Breaking In My Ass

I had forgot that the single hardest thing about starting to cycle is breaking in your ass. Yesterday was my first day out on the bike again in about 3 years. Just a short ride. Maybe 2 miles.

Many skills I earned before have atrophied. I am not as stable on the bike as I had been. I am not as comfortable taking corners at speed as I used to be. Starting off at a red light and clipping in while accelerating across a busy intersection is more nerve wracking than it used to be.

I remember having to learn that skill before, actually. It is slightly different from clipping in normally. First of all, when you start off at most intersections they are slightly uphill. Not usually anything steep, or even anything you would notice if you were already moving. But starting off uphill, no matter how much, is harder because you don't get as much momentum from a single crank as you would going downhill or on a flat surface, especially at my current girth to muscle mass ratio. Which means you need to clip in faster.

And clipping in itself is a bit of a trick if you aren't used to it. You have to position the pedal to line up with the clip attached to the bottom of your shoe. And if you don't get it lined up by the time you have to push down, you wind up having to push down with the shoe instead of with the clip on the shoe. And if your shoes have a slick bottom surface like mine do, instead of something with some texture, your shoe will invariable wind up slipping off the pedal instead of actually pushing down on the crank.

My skills have atrophied. It isn't like riding a bike (har, har.) So many things you pick up from endless hours of practice are quickly lost. I was out for less than 15 minutes yesterday, less than 20 minutes today, and already my ass is screaming at me.