Mark B
Zen MBB Master
I've been breaking in not only a brand new Cruzbike rider, but also another brand new rider, period.
A little background. My friend Rob is a recovering addict. Not just any recovering addict, he is also the leader for Celebrate Recovery at our church and is the local state representative for CR in our area. In otherwords, he's done really well in recovery.
Our youngest daughters have been best friends since they were in second grade. Rob and I barely spoke during this time. He was in the worst part of his addiction at this time. Later, when he got into recovery, I was big time into homebrewing beer, so I would not have been good for him. Now, we are both at a place where friendship was not only possible, but mutually positive. We started out meeting for coffee, where the talk of riding came up. Rob was enthusiastic about it and so it was decided we would do a ride.
As addicts that get clean often do, Rob had put on a bunch of weight over the years. Pushing almost 300 pounds and leading a pretty sedentary life, he knew he needed to take on the challenge of getting a little more fit, so cycling seemed like a good chance for him to do that. It only took one ride on my daughters old Infinity to get him hooked. He was grinning ear to ear and said, "Mark, I don't want to meet for coffee any more!" Though he rode the Infinity (he had tried the Sofrider and decided it was too much to take on the road the first time) he still recognized the cleverness in the design of the Cruzbike and was determined to master it. He rode the infinity a couple more times, always practicing on the Sofrider until he thought he was ready to take it on the road.
Now Rob is on the Sofrider each time we ride and he's getting it down pretty well. His weight hinders his climbing ability, so we stick to the flattest routes we can find. I always make sure to get a little climbing mixed in so he gets used to it and builds climbing legs. He has a keen appreciation for the Cruzbike's adept, yet unique handling and now vows there is a Silvio in his future.
Yesterday's ride was Rob's toughest to date. I had intentions of taking him on a climbing ride, but he just doesn't have the endurance for it. As any good coach does, I switched plans when I saw that he would struggle if we continued with what I had in mind. We did a little climb and recover, climb and recover while I formulated a different ride, then hit the road for what would turn out to be Rob's longest day in the saddle, in the neighborhood of 60 miles.
We held a pretty good pace most of the way out through Riverside, stopping to chat with new friends interested in our Cruzbikes a couple times. We tried some different streets and some not so great streets, but Rob hung in there and though he was a lot slower in the end, he finished up a great ride. As always, he was tired, but felt a great sense of accomplishment. He's told me several times that cycling has helped his recovery in many ways. Besides the exercise, he's getting way more fresh air, meeting other cycling enthusiasts, heck, just meeting people outside the world of recovery has been a fairly new experience for him. It's also been a lot of fun for me to see somebody get enthused about riding and doing so well. It's also really cool to see somebody, unencumbered by prejudice of what a "real bike" should look like recognize such a great design as the Cruzbike.
Mark
A little background. My friend Rob is a recovering addict. Not just any recovering addict, he is also the leader for Celebrate Recovery at our church and is the local state representative for CR in our area. In otherwords, he's done really well in recovery.
Our youngest daughters have been best friends since they were in second grade. Rob and I barely spoke during this time. He was in the worst part of his addiction at this time. Later, when he got into recovery, I was big time into homebrewing beer, so I would not have been good for him. Now, we are both at a place where friendship was not only possible, but mutually positive. We started out meeting for coffee, where the talk of riding came up. Rob was enthusiastic about it and so it was decided we would do a ride.
As addicts that get clean often do, Rob had put on a bunch of weight over the years. Pushing almost 300 pounds and leading a pretty sedentary life, he knew he needed to take on the challenge of getting a little more fit, so cycling seemed like a good chance for him to do that. It only took one ride on my daughters old Infinity to get him hooked. He was grinning ear to ear and said, "Mark, I don't want to meet for coffee any more!" Though he rode the Infinity (he had tried the Sofrider and decided it was too much to take on the road the first time) he still recognized the cleverness in the design of the Cruzbike and was determined to master it. He rode the infinity a couple more times, always practicing on the Sofrider until he thought he was ready to take it on the road.
Now Rob is on the Sofrider each time we ride and he's getting it down pretty well. His weight hinders his climbing ability, so we stick to the flattest routes we can find. I always make sure to get a little climbing mixed in so he gets used to it and builds climbing legs. He has a keen appreciation for the Cruzbike's adept, yet unique handling and now vows there is a Silvio in his future.
Yesterday's ride was Rob's toughest to date. I had intentions of taking him on a climbing ride, but he just doesn't have the endurance for it. As any good coach does, I switched plans when I saw that he would struggle if we continued with what I had in mind. We did a little climb and recover, climb and recover while I formulated a different ride, then hit the road for what would turn out to be Rob's longest day in the saddle, in the neighborhood of 60 miles.
We held a pretty good pace most of the way out through Riverside, stopping to chat with new friends interested in our Cruzbikes a couple times. We tried some different streets and some not so great streets, but Rob hung in there and though he was a lot slower in the end, he finished up a great ride. As always, he was tired, but felt a great sense of accomplishment. He's told me several times that cycling has helped his recovery in many ways. Besides the exercise, he's getting way more fresh air, meeting other cycling enthusiasts, heck, just meeting people outside the world of recovery has been a fairly new experience for him. It's also been a lot of fun for me to see somebody get enthused about riding and doing so well. It's also really cool to see somebody, unencumbered by prejudice of what a "real bike" should look like recognize such a great design as the Cruzbike.
Mark
