Biking History

That's right, biking history was made yesterday! At least in my household, it was.
Two years ago, I had only been on a bike a handle of times in my life. I had no desire to ride a bike when I was a kid. When I was a teenager, it was my biggest secret that I didn't know how to ride a bike. In college, I was still embarrassed about it. And then I met Josh, who just happened to be a crazy bike fanatic who did mountain bike races when I met him.

 Before he found out my secret, my two best friends  in Colorado tried to teach me how to ride. I realized it wasn't as hard as I had been imagining it to be all these years. I successfully rode up and back my street with no major catastrophes or broken bones. There was hope in my future.

Over the next two years, Josh learned I didn't really know how to ride a bike and he still loved me. But he also wanted me to get a bike and learn. Ehhhh. I relented and I quickly had my very own first bicycle. I rode back and forth to school in Provo, a total distance of 8 blocks one-way. I crashed once, stopped many cars while trying to start pedaling after a stop sign, but overall had many successful bike rides.

Then we moved away from biker friendly Utah to the crazy busy east. Despite our town priding itself on being a "bicycle friendly" community, it didn't feel very friendly to me with so many roads without shoulders and lots of traffic. I didn't ride my bike for awhile.

Towards the end of the summer, a friend from church asked me to do her a favor. That favor just happened to be doing a bike race that both of our husbands were doing together. She wanted to do a shorter version, but wanted a buddy to do it with. I agreed to do it and I am so glad I did!

 We had to wake up at what felt like the crack of dawn. I haven't been up before the sun in a long, looong time, and I like it that way.

 Our friends who persuaded me to do it. She's pregnant, so I figured if she can do it while she's pregnant, then I need to stop being a wuss and get over my fear!

 Getting ready to go to the starting line. There were several butterflies in my stomach at this point. 

 This was the part I was worried about...I knew I could handle the distance because I have been running, but I get nervous around other people on bikes. I am not very reliable about where my bike will go, so I thought I was for sure going to cause a crash with all of these cyclists right next to each other. My strategy was to wait until everyone else left, then I could go last and not have to worry about other people. It worked and there were no crashes!

 At the start!

Fittingly, the race started with a horse and buggy.

  One of the stops was at an Amish schoolhouse where they served us pie! Delicious. 

 It wasn't just a momentous day for me, though. Josh has had a goal to do a century ride (100 miles) for quite awhile. This proved to be the perfect opportunity. It was a mostly flat course, low key ride. He did super great and finished in a little over 5 hours. I don't know how he did it!

We were quite the victorious duo yesterday. I really loved it and I may be hooked. I loved riding on flat roads with all of the traffic being blocked off by policeman. Too bad it's not like that on a regular basis. I definitely am planning on riding my bike more now and seeing how far I can go!