Biking

We spent most of our family time this summer riding our bikes together. We went on all sorts of trails and we had a really good time. Calvin can go about six miles with us on his little bike before he starts to get tired.

I have always liked riding my bike but I have never been extreme with it. I am happy peddling around town on my mountain bike, pulling the kids, and getting a little exercise. Jon has always loved biking. He has had almost every kind of bike. He can do tricks and he can go anywhere on his bike. My dad says he is a mountain goat on his bike. He can go up and down stuff most people wouldn't even attempt. In the spring Jon decided to buy a road bike. This is a new thing for him and he has really enjoyed riding to work. After riding so much this summer I decided to get a road bike as well. I love my mountain bike but I never go mountain biking, so it just makes more since to have a road bike. I had closed on a house and I had a little money to spend on myself so I went all out, I got the bike, clothes, clip pedals and shoes, and the speedometer. It is a good thing Parrish (Jon's step brother) works at the bike shop and can hook us up with good deals or I would have gone broke. I take that back, I did brake the bank even with the good discount.

Funny story about the clip shoes. I said I would never want to be clipped in to my bike. But Jon has always loved it and all the guys at the bike shop love it and my friend who just did a 100 mile race loves hers, so I let all of these people talk me into trying it. They all told me I would fall several times before it became second nature to unclip your shoes when you stop. I thought I would practice clipping in and out in the house before I went outside. When I felt comfortable I gave it a whirl. Yes, I crashed a few times. And yes, it hurt like crazy. I was all black and blue up and down my left side. I even had to go to the chiropractor to get put back together. One of the falls was pretty funny. I remembered to unclip one of my shoes and put my foot down. I was standing there for a minute and I forgot my other foot was clipped in and I shifted my weight to the other side and just fell flat on the hard asphalt. Oh my, I will never do that again. It is funny, you just know you are going down and there is nothing you can do about it. I decided I should have gotten used to the bike first and then added the pedals. You would be surprised how completely different road bikes and mountain bikes are. The angle you are sitting at, the brakes, the steering, the skinny tires, everything is so different. The bike goes so much faster too. I am still not comfortable going downhill on it. I only have like fifty miles on the bike because it got sooo cold before I could do much more. I look forward to getting better at this new hobby next spring. And lets cross our fingers I don't have any more falls.

Isn't this the cutest road bike you have ever seen!