My Life on a Bike--Days Three, Four, and Five

So, yeah. I guess I should quit counting. I've been biking! Three different times since my last entry. How many times does it take before you can say something is a bonefide hobby? Six weeks of steady peddling? Yeah, well, okay. I'm not there yet. I don't even own my own bike yet. But I did try to go buy a bike rack for my car so I could return Tracy's to her. Bike racks are dang expensive! So no bike rack yet. I'm trying to decide whether to go the used route, the cheapo rack that could fall apart route, or the good ole save for it route. But, for the moment, I'm still good with Tracy's (with the gnawing sense that I need to not push my luck by delaying its return.)

Day three was a short, but fun ride with Lisa, testing out an area near my house where I thought I might potentially ride again. Day four was returning to that spot on my own and pushing myself for a good hour's ride with a mixture of straight aways and hills. (The hills were harder than they looked, and yes, I had to dismount and push the bike for a time while another cyclist passed me.) Still it was a good ride and I'll probably do it again (but maybe not quite as far into the hilly area).

Day five was today. David took me up to the Suwanee Greenway, which was super-great. I've been wanting to check it out for some time, to see what all the fuss was about. While it can't quite compare to the Silver Comet trail en mass, it is still a beautiful paved trail through the woods, with less of the freak-out factor than I get when I mention Silver Comet to people (who think "Death by Silver Comet" due to some crime statistics.) Suwanee Greenway is eight miles round trip if you don't stray, a comfortable ride with minimal hills, surrounded by nice park benches and greenspace should you want to take a lunch, or a journal and a pen, for a mid-ride break.

I'm definitely going again. At least I hope I am. There's a part of me that wonders if this is just another one of my things that I'm not going to stick with. But for this week, I'm still motivated. Woo Hoo!

You know, part of it is that I've always wanted to be one of "those people." By "those people" I don't mean just cyclists. I mean doing things normal people do that are generally way out of my personality scope. Like when I was running daily and lifting weights. All of the sudden I looked like one of "those people," but only in theory, because it never was me. I have always hated exercise, even when I was impeccably consistent, and I suppose I always will. I try to make myself do it, but I doubt I'll ever be someone who gets charged up about it.

But still, I'm going to try the biking thing a little longer. Because you know what? It kinda doesn't feel like exercise. And if I can trick my brain into thinking it's actually fun and theraputic, then I might not give it up the next time laziness and discouragement come back for me. I will say this though, if you ever see me signing up for a triathalon or something crazy like that, you will know, without a doubt, that someone has surgically replaced my brain with someone else's, in which case you should send help. Like, immediately.