I Want to Ride My Bicycle. I Want to Ride My Bike.

Today Matt and I rode 35 miles on our bikes. We left at about 10am. We were thinking of signing up for an official bike race, but then we decided to save the money and just ride the distance on our own.

We were going nice and slow at first. There were some pretty steep hills and lots of cars to worry about, but there were no big problems. It was cool that even when there didn't seem to be a path for a bike we found a way. We have friends who biked all the way from IL to Oregon, and I have even more respect for what they did than before and I already thought it was insane and amazing before. The worst part was the overpasses. You had to ride up a steep hill everytime and there were never sidewalks or anything, just narrow road. So you're working really hard to get up the overpass and you don't even want to be on it in the first place, but it's the only way.

At about noon we realized we were starving and went slightly out of the way to McDonalds. Real healthy I know, but we just needed calories really bad. We had nothing left. We also got Gatorade at the attached gas station. When we got back on our bikes we were still sore and tired, but we felt a lot better. My right knee really hurt from about then until the end of the trip, but we just kept pedaling. Eventually, my neck, back, and butt also really hurt. My knee was the worst though. When we were about through I realized I could make my other leg do most of the work and I really tired my other leg out while my right leg just felt like a mutilated stump with some skin flaps attached being tossed around in a circle as I pedaled. Then on top of all that I realized that my skin was frying in the heat. I rarely ever see my burn until hours later after being inside, but I could see very visibly red skin on my arms and legs and when I lifted up my sleeves and shorts legs I could see a dreaded farmer tan. Boo! So we decided we had to stop at Matt's parents' house even though they were only 4 miles away from our house. At first I was being really stubborn and saying we weren't going to stop until we got to our house, but I caved when I noticed my red skin. We stopped there and drank some ice water and I laid down across 3 dining room chairs because I didn't want to get their couch or chairs sweaty. Matt wanted to have his mom drive us home, and I wanted to finish what we started. Luckily she wasn't there. So that was the end of that. We rode the rest of the way and made it home by 3:15 in time for the Cardinal game. (Boo, they lost.)

So here I sit typing about the day still emitting heat, and I've been putting on aloe pretty much nonstop. I'm surprisingly not that sore, but we'll see about tomorrow. As for the sunburn, I would have used suntan lotion, but I haven't gotten much sun all summer and I told myself I wanted some color. Well, I got it! Bright red. Farmer tan style. Oh, but on my legs the burn only goes down to the middle of my knee, so that looks weird. The only way to cover it up besides pants would be knee socks I guess, but who wears those? I think I really learned my lesson this time. I know I always say that, but this time I...ya I probably didn't.