Fake Shape: Stationary Biking v. Real Biking

Last week, I got on my road bike for the first time since my skiing injury last December. I had been am an avid cyclist. (I am not sure which tense to use in that sentence yet.)

Last weekend, I rode about 13 miles and the next day I felt like I had done half a century (aka 50 miles). I felt the smallest changes in grade, and shifted gears constantly to adjust. I thought maybe I was tired after my first substantial trip and then I'd feel more energetic on the road later in the week.

Nope. I was pooped after a few short road rides this week. This is after spending all of the winter riding the stationary bike indoors for at least forty-five minutes a day. I had thought that riding on the road would be easy after all of my indoor work. Nope. Here I was, riding forty-five minutes a day and thinking I was getting into great shape. Before my accident, I used to exercise regularly--walking my dog, biking, hiking, skiing, doing yoga and whatnot, but I never made a point of getting forty-five minutes of cardio every day like I have been.

I felt like I had been riding a fake bike and I was getting into fake shape. Riding the road bike wasn't impossibly hard, but noticeably harder. I didn't want any kind of harder. I wanted to get on my bike and tear up the road. My exercise routine on the indoor bike for the past few months had been second rate compared to the real thing of riding on the road.

It was like I was eating margarine instead of butter, carob instead of chocolate. Drinking Sanka instead of Starbucks, Cook's instead of Veuve Clicquot. It was like finding out a ring had a cubic zirconia stone instead of a diamond, iron pyrite instead of gold. It was like I was playing with Flegos (i.e., fake legos) instead of Legos.

For the past few months, I had thought I was rocking it when I was really a slug. And my knee is talking to me again. The plum is back. My knee is stiff, my arms are sore from needing to steer and ice is my best friend again. It was bad and I was depressed.

I told Evan about my road biking experience, and he wasn't surprised.

"People ask me right after their surgery if they can ride a road bike and I tell them to stick the stationary bike for a reason," he said. "Baby steps. This recovery is all about baby steps."

Oy. And so it is. He is right, and I will continue to slog on the road.