Activities for Humans in Equine Rehab: Biking

Sometime in the end-of-winter-months, Husband decided to go to the local pro bike shop and look for a new bike in anticipation of our trip to Hilton Head this fall. We both enjoyed biking the last two times we were there, but we didn't care for the bikes available to rent. He found something he liked, but left it because it was more than he wanted to spend and he needed to think about it. Fast forward to the beginning of May-ish, he decided to go back and get it.

I opted to go with him to check out the shop and parooze... I had a bike at home that had served me well from age 13ish to through college, and while it was too small for me, I was comfortable on it. I did find something I liked, and it was discounted because it was "last year's model". I test rode it, hemmed and hawed, and left it. I was warned to call right away if I decided I wanted it because they couldn't order another one without a significant jump in price. I went home and rode my old bike and quickly found my balance was quite impaired since the frame was small. I called the next morning and paid for the bike while someone else was out test riding it!

He got a more traditional hybrid that leans more towards road biking, I got a low entry hybrid that let's me sit up like I'm riding a horse!

So that's how Husband and I ended up with new bikes!

I'd been coming home from the barn and riding my bike up and down the street for most of May, but that was getting old quickly. Husband's parents had a bike rack they weren't using and gifted that to us, so once that was home and Husband made a few modifications to it so it could go on his Camaro's trailer hitch, we were free to ride wherever!

Over the weekend, we went to our local rails-to-trails that opened last year. Right now the trail is 5.9 miles long, but there's a plan in place to connect it with 8.5 miles that finishes close to where Penn used to live. There's 7.6 missing miles of trail (you could ride it but it's not groomed yet). The trail will end up being about 22 miles long, and according to the trail website: "Future expansion is in progress to connect the two sections to complete the goal of a 22 mile long trail... and extend four miles to connect to the Great Allegheny Passage."

From GAP Trail's Website
Maybe one day Husband and I will make a crazy trip of riding bikes from pretty close to our house to DC! It would require 11.6 miles of missing trail to be completed, but hey, maybe we'll be in shape to do it by the time they finish! We'll see, haha.

Crazy trips aside, we set out to enjoy our bikes on a local trail. And we did! The trail was wonderfully green, quiet, and very nice riding.

The trail follows a local creek since it was a railroad.

We stopped at a little overlook.

The water was really up because it absolutely downpoured 2 or 3 times that day.

Nice bridges to ride over and look at the creek.

We didn't go very far on Saturday because we spent a lot of time looking around and stopping to look at the creek, but we ended up doing about 6 miles of trail.

Umm, ears pic?

We finished our ride Saturday by figuring out which restaurant by the trailhead belonged to the meat smoker that was cooking wonderful smelling things in the parking lot. We had some delightful cheesesteaks after about an hour and a half of riding (which included several stops to look around), before calling it a night.

Husband and I went back out for round 2 of biking on Monday this week, starting a bit further down the trail, and riding it to the end. We got sidetracked by exploring a local park with a trail that appeared to be bike friendly... it wasn't friendly enough for us, haha. We hauled butt back to the car- we wanted to order from the same grille, but get steak salads this time (which were also good). However, we had a race from where we originally parked to the grille: he had to drive the speed limit and obey all traffic laws to the letter, and I could book it as fast as I could down the 2 miles of trail. Umm, he won. But only by 1-2 min!

Map My Ride for our Monday ride! It's a nifty app, but even niftier on the computer.

I went by myself on Tuesday, being the new addict that I am, and decided to ride the entire trail, end to end (turns out to be 12 miles). The whole first half of my trip was slightly uphill (the trail rises 118ft over 6 miles). And I had a head wind. And I must have been tired from the almost 10 miles the day before. Those first 6 miles sucked, haha. I backtracked to the start of the trail (and old railroad turn around, btw), and then rode back up past my truck and onward. Once I got turned around to go the length of the trail, I realized the first half of the trip was going to suck... a lot. My thighs were burning about 2 miles in, much to my dressagey dismay. But hey, walking Penn isn't building my leg muscles, and that's all I've been doing for 3 weeks now!

1:14