Change isn't always easy

        Well here it is, my new baby.  I was so excited to get this road bike because I had finally mastered my comfort bike,and it was now time to become a real biker.

   This is the picture before the melt down... yes you heard right... Who would have thought... I mean this bike was perfect!!  I planned on going faster than the speed of light with it.

     I had no idea how different the brakes, gears and a very light weight bike would be to ride.  Isn't it like riding a bike??

     When I got my new bike I was so anxious to ride it because I was sure it was going to be a breeze.  I had no idea the brakes would be so different and the gears... I was clueless how they worked.  I was schooled on them prior to the ride but there was so much information that I really couldn't make sense of it when I was actually riding.

     With a road bike the handlebars are so different. Where I want to put my hands and where the brakes are, seem miles apart.  So when I have to stop, I only want to move one hand to brake which could potentially send me flying over the handlebars.

     I managed to tremble along about one mile and then I had to stop.  That's when that picture was taken.  Yes, I had a smile because for the moment I had my feet flat on the ground.

     Right after that, we headed out to ride a little further and I rode over a parallel crack that made my very skinny tires slip and that's when I started to panic.  where we were going next was down a big hill.  On my safe bike I loved going down a big hill a million miles an hour.  Now, all I thought about was barreling down to the bottom and not being able to figure out the brakes.

     I just couldn't do it... something I don't say very often, but I was petrified and  I just couldn't do it.  This time unlike others in the past, I walked my bike down the hill.  Sadly, after just one mile I had decided my ride was done.  I knew I had to make it back to where I started so I just stood there trying to convince myself I could do it.  The longer I stood there and thought about getting back on, the more the tears began to well up.  Yep, that was when the melt down happened.  

     After a couple minutes I knew I had to get back on just to make it back to my car and it was the longest mile I  ever rode.

     I went home and asked myself why I did this when my other bike was so safe. I was thinking about just putting the new bike away until I become more brave, but when was that??

      I discovered there is an option to help with the braking until I get confident with the traditional road bike brakes.  They make in-line brakes that go on the top bars where I feel most comfortable holding on, so I called the bike shop but the soonest I could get them would be five days later.  I figured my bike might go into hibernation while I wait.

    Then it hit me that this wasn't like me to quit so easily, 
so I took my bike to a huge empty parking lot and rode it around for about a half an hour. It kind of reminded me of learning to drive a stick shift with my first car; my dad took me to an empty parking lot and we drove from one end to the other, back and forth until I got it.  

     When I was done I still wasn't very comfortable yet, but if I was to quit now I might never go back to my new found love, and I can't let that happen.

     I hope one day I'll be saying " remember way back... when I chickened out on my bike?? What was I thinking!?"

Have a great day!!

Christine:)