Little by Little

After three weeks of no riding, it was time to get back up on the horse. I have been working out on a consistent basis, but I still wanted to take it easy. So Michael and I headed back to Cutler Park. You remember Cutler Park, the ride that led me to purchase not expensive enough glasses.

Well this time around the ride wasn't nearly as buggy, but I came prepared for the possible mayhem by dousing myself with enough bug spray to kill Godzilla (ok, i know Godzilla wasn't a bug -- it was just a lot of spray). And other than the remarkably high number of chipmunks and one bug that flew right into my mouth like my breath was a tractor beam, the ride was virtually creature free.

Now the point of my story today isn't simply that I rode Cutler park again, it's that I rode it twice as much as the time before. That's right. I doubled my badassness! And by doubled, I'm referring to the fact that I did two laps the first time we went and four laps on this last trip. Four laps!! Of course, I have to give credit where credit is due. Michael insisted that we would do more than two so I was prepared for three, but after the third I thought I was finished. In fact we even got back to the car and I started to mentally pack it in. Then, being the ever-goading hunk of man he is, Michael sighed "I mean, we could do another."

I told him no. I was tired. He nodded then promptly repeated, "Or, we could do another."

I gave him "the look" and he broke eye contact with me long enough to take a healthy gulp from his water bottle right before directing his mischievous gaze right back at me. "Four would be fun." I just ignored him and right when he was starting to get the hint and began to lower the bike rack I realized I wasn't finished. I had one more in me. "Not so fast babe."

And with that, we started the fourth lap.

I'm not saying that Michael made me do it. Nobody makes me do anything because I'm all tough and independent and stuff. But that last lap really felt great, and just knowing that I was able to do more this time than last time gives me some encouragement. Plus, this ride taught me never to wait three weeks between adventures because the saddle sores come back. I didn't know they come back, yet another reason to be consistent.

-A