Biking

I have a new love/hate relationship with my bike. I started riding my bike a couple of years ago when I had to give up walking with my friends, do to my leg and back injury. My bike helped me feel like I could exercise again which gave me a good feeling. I don't ever want to be sedentary, I enjoy exercising. For the past couple years I have not push myself in my riding, riding is hard and it takes a lot of muscle strength. I was happy that I could ride around Mantua Lake twice at one time ( 8 miles). I rode my bike all the way through November last year and was sad when the weather turned and I could no longer ride. I then decided to take a spinning class to keep riding through the winter months, I had no idea what I was in for! I soon learned that spinning was for the high end cycler, which I was not. The first class I took,I could only stand on my spinning bike for 30 seconds at a time because of the leg strength you need to endure. I did however last the entire 1 hour class, and made a commitment to myself that I was going to conquer this challenging class. I have stuck with the class now for nine months and I have seen a great improvement in my road bike endurance because of the strength I have gained. I have now worked up to 20 miles on my bike!! Yahoo!! And I can keep up with the best of them in spin class!! I feel empowered and it is a great feeling be active and healthy. To be totally honest I still hate the first 5 miles, or first 20 min of spin class, but the last 15 miles and the rest of spin class the adrenalin kicks in and I love the feeling of working hard!! It also has helped me realize that I can accomplish the goals I place before myself, when I am going up tough hills on my bike it helps me realize that the tough hills I am going through in life can also be conquered. So last year my goal was to make it around Mantua Lake twice a total of 8 miles and I did it. This year my goal is to make it around Bear Lake a total of 50 miles!! Results yet to come!!