Ride and Shine Bicycling: Trailblazing Women By Kari Cannistraro
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or reasons unknown, I became strangely captivated by the Tour de France one summer years ago while flipping TV channels. This international cycling battle of endurance, agony and exhilaration became an annual obsession for me that began to impress itself into me and left me wanting more. But spectating 21 stages of the world’s most exciting bike race is too sedentary an experience, so I would join the action atop a cheap lime green beach bike perched in front of my TV on a bike stand. The French countryside whizzed by in a blur as I outshined the competition and furiously pedaled my Walmart special—complete with a front basket, sparkling tassels and a pink bell. But the day after I joined the Tour de France winner in a champagne toast as we coasted into the Champs-Élysées in my living room, I was left with a nagging emptiness and an urge to continue the cycling euphoria. It was time to take it to the streets! I soon discovered why Tour de France competitors don’t use beach bikes with pedal brakes on the torturous mountain stages. The local roads also appeared too perilous
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for a novice biker, so my cycling limitations consigned me to neighborhood sidewalks. Replete in a kaleidoscope of colors, I seemed to get lots of smiling attention and assorted smirks from drivers during my rides. At one point, my husband beeped in passing and said it was refreshing I didn’t care that I looked like I was recently turned loose from the circus.
New riders trying to broaden their biking journeys should anticipate the terrain, understand the level of safety, and know what to expect as they navigate the trails. But with persistence and practice came budding knowledge and cycling expertise. As I researched and immersed myself into the world of bikes, I found a good home for “Limey” with one of its admirers. I equipped myself with a hybrid bike and less garish accessories. It made me poorer in the pocketbook, but I was abundantly richer as a rider.
When I pulled on a professional looking Mitchelton-Scott bike skinsuit—the kind they wear on the Tour - I really looked the part, and my newly kindled biking dreams began to come alive. I was feeling pretty special, and imagined myself as the famous cyclist Peter Sagan. But the first week, as I was riding “tall in the saddle” in my new professional get-up, I turned a corner too fast and tumbled off my steed, breaking my collarbone. The onset of the pandemic further coated my recovery in gloom. Tail between my legs, I licked my wounds and plotted my glorious return. Some excruciating weeks later—and before any reputable physician would have permitted—I finally rolled my bike outside and emerged from my dispirited isolation. It took time before my body allowed me to pedal much more than a mile, but I began to extend my territory to longer rides. Google map bike routes, and Trail buddy helped me extend my horizons and I mapped out routes, strapped my Trek bike on my bike rack and headed off to a new trailhead. I planned to conquer the 40-mile Gerry Connolly Cross County (CCT) trail—between VIVARESTON.COM
