Cycling: Learning How to Bike

I learned how to ride a bike when I was 7.  Bear in mind that I grew up in Hoboken, which is very dense urban.  And so learning to ride a bike without training wheels by 7 is perfectly acceptable.  I am now learning how to ride a bike again; that is a cyclocross bike with clip in pedals.  The clip in shoes give you more power an stability while riding, however it is a different mental process to move your heels away from your body to disengage the shoe from pedal...

From Wikipedia:

Cyclo-cross ... is a form of bicycle racing... consists of many laps of a short (2.5–3.5  km or 1.5–2  mile) course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike while navigating the obstruction and remount.^[1][2] ... The sport is strongest in the traditional road cycling countries such as Belgium (and Flanders in particular), France and the Netherlands.

Am I planning on racing, why no.  However, I developed a love of spinning at the gym in December when it became too cold in Bentonville to run outside.  And being the person that I am, I now want to try spinning, outside.  Plus, The BF used to race professionally, so really there is no reason not to try it out (except perhaps the cost...)


The BF as it turns out, has been planning for this love of mine for at least a year and has slowly assembled bike parts so that he might build me a snazzy bike.  The final pieces were bought from Phat Tire Bike Shop (Our favorite) including they Surly Cross Check frame in robins egg blue (my favorite color).


It should be noted that my bike is a "custom build" since the BF put together all of the components in the garage.  There were some parts that he needed special tools for and then we went to Phat Tire for help from their mechanics.  Their new location at the Massey has a full bike bar where you can sit while they work on your bike!