I’ve been trying to use the nice climate and facilities I now have access to get in better shape. I’ve been doing swimming for the last week, not pushing it too hard I know the risk of going too mad too soon so I’ve just been taking it easy.
As part of that I spotted it was possible to cycle to work it’s something like 8 miles google reckons 48 min’s and a lot of it is on proper trails or bike lanes. My parents offered to pay for a bike so I figured why not.
I went to the great mall which is this monstrosity with over a million square feet of shops. It is as close to hell on earth as I’ve been so far miles of car park all of which is full then miles and miles of shops, most of which no sane human could want, with people getting in the way constantly.
Anyway I found a sports shop there and queried the guy on what was the best bike to get for my needs, road capable but also able to handle some trail work which is a fair amount rougher. He recommended a comfort or mountain bike he also didn’t immediately show me the most expensive impractical machine possible, instead showing a cheaper lighter mountain bike, so it gave me some confidence he knew what he was talking about. He pointed out most of the other types had road tires that would either explode or give no traction on a trail.
I picked up a diamondback sorento which seemed a good compromise a mountain bike but a lighter frame and the tires looked smooth enough not to have huge rolling resistance on the road but big enough to give good traction on rough roads. I got all the necessary safety gear lights, helmet, stand, and a bike lock. The bloke checked the bike over checking all the gears and brakes fitting the lights and kick stand and then I was wrestling the thing into the back of my car.
Today I took it for a test spin trying out the route to work. I didn’t get as far as I wanted the heat is easy to underestimate I got dried out pretty quickly. Acording to google I got about a mile and half before I ran out of puff which isn’t too bad seeing as it’s been probably 13 years since I was last on a bike. I cycled back and had a rest.
I plan to work my way up to the full distance maybe try and interleave it with the swimming. Hopefully I’ll get to doing the distance to work then work my way up to doing it every day. As a safety net there is the light rail which will take bikes.
Tags: Cycling
