It's like riding a bike, you never forget...

My day started out like my usual Saturdays do; a walk in the park measuring in at just under 3 miles with my dogs. After that, I came home and while I was eating lunch I was contemplating what I was going to do for the rest of my day. Did I want to clean? Um, no not really. Did I want to grade the papers I brought home this weekend? REALLY no. Did I want to be lazy and take a name? Suprisingly, no. So I decided to go shopping instead. I needed some new summery shirts and a pair of shoes to go with the dress I am wearing to Michael's graduation from BCT (in a week and a half!!). This girl is really a no nonsense shopper. I know what I want (and usually find it on sale), so shopping is never an all day affair for me. I was able to find 4 new shirts, the pair of sandals I wanted, AND even went and bought all new make-up and made it home within 2 hours. I call that a success.

However, when I got home I still just didn't want to be there. So I got the dogs loaded up and headed over to Michael's parent's house. I was chitchatting with her while she was working out and she mentioned how she wanted to get her bike out of the garage and go for a ride. I said "Oh fun! I should've brought mine over and I could've gone with you!" She told me to run home and get it really quick and we would go for a ride. I'm thinking ok this sounds fun. Riding a bike is fun, right? I used to do it ALL the time when I was younger. My sisters and I would ride our bikes constantly. I saw this as an opportunity to get outside in the beautiful weather we are having, exercise, and perhaps feel like a kid again.

Let me tell you how this bike ride went. We start out and I say things like "I forgot how much fun it is to ride a bike!" and "This is the perfect weather for this." and "I am so glad I have a big seat on this bike; it's much more comfortable to ride on." As we are riding we are talking about random things. At one point I say "Hey Becky, how far are we going to go anyway?" She replies "...I don't want to tell you that yet... just ride."

All I can think is "Well crap..." I am with a woman who is a work out FANATIC. She has an exercise bike in her bedroom and rides it 45 minutes a day. Not only that, she will also get on her Wii fit and work out for at least another 30-45 minutes. All I do is walk about 2 miles a day... So now I am a little scared. My bike is an old-fashioned type of bike. There are no speeds on it and no handlebar breaks. Just a good ole leisurely riding type of bike. And I think, oh this still won't be bad. You never forget how to ride a bike, right?

Well, I didn't forget how to ride it, but I definitely lost some of my grace and stability I used to have. So I am a little out of practice. So what. I make a joke about needing training wheels and when I laugh I realize I am getting a little out of breath. Then all I can think is how my nephew just learned last week how to ride his bike without training wheels and was showing off his new skill when I went to visit last weekend. I could just picture him riding next to me with no problems and saying something like "Sarah, this isn't hard to do! See? I can do it!" With that image in my brain, I decide to tough it out. I can handle a bike ride, no problem.

Then Becky tells me we are getting ready to go up a hill. Crap. No speeds on my bike remember? Hills are my enemy! It was a killer, but I made it! Hooray for me! I huff and pant like I just ran 2 miles, and Becky laughs and says I did a good job and we will do that hill one more time before we go home. .... wait... what? We are doing that AGAIN? This woman is like a drill sergeant! She says "Aren't you glad that I will be your future mother-in-law so I can have you do this all the time?" I said "Becky, you are already techincally my mother-in-law because if I didn't love you I would NEVER let you do this to me!"

We ride awhile more, and I come close to falling off the sidewalk a couple of times... those turns are tricky when you aren't a kid who doesn't care if they fall and get hurt. I keep thinking if I fall, how will I walk up the stairs to my 3rd floor apartment when I get home? Slow and easy around those turns... no falling. I keep looking down at this sticker on my bike that says "ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET". I have no helmet... and I am wondering just how important this advice is haha If I fall, I will just catch myself, or attempt to. If not then maybe Becky would have to carry me back to the house and that would be my payback to her for this long bike ride. We circle around and come back to that hill again. I have a plan this time, I am going to make it up this hill fast. So I start peddling fast, get my momentum up, ya know. I take off and I can hear Becky behind me telling me that I am doing great and to keep pushing. I smile because I think sweet my plan worked! Then I felt myself going slower and slower... and it was getting harder and harder to push. Then the cheers I had heard from Becky behind me were all of a sudden right beside me. She caught up, and she wasn't breathing as hard as I was either! So my plan only half worked. I made it up the first half of the hill fast. That last part killed me, but I still did it. I was actually pretty proud of myself.

By this time, I am no longer thankful for the big seat on my bike. It doesn't matter how big the seat is, my butt was killing me. We started circling in and out of blocks on the way back. I said "Well, it's longer than our walk we do around here, which is 3 miles. And I have lost track of how many times we have doubled back. How far do you think this is?" Then she hits me with it. She laughs and says "If I had to guess, based on what we walk.... we are doing about 8 miles by the time we are done."

8 miles?!?! No wonder I felt like my butt was going to fall off! We finally make it back to their street and we ride up to the yard (me being far behind Becky, of course). Tony is standing out in the yard and he looks at me and smiles and says "Can you keep up with her? Because I can't! She leaves me every time!" and I said "Yeah the woman is crazy..."

But I survived the 8 mile bike ride, and the hill we officially nicknamed "Mother" twice. And, truth be told, I did have a blast. I love to joke with her about how she is crazy and how that was a painful experience, but it really was a lot of fun. She told me to leave my bike there and maybe we can do it again tomorrow after the Mother's Day lunch... I said if I am lucky enough to be able to get out of bed in the morning then I would think about it. Pretty sure I am sunburned too... oh well.

On the way home, I was shuffling through my iPod in the car, trying to find the perfect song to go with how I was feeling. Nothing seemed to be hitting me. Then I landed on "A Praise Chorus" by Jimmy Eat World. This happens to be on one of my favorite CDs. And it is my favorite CD to listen to when the weather is nice and I can drive around with my windows down (don't ask why, that's just how I am). So of course I start singing with it and dancing as well as I can dance in my car with a dog on my lap. The whole song is amazing, but this part of the beginning ties in to what I was saying in my first blog:

Are you gonna live your life wondering,
Standing in the back,
Looking around?

Are you gonna waste your time thinking,
How you’ve grown up,
Or how you missed out?

Things are never gonna be the way you want.
Where's it gonna get you acting serious?
Things are never gonna be quite what you want,
Or even at 25,
You gotta start sometime.

I think getting out and riding my bike today was a (painful) step in the right direction. It was a lot of fun, and made me realize that I can still get out and have fun. The more I think about what I said in my first blog about not looking forward to the summer because all of the time I will have with nothing to do, I am slowly changing my mind. I am determined to have a great summer. Or as great of a summer as I can with Michael being gone until July. It's like a middle-of-the-year resolution (to late for the New Year). 


All in all, it was a really good Saturday. I feel itchy from being sweaty, my legs feel like jello, and my butt is killing me. But I am going to finish my night off with a soak in a bubble bath and perhaps a glass of wine. More than likely I will sleep like a baby. Having said that, I am going to get to it...

Until next time... Gnight all!