Saturday, February 28, 2009

A battle to be won!

Yesterday, a war was waged. It was me....


versus THESE shoes!!!!
No problem, right? How hard can this be? Though Paul lost once, I've seen him win this fight over and over. I knew the theory behind the winning strategy, and even practiced once, knowing that I should be mindful.
HERE is our battlefield. Notice the new pedals!

HERE is the result of our first battle...

The BATTLESCAR!!

Witness authentic battle damage!!!

Here is a huge scuff mark on my BRAND NEW saddle. This seat had been on the bike for less than an hour. Good thing it's a bit more comfy than the last one, cuz there's no returning it now!


It was a tough defeat, landing on the pavement in front of my house. I was worried that this would happen, and for a minute there, I had it under control. Then CRASH! I'm pretty sure the last time I fell off my bike was probably 27 years ago or more. Canon and Paul witnessed the whole thing, and though Paul was probably trying hard not to laugh, Canon was very concerned about Mommy's owie! I was laughing too, though, despite the scrape on my knee and the huge bruises on my butt and left triceps.

Here's a quick rundown of how it all happened. I got these new cycling shoes in the mail yesterday afternoon. Paul ran down to the local cycling shop to get some clipless pedals to go with them and installed the pedals and my new seat while I finished up work for the afternoon. As mentioned, I practiced clipping in and out a few times before taking it for a spin, so as I was finishing up my first trial run, I clipped out of the right pedal, then the left. Unfortunately, as I moved the left pedal down in order to dismount the bike, I accidentally (and unknowingly) clipped back in. Then, once the bike was stopped and I attempted to put my left foot down, instead of my foot going down, my entire body and the bike just toppled over while I was still attached to the bike! Oh, if only we'd been video taping it! I'm sure I'd laugh my head off! But, OUCH!!! The next time my boys come up to me with scraped knees and hands, I'm sure I'll be much more sympathetic, because it really does hurt a lot! I did jump back on the bike and managed to clip in and out successfully a good 4-5 times. The first battle may have been lost, but no way was I going to lose the war!

The saddest part though, is the scratches on my pretty new bike. As you can see, my handle bar and seat got the worst of it. It really is too bad, but I'm not too worried about it. Really, what can you do?!

Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to have the world share in my shame! If you try wage this war yourself, practice more than once, and make sure you're riding near some grass. It's just softer than gravelly concrete.

6 comments:

Mandy said...

Oh my!!! I can't help but giggle remembering the last crash I had on my bike....I was riding with my brother and I was gawking for a cute guy...totally lost control and off into a deep ditch/gully. Not only was I totally mortified but my brother turned around to see if I was keeping up and I was just gone...disappeared into thin air. Then he sees me lifting the bike and myself out of the ditch and hoping no-one else had seen....he laughed for a very long time...and quite honestly is still laughing...as am I. I am sorry about your battle wounds...but they heal!:) You look great BTW-- <3 M

jina carter said...

That is too funny! Good thing I hadn't seen it from my lawn because I probably would have laughed and then felt bad for laughing at you. I had no idea that they had pedals like that. If it were me....I would probably happen more than once so I really shouldn't be laughing at you. It's good to hear that you didn't get hurt too bad. Can you imagine if you were at a traffic light and dismounting your bike to walk across the crosswalk and that happened? THAT would have been BAD!

Emily said...

Um...ouch. You poor thing. So sorry that you got hurt. I am glad that you got right back on the horse though...you are amazing!

Molly said...

Thanks for the laugh. Once my shoelace got caught around my pedal and the same thing happened. I don't think anyone saw me, but if they did they could have laughed along with me.

Alisha M said...

I just wanted to say that you are getting so thin! I'm sorry that you had an accident though. That sucks!

Rachelle@atticgals.blogspot.com said...

Ouch! We all need war stories to tell. Now you have one.