Like many members of the Tri Team, I had not owned my own road bike—nor had I ever ridden one—before joining the Tri Team. Although I had been taught how to ride a bike as a kid, I soon learned that road bike riding was much more difficult to conquer than meets the eye. The Spring of 2019, the end of my first year on the Tri Team, was my introduction to road bike riding. I was eager to learn and was looking forward to plenty of rides with the team over the course of the term. I had been allocated one of the bikes owned by the team, but with one small caveat: the bike was missing a front wheel. Until a new wheel arrived, I was confined to practices in the spin room.
As I patiently awaited the day when my bike was in commission, I soon reached the point where I could no longer wait for my first chance to ride outside. I was so desperate that I even showed up to an outdoor ride practice on a Zagster bike—a bike similar to what I would imagine a 4th grader rides around the neighborhood in. With my water bottle rattling in the front basket, I sped into our meeting place in front of the gym steps. The other riders looked at me with a combination of confusion, disgust, and amusement, and Russell, the sage upperclassmen leading the ride, told me my bike was not safe and sentenced me up to the spin room. I was livid, to say the least, as I marched up the steps, knowing that I was missing out yet again on an outdoor ride, although looking back I know this was the right decision.
By the time the wheel for my bike arrived, we were just days away from Season Opener, our team’s spring race. This meant I was not going to be able to ride my bike before the race and, more importantly, practice clipping in and out of it. Jackson, our equipment manager and bike guru, reassured me I would figure it out pretty quickly, and I believed him—how hard could it be? (Very hard, in fact.) I went into our race expecting things to be fine. They were not. To quote Michael Scott, “I knew exactly what to do, but in a much more real sense I had no idea what to do”. After laboring for a minute at the start of the bike leg, I finally managed to clip into my pedals. At the first big hill, I nearly fell over from not knowing how to shift my gears. In spite of my complications, I was having the time of my life. I (sort of) got the hang of things, gathered my bearings, and gained confidence as the ride progressed.
I cruised into the dismounting area at the end of the leg, thrilled that I had survived. As I attempted to dismount, I found that I could not fully unclip, however, and my struggling caused me to plummet over into the grass. I began to writhe in pain as cramps surged through both of my calves. A few people came over to check on me, but I waved them off as I laughed at my ineptitude. After a minute of stretching out, I dropped off my bike in the transition area, began the run leg, and finished the race.
After the Season Opener, I was at last able to go on outdoor rides with the team, falling over a few more times and getting a flat tire along the way. All the while, I discovered that biking was something I loved doing. Since then, I was fortunate enough to get my own road bike and practice plenty on my own, developing as a rider and experiencing the joys of the open road.
This spring, I was greatly anticipating a full season of outdoor rides with the Tri Team, along with seeing some first-timers get acclimated on road bikes —hopefully more smoothly than I did last year. Many of you may have also been looking forward to outdoor rides. Maybe instead you were excited to get back in the pool or spin room this term, to race at Season Opener, to be surrounded by your friends and teammates, or just to eat too much at team dinner. It’s easy to imagine what could have been this spring, but while we all wait at home for everything to return to normal, I advise you all to focus on what you can do now to make the best of this situation. Whether it’s following along with the well-crafted training plan our awesome coaches created for us, posting TikTok fitness challenges on your Instagram story, or just finding the time to get outside and staying active, there are plenty of ways for you to keep in shape and enjoy these next few weeks. Although we will not all be sharing the same Tri Team experience, there will be a time soon where we’ll all have a chance to ride our bikes together. Hang in there Tri Team!
About the Author
Joe Gyorda (second from left) is a ‘22 from southern New Hampshire studying mathematical data science and computer science. Outside of triathlon, Joe loves talking about anything sports-related, spending time with friends and family, and going for runs along the Atlantic coast.
