A biking weekend

I did some bicycle riding this weekend, and have a sore butt to show for it.

I haven't ridden much at all this summer. Actually, I can't recall a single ride (which doesn't necessarily mean I haven't done it - I just can't remember). But I rode both Saturday and Sunday, and while it was enjoyable, it may have been a little more than I should have done the weekend before a marathon. I don't feel too bad this morning though, so maybe not.

SATURDAY
Anyway, Saturday Jane had to run farther than me in our training for the Fort4Fitness. I also wanted to prepare for next weekend's 6:30 am marathon start time by beginning about that time this Saturday. So I started my 8 mile run around 6:45 am. It's still pretty dark then, but daylight found me before I ventured into Foster park and it ended up being a really nice 75-minute jaunt. For some reason 8-miler's seem to be my best runs. I averaged just under 9:30 per mile, and think that would be a nice pace for the marathon (hopefully).

So after my run, Jane was ready for her 11 mile run. Mimicking her 8:30 start time next Saturday, I decided to ride along with her on my bike. We took the rivergreenway up to Foster Park, then cut over to Fairfield Avenue and up to my place of employment (for a potty break). It was a nice easy ride for me, although my left knee was bothering me a little. For some reason bike riding has always bothered my knees - even as a kid.

A unicycle on the greenway.

SUNDAY
Yesterday morning, then, we got up and decided to both go for a bike ride. Again we took the rivergreenway and headed toward Foster Park, and then decided to try the trail all the way to downtown. We've always wondered exactly where it was from the park to downtown and we had nothing else to do, so off we went.

Taking the trail from our house to Promenade Park is 7.1 miles and 38 minutes on a bike according to Google Maps. It took us a bit longer because we were site-seeing and just enjoying the morning ride through the woods. It was pretty neat. We sat on the swing along the river at the park, and then came back home via Fairfield Avenue because it's almost exactly 2 miles shorter.

Again, this was probably more riding than I should have done, but we didn't go hard, and it was a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

THE BIKES
The picture up top is our actual bicycles. The green one is an early-70's Huffy that I acquired when working at the self-storage facility. Someone left it when they moved out of their storage unit, and I was more than happy to take it off their hands. It did have the original white seat, but it was hard as a rock so I put a new seat on it. I've also had the bike mechanics that work in my building tune it up some. It's a pretty sweet 3-speed that moves right along and has stood the test of time pretty well.

The blue bike is the one Jane has always been partial too. It's a Rollfast, and from just a brief search appears to be from somewhere between the 1950's and 1970's. My parents bought this with a matching men's bike that someone had reconditioned. Unfortunately son Isaac took the other bike to college with him, and it never returned. It's a fairly decent single-speed bike, but it's not all original.

While these two bikes have sufficed for this long, we should probably get some "real" bicycles at some point. Until then... (imagine me humming the wicked witch theme from 'The Wizard of Oz')...