Sunday, January 30, 2011

Two hour bike ride around town


My knee hurts for about a week after I am done hiking and then it feels better.  I wanted to get some exercise this weekend but I did not want to make my knee flare up again so I decided to go for a bike ride instead of hiking.  I have pilates tomorrow so I did not want over do it either.  I ended biking about 13 miles around town, I gained about 200 feet in elevation plus some ups and downs and I my average moving speed was 6.8 MPH.

I feel good after my bike ride.  My thighs are pleasantly tired and I got a nice mental break from my house and my kids.   My knee feels a lot better than it feels when I have hiked the same distance.  Maybe, if I spend the next two weeks biking, (and doing pilates and yoga)  instead of hiking my knee will get better.

A nice thing about biking is that I did not have burn any gas to get the the starting point, since the starting point was my driveway, but I got to go a lot further and see a lot more than I would have seen if I had started a hike from my driveway.   Also biking is a more intense workout, so I get the same amount of exercise in less time.  That means my house is less trashed when I get home and I have more time in the day to do other things.  The worst thing about biking is having to breath in auto exhaust and the risk of crashing.   It was a bicycle crash that weakened my ankle to the point that I had to go to physical therapy.

Even though I was surrounded by people and cars, I felt like I got more solitude than I get when I hike on a busy trail.  I don't have to interact much with the people around me when I am biking where I seem to have to interact a lot with the folks I pass when I am hiking.  One risk when biking is that people will yell nasty things out their car windows, I've had this happen a lot in the past, but luckily it does not happen to me as much now that I am older and apparently less attractive to bullies and living in a less urban area.

I can take some solace in the fact that even if I can't hike, I can still bike.  Biking is easier on my knees and there is no chance of my hurting my ankle, unless I crash.

13 miles
200 feet elevation gain

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