Did you ever want to boot kick your bike out the door?

As a mom of 5 children ranging from 4 to 18 with a husband who works all the time, it's sometimes hard to find the time to get my workouts in. To solve the running problem I've been getting up at 4:45 to run outside before I get the kiddos up for school. However, for the bike, I decided an indoor trainer would be necessary for those days that I just can't get outside.

After researching the options, I decided to get a Kinetic Road Machine fluid resistance trainer and promptly ordered one from trisports.com. As I waited impatiently for it to arrive, I decided that more equipment was necessary to make my Felt F75 into that magical machine that would have me zooming at pro speeds around Louisville. I settled on a set of Profile Carbon Stryke aero bars and ran out to the local bike shop to grab them. Although they offered to install them at the shop, I declined, saying that I was pretty mechanical.

Imagine how excited I was when I got home from the bike shop with my aero bars to find the trainer sitting on my doorstep. My evening was set - after I got the kids to bed I would assemble the trainer, install the aero bars & surely have time for a ride while I watched some tv.

9:00 - I was ready. Assembling the trainer was actually pretty easy. Not too many parts, decent instructions. I think I only put one part on wrong through the whole process. Next, I brought in the mat & wheel block, set everything up, wrestled my bike into the house, changed out the skewer on the rear wheel and set the bike into the trainer. Now it was about 10:00. How long could aero bars possibly take? I was well on my way to my first indoor ride.

10:00 - I opened up the parts box for the bars, laid everything out on the kitchen counter & read through the instructions for the 1st, 2nd & then 3rd times. Torque wrench? I don't think I have one of those. Shims? This is starting to sound complicated. I read through the instructions one more time, and then, failing to make any more sense of them, packed everything back into the box & promised myself I'd figure it out tomorrow. By then, it was 11:00 & I was too tired to ride. I set my alarm for 4:45 again and was off to bed.

Morning - no snooze for me today. I was excited - about to take my first indoor training ride. I quickly dress in my riding shorts & top, pull on my shoes, turn on the tv & hop on the bike. I start pedaling - hmmm - this is hard. I shift some gears around & then hop off the bike to adjust the tension. That's better. Now - starting to get into a groove I start flipping through channels to find something to watch. Settling on a program, I look around for someplace to put the clicker. Nothing - I decide to stick it in the top of my shorts - definitely not comfortable. Wow - I can't believe I've only been riding 5 minutes. My butt is starting to hurt. Then my hands. Then my arms. Back to my butt (and other parts). For the next 45 minutes, I dwell on what hurts. I wiggle & stretch. Arms up, down on the drops, sit upright - I could sure use those aeros. No good. Outside I never feel this way. Maybe this is why I hate the treadmill so much. Nothing but time to think about how miserable you are. And hot...5:45 - off the bike. I have 15 minutes to get the whole setup taken down & put away before I have to wake up the kids.

I open the quick release lever, slide back the thingie holding the right skewer in but can't get the left side out. Struggling, I try to slide the bike every which way but it's not budging. Then I notice that the back wheel is coming off the bike. I reach down to try to fix it & the chain drops off. What is going on? I spent about 20 mins like this trying not to damage my bike before I was finally able to pop it out of the trainer. In the meantime, the chain is off on the front & back & I can't get the tire back on. In disgust, I decide that I'll have to humbly take my bike into the shop to have them show me how to fix it. I might as well have them do the stupid aero bars too - and a new saddle - and an adjustment - anything to make it more comfie.

I take the bike out to the garage to put it in the car so I can drop it by the shop after I take the kids to school & realize that my SUV is gone (my husband is taking my oldest to college) & I'm left with his medium size sedan. Bummer. This is becoming comical. Not willing to give up at this point, I take off the front tire too, put both tires in the back seat & somehow wrangle the frame into the trunk without banging anything up. Kids up, out the door - off to the bike shop I go. I try to explain to them what happened but finally just give up. "Take it," I tell them. "I'll be by tomorrow at 4:00 to pick it up". So much for my mechanical abilities. I'm certainly going to have to work on that before next August. If I'd gotten a flat back tire today I think I'd still be sitting on the course...

TODAY'S WORKOUT: 45 minutes on trainer & 30 minute swim