The weather has been spectacular lately, so I've been taking as many workouts as possible outside. Today when I got home from work, I was excited to take my bike out on the road. I also needed to make a run to the library, so it was the perfect excuse to save some gas, complete my errand and be just a tad bit greener.
Now, it should be known that I don't own a bike, but my sister loaned me hers at the end of last summer to keep indefinitely. I only got to ride it a handful of times before it got too cold. It has some different gears, but I don't really know how they work or how many there are. I mostly just ride and adjust the gears when going up and down hill until it feels right. I'm also not the best at steering. I have a tendency to lose my balance and jerk the wheel erratically.
So today I took off, towards the library, as soon as I got home from work. I'd like to say that biking was a good way to explore my home town, but that would be a lie. The area between my house and the library is not the nicest of areas, and the sidewalks are full of overgrown weeds, broken glass bottles and other trash. Oh, and today is garbage day, so I was also dodging trashcans. I was racing against the sun setting, so I had to take the most direct route to and from the library. Plus, because of my erratic steering and the heavy traffic next to me (I rode the whole way there and back on the sidewalk, because the streets I took are so busy.), I had to focus just on the bit of sidewalk directly in front of me and couldn't look around to enjoy the scenery.
So I suppose I could of found a prettier place to ride my bike, but it's amazing how freeing it feels to be able to get somewhere with just my feet on some pedals and no car. It also was exciting, trying to get there and get back as fast as possible. Plus, it just feels like I accomplished something with my workout, you know?
So I'm not sure I have a point for this particular blog, except to share my little adventure with you. And to remind you that workouts don't have to involve a gym or a treadmill. If your workouts bore you, maybe you just need to get a little bit creative with what you call a workout?
OMG i can't wait for the weather to turn and the sun to be out longer and ride and ride and ride the countryside here! Sooooo jealous that you are already cycling this year :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and on the comment you left yesterday on abg... i looked back and some of the parallels in our posts are rather amusing, esp when you consider that i write mine a couple of days in advance of posting them, and don't get around to reading yours until a day or two after you post them, and our interactions are really mostly limited to our blogging. so we apparently live in parallel mind-sets ;) maybe the rest of the blogging world will follow our themes and we'll become trendsetters and famous or something??? Ha!
i've been doing outside rides on the weekends with my hubby. He's an avid mountain biker and he rides on the road quite a bit as well. So i'm quite the newbie with him. But i have to admit - i've loved the bike rides, other than the few massive hills in our neighborhood that leave me panting at the top!
ReplyDeleteI'm still a little shaky myself on the bike - but i'm getting more and more confident everytime! My next challenge is to actually ride on the road! And....to stop holding on to the breaks on down hill runs. :)