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In December 2014 I received a BMX bike as a gift from my boyfriend, just a few months after we started dating. I would ride it to the skate park & pedal around but mostly, I was just intimidated & scared. In May 2015 I rode the warm up line at the legendary Posh Woods. My first attempt, I crashed. There's been plenty of crashes since then but my riding & my confidence have improved (which you can read all about over on my guest blog post on Fit & Feminist). That same month I bought my first road bike & began riding bikes for fun/fitness.
Three months after getting my road bike & starting this cycling journal, my boyfriend crashed his motorcycle, putting our bike rides together on hold. Our most important goals became healing his busted leg. After a few weeks of being bed ridden he was able to get down to Posh with his walker or crutches & coach me from the side lines. For that, I am forever grateful. But then, it was winter & as a beginner cyclist I was not ready for winter riding so I rode very little. Then in March I decided to ride 50 miles each week as a questionable goal - but I did it! It meant some late night rides & some cold night rides to meet my goal but I did it. It felt awesome & got me even more psyched on bikes. Then that September, I attempted my first century ride & successfully did 82 miles in the BikeMS City to Shore ride! The following year I tried again, and rode 77 miles. But this past September I successfully rode 100 miles on my bike! We started 2018 in Arizona riding mountain bikes in Sedona and BMX anywhere we could. It was wonderful. However, I did not use Strava for all my sessions at Posh this year so my numbers are low. But I started to feel like I was riding just to achieve a number, not just because I liked riding bikes. But, I tend to do that sort of thing. In 2018, as I was preparing my third attempt at a century I decided to ride my road bike every day until the ride. That meant, saddle time for 42 days straight. I didn't always do long rides, but I rode every day. It did not prepare me for a 100 mile ride, but that's another story. My goal for 2019 is to spend more time riding BMX. 2019 Ride log:03.30.19 - 1.36 hours / 15.05mi @ 9.4mph (Saucon Rail Trail)
03.15.19 - 59 min / 8.89mi @ 9mph (road ride / Bethlehem PA) 02.16.19 - 2.33 hours / 9.41mi @ 3.7mph (Ray's Indoor Bike Park) 02.14.19 - 1.38 hours / 4.02mi @ 2.5mph (Ray's Indoor Bike Park) 01.26.19 - 1.19 hours / 5.5mi @ 4.2mph (Jordan Creek Parkway) 01.01.19 - 1.25 hours / 10.2mi @ 7.2mph (Lehigh Gorge Trail) [2018] [2017] [2016]
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