Monday, August 5, 2013

Summer Sports Challenges

 Several months ago, I was invited to participate in my friend Derek's wedding. As such I needed to slim down to fit into the suit they got for me. Up until this time I had been wavering on riding my bike for whatever reason, but this motivated me to get out and ride. In the last two months I've been on my bike nearly every day. On Independence day I laid down 55 miles without much problem.

One tool I've been using is MapMyRide, which keeps track of my mileage and speeds. What I like about it is the online community and the achievements. I am a sucker for pretend virtual trophies, and am proud to say that I'm ranked first place for a 0.61 mile stretch of a paved trail in downtown Spokane.

Peri has even expressed interest in cycling again. We bought her a bike trailer last year, and used it maybe twice. Both times, Peri wasn't too jazzed about it. Well, I got into her trailer the other day to find her helmet, as she'll need that for her balance bike, and Peri got excited about the trailer. She voluntarily got her helmet on and hopped into her seat. I pulled her around the block, then up to the Walgreen's to drop off some movie rentals.

Our biggest ride to date is an eight-mile trip downtown and back. She was positive the entire time and got to see a lot more than she can in the car. Of course we'll be going again as often as we can.

I'm feeling pretty proud that I'm slowly becoming an athlete, which is a term I've never, ever applied to myself. Aside from cycling, we're also getting into hiking. In a similar situation with the bike trailer, we have a baby carrier backpack which we picked up a while ago, which Peri also hated. Naomi had the idea to call it a "piggyback" and in the last few weeks, Peri has been really excited for "super piggyback rides." Sometimes we have to just run her around the block to appease her. We've been on a few short hikes, including the entire loop trail at Kamiak Butte last week, and Peri has been really enjoying herself, as has Naomi.

The hiking has also bled into another activity which I'm enjoying with some friends: disc golf. The closest course to us is an old Boy Scout camp nestled in a pine forest. It's a difficult course and a pretty nice short hike. We went up as a family last week and played the front nine, with Peri in her piggyback for half the holes. She walked the other half with us and in both cases made an excellent caddy.


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