I'm proud of my sister!

It seems that lately my ride reports have been more about the people and bikes around me more than myself, but I suppose that’s a sign of my own riding with less fuss and stress. The hills seem smaller and the pace seems easier to do. It’s all starting to feel more of a pootle and less of a struggle to keep up. And even though the incidents are not happening TO me, they are having an impact on my cycling life so here they end up, as posts on my blog.

So once again I have a ride report that’s more about someone else, this time my sister Sara.

As mentioned in my post about Polka Dot Lisa's scary first ride on her new bike, Sara has started cycling with PDL’s previous bike- the Kona Dew Delux. So for Sara’s first ride, our aim was to start her of gently on a bike track by riding down to the Docklands and beyond.

After fitting the bike up for Sara and getting her set up to ride (Lisa’s old helmet which used to be my helmet) we set off. A few laps of the side street to get comfy with the bike and get a feel for the brakes and gears and off we went. PDL was also keen to go for a ride to try and shake off her fears from the day before.

The sun was out and it was a nice day. I rode in short sleeves and it felt nice to feel the breeze against my arms for a change. PDL had on her new Castelli long sleeve jersey with no gillete and she REALLY looked good in her outfit.

Straight away I could see that Sara was awfully slow and it was hard not to streak away from her. Sara hadn’t been on a bike for a LONG time and it showed, but to her credit she showed no real signs of nervousness and seemed pretty confidant despite her lack of fitness or speed. In fact she was even able to reach down and take the drink bottle as she rode almost straight away.

The first hill we hit was the rise after the underpass under Royal Parade and straight away Sara was hurting (she said “Ouch!” as she hit started to climb! LOL). I rode with her and told her to change down gears and spin rather than grind the gears. Eventually she made it and we stopped for a second as Sara caught her breath. Its funny but I can remember my first time down this path and struggling up the same hill, stopping to catch my breath at the top and thinking how unfit I was. My how things change fast!

As we approached Docklands we had to ride along a multi-lane road and cross over 4 lanes of traffic to make a right hand turn. Sara and PDL both followed me with no stress and Sara in particular was totally un-phased about riding on the road.

A quick stop for a drink and bite and we headed off towards Southbank. As I rounded a corner there was a dad with his 10yo daughter on bikes and of course the daughter wobbled straight into my path as I was just a few meters away from her (she wasn’t looking where she was going *sigh*). A slam of the brakes and an emergency unclip saw me come to a stop. The girl looked shocked so I said in a calm but forcible way, “You have to look out for other cyclists” and I then rode off. Sara and PDL who were behind me heard the dad’s response which was to say “well you’re riding awfully fast”. Good one dad, your daughter learnt nothing from that incident, did she?

We rode along the light rail trail to Southbank where we dodged peds on our way to the Yarra trail. Along the Southbank precinct I worked at riding to the 10kph speed limit and boy is was slow- stupidly slow. In front of me at one stage was a man in a motorized wheelchair and even he was doing 11kph. Passing the Hun building, I mentally gave them the finger and that made me feel good.

As we rode past Burnley I gave Sara the option to turn off there and ride back via the roads or keep following the path (the longer way) but she seemed keen to keep going and she was enjoying the ride even tho her backside was hurting.

Approaching Bridge Rd we decided that we had better hightail it home on the main roads as it was getting dark and none of us had brought lights with us except for the rear lights on mine and Sara’s bike. To get up to Bridge Rd from the bike path there was a super steep section of path that ended in steps, but remembering this bit from when I was a kid living in Richmond, I dropped down to my lowest gear and got up on the pedals and rode up as far as the steps. As it was so steep I almost had an incident unclipping but saved it JUST in time. Whew! PDL and Sara walked up and PDL didn’t believe that I rode up. It took much convincing to get her to belive me that I made it that far. Sheesh…

On Bridge Rd and up Burnley Rd, PDL lead the way with Sara in the middle and be behind offering encouragement (she was getting tired at this stage). PDL preferred the ride on the roads and she was starting to feel more comfy on the bike. To me she looked really good on the bike, pedaling very smoothly, riding wobble free and dealing with the traffic fine.

The climb up the hill to Queens Parade was a real struggle for Sara. I sat behind her and told her what gears to press and gave her encouragement to help her keep going. Eventually we made it home and she pumped the air in celebration of completing the ride which turned out to be exactly 30km. Sara said she felt like she had just won a race and I was proud of her. 30km's for a first ride is pretty darn good!

I was pretty surprised that she wanted to go on that far and that she even managed to make it all the way without once walking the bike up a hill. She was sore after the ride but she loved every minute of it. PDL also benefited from the ride as it helped wash away the previous day’s bad experience.

We ended the day by watching the classic cycling movie- “Breaking Away” which inspired me to want to try racing criterion's one day. I can still remember the first time I saw that movie as a 10yo with my parents. At the end when the hero wins the race, the whole cinema cheered out loud. Awesome stuff!

I'm proud of my sister!