Dan has been adamant about me learning to ride a bike again, especially after we picked up a bike trailer on the cheap not long ago. Now that Dan and the kids could go on joy rides together, it only made sense that I find a way to join them. But I wasn’t about to let him spend an exorbitant amount of money on a bike for me when I haven’t ridden a bike since about the fourth grade – and even that stint of riding was very short lived.

So he started checking craigs list, where we’d managed to pick up the trailer for the kids for only $30 and eventually we found the perfect one. We figured since we were getting a cheap old bike, we should get a really old bike – or at least one with that classic vintage style. We found this one for $40 which claims to be from the 70’s and definitely looks the part. The seat on the bike was definitely from the 70’s and was just useless to me (even Dan agreed it was horrible) and Dan was nice enough to let me buy a new one.

We found this awesome noseless seat at Walmart for about $20 and it’s very comfortable although if you are used to riding a regular seat it can take some getting used to. Since I have no previous prejudices (unless you count walking) this wasn’t really a problem for me. The only other issue with the bike was a pretty important one – the breaks needed to be replaced. But a quick search on amazon yielded the part we needed on the cheap and within a couple weeks we finally had it in working order.

I think MM was more excited for my first official bike ride than I was. I have to admit, I was pretty scared. It’s been a long time and now we’ve put money into this hair-brained idea and I have to actually do it! What if I can’t? What if I am terrible at this or just hate it? What if? What if? What if? But eventually it was time to get on the saddle and give it a shot. I’ve been out on it three times now (twice with the new seat) and each time was noticeably better than the last. It really is like a light bulb going off – a rhythm to find – and once you’ve found that and the light bulb is on, everything just falls into place and before I knew it we’d left the safe confines of the parking lot we were practicing in and taking it to the streets.

I won’t say that I am now all of a sudden a terrific biker, because I’d be lying. We barely made it half a mile before my legs were tired and I wanted to go home. But I am feeling rather motivated and looking forward to my next try. I’m hoping this will be a great new form of exercise – and I’ll be able to go further and explore more of the neighborhood than I would have on foot. It’s exciting – I hope I can stick with it and be one of those cool bicycle riding people.

One nice thing is how bike friendly our neighborhood is. There are literally bike paths all over the place and a lot of people ride their bikes to work or just for exercise – we see them all the time. Heck, my husband is one of those people – he loves riding his bike to work and sneaking in a workout during his morning and evening commutes. Eventually when I get really good, I can even hook the bike trailer up to my bike and take the kids out during the week (I won’t be trying that until I feel VERY confident on the bike). If there was ever a great idea for how to lose weight and get more active, this is it. Once again, hubby had a pretty brilliant idea, wouldn’t you say?