Wheeeeeelsssss!!!

Finally!  It is warm enough to cycle here in the North Thompson.

Yesterday I grabbed my bike, my camelback, my epi-pens (bee allergy) and my credit card, jumped on my $400 bike (I'm totally entry level when choosing my equipment) and headed north on Hwy 5.

Chris and I started cycling together shortly after we met in 1989. We bought two hybrid bikes in 1990 from a store in Rutland, Vermont, where his parents kept a ski chalet near Killlington.  They really looked like hybrids, too. Part mountain bike/part road bike.

Those bikes lasted us until 1997 when Chris bought a nicer mountain bike (Easton) from his sister-in-law's brother-in-law.

But the original bikes saw us through biking 3 or 4 times a week in Toronto (along the Lakeshore and through the city), as well as for several longer trips, most notably our week long trip from Kingston to Eden Mills, Vermont, through the beautiful Adirondacks of New York state.  I continued to use my bike until probably 2002 when I finally gave it to my dad as a spare for visitors.

For the six months in 1995 before we were married, I rode my bike once a week from Oakville, ON (where I was living with Chris' brother and sister-in-law while he was in Vermont helping is parents with their business for six months) to downtown Toronto. It took me about two hours each way and was exhausting, so I didn't do it very often. But it wasn't much longer thand riving the 60kms (which took me 90 mins, blech).

When we lived in San Francisco in 1997/1998 Chris would ride his bike from our home in Inner Sunset, to his job with a start-up company in downtown San Fran. Lots of hills!

Suffice it to say that we love to bike!  Since the kids were old enough, we've taken them on long treks. Once when I was working Chris and the kids cycled 38kms of backroads to Clearwater, just north of us. By the end of the day they called me to say they needed a ride home after they got ice cream!!

We are in the midst of looking for upgrades for our two youngest kids. Cyling will play a big part in our exercise routine for the next few months as we prepare the whole family for the West Coast Trail later this summer.

I digress...

Yesterday the weather was fabulous and I made it to Little Fort (13.5kms) in 40 minutes. I used the bathroom the general store and turned around and came home. 

I loved it, despite navigating the shoulders when the big trucks go by.  I was able to sustain an increased heart rate for an entire 80 minutes and while running affects different (and probably more) muscles, I prefer cycling....end of story.

I plan on cycling another 14K tonight during Helen's ball practice and hopefully a different 14 K on Sunday if I can sneak away from a 4-H event for an hour.