From comfort bike to endurance bike

   

The first thing I had to do if I was going to ride in the Bike-to-the-Bay was brush the cob webs off my bike.  It had been sitting on the back burner the past couple of years and it was time to bring it back to a boil with a professional tune-up.

     It really wasn’t that long ago that I bought my bike and at the time the salesman assured me this bike would serve all of my needs.  He called it a “comfort bike”, and it was meant to make my ride very comfortable while tooling around the neighborhood.  However, this event was a whole different ball of wax. The ride would test the endurance of my legs more than anything else.

      As is, my bike has a comfortable seat, big and cushy, and thick heavily treaded tires that make riding over bumps and pot holes seem almost like riding on cotton candy. Now riding a long distance is something entirely different.  It’s not about a cushy behind, but focusing on the core part of the ride, and that can be extremely taxing on my already crazy legs.

      The first thing I learned when I took my bike to The Bike Route for a tune up was though my tires were great at absorbing the shock, they took up more space on the road and would force me to work harder to go the same distance as if I had more narrow tires.  But it was also suggested that I wait and train on the wider tires and then trade them out closer to the ride, allowing me to build as much strength as possible.

     The Second thing I discovered was that the seat, however cushy, would make my legs work harder as well because the width would take away from the straight up and down motion and put more strain on the muscles, so I would also need to replace it with a slimmer style.

     I went in for a simple tune-up but came out armed with an abundance of information needed to turn my “comfort bike” into an “endurance bike”.

Stay tuned to see what else I needed to get started on my journey…

Have a great weekend!

Christine ☺