A 14 Mile Bike Ride

With Flyfour having been out on his bike almost every day since we brought it (14th July) there didn't seem to be an evening that went past that I didn't feel he was implying that going out on a bike was a much harder workout than what I was doing at the gym. Eventually we decided that what we needed to do was go on a bike ride together.

We decided on part of Cycle Route 51 as you can join the route about 1 mile from our house and we could cycle down to Winslow, a nearby Town about six miles away. Flyfour told me that it was a straight route after the first big hill and so once my bike had been given the once over and my helmet found we left my mum in charge of the children and set off.

I'm not going to lie, the first mile killed me. It's all uphill and Flyfour was taking it slow for me but I still lost my temper with him at one point (when he was trying to explain about using different gears because he knows all about different gears now he is such an active cyclist) and I realised I had to stop beating myself up about having to stop a couple of times and start enjoying this time alone with Flyfour.

We carried on and the ride got easier, (a lot easier considering that Flyfour's definition of straight after one big hill isn't my idea of straight after one big hill) and a few miles later Flyfour asked if I wanted to turn around and go back. I didn't I was going to cycle the whole route even if it killed me! After an hour we got to our destination/half way point. I was so proud of myself for having made it that I didn't care that Flyfour had taken pity on me and had gone at half his normal speed.

Flyfour said he was proud of me too, I had just done my first "proper" bike ride and ridden just short of seven miles and was about to do the same back (but with a slightly bigger loop round our road to make it up to 14 miles) and as he said that was nothing to sneeze at. The return journey was a lot easier as it was mostly down hill and I knew the route having just cycled it, but I think the biggest part of making it easier was the psychological aspect as I knew now that I was heading for home.

With the weather turning, I'm not sure how much longer I'll manage to go out on my bike as I'm not one for cycling in the rain/snow/sleet/hail/cold/British winter and I don't think that Flyfour and I are going to get a chance to go out together again until Spring is well and truly established.

What I do know though is that cycling outdoors is a hard work out. I wouldn't say it was harder than going to the gym (there I get an all body work out but would have to cycle up a lot of hills to get the same effect on a bike), and I wouldn't say it was easier either (the ride really tested my stamina) but I am sure that Flyfour and I could agree that it is a different sort of workout and one that I'm sure I will try to keep up.

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