Have I Mentioned Lately That I Love My New Bike?

Or rather, after riding my new bike (flats and all), I so much prefer it to my other options.

Today there was a sidewalk chalk activity for kids downtown. Since we're less than two miles away, I thought I'd take the bike with the kid seat on the back.

Now, despite the multiple times I've ridden bikes not purchased specifically and/or sized specifically for me, I decided to take my husband's old bike because it's the only one with the kid seat and the kid seat is not easily transferrable to other bikes--in fact, it won't fit at all on mine.

I cleaned it off, put some air in the tires, and set off. My daughter was immediately having a blast. Me? Not so much. To say the bike doesn't fit me is an understatement. Also, the saddle is clearly not designed for women and/or the angle my body was at on the bike means it wasn't going to work for me regardless.

Ideally, when standing with feet flat and straddling the cross bar of the bike, you should be able to lift the bike so there is at least a little bit of what I refer to as "crotch clearance." This bike has zero for me. In other words, all my stops had better be planned and executed carefully so as to prevent some pretty personal bruising.

Ideally, when sitting on the bike and reaching feet for the ground, your toes should be able to touch on both sides. If the seat is too high, it needs to be adjusted down. Well, this seat is as low as it can go and I can reach the tips of my shoes, but not so much my actual toes. In other words, when carefully executing a planned stop, there will ideally be a curb to one side so I can reach, and if not, then preferably grass in case of impact.

Ideally, when pedaling a bicycle, the leg should nearly straighten at the bottom of the pedal cycle. Since this bike is too big for me and the seat is down low, my legs had an action similar to an adult pedaling a tricycle. Every time a leg came up, it hit me in the chest, which is actually quite an accomplishment considering it had to squish over my stomach to get there.

Add in that the handlebars were not close enough, I can't swing my leg over the seat because there's a kid seat on the back (which makes for some good entertainment watching me mount/dismount the bike), and I had a four-year-old sitting on the back laughing that she could hit my bottom, and it was not the most comfortable cycling arrangement.

But I was determined to get in some "moderate" exercise, so I rode downtown to the sidewalk chalk event, then we rode further to get lunch, and then I rode home. I was getting pretty tender in the hindquarters (due to the saddle, not any unplanned stops), yet for some dumb reason I asked my daughter if she wanted to go through the "jungle" on the way home (her term for the little tiny greenspace park in our neighborhood).

As I rattled and skidded over the gravel, I was able to set aside the "way to go, stupid, this bumpy gravel hurts more than the pavement" thoughts very quickly when I realized that although I was riding a mountain bike, I have very little experience on gravel, and on top of that, mountain bike or no, I don't think that activity is recommended when you have a child seat filled with 30 pounds of kid on the back.

Way to go, genius.

The only major mishap was when I went to pick up the bike after setting it down while I was talking to a neighbor. Instead of standing up like I expected, it skidded and the front chain ring slammed into my ankle bone.

I got home, pulled off my sweaty clothes, stuck my head in some cold water, and put a band-aid on my ankle.

The sad thing is, I actually had a lot of fun today and so did my daughter. But I really don't want to ride on that bike again, since I'm so spoiled with my new bike.