After my mediocre short ride with my husband the other afternoon, I was a little worried about my plan to ride my bike everywhere, but... it is possible!
First, I had to get my bike together today. First, I got the lock attached (later I realized that it's not snug enough, so I'll have to tighten it tomorrow), then I got the Burley Travoy trailer set up. I had to do some finessing with my rear bike rack to have it work, but work it does! As a reminder, it's this: http://www.burley.com/home/bur/page_416/travoy.html.
When it was all set up, I did a little tour on a couple local streets. Yep, this was going to be great. You can't even feel you're pulling anything. So, last evening I rode my bike to the grocery store. Now, I know there are trails everywhere going through my city, but I've explored almost none of them. See, this is one of the things about me and walking. I enjoy a good walk, I really do, but I don't like to just wander about aimlessly. I also don't enjoy a boring walk with very little view or not very scenic. That's probably why I don't like walking in big open areas. It's boring to my brain and it seems to take forever to get from point A to point B. Biking makes things so much quicker. Now, since my mind is still in the "boring suburbs" mentality, I didn't really have a desire to walk trails not knowing what to expect, but man, I was so ill informed. The trails through this area are so interesting. There are little bridges crossing streams all over the place. There are boulders and it's all tree covered. Since my town doesn't allow privacy fencing except to block off super busy streets, even the areas near people's home are open and inviting, not blocked off by miles of wood privacy fences.
The big worry I had was that the ride would be too hilly and I would need to end up walking a good portion of it. However, that wasn't the case. While the roads are hilly, it seems they designed the paths to avoid the worst of the hills. The twist and turn and branch off all over the place, but I studied the map well before heading out and carried it with me in my handy dandy map holder for the bike. My iphone map system doesn't have the trails marked yet which is a bummer because google maps does.
I didn't make any wrong turns and while it was going mostly uphill and I was in 1st through 3rd gear most of the ride there, I could do it. There was just one tiny stretch that got to me. My heart was going 160 beats per minute and I came to a complete stop. I got off the bike and about fell as they were shaking, but I only had to walk up about 15 feet before I could hop back on. I was so amazingly surprised that only one little hill was a problem and in a couple weeks, I'll be strong enough to do that hill, with no doubt.
I got to the store and locked up the bike and undid the trailer thingee. I could just pull it along and fill it as I got things, but with a helmet and small purse, I found it easier to just fold up the trailer and tuck it under the cart. Yep, it's that small! I'm a pretty visual person, so I knew how much I could buy safely and I got quite a bit!
I got 20 Gala apples, 4 boxes of cereal for the kiddos (big time sale), 4 boxes of herbal teas, 2 loaves of bread (I rode my bike instead of staying home and making bread!), a liter of drinkable yogurt, a packet of beef jerky, a bag of yellow onions, 5 large red pepper, a packet of swiss cheese and the movie Cars. I started to load it up at the self-serve check out and the cashier commented on the cart. Then, when I was loading the cart to the bike, three more people commented on how cool and great that was. And it truly is great. Maybe it will inspire more people in the area to bike and not drive to the stores. I can hope!
The ride home was fast and easy which is good considering I now had a full cart behind me. It was all smooth sailing and I felt so great. Like really great. I was exercising with a purpose. I was doing something good for the environment and I realized this is something I can do from now on unless it's too dark or snowing. (Another reason why winter stinks! The days are so bleeping short!)
I did decide on a bag for the rear bike rack too. the only style that will fit with the bike are the ones that go complete flat or even with the bike rack. They can't be above it in any way. That left two bags. The green flower one or the canvas city scene one. I decided on the city scene one. First, it's recycled canvas. Two, it has two outside pockets and three, it's just more style and fits the bike's style too. I can't wait to get it. That will allow two more bags of groceries.
Other news is that my husband and I are going to a concert at the venue near us. We live near a very large venue (we can hear the concerts most evenings), which we love. We are seeing The Decemberists. Tomorrow I will bike to the ticket office (buying directly from them is no additional fee while all these ticket selling places online have a fee - they even give discount for cash!). Since that ticket office is just next to the library, I'll pop into the library too. All within 2 miles of my house.
We did buy our house knowing that everything was very close to us and convenient, but we both misunderstood how convenient and pleasant it would be to live where we do. I am so utterly thrilled to be able to move around my city without a car - all schools from preschool to community college, the hospital, the mall, the library, the 'downtown' the grocery store, the farmer's market, restaurants, movie theater, several lakes and a county park - all here within 2 miles. A bit far to walk because of how long it takes to walk it, but a perfect bike ride. I think I'll be getting every cent's worth out of this bike and trailer and getting more and more fit while at it.
Stats for 6/7/11:
Beginning weight: 255.6 Now: 203.6 (exactly 52 pounds lost)
Exercise total hours in 2011: 178
Total miles walked/biked in 2011: 470/1000
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