Bicycle Safety

This is a public service announcement.  I want to share some bicycle safety tips because I obviously wasn't using these tips yesterday when I went out for my ride.

It was a gorgeous morning as my cycling buddy and I head out for a nice ride.  We were almost 4 miles out when we came up to a busy intersection near Fair Oaks Hospital.  As we rolled up to stop, I did what I always have done since I got my clip petals on my bicycle.  I unclip my right shoe off the pedal and lean to the right.  I ALWAYS do this.  I have done this a million times and haven't had a problem.

Flashback to when I bought the pedals this spring.  The guy at the store said, it's best to unclip both feet.  I said, I ALWAYS stop with my right foot down.  It's automatic and I don't see why I would need to unclip both feet.  He said trust me, do it.  You will forget the other foot is clipped in at some point and you will fall.  He said when you fall, it most likely will be at a busy intersection where a ton of cars are sitting there staring at you.

Flash forward to yesterday...Not heeding the important advice of a well trained cyclist, I unclipped my right foot, went to reach for the crosswalk button as I'm chatting away mindlessly to my cycling buddy when all of the sudden my life went into slow motion.  I don't know what happened but I lost my balance and without my left foot loose, I couldn't catch myself as I fell over on my left side.  Who knew that I could get scratched this much for such an "easy" fall.

As the cycling shop guy predicted,  everyone at the light was staring at my stupid ass laying on the path going, what just happened?  Of course my cycling buddy was very sweet and worried..I get up and I'm fine--leg is scraped but not bad.  She says, wow, you are quiet when you fall.  HAHA.  I think because I was chatting all the way to the ground before I knew what was going on.

We keep riding because I am fine and we get to where there is a lot of construction on Fairfax County Parkway.  We have ridden here many times and I know there is a detour on the bike path.  But I was chatting away again and didn't notice the detour sign.

I realize my buddy is is going off to the right and for some reason, I'm not following the right arrow for the detour and I am going to the left.  I try to stop and AGAIN I only unclip my right foot and I skid on the gravel and fell on my left side, this time with momentum  Not good for the knee, the side of my leg that already is bloody and my hip/butt.  At this point, I am laughing because I have never fallen on the bike and in about a 30 minute time period, I have fallen twice.  The second time really hurt.

I picked the gravel off my leg and we rested for a couple a minutes because we are both stunned by the events at this point.

Still smiling after the second accident (you can see the caution cone holding the detour sign off to the side)
Luckily I had my jacket on, so it protected my elbows in the second fall.  Only slight road burn. 

Cut wrist--good reason to NOT wear a bracelet when cycling.  The clip on the bracelet dug into my skin good.

At this point, we are only about 6 miles out, so we decided that it really can't get much worse, so head down the road about 4 more miles to Reston Town Center and enjoyed some Starbucks outside. 

The ride back was very uneventful (thankfully!).  Washing the gravel out of the wounds when I got home was definitely not any fun and neither was cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide after.  Later in the after a beautiful huge bruise on my hip/butt formed around a 1/2 dollar sized road burn.  Good thing bathing suit season is over!

Back home in one piece!

Cycling Tips I learned Yesterday
**Unclip both feet when you come to a stop
**Don't let your conversation with your friend take precedent over paying attention to your surroundings
**When you see a detour sign, follow it
**Don't wear jewelry when cycling
**Remember, shit happens.  Laugh it off and keep going.

By the way, I decided to go to spin class this morning instead of biking outside.  It was a bit more safe!

Annoying Gym Habits

Anyone who works out at a gym can attest to the many annoying habits of fellow members.   I am sure that the people who are doing annoying things are annoyed by things that I do (not that I could think of any, though).

Here is what I find the most annoying:

1.Men Leering--I am at the gym to workout, not to impress anyone.  I show up with no makeup on, hair pulled up all crazy and I'm all sweaty.  When a guy stares lasciviously at me during my workout, it makes me quite uncomfortable.  Yes, people are going to look at each other, but when a guy does a neck turn that would make the exorcist girl look like a sissy, then there is an issue.  (Yes Creeper, you know I am talking about you.  Stop staring and me and my friend and stop asking her where the nearest Starbucks is.  She knows but she won't tell you).

Source: Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Thinkstock

 

2.Not wiping down equipment--Do I really need to go into detail on this?  I mean, really.  You just sweat all over the machine and you walk away.  I have to bite my tongue when I see this happen.  It's so disgusting.  No one wants to walk up to a machine and see that it's covered in your sweat.  Were you raised in a barn?  This is why there are paper towels and bottles of cleaning products throughout the gym.  USE IT!

Source: Gold's Gym

 

3.Talking on the phone--I am ALL for multitasking.  But I really don't need to hear you chatting away on the phone next to me during my workout.  What makes it worse is that I have my headphone in with 'Lil Wayne rapping in my ear and I can STILL hear your conversation clearly.  That is a problem.  (Yes Creeper, I'm talking about you again.  I'm not impressed that you can workout on the stairmaster while chatting it up with your besties).

Source: all-notes.com

4.Space-- This may be just one of my quirks, but this really gets me pissed.  I'll get on the stairmaster.  There is no one else on the row and I'm at the end, out of 6 stairmasters.  Someone comes along and gets on the one right next to me.  What is that???  Can't you at least put one machine in between us?    This happened the other day when I was on the elliptical and there are about 20 of them in a row.  There were people on others but this guy got on one right next to me when he could have easily put a 4-5 machine distance between us.  I really didn't feel so bad when my sweat was flying off my arm onto him.  That's the risk he took by getting on a cardio machine so close to me.

