Air Conditioning on Wheels

After having another set-back with my foot last week, I decided (once again) to stay off of it for a while.

My faithful back up? Mr. Bike. Ummm... don't think too much about the whole gender thing I have going for my bike...

Every time I ride my bike, I am reminded of one of the funniest blog posts ever. The blog post to which I am referring is titled Nice Guys and Bad Boys. This post, written by Cindi (a.k.a. Alice) over at HefferBlog, compared running to bike riding. Bike riding is the "Nice Guy" and running is -you guessed it- the "Bad Boy".

I have to agree with Cindi. Bike riding (at least for me in my cautious, inexperienced manner) is the Nice Guy. When I ride my bike, I don't hurt. I do feel my muscles working but my heel doesn't bother for days after a bike ride. When I ride my bike, my knees don't feel like one wrong move will put me out of commission for a while (unless I crash, of course).

Like a girl who is dating two guys at once (by the way, I was never so lucky!), I find myself comparing the two sports and trying to figure out which one is the one for me. Fortunately, I don't have to choose one or the other. I do, however, feel like I need to be more committed to one than the other.

Here is what I like about bike riding:

• I love feeling the nice, cool air that blows past me as I ride.
• I love being able to go fast(er).
• It's fun going down hills!
• There are built-in breaks... in other words, there are times when I get to just coast.
• I love my butt-cushioned shorts (by Canari)... believe me, these are a MUST if you ride a bike!
• It's fun going down hills!
• I don't worry as much about being chased down by dogs or coyotes.
• I don't fear being yanked into a non-descript windowless, white van... as much.
• The bike carries my water bottle, not me.
• It's fun going down hills!

Here is what I don't really like:

• The gears. I really think I am doing something wrong.
• I'm afraid of the cars on the road.
• I don't feel like I have as much control... in other words, I have to rely on a contraption that has nothing to protect me from leaving a trail of my skin on the pavement, breaking bones, or hitting my head. And all I have to balance on are 2 two-inch wide spinning circles.
• I need both hands to ride, so if I want to take pictures I have to stop. For example, yesterday I ran over a dead snake on my bike. I didn't mean to and I'm glad I'm not the one who killed it... but if I had been running I would have taken a picture to show my Running Blogger Friends. But then, if I had been running, I would not have tread on it.

So, am I "Biker" now? Nah. Will I ever be? Mmmm... never say never, right?

I prefer to think of myself as a runner who also rides a bike. Heck, all I have to do now is start swimming and I can do a triathlon.

Hmmmm...

By the way, these are the Canari shorts I have:

I like them because they are baggy... and baggy is good. They have compression shorts underneath and gel cushions in all the right places.

They also have... ta-da!... riding skorts:

How cute is this? I love my running skirts so I've gotta to get one of these if I'm going to keep riding.

Until next time, my friends! Meanwhile, I'll be catching up on your blogs.