Note: This post is part of the Year of 40 series, where I embarked on a year-long challenge to explore a new hobby each month. The first post which explains the premise and reasons behind the Year of 40 challenge can be found here.
After a slow start in the first month, I was determined to choose a Month 2 activity with a lower barrier to entry. I had a busy month ahead, so I needed something that I could do during spare pockets of time and that didn’t depend on anyone else’s schedule. After much consideration, I decided on biking. Biking looked fun, and I liked that it was outdoors and active. Plus, I already had a little e-bike, so I wouldn’t have to spend any money. Technically, I did know how to ride a bike, although I was not a confident biker. This challenge would force me to embrace my fears of biking in traffic. Maybe if I turned out to love cycling, I thought, then I could also learn to love swimming, and then I could even train for a triathlon one day. Funny how the imagination can run wild. Apparently my fantasy self is one that does triathlons.
Soon it was time for the rubber to hit the road, literally. My first ride was a biking date with Menzies around the Lake Hodges area, which was a nice gentle start and a good way to get reacquainted with the bike. Soon after, in a burst of motivation, I did a solo bike ride covering 18 miles along a bike path next to the highway heading towards the beach. It was not strenuous due to the assist from the e-bike, which was probably why I found it peaceful, and probably also why I kept eyeing the runners on the route with some envy. Afterwards, I noted that while I enjoyed trying a new route in a low-key way, I didn’t think biking was going to be my new thing. I didn’t make it out on a bike again until a month later, when I went out for a late morning ride with a friend and took a hard spill on the road. I was turning right at a busy intersection when my wheels slid, and I went down hard with the bike. I landed on my right butt and outer thigh and skidded on the asphalt. Luckily, besides a bruised thigh and scraped up right hand, my actual injuries were minimal. My Apple Watch actually bore the brunt of the force from the fall and shattered into a million pieces. I did get back on the bike and finish biking to lunch that day…but I haven’t been on a bike since.
Not an actual pic of me, but a pretty accurate representation of how I feel about biking. Oof. 0-for-2 in the Year of 40 challenge thus far.
Lessons learned: Don’t choose something just because it has a low barrier to entry, if it’s not something that you really want to do. Also, it was another month where I struggled to fit my new hobby into my schedule in a consistent way.
As I wrote in my journal, “Can only go up from here… right?”