 

5.Nosy Neighbors--A couple of weeks ago, it was crowded in the morning and my friend and I had to get on the elliptical next to someone.  I was right next to this older gentleman.  Because we were right next to him and chatting, I made sure I kept my voice down to not disturb him, even though he had his headphones in. (See, I'm quite courteous in my gym etiquette!)    After we were done, my friend mentioned that throughout our workout, he kept looking at our screens and was fully engaged in our conversation.  Plus he immediately took his headphones out when we got on the machines. Bizarre. Our conversations are always exciting so I can see that he wanted to hear all he details, so I hope he enjoyed it.  But the thing that annoys me is  looking at our screens.  Mind your own business.  You don't need to know what level I am on, what my heart rate is or how many calories I have burned.  Do your workout and stop looking over!

I am sure there are more habits that I am not thinking of right now, but those are the things that annoy me most at the gym.

The next time you go to the gym, please be courteous to your fellow members!  It's  not that much to ask!

Car Karaoke song for today (Surprised Fairfax? You didn't know I speak Korean!):

"Op op op op
Oppa Gangnam Style
Gangnam Style

Op op op op
Oppa Gangnam Style


Eh- Sexy Lady
Op op op op
Oppa Gangnam Style"

--Psy, Gangnam Style

**Disclosure: Do not worry, my hands were on the wheel the whole time I was singing this in the car.  I wasn't doing Psy's dance.  If you haven't seen the video, it's a must see. Hilarious. Thanks to my friend's son, I have Gangnam Style in my head constantly now.

Don't Take His Spin Bike, or Else!

Everyone has their quirks.  I am the first to admit I am pretty darn quirky.  But I couldn't believe over the past couple of Saturday's how a grown ass man was acting about getting "HIS" spin bike in class.

I'll first start by stating again, this is a grown man acting like this, but I have declared him 1st Bike Boy (henceforth known as 1BB).  1BB loves spin class as I do, so I see him a couple times a week at the gym.  I did notice that he sat on the first bike up front in the spin room.  Like I said, we all have our quirks; I sit in the same general location every spin class but I don't have a bike that is "mine". 

Well, 1BB thinks that the first bike is his and only his.  If someone shall dare to come near it or try to take it, watch out.

Source: afcfitness.com

 



A couple of Saturdays ago, I was standing outside the spin room with 2 other regulars waiting for the instructor.  1BB had his stuff piled by the door to ensure that he was the first one in (?? I am assuming) but was nowhere to be found.  The one lady (we'll call her Fan Girl, but that is another story for another day) told me how she took the first bike once and 1BB told her to get off the bike and it was his bike.  I started laughing thinking she was joking because it's quite obvious to everyone in class this guy is different.  She was totally serious.  She said he went into a long explanation on how he uses that same bike several days a week and he considers it his.  Okay...(And I thought I was strange)

The next Saturday, I was there with another lady and 1BB came running over to see if the instructor was there yet.  He decided to explain to me and the other lady how he has to have that bike.  I was feeling feisty (what me?) so I said, oh sorry but I was going to grab that bike.  I thought 1BB was going to either choke me or faint.  The look of horror on his face was pretty funny.  He said but my stuff was sitting here and I always take that bike.

I quickly told him to chill out and that I was kidding.  The instructor showed up and he was trying to push past her to get in--I told her that he was worried I was going to take his bike.  She rolled her eyes and said, not again.  I guess everyone knows to not take that bike!

I can kind of understand him.  I can get territorial about the gym equipment I use in classes.  You get in a pattern of using the same equipment and it can throw your workout off it you have to change.

I felt 1BB's pain on Monday night when I arrived at boxing and some guy was on the bag I always use.  I walked around a bit confused before I chose a new bag and I felt a little out of sorts during the class.  But I NEVER thought of asking him to move!

On that note, I better finish up and make sure I am ready for boxing tonight so I can get my bag :)


Car Karaoke Song for Today (You are welcome, Fairfax, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did)

"The dog days are over
 The dog days are done
 The horses are coming
 So you better run"

--Dog Days Are Over, Florence + The Machine

Singing Out Loud (and not very well)

I need to make apologies to the cars that were around me earlier as I drove home from the gym with my convertible top down.  I forget sometimes that when the top is down, that people around me can hear my music and can hear me singing.  I saw you looking but I was lost in the moment and couldn't stop singing.

I know that my rendition of Lita Ford's "Kiss Me Deadly" wasn't very good but anyone who saw me would have to admit I put alot of passion into singing it.  It's one of those 80's songs that I just have to keep on my iPod and for some reason every time it comes on, I have to sing it loud.

Music is very important in my life but unfortunately I didn't get the voice to sing.  I have been banned from singing in the house by my husband because the dogs in the neighborhood get crazy when they hear me singing off key and out of tune.  (And half the time I don't know the words so I just make up random ones and pretend its correct).  But I just can't help myself!

There are times at the gym when a great song comes on and I just want to sing.  I think I may even sing out loud because I see people staring over at me.  Is it wrong that I just pretend it didn't happen and keep going?  I have my headphones on so I'm not really sure if I am singing loud enough for someone to hear me.  Well, no one has kicked me out of the gym yet, so I'll just keep it up.

Until it gets too cold for me to have my convertible top down, watch out for the car karaoke going on if you see me on the road.  You never know what I may be singing....

Kiss me once....Kiss me twice...come on pretty baby kiss me deadly....
---Lita Ford, Kiss Me Deadly