Road Bike Goddess

Well we did it, and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought. Last night we left around 7 and rode to REI. The ride was 4.33 miles, we were averaging almost 14 miles per hour. To me, I think that is amazing for my first real ride on a road bike. I'm so proud of myself. At times I felt like I could have even gone faster, but I feel a little wobbly on the bike still. I think I just need to get used to balancing properly.

I wore the cycling shorts I had purchased earlier in the day, but I'm still a little self conscious about my legs so I wore my workout pants over them and just rolled them up for the ride. I must say, the padding in the cycling shorts feels a bit like a diaper at first, but it is worth it. I tried on a few more pairs while we were at REI, but I was happy with my earlier purchase at The Sporting Woman.

The boy is also self conscious about the cycling shorts, but I talked him into buying some. He also bought a snazzy jersey, and he's so cute and excited about this new sport we've decided to tackle. I love seeing him like this; it gets me excited to get out there and kick some ass! It helps so much to have a buddy/partner/friend to work out with, no matter if its riding or running or yoga (not that I do yoga, but I'd like to) or anything else.

So the ride home is where I realized that yes, cycling is actually quite hard. Apparently on the way there we were heading slightly downhill, but it wasn't really noticeable. Well the uphill climb on the way back was much more difficult. We still pushed it though, and I burned 710 calories on an almost 9 mile ride. Not as much as I might do on a hardcore elliptical workout, but it feels great because I'm pushing my body to do something new.

We road directly to Whole Foods, which is very close to our place, and had a nice salad for dinner. Now I usually don't like eating as late as 9, but I had a lot of points left for the day and I had just done a great workout, so it worked out fine. I felt great, and I still feel great about it as of this morning. It's amazing what vigorous exercise can do for a person.