sweat, dizziness and brand new tyres
Dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, chest ache… not having a rapid test to hand, I was forced to surmise that the sudden onset of these symptoms were the consequence not of omicron, but of finally being back on my bike after 10 days of abstinence. Eish. As my mother says: “Old age is not for sissies” (but in fairness, she was referring to my late grandmother, bedridden at 92, and not her [relatively] spry 33-year-old son).
During this cycling hiatus, induced by a flat (and my refusal to be a grown up and figure out how to replace an inner tube), I dropped the bike off at Sports Basement en route to the Napa valley. While I spent the weekend stuffing my face with Cab Sauv, my bike got hardy new tyres and cleats-compatible pedals, as well as getting cleaned, greased and lubed up (pedal squeak begone!).
If I had known that using cleats would be the doddle it’s turned out to be, I would’ve made the switch months ago—it’s wondrously more efficient. An object lesson, I guess, in the perils of status quo bias.
THIS WEEK’S FACTS AND FIGURES
Total distance: A truly abysmal 36.69 (km) | ~22.8 (mi)
Number of rides: A shameful 2 (promise to do better next week!)
Number of times I fell off while learning to use cleats: 0
Percentage of fundraising target raised: Still 69%… tell your friends to donate! 😜
Time left till AIDS/Lifecycle: 19 weeks (eek)