Allyson | Week 9 | I Want to Ride my Bicycle

¯¯Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle!

I want to ride my bi-cy-cle,

I want to ride my bike!

I want to ride my bi-cy-cle

I want to ride it where I like! ¯¯

(Queen- "Bicycle Race")

Let's go, spring, I'm ready to ride!             I had various bikes growing up and loved cruizin’ around the neighborhood. My 'little girl bike' was complete with handlebar ribbons and bike spoke beads [#childofthe90s]. I must confess, even though my bike was awesome I was always a bit jealous of my sister’s cooler bike that had a radio attached to the handle bars [#firstworldproblems]. I distinctly remember getting my ‘big girl bike’ the Christmas I was in 3^rd grade. I came downstairs into the room with the Christmas tree and presents surrounding it and didn’t think twice of a bike. Then for some reason I made my way into the kitchen and there her beautiful tealness was! I was so excited! I rode that beaut throughout my childhood and into my early teens. But alas, my late teens came. I got “cool”, no longer needed a bike, and my old friend found a new home via a garage sale.

And then I was bikeless.

A few years ago our pastor found a bike on the side of the road and brought it to the church for someone’s daughter. This girl already had a bike so I said I’d take it. It wasn’t in too bad of shape and Colin gave it some new tires, fixed it up, and it was good to go. The only problem was that it was more of a junior’s bike than a women’s bike. Now, I’m not tall by any means (a mere 5’2.75), but long distance riding was not an option on that hand-me-down. Last year I whined like a baby all summer for a new bike.

AND THEN what to my wandering eyes should appear?! After dropping not-so-subtle hints all summer, Colin surprised me on my birthday with an amazing new dark purple Trek!! My lovely sister knew I was getting this wonderful gift and she gave me a cute turquoise basket [adorned with flowers] and a silver bell [so everyone knows I’m coming]! Luckily the weather on my birthday was just perfect and Colin and I spent the day at the Cuyahoga Valley Towpath riding 15 miles, and then taking the scenic train ride back to give our screaming thighs a break!

We live just minutes from the beginning of the Western Reserve Greenway that spans 43 miles through Trumbull and Ashtabula counties. Since getting my new bike we try to go there as often as possible. Last season we made it several times, and made friends with the cows!  We also took another trip to the Cuyahoga Valley Towpath, a family trip to Oil City, and celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary riding around Geneva on the Lake, basking in the mist of Lake Erie.

Moooos

We relished in our first ride of this season just a couple weekends ago at the Western Reserve Greenway. It was a bit chilly, and pretty windy, so we only completed 11 miles. [Thanks to Colin’s handy dandy bicycle computer we have quite accurate readings of very important cycling information like current mph, average mph, and time/distance traveled.] We averaged about 14 miles per hour and, according to Colin’s bike computer, burned around 500 calories. I thought there was no way we burned that much-- I burn that in an hour of Zumba. However, I have searched online and found several bicycle calorie calculators that, when I input the data from our ride, give me the same number [more like 477]. Spinning off [pun intended] of last week’s post about finding an exercise I love, bicycling is another. I really have been doing it more for enjoyment than a work out, but I will absolutely take a 500-calorie burn!

Oil City

Colin and I have set a goal for ourselves to ride a minimum of 100 miles per month this season [April-September]. We thought we might be able to get 100 miles covered in March, but that doesn’t look too promising as it is still 25° and snowing. This season we will visit the path near us regularly and aim to ride the entire path in one day. I’m thinking there must be a B&B at the other end in Ashtabula [with those covered bridge attractions and all] so the plan would be to ride up, stay the night, and then ride home the next day. We will also meet up with friends at the Cuyahoga Valley Towpath and have more family trips to Oil City.

Oil City      <3 Family

I am so thankful for my new, amazing bike! I thoroughly enjoyed it last season when I was riding just for fun, but now I will enjoy it even more knowing what a good workout it is. I’m thinking I can use it as a great interval training exercise and increase those calories burned and tone my legs/gluts even more!

Anniversary ride at Lake Erie

It really makes all the difference when you actually enjoy exercise and look forward to it….and it's all the better when you have  great riding buddies!