Our new love

A while back- I'm not sure when, but it was after our last move, so not that long ago--I decided I wanted a bike.  I wanted one, but at the same time I was a little scared since I hadn't ridden a bike pretty much since I was a kid.  I was also having a hard time imagining riding with Matthew on it with me.  My sweet husband found one on Craig's List and brought it home from work one week as a surprise to me.  It really was perfect, buying a used bike, because it gave me the chance to see if I liked riding without spending a ton of money.  (this is a woman's bike, that came with the baby/toddler seat already attached, so it really was perfect--and only $50 or something like that).

After the move here, we also joined a local gym and I fell in love with spin class. It is so challenging, not at all boring, a real sweat fest of a cardio workout.  I suppose that's when I first decided a real outside bike would be a good idea.  I've slowly gotten back into the class, after the hiatus called a "messed up thyroid making my heart beat too fast".  While I was on hiatus, I still got on the old bike and rode with Matthew around the neighborhood. 

This has become my new little love.  It is so much fun biking around, getting a workout in while taking in the scenery of my neighborhood.  Some days we stop and play at one of the billion playgrounds in the community.  Some days we ride for an hour, some days we ride for 30 minutes.  Some days Matthew falls asleep on the back of the bike (although to be honest, this hasn't happened in several months).  Some days (yesterday) Matthew whines the entire ride.  Some days we see something interesting or funny (yesterday the funny was a lady driving down the road wearing a big winter coat, warm scarf wrapped around her neck and gloves---ummmmm, ok. It's cooled off a bit, but we're talking low-60's/high-50's- I'm not sure it required all that.  I'd love to see her in New England). 

Anyway, you get the gist.  I love that we have a new activity that gets us outdoors, keeps us active, and makes our day enjoyable.  Each time we go out we learn something new- yesterdays lessons:

• when the child is mere inches from you, there really is nothing to drown out the whines.

• this neighborhood has a LOT of playgrounds.  Good when you're looking to play, bad when the mommy really just wants to get- and keep- her heart rate up for a while.

• Now that it's cooler weather and I must wear pants instead of shorts, it just may be time to invest in some real biking pants. I realize they may will look completely ridiculous on me, but the yoga-style pants I wore yesterday are too loose at the bottom and I kept worrying about them getting caught in something.

I leave you with these- our blurry cellphone shots--clearly taken BEFORE our ride, as evidenced by the lack of sweat and redness.

P.S. Pardon the mess that is my blog.  I somehow managed to change my layout and can't figure out how to put it back.