Bike trails and health reform?

It seems to me that if the government wanted to help health reform, they could step up the rails to trails program.   Martin and I spent the morning biking on the trails in Rochester, Minnesota and there are trails EVERYWHERE!!!!    They are well done, safe and fun.   Indiana seems to have so few bike trails and I believe is around fifth in the nation in obesity.   Hmmmm.......how about making walking and biking more accessible?  There were people of all sizes and ages on those trails.   They all looked pretty happy to me.  

I love contemplating the people I see on these trails.   My favorite people this morning were busy doing what they loved.   The young lady who was stopped on the trail to take pictures of the birds.   She looked very happy.   I saw some orioles and they made me happy so sure, I see why she stopped.  

There was the older couple, holding hands and walking down the trail together.    I wanted to get a picture as those are my favorite pictures, but hadn't mastered biking and picture taking yet.   They weren't talking much but were just enjoying each others company.   Nice.  

There was our biking pal who we crossed paths with several times.   He admired my bike lights.  Lol!   Martin and I passed him once and he magically passed us in return a little later.   Probably was hard on his ego.  

I especially liked the dad walking with his little fivish year old boy and clearly having good father/son time.   Sweet.

So anyway, good quality bike and walk ways seem to me to be a better solution than socking more government money into drugs and theories of why we Americans are so fat.   Give us something to do if you have to do something Mr. Government!   I would much rather see my tax dollars go into using the old rails to make trails and family fun.   It probably would have a bigger effect on the obesity problem too.  

Biking ha ha

I finally took the plunge and got some biking shoes and clips for my bike.   Sweet relief.    The guy at the store gave Erik and I the whole run down on how to use them and described what it would look like to fall off.   (Erik actually used some of his money to buy himself a bike which fits his tall self).   I of course thought to myself, nah, that couldn't possibly happen to me.  

The first day available I took off and figured out how to get my shoes in the clips and YES, they are awesome.   It is so much easier to bike and use all the muscles etc to burn up the road - ha ha.   Having gotten through the first four miles, I neglected to test out getting out of the clips and was forced to come to a stop by one of those annoying cars at a cross way.   First try with my right foot and my foot did not come out.   Second try with the left foot and I was already headed down to pavement land.   Meeting the pavement I just started laughing my head off.   I am sure I looked pretty looney with my feet stuck on my pedals and laughing on the ground.  

Learned my lesson, got back on the 'horse' and took less pains to figure out how to get out of the pedals.   Slow prideful learner am I. 

Biking obsession

Since it is getting lighter out in the morning, I have started biking in the early morning before the sluggards....I mean children....get up.   Of course I decided to do this on the coldest mornings so far this year.   It was 18 degrees yesterday and today.   The only part of me which actually gets cold are my feet and my right thumb.   I tweaked the system since yesterday and my hands were warmer today.   My feet were warmer longer but I definitely need to figure something out so they feel less like bricks when I get home.   I think I need bigger shoes so I can fit those heater thingies in there.  

It is BEAUTIFUL in the morning.   I took off at 6:15 this morning and didn't see any cars for the first half hour.   I did see 14 deer and a pair of hawks.   I also got to see the sun come up.   Loved it.   I figure I am going to bike around that time every day as it doesn't interrupt my schedule with the kids.   I have felt pretty stretched thin as per usual so starting the day with a little alone time and herds of deer sounds like a nice plan.  

I am thankful my clothes fit again too.   What a relief.   Dusting off the old wardrobe has been nice.   I am truly obsessed with this biking thing.   I've been in this position before so am familiar with the panic I feel if I might have to miss a day of biking.   Facepalm.   Yes.   Biking disorder.   I can eat more too!!!!   Yay!   Happy times in the cold.  

This is going to hurt

Potential pain stared me in the face three times on the same stretch of road whilst out biking the last few days.   Earlier this week  I was zipping along and my least favorite surprise happened.   A dog with the fiercest growl came out of no where and got too close for comfort.    Fear of dogs....um....yep.  My mind went quickly to "this is going to hurt"  Fortunately the dog was only bluffing and my heart probably triple timed up that hill.  

The next day it had snowed the night before and all the roads were clear....except the growling dog road.   The growling dog did happen to make another appearance but I stayed calm and cool and didn't even give it credit for it's fierce growl..  Poor thing.  Growling wasted.   Anyway.....it suddenly got a bit more challenging to stay upright.   Snow.   Lots of it.  I slipped and slid my way up the hill on a not very melted snowy road.   Weeellllll.....what goes up, usually comes down.   On the other side of the hill the snow was much less cooperative.   I had a death grip on the handle bars and carefully searched for dry pavement.   That patch was a LONG way off.   "This is going to hurt" was very actively tripping through my head this time.   More like...."this going to hurt, this is going to hurt, this is going to hurt" sort of to the rhythm  of  "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can".    FINALLY reached the patch of pavement and FINALLY exhaled and was able to relax a bit grateful for my helmet and extra clothing even though I escaped  pain and also was thinking  of how stupid I was to attempt that hill with that much snow on the ground.   I am easily tempted when it comes to hills.  

The VERY next day, with nice clear roads, I.....succumbed to the growling, slipping, sliding road again.   What could go wrong today???  Right???   I might need to change my route.   I got to the top of the second hill and looked over at the same property I have passed day after day and noticed a big boxer like dog galloping down the drive way.  A few words came to mind....."This is going to...." amongst other words.    I had never seen THIS dog and it stopped halfway down the long driveway.  Phew.   You guessed it.   It changed its mind and started sprinting and barking fiercely at the stupid biker woman.    I was just waiting for it to take a hunk out of my leg.  "This is going to hurt"  (common theme on this road)  but fortunately the thing stopped its pursuit of the stupid me and went back home.   Deep breath.   Lots of them.   Have I mentioned I am scared of dogs????

I spent the rest of my ride home contemplating a new route.   We shall see if I am stupid....tomorrow.  

Free help

The site Myfitnesspal is a wonderful free thing.   It has nutritional information, goals, exercise tracking, and best of all......so far so good it is helping me carve off the chub.   Of course I am the biking nut so that burns A LOT of calories.   I feel less like I am starving myself and best of all I am making progress.   Phew.   You can even plug in the ingredients of your own  recipes and figure out calories per serving.   It is one of those applications I found around a month ago.   Awareness of what I am doing is helpful.  

Adjusting the biking schedule

I get completely addicted to biking.    My favorite route has about six good hills on it and the hills are even more addicting!!!   But......they hurt my knees.   Gearing down and taking a little time off to set a new schedule is the new plan.   There is the boring route with no hills and simply speed and endurance which I need to do about every other day or I will have to give up biking altogether on the off days.    I am taking the whole weekend off to give my knees a break before they get any worse.    I can bike like the dickens up many a hill but have trouble walking up stairs?????   Not good.