Last year I started taking spinning classes and discovered a brand new love. I got such a rush from this particular activity that I found myself absolutely enamored with it. I wanted to start riding in bike races and stuff but then I got lazy and my "feminine area" AKA the bones around my "area" were super sore and didn't seem to improve much. I asked several seasoned female riders about this problem and they said it would eventually go away especially if I was consistent with it, which I was. Anyway...I wanted to ride in a bike ride but couldn't afford a road bike, not to mention all the gear required and besides that there was that nagging soreness. In the end I had to give up on the ride and then on I also got lazy about my workouts and let the soreness do me in. So, fast forward to this year. I got a pretty Kick - A trainer and have really kicked it into gear. We have been working around bad knees, one injured shoulder and two herniated discs in my back but he has found a way through it all and I am losing body fat and gaining blessed muscle! I generally workout 6 days a week and early this year I added a Saturday morning spin class back in since my trainer is the instructor and I've always liked the way he runs a spin class. Again the cycling bug hit me. Trainer is an avid cyclist and I have several friends and neighbors who bike as well. They are all preparing for a ride and I am just thinking...I REALLY want to do this! Cycling is the only thing I can really do with my back and knees according to my orthopedic surgeon so I've been logging a bunch of time on a bike. I found out about a women's only ride that was scheduled for June 5 but when I looked to try to register it was sold out. My determination to ride it grew as did my yearning to ride outside, everywhere. My Mountain bike was all I had, so I decided to ride it. I LOVE it. So finally, I'm riding regularly and I was able to score a registration for myself and my best friend to go ride this awesome bike ride. This ride has 18, 35, 58, 80 and 100 mile options and I really wanted to ride the 60 but my trainer was very leery of that and pleaded with me to step it down and do the 35. I decided to go with his suggestion and we did it! We rocked it out! We rode 35 miles in 1 hour and 59 minutes, plus back and forth to our car which was like 2 miles away several times so I'm going with 40 miles total(but not in the 1:59). I wasn't the skinniest or strongest or cutest rider to cross that finish line and I did want to ride much longer but I did it! Just four years ago I weighed in at 354 pounds and could barely make it up the stairs to my room without getting winded. When I crossed that line I couldn't have been more happy and proud! I still have work to do, but I've caught the cycling bug and I swear I could do it every day! Next year I'm doing the 100! And I've added more rides to my dream list for this year...I did rent a road bike for the ride and totally fell in LOVE with it so that is another goal. It will be hard to go back to riding the Mtn bike after that dream of a ride but we do what we must! AND I MUST RIDE!!!!! Also, this week I rode up to Copperton which is about 13 miles and half of it is all uphill. I did that on my Mtn. bike and I was super proud of that!So - to everybody reading this, if you have something you want to do and you think you can't - THINK AGAIN! YOU are stronger than you think you are! Now...to get me a dream bike of my own!!!! I think I deserve it! If only money grew on trees.... :)
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