Tuesday, January 26, 2010

New To This... Cycling

On Friday I attempted my first road bike training class at the Riverdale Training Complex in Caledon. We were hooked up to a simulator that had us climbing Mt. Lemmon in Arizona. Here are some photos my husband took of the night. They each say a thousand words! It was hard work climbing 5200 feet uphill for 15 miles over 1 1/2 hours of grueling pedaling. Of course I was humbled by the task and by learning how to shift all 23 gears. I did feel sick at one point but I never stopped and I did not give up.

Enjoy,
Tosca

The man beside me is Don Coats who helped me purchase my road bike and who runs the classes. He knows what he is doing!

Sometimes you have to stand up while you pedal but apparently this is not terribly efficient for cyclists to do. I am practicing the push/pull of cycling to get better at it.


This is a look of focus and determination on my face - the climb is getting harder.


Almost at the top!


I did it!! Now it's time for a post work out stretch for my burning quads!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking good on the bike Tosca!
There's nothing like some one-legged pedaling on the trainer to get your pedal stroke smooth. Once you're smooth, then it's that much easier to fly uphill while seated. If you're not smooth, then you bounce and lose power.

Leea said...

Awesome! Now we're all going to be getting in to cycling and asking you all the important questions! :)