What can I say? I LOVE being a woman! I can’t imagine being able to concentrate on all the balancing, pedalling, weight on seat stuff if I was worrying about squishing sensitive bits of my anatomy. It helps that I have an airseat, but we’ll see just how sore I am tomorrow morning. I can’t believe how easy this is turning out to be. Not quite as easy as falling off a log or anything, but not nearly as hard as I thought it would be.
Now on to the technical stuff:
I picked the coker up from Craig yesterday. It has new pedals, the 6 inch cranks, an airseat (what a blessing) and I also acquired a spare seatpost as the one he had on was just too long for me. This morning I put on the shorter seatpost, sat down in a chair, and got the seat height right. That was the easy part.
I donned my protective gear (knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, helmet) and, feeling a lot like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, set out on the path to riding a coker. My front garden is paved so that is where my journey began. I was ably assisted by my brother, without whose assistance I would probably not be writing this now. Balanced between the wall and Leslie I set off where I have never gone before.
It was such fun! I put in 3 15 minute sessions, and have only called it quits because I had to mow the lawn as there is a storm coming. I might squeeze another 15 minutes in later, if the weather holds, but I want to post this before the lightning starts. I have progressed from hanging on to Les for dear life while clinging to the windowsill, security gate, and windowsill, to lightly touching the wall and just bouncing my hand off Les as I go. My dismounts are getting better and I’m sort of managing a supported hop up type mount. Basically, put seat in crotch, put foot on pedal, brace self on wall, grab tyre with free hand, pull tyre backwards while hopping up to put other foot on the pedal. Leslie does agree that I’m not the dead weight I was at the beginning, but that my language leaves a lot to be desired.
I ditched the knee and elbow pads after the first session, but I’ll probably put them back on when I strike out into open paving. I have been diligently alternating feet so when I finally learn to freemount I’ll be able to do it with both feet equally well. Currently I’m doing better with my right foot but my left foot is catching up quickly.
I’m also wondering about how much my tyre should be inflated. It seems pretty firm to the squeeze, but once I get into the seat it seems to squish out quite a lot. I don’t think I’m that heavy (67kg or about 148 pounds for the non-metric among us). I did do a search through old posts and it seems that 50psi (I assume that’s pounds per square inch, approximately 3.4 bar) it pretty standard. I’ll probably pop the coker in my boot and get it inflated at the garage the next time I stop for petrol.
As an aside, I need to get a bigger car. I thought I had a pretty big boot (I drive a Kia Shuma) but I had to fold down one of the back seats to get the coker in.
I was wondering why my thumbs were sore, then I realised that I’d been using them to grip on to the windowsills. DUH!
Jayne
Is an unmown lawn dangerous in a storm or what?
