Getting back on the proverbial horse or literal bicycle...

Longest bike ride this summer...Hit a 4 minute mile in there!!

I had to buy new bicycles for The Joes last year. I went to Target one night and excitedly bought them both new bikes. I explained that they should take care of them, lock them up and not leave them in the driveway. One week after I purchased them, The biggest Joe left the littlest Joe's bike in the driveway and it met an untimely death. The biggest Joe's pedal fell off of his bike. We returned it and got another. Both pedals fell off. In the meantime , I lost my receipt. We're currently stuck with a pedal-less bike.  Needless to say, bicycle shopping in 2012 was pretty much a bust. 

This year, I invested in good bikes that will last for The Joes. The biggest Joe has a Giant brand bike and the littlest Joe has a Fuji brand bike. When I brought that Fuji bike home for the littlest Joe, I just had to try it. I needed to see if there was a difference between my cheap bike and this pricey bike. I can tell you with all certainty, that there is a difference. Over the summer, I have alternated between riding both of the Joes bikes. If I ride with the littlest Joe, I ride Big Joe's bike. If I ride alone, I ride the littlest Joe's bike. Starting to ride was a little difficult. I was only able to ride 5 miles in an half hour on my first ride. I set a goal for myself to be able to ride a double digit ride (10 miles or more) in an hour by the end of summer. I also wanted to spin for the entire ride (no coasting, constant peddling). A friend of mine who bikes encouraged me to try this. I rode about twice a week and used RunKeeper to track my rides.  My longest ride so far has been 11 miles. I participated in a virtual 50 mile race and used this race as inspiration to get in some miles on the bike.

Views from the ride

Swag bag from virtual 50 mile race for Alzheimer's Awareness