the new girl

I've talked about overcoming my fear to join the bike team. Well, my plan all along was to "play it cool". I was hoping to sort of "glide into" the team. Gauge how fast I can go, figure out when to step it up to the "long ride", when to do the "A (fast) ride" vs. the "B ride" and sort of ease into it all. Well... not so much. My first ride with the big group today started out great. It was a fun group of women and I was chatting it up with a few of them and one of the more seasoned members was even giving me some pointers on group-riding lingo and tips. It was fun! A beautiful night, I was really enjoying it... until. I got a flat. Dang it. I just really don't like changing flats while a group of people is waiting for me. It sucks. And, this group of people happened to be biker chicks whom I didn't know very well. Yuck, double yuck. Well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? I got through it. It took a while to change the flat and then we were all having technical difficulties with the CO2 cartridges. Well, so much for playing it cool. Welcome to the bike club!