Runnerlicious

After a challenging couple of weeks in the bike maintenance, I’m going to throw in the towel and give running a shot.

Consider:

Exhibit A – the Mountain Bike: My teen son has his own mountain bike, but he’s now taller than me so he’s using my mountain bike instead. Lately, he’s decided to get serious about mountain biking as a sport, meaning he’s been using my bike. I don’t normally ride this bike for my commute so it’s not usually a big deal that it’s not available for me to use, but…

Exhibit B – The Road Bike: Those fancy Mavic wheels apparently require proprietary Mavic bladed spokes. I busted a rear spoke two weeks ago and the replacement has been on back order. I’ve been using my old Schwinn dumpster rescue bike to get to work this past couple of weeks, but…

Exhibit C – The old Schwinn: While changing a flat earlier this week, I noticed a scary amount of play in the rear hub. The wheel wiggles a good quarter of an inch around the rear axle. I don’t know what size nuts Schwinn used in the 80s, but my cone wrenches don’t fit. Then, while I biked back from the coffee shop this afternoon, the chain snapped and the rear wheel popped out as I accelerated across an intersection.

I don’t normally defer maintenance, but I don’t have time to deal with this stuff right now. I can catch light rail to within a mile and half of my office, and from there I can run. How hard can it be, right?

So until I fix my bikes, I’ll cover news on running rights, vehicular running technique, running lanes and other facilities, the best running gear bought from the Local Running Shop (LRS), European Running Chic (look good at the office after your run!), the Slow Running Movement, Run Party!, endurance running, lifestyle running, mountain running, hipster runs, Japanese mama jogingu and all the rest. Is there anything like a running equivalent to “Le Velo”?

It’s kinda funny: Byron says he’s going to give running a shot too, but all he has are bib shorts and shoes without toes.

Oh hey, my Interbike pass for Las Vegas next week also gets me into Health & Fitness Business Expo, where I’ll take photos of the runner fashion show.

All I need after that to complete my transformation into a true multisport geek is to add swimming and ridiculously stiff bikes to my repertoire.


Seriously, I won’t become a multisport nerd, though I will run to the office tomorrow. I got into cycling as a teen because my high school track coach told me to ride a bike for cross training. Cycling has been my knee-friendly activity ever since I blew my knees out when I competed as a college scholarship athlete 25 years ago. Let’s see if I can handle a short, 2 km run in the morning. Wish me luck!

10 Comments

  1. Vehicular running technique? Isn’t that blade skating? I look forward to that post early next April.

  2. Really the problem is that you only have 3 bikes. This is why I keep at least 4 working bikes maintained – just in case. I’ll use your example to show my better half proof of why I need these bikes. Thanks!

  3. …ummm, lemme see…running, really ???…( checks calendar )…nope, it’s not april 1…

    …i know you’re kind’ve a religious guy so i’ve gotta share my view that the good lord gave us the intelligence to invent the bicycle so we could be free to use  ’em & thus it’s kinda incumbent on us to maintain ’em, ya ???…

    …i gotta say…richard “fritz” masoner, i am surprised to hear of this turn of events from you, sir !!!…spokesman & arbitrator of all things cyclelicious across the great interwebnet thingy…while work & family are one thing, young man, please, consider the responsibility you bear…

    …i’m also kinda surprised you broke one of those proprietary mavic spokes…my kyserium es’s have never been a problem & i’m no lightweight these days…

    …anyway, i jest with you, amigo (sorta) but get that shit taken care of…

  4. I’ve started running again because my commute is so short. (Three miles each way if I take the long route.)

    At first I was encouraged that maybe my dinky little commute had helped keep me in shape. This weekend I did a three-mile run and a five-mile hike back to back. My legs informed me (and continue to remind me even today) that those pedaling muscles are different from my running muscles. The good news is that my cardio does not seem to have suffered from neglect as much as my running muscles.

    Want to go for a run in Vegas together?

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