I have always enjoyed riding a bike. Well, maybe not always. There was one time, when I was first learning to ride a bike, that I forgot to use my break handle (or, hey Brittanie, turn the handles??) and drove straight into a tree. Don’t worry, I was fine. I was 6 and at that age, I bounced back much faster than these days. Oh age … Anyways! Actually this was a good thing, because I have never forgotten to turn or use my brakes when I needed to since! Ha!
Some of my fondest memories from my childhood include riding a mountain bike around the property where I grew up. When I recall some of these memories, I instantly picture the fresh raked dirt that formed the hills between the pine trees that my dad created that added a bit more fun—as if we didn’t have enough already—to the trail my sisters and I would ride our bikes through. We loved our bikes and these trails. We would ride for hours, until those nicely formed hills were streaked with tire marks and our helmets were crooked and soaked with sweat and we had red dirt streaks on our legs and arms. Riding our bikes brought us SO much joy. To this day, I still enjoy riding as much as I did back then. Nowadays, my riding has been mostly in the form of indoor spinning (I will need an entire post to talk about my love of indoor spinning...hello Peloton, my friend). However, recently I have been incorporating more outdoor rides. These short after work “clear the mind” and “get some movement” rides have turned into long weekend rides that have become essential for my mental health and also serve as great cardiovascular conditioning exercise on my non-lifting days. In fact, the mileage is starting to add up so quickly, I am in desperate need of some padded cycling shorts (oh my lady parts…) In all seriousness though, these rides have become something I look forward to every week for many reasons. It has become a routine and one of the many athletic endeavors my husband and I enjoy doing together. But most of all, I love the feel of the wind and sun on my face, being outdoors, exerting the energy required to climb hills and the time to just simply let my thoughts roam. I finish these rides feeling refreshed, energized and of course ready to refuel and recover with some delicious food-more to come on that! For me, this feeling is very similar to a runner's high. I am addicted to it. Obsessed actually. Movement is truly my medicine.
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