to get back on the road again!