The first ride

Yesterday on an overcast and chilly morning, I got up and out of my apartment to go on a bike ride with strangers. It was a Portland community bike ride for beginner cyclists, looking to explore the city and learn how to ride in a group, or so I thought. I drove my bike for ten minutes to the park meet-up spot because I was too anxious to ride there alone. Not wanting to look super inexperienced, I parked a block away, threw on my rain jacket, gloves, and helmet, and biked to the park. Trying to appear confident and like a cyclist I looked for the group of other newbies I would be joining. The only group I could see was a group of people in matching yellow cycling jackets, with fancy road bikes (the ones with curved handlebars), and everyone over sixty. This couldn’t be my group ride, I was expecting the average cyclist, maybe a mom or a few middle-aged people trying to get back out there.

I nervously approached the fancy biking group and found out that yes, I was on the list for this “newbie” cycling group. I awkwardly waited around in my bright blue Hoka tennis shoes and joggers while the group put on their heated gloves, and glasses, and clipped in (the bike shoes that clip into the pedals). I was sweating. A sweet older man asked if I was new (he didn’t need to ask it was apparent by my age and vibe) and he proceeded to tell me that he had been a member of this group for thirty years and had ridden 10,000 (that is not a typo) miles with this group just this year. Shit, now I was really sweating. The leader rounded up the group and we took off for our twenty-mile ride. Side note: let me be clear and say that twenty miles was a stretch. I recently got into biking and my longest ride was ten miles on the stationary gym bike earlier that week. Thinking that this was a group of newbies I didn’t expect it to be a problem, assuming we would go slow and take breaks. After talking to a few cyclists in the first few miles I quickly learned I was in the correct group. They welcomed newbies and we would take the ride at a beginner pace, but this was also a cycling club and they didn’t really have newbies. Everyone on the ride that day had been part of the club for years and most rode thousands of miles together. Even if they were over sixty they were all fit as hell.

So now that I have set the scene of intimidation, I’m going to spoil the ending and tell you that I did it! I cycled the twenty miles (even if I was at the back), ate an almond croissant during a bakery break (they did take breaks, phew), used my kickstand (apparently fancy cyclists don’t have kickstands?), and even made a couple of new friends. The biggest lesson I learned from yesterday is that it’s not embarrassing to be seen trying. I could have easily decided to just bike on by when I saw the group of intimidation. But what I thought at that moment was, I’m going to have to do it now or later. I want to become a cyclist. I want to be that cool woman who goes on long bike rides and has all the gear. But it takes a day one. It takes so many steps to get to that place and I don’t want to stop those steps because I don’t feel like I belong. I find it endearing when people show up as their authentic selves. Hopefully, some of the people in that group appreciated my authenticity and vulnerability. I’m sure they were recalling their own day one because everyone has a first ride. What’s your first ride going to be?