Saturday, February 9, 2008

My new bike

I bought a bike at Costco last night. I've been thinking about getting a bike for awhile now because I figured it would be good exercise commuting to and from school. Since it was Saturday, I decided to test how long it would take me to get to UCLA. It's just over 4 mi. away, so I was thinking it would take about a half an hour. Boy was I wrong. That ride kicked my butt. I really hope it gets me in shape fast. There were two main problems. The first is that there's a really steep hill right by our apartment, so the very beginning of my ride was brutal. That basically drained me immediately. Second, I had to ride on the sidewalk -- I didn't ride on the street because, well, I didn't want to die -- and the sidewalks here aren't exactly the best maintained. So many cracks and bumps. I spent the whole ride bumping up and down on that teeny little narrow seat. My butt hurts so bad I can barely walk. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but there were a couple of times during my ride where I thought about turning right around and returning the bike to Costco. Looking at the big picture though, it was good exercise. I'll just have to find a new route to school. And really, it's just the ride up that's hard; the ride back was great. If I could only figure out a way to get the bike to school so I would only have to ride it downhill! Don't worry, I'll post a pic of my new bike shortly.

3 comments:

Driel said...

I am so jealous of your weather. That is awesome that you can ride a bike right now. We have been getting lots of snow!

The 'Chard said...

Like I said, the first time I tried to ride my bike to the law school, I passed out on the corner of Pico and Westwood. I had to lay down on the planter box on the corner and hope that my bike was still there when I woke up. Pathetic, isn't it? Because I hadn't even made it to the hills yet. Trust me, it gets better. And you can always throw the bike on the front of a bus on the way up and then ride it home.

Melanie said...

Those gel seats really help with the sore bum.