I woke up this morning full of energy. Full of great ideas.
“Let’s ride bikes this afternoon!” I squealed, as soon as Joey’s alarm went off.
“Whhaaaa–” he garbled, still not awake.
“It looks nice outside. Let’s ride bikes!”
“OK,” he managed to say.
“And maybe we should invite Danny and Laura,” I said, my good idea was beginning to snowball, get bigger ‘n bigger.
“Sure…” Joey mumbled.
So I got out my phone and texted Laura (I wasn’t sure if she was up yet and a surefire way to get deleted as a Facebook friend or otherwise is to call too early on a weekend morning). I told her we were going to ride bikes this afternoon, and would they like to join us?
Laura got a bike a couple months ago and ever since we’ve been talking about a group bike ride, but it just hasn’t worked out.
An hour later, Joey and I were showered, clean and running out the door to church.
“Oh my GOSH it’s cold!” I yelped as we ran down the stairs and to the car. The thermometer in the car read 27 degrees, and I began to rethink the awesomeness of my “let’s go ride bikes” idea that I had developed just an hour before.
Plus, Danny and Laura are actual Texans, not posers like Joey and I. They’re not used to sub-freezing bike rides in the dead of winter. (Or otherwise, probably. It is possible to go on a sub-freezing bike ride in Iowa in Fall, Winter AND Spring.) And I know for a fact that Laura gets cold really super easy. I was pretty sure they’d think we were crazies and come up with a super good excuse like “we need to fold socks” or “the spice cabinet needs re-alphabetizing”.
Danny texted us back during church to inform us that we were, in fact, on for bike riding.
I was shocked.
“Does Laura not realize how cold it is outside?” I asked. But I decided that if she hadn’t been outside yet I was not going to be the one to tell her how cold it was, because if I did she wouldn’t come and it would be lame if it was just me and two boys.
We decided to meet at 1:30 at the Knox-Henderson parking lot for the Katy Trail. I cleaned up lunch (we had major Chinese today, we made hot and sour soup, egg rolls and Kung Pao Chicken; jealous much?) while Joey pumped up our bike tires and got the bikes ready to go.
Me? I’se excited. I’ve barely ridden Thunder (Thunder is the name of my bike, for those of you who are new) but one time since I got my wrist surgeried in September, but that one time of bike riding proved to me that I can now ride PAIN FREE! It’s wicked awesome.
“Can we go, can we go, can we go?” I said. And after this picture was taken I began jumping up and down on the floor and squeal “we’re going to ride bikes, we’re going to ride bikes!”. (Our poor Downstairs Neighbor. He has got to have serious questions about Joey and I based upon the thuds he hears coming through his ceiling.)
Joey headed downstairs to hook the bike rack up to the car, and I made sure we had water in our water bottles.
It’s a big job putting the rack on the car. I tried once, and I had the thing upside down…it was kind of a disaster.
Anyway, we got sort of turned around trying to find the parking lot for the Katy Trail, but we finally made it. Danny and Laura had pulled in just moments before us and they were each wearing about 7 layers.
“It’s cold!” Laura said.
My bike computer read 39 degrees, so she was definitely right. It WAS cold. I was still surprised they had agreed to join us, my idea was kind of crazy.
“Your bike is fancy,” I told Laura as Danny hauled it out of the back of their Jeep.
I remember when she first got it a couple months ago, she told me she’d named it Lightning. “Because Lightning is faster than Thunder,” she’d said with a seriously smug expression.
Two days later I had come up with a killer comeback, but since it took me two days to come up with one, I never used it. Nor can I remember it now, which seriously stinks. It was a pretty good comeback, too.
We’re each wearing at least two layers, a stocking cap AND a bike helmet. I, unfortunately, only had my hard-core fingerless biker gloves. (Can I just tell you how cold my fingertips got? MERCY.)
Joey stuck the camera on the back of the Jeep for the consummate “before” picture, and I really like the accidental shot he took of himself.
He looks really confused. And the rest of us just look cold.
Here we are, shivering and trying to be as tough as possible.
We rode 7 miles in 45 minutes (uphill against the wind when it’s 39 degrees outside is NOT EASY my friends…not easy) and had excellent conversation and cardiovascular exercise.
I was kind of shocked at the number of insaners who were out running the trail in shorts. Seriously, people. It’s cold out.
We finished just at the right spot where you’re tired, but not so tired that you’re not having fun anymore. But we were all a little bit frozen.
This one’s a little fuzzy because we were all so cold. Can you see our rosy cheeks?
We loaded up the bikes and headed to Starbucks where we thawed out over espresso and hot chocolate, a very good end to our polar bear bike ride.
Lightning may be faster than Thunder, but Thunder’s more intimidating.
Dangit. That isn’t the comeback I orginally had. Why can’t I remember it?! Anyway, we all had fun. I think. I had fun at least.
