The gift I received on my 61st Christmas was no surprise.
Trek Domane 4.5 (ladies) under my Christmas tree
Indeed, I’d agonized over the decision to add road biking to my already long list of recreational interests. But after weeks of weighing the pros and cons, I decided that once I get used to biking in the real world (as opposed to in Spin classes), the fitness animal Liz will obliterate the timid analytical Liz.
However, I am humoring the analytical Liz. Along with the bike, I also requested books geared toward beginning road cyclists. My brother Don came through with two gems and a clunker whose book title is pretty darned close to my own book about skating: “A Beginner’s Guide to Biking.” Thanks to holiday vacation time to read about and obsess over my new sport, I can strongly recommend both of these:
- Bicycling Magazine’s New Cyclist Handbook edited by Ben Hewitt
- Every Woman’s Guide to Cycling: Everything You Need to Know, From Buying Your First Bike to Winning Your First Race by Selene Yeager
Since I’m already physically in shape thanks to Spinning, my initial goals are to learn the bike parts names and get used to speed, fast cornering and instinctively getting my foot out of the clipless bindings when stopping.
Knowing me, there will be endorphin-triggered revelations I’ll want to share in this blog. Building skills one step at a time helped me learn to ski the black diamond runs. Articulating what I learned when I took up inline skating resulted in a book. I’m pretty sure my perspectives on becoming a road biker will not be book-worthy, but they might be entertaining, so stay tuned!
And by the way, I am still a skater, though not rolling as frequently as I once was. I am passionate about promoting safer braking technologies and I continue to sell Get Rolling the Beginner’s Guide to Inline Skating all over the world.