Deciding to Bike Across Kansas ~ How it All Started

This is a bit of an unlikely story.

I’m a mom of one, late 30s, overweight and I hate the heat.  The last time I road a bike was about 10 years ago when we moved here. I jumped on my bike as we unpacked it and road a little ways down our gravel/dirt road and proceeded to fall over.

The bike got put in the barn and there it’s sat for all these years.

I’ve recently been trying to lose some of the “baby weight” although I think some point after your kid is 3 you don’t really get to call it that anymore (but I still do anyway). I was talking to a friend of mine who recently finished her first 5k race. We were talking about the dynamics of  exercising for the sake of losing weight vs. exercising to accomplish a goal. She said she found it much easier to go out and run every night when she was working toward a specific race.

I could see that.

We continued talking and somehow the topic of biking came up. I used to love to ride my bike. In fact, when I lived in NYC I biked everywhere. That crazy pink bike that’s been packed in the garage has been from Manhattan to Coney Island and back on many ocassions. I started thinking maybe I should get the pink bike back out!

After I got off the phone I went on a hunt to find my bike. I wasn’t even sure which of these out building it was in. I finally found it leaning against a wall in the barn, covered in dirt, tons of spider nests under the seat, but I was determined. I dragged it out and dusted it off, and brought it to the house to have the hubby take a look.

Well, the chain was a mess, the tires were a mess, the whole bike was a bit of a mess. I was determined to perservere, so I went to Walmart to get new tires and realized it would be cheaper to buy a new bike than it was to try to fix this one.

Still I didn’t really want to put a lot of money into this possible new hobby, because as my hubby reminded me I have a tendency to get all excited about something, spend a bunch of money on it, and then lose interest a couple weeks later, only to have a ton of expensive crap collecting dust around the house.

I looked on Craigslist and found a bike for $50. Got it home only to realize the gears didn’t work. Called the guy up, and took it back.

Finally decided to just go to walmart and get a bike.

I knew a little bit about sizing, and whatnot so I tried out a bunch of different bikes, and finally decided on the one I bought. $69 ~ and an extra $5 for the extended warranty.

Brought the bike home, hubby made a few adjustments and I started to ride.

The first challenge was to overcome my fear of the 1/2 mile gravel/dirt road I had to get past to get to  pavement. Remember, this is what made me put the bike away to begin with. I was pretty nervous ~ new bike, haven’t ridden in 10 years, and all this gravel ~ it seemed to stretch out forever!!

I finally made it to the end ~ I had to make a decision ~ go down a hill with really big gravel, or turn a corner on the gravel. I decided for the corner that first day. Once I got to the road I went about another 1/2 mile. It was getting dark and I was getting tired so I turned back.

It was then I realized just HOW out of shape I really was.

However, I was enjoying riding ~ a LOT.  For a few reasons:

1. No one else was there.

In my life as a mom I’ve found it difficult to find anytime that is completely mine. So this was a really great way to find some “alone time”.

2. It was silent.

Other than the wind whipping past me there was no  yelling, no crying, no whining, no begging, no screaming.

Silence.

This is reason enough to keep me going out on my bike!! I never realized how loud life would be as a parent!

I made it back to the house in one piece and started looking around the internet to see if anyone else in Kansas is biking, turns out there are a LOT of people biking in Kansas.  I  thought it might be a good idea to see if I could find a race or a ride I could set my sites on to help me stay motivated to get out and ride.

It is almost the end of summer and I still needed to train to get in good enough shape to ride for a longer period of time, so there weren’t a LOT of options available, but I did find something I think will be perfect.

The Walnut Valley Metric. A 35 mile rde through the rolling hills of Kansas.

I liked this one because it’s not far from where I live and I think I can totally get ready for 35 miles.

My husband ~ not so sure, but still being encouraging.

Since I made the decision to sign up for that ride I’ve been riding 6 days a week ~ working on my cadence, and trying to go a little farther each time I ride.

I’m an information junkie, so I’ve been reading on the internet, looking at books and in my internet travels I came across Bike Across Kansas. An annual event. An 8 day ride literally across the entire state of Kansas. Going from Colorado to Missouri!

WOW!! That got my juices going and I made a big plan. I will finish Bike Across Kansas ~ in 2011. Well come on, I’ve only been riding for a week, not going to tackle it this coming year lol.

In the year and half or so before I do BAK  I plan to ride in a variety of rides and hope to include at least one century ride at some point.

That’s what this blog is going to be all about ~ riding in Kansas, and preparing to ride ACROSS Kansas, and some other great information about biking.