Hell on Wheels

Captainsblog, Stardate: 63951.3

One of my year 2 goals was to get a decent bike and start riding... working to longer distances. Well I've now got the bike, a Trek 7100 - its a hybrid, and I LOVE it! I had been doing some random riding around my community, jaunts of 5 - 8 miles, no biggie, and having fun with that.  Jen and I started investigating rail trails, and liked the idea.  So last weekend we rode the "Panhandle Pathway" from Winamac Indiana to Star City Indiana, just 9 miles round trip, but very nice.  I like the rail trails because you are not dodging traffic and they are mostly flat and very scenic.  Yesterday we decided to tackle part of the Kal-Haven Trail which runs from Kalamazoo Michigan to South Haven Michigan. We started in South Haven - went to Bloomingdale (the 1/2 way point) and then back to South Haven for a round trip of 33.87 miles.  I am thankful to my good friend Matt who has given us TONS of good advise, helped me select my bike and figured out what size I needed.  Matt also helped me select a good women's specific saddle (from the Body Geometry line of products by Specialized).  Would it be inappropriate to tell him that my butt thanks him???  That saddle made SUCH a difference.  We rode the 32+ miles and we made it, we were tired, but not "OMG I think I'm gunna die" tired. We are planning on doing a ride at the end of July that is 68 miles (one way).  In talking to Matt, he told us that when doing long, multi day rides, the worst part is getting back in the saddle as it were, on day 2.  So today we decided to hit the Pumpkin Vine Trail in Goshen Indiana (10.2 miles round trip) to see how we would do.  The first mile my butt was like "uh, NOOOOO, get me off of this thing right NOW"  and just above my knees were screaming "what the *&^%$ do you think you're DOING??"  But after another mile or 2, they loosened up and the ride was great. My 1st post on this blog that talked about riding a bike was when I was 8 weeks post op, not quite a year ago.  I was crowing that I had managed to ride 3 miles, and that was a great accomplishment given where I was.  I never would have DREAMED I could ride over 30 miles! It is an amazing feeling to be able to do that! So onward and upward, racking up miles to longer rides, in preparation for the ride to/from Yellow Springs (don't remember the other terminus of the trail we'll be riding).  I've got my wheels, and I'm givin it hell!

Peace out my peeps!