What led up to this:

So I think most of us can admit that the last year-and-a-half has been an interesting one for a plethora of reasons. Alongside the implications and devastation associated with COVID-19, life went on and still created additional obstacles for many and I was not one to escape those obstacles. Earlier this year, I came out of a nearly 8-year relationship after breaking up with my fiance. Our wedding had been scheduled for March of 2020 and just 2 weeks prior, we wound up having to cancel out of precaution for the burgeoning virus. Life went on afterwards and we were not at all devastated by having to cancel - in fact, we wound up deciding to not have a wedding at all. But the year following was a novel one and I was presented with a lot of opportunities to reflect on what I might want for myself moving forward. Ultimately, my partner and I agreed that we wanted different things and that ending the relationship would be best for both of us.

While my relationship wasn’t something that defined who I was, it was still a big part of my life and the adjustment over the last few months (we broke up in March of 2021) has not been easy. It would not have been easy in a “normal” situation but the pandemic and its resulting social isolation added an extra layer of fun for me! I am living alone for the first time ever, having always had roommates/housemates or my partner in the past. In this time, cycling became a mainstay for me.

Bikes have been a part of my life since I was a kid. The first bike I ever had was a pink Barbie bike with training wheels, pedal brakes and streamers. My parents were strict and overtly paranoid about my being kidnapped (despite living in a quiet, safe suburb), so I was only permitted to ride my bike two houses down. I would dutifully turn around in the driveway of that house (owned by an older woman, Lynn, who lived alone and was always kind to us), pedal back to my own driveway and repeat the cycle. Block parties, where our street would be closed to traffic, were the most exciting since I had more space to cruise around. One year, I had pedaled away from my family on the Barbie Bike, only to be found by my uncle, who was quite upset, and basically just dragged me on my bicycle back to my house, the pedals spinning and my legs unable to keep up.

Eventually, the Barbie Bike was passed onto my younger sister and I graduated to what I thought at the time was the COOLEST maroon mountain bike. Not long after, my brother and his friends got into the BMX scene, which meant I too was rolling my mountain bike over the plastic ramps we would set up on the sidewalks. I spent my summers riding around the neighborhood with my childhood friend, Danielle, and my dad and uncle would take my siblings, cousins and me on rides on the Jones Beach bike path on Long Island (a luxury I took for granted for far too long and I can’t believe that we survived that ride as children because it’s difficult at times as an adult!).

Bikes took a bit of a back seat while I was in college and graduate school but made their grand return with my 2014 purchase of a Tidal Green Trek 7.2 FX performance hybrid bicycle. This bike was exactly what I needed to get back into riding - something with a comfortable riding position, not a true performance bike with an outrageously aggressive position but not a beach cruiser either. I slowly began to build up my miles, riding the really lovely trails that I had easy access to from my home on Long Island, and even got to planning vacations where I could bring my bike to ride around and explore.

A stop at the Alchemist in Stowe, VT. We spent the rest of the weekend riding our bikes through Burlington, VT and Montreal, QC.

After some time, I wanted to challenge myself with longer rides and because I’m someone who loves shopping and buying new things, I began thinking about purchasing a road bike. This happened during the spring of 2020, the height of the pandemic, when everyone had the same idea as me. I was able to snag an appointment at my local bike shop but the very young employee tasked with helping me for this purchase was fairly hasty during her time with me. I quickly settled on the Trek Domane AL3, in part because it was in stock in my size and who knew when that would happen again, and because it was in my price range, but mostly because I am impulsive and need instant gratification (an attribute of mine that I try to work on but has since seen little improvement). And just in case anyone was wondering, my younger sister again inherited my old bike.

Celebratory birthday bike ride! June 2020.

Since buying this bike, my riding has changed and certainly for the better; longer rides have become a goal, but not in a competitive sense - rather to find out how much I can truly do and see with this bicycle. Recently, and to combat some of the issues resulting from the slightly impulsive purchase of my road bike, I had my bike fit at Redbeard Bikes in Brooklyn (hoping to do a post on this experience - I have a lot of plans for this blog but I wonder how many will actually come to fruition…). My longer rides are so much more enjoyable after having been able to address some ongoing issues with foot, vulva and neck pain.

Anyway, my ultimate plan for this space is to document my journey with my bikes (having just purchased a second one [n+1], a 38 cm Surly Pack Rat) and maybe some other things that happen in life. I am working on teaching myself more about maintenance and general mechanics so I hope to include that part of my experience as well. The intent is to add some humor into the mix, since I always seem to end up in one ridiculous situation or another.

I also wanted to make myself and riders similar to me a little more visible in the cycling community. Even though I can go on long rides, I still consider myself somewhat of a beginner and know that I have so much to learn to feel more confident and capable. I still find myself intimidated by a lot of the riders, often white men, who I come into contact with - my history of solo rides can attest to this, as I still have yet to find a bike crew to call my own. Even entering a bike shop can be a nerve-wracking scenario, creating unique barriers for less experienced riders (who fall into a million sub-categories of their own: trans, queer and non-binary people, people of color, women, people with differing physical abilities, etc.). There is so much more to cycling than the competitive side of it and I’m hoping to share that in an accessible, helpful and hopefully hilarious way. This was long and I don’t blame you if you didn’t read the whole thing.