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The Bike Ride

Okay - forgive the delay in my post this week. I'm finally back among the land of the living for several reasons. Mostly, that old devil Senor Migraine tried to kill me off several times last week. That's a whole post in itself.

So how did Sheri and I do on our bike ride?

Completely. Kicked. It.

We met at 5:00 AM at the appointed place, her sweet patient husband following behind us, and headed on the road. About 3 miles in, I noticed something odd about my bike.... seems that the gear shifts were moving toward me. There was a little something loose but we fixed it as best we could. That held out until about five miles into the trip -- and one hour into the 2:15 we had allotted for ourselves (yeah, rut-roh Raggy!). Sheri graciously offered to switch bikes with me, since she had on riding gloves and could easily provide more resistance to the turning of the handlebar.

It was also an eye-opener for both of us in bike differences. She has a hybrid cruiser, mine is more of a mountain bike. It takes a lot more energy to make it go at the same distance and near the same speed -- which is why I was always much slower and had to get off and walk up hills more often during the practices (and some along the route). We laughed because at one point during our first training ride, she said to me, "You didn't tell me you had asthma!" because I was wheezing so dang hard! We have now decided that whatever time we spent on my bike would count as a high-intensity workout.....

Rob, one of our members, took my bike with him and brought it back later that night, tightened up, checked up, seat raised, etc. YAHOO!!!!! I haven't taken the opportunity to ride it again but I plan to tonight when I get home ... if it's not raining! Ah yes, summer in the South: a pop-up thunderstorm in every afternoon!

And I have found a place I need to visit: the Virginia Creeper Trail ........ 34 miles of mountain trails along an old abandoned train route. Yes, I know -- we have the Swamp Rabbit Trail here, same thing, but this is in the mountains. Think fall and the foliage. Think no city traffic. Think getting the heck outta Dodge and just being somewhere wonderful and new!! Uh, yeah. I think we have a winner! Not that I'd do all 34 at once. I'm thinking 5 or 10 mile stretches.

This could be the start of something wonderful!

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