Because it was time to get back on......

When I was a kid, we always rode bikes all over the place - living in rural SW Michigan with 2 working parents, that's how you got anywhere. When I was 14, my family (mom, dad, big bro, little sis and I) joined a group of folks from the area - people my dad worked with and members of their families - and started riding "seriously". We trained for RAGBRAI (rode it 2 years) and several other organized rides over the course of a few years. The last year my dad and sis did the Iowa trip, while my mom, bro and I stayed home (neither he nor I could afford to take the whole week off of work from our summer jobs). That week, he was riding his bike and a car struck him from behind. He was about a mile from home, wasn't wearing his helmet and suffered massive head trauma which led to brain death.

He was 18, I was 16, and for nearly 19 years I was afraid to get back on a bike.

My hubby's dad turned 65 in Feb and I'm not sure who made the decision, but it was determined that "we" (pop-in-law, me and hubby, and his sister and her husband) would all go back and do RAGBRAI "one more time".

It was somewhat intimidating at first, but when my bike came into the LBS and I got out in the parking lot to try it out and make sure the sizing was right, it was such a great feeling. I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride.

Now, I'm riding for a bunch of reasons:
- spending time with hubby
- training for RAGBRAI
- training and being a part of a team for the MS 150 Ride to Jack and Back
- getting my legs and butt and even my arms in better shape than they've been for YEARS!!!
- and, very importantly, losing weight and getting healthy so that when hubby and I start trying to get pregnant this fall we'll hopefully have an easier time (This one's somewhat of a catch 22, as I've discovered that riding is not a recommended exercise during pregnancy. Looks like I'll be spending A LOT of time on the trainer.)

I ride because I can have fun, exercise, see new places, meet amazing new people and constantly challenge myself mentally and physically. There's always something to celebrate at the end of a ride: whether it's completing a loop a minute faster than yesterday or making it up that hill without stopping, every ride is an accomplishment. And it's something that I can do for myself where the only limitations are those I impose on myself.