Bike Basics with Patrick Joson

Twice this week, this newbie biker girl attended Bike Basics sessions with Patrick Joson.  Like I’ve said before, I am the most clueless person I know when it comes to bikes, so Pat’s invitation couldn’t have come at a better time.

Patrick started our one-on-one session by teaching me the parts of the bike (so that’s what a group set is!), mounting and dismounting, rounding corners, and he answered every silly question I had on my mind.  For the second session later this week, we went on a 20k bike trip around the village along with Stella, another female student. I got to familiarize myself with the gears, trying my best not to fall (or bump into a car!) while I peeked at the gears I was using.  We were allowed to wear running shoes—no cleats yet, Thank. You. Lord!—so I was able to enjoy every single minute. Hmmm…perhaps enjoy is an understatement.  While biking, I wore a huge smile on my face thinking: Uh oh, I seriously can get obsessed with this!

Can I just say?  Learning how to bike for triathlon is so different from the way my brothers taught me how to bike on my pink BMX when I was 10.  Oh, you already knew that, didn’t you?  There was definitely a lot of brain work involved: What leg do I lift when I’m making a left turn?  Is my forefoot planted on the pedals properly?  Wait—how do you dismount again?  But, that was part of the fun. Getting all technical with the bike and not just winging it in the next tri.  Challenging myself with a new skill that scares me to death. And, last but not the least, proving to myself that  I’m never ever going to be too old to learn new tricks.

Here’s to more bike adventures to come!

For running/biking/triathlon sessions with Coach Patrick Joson, call 0917-5277141 or email patrickjoson(at)gmail.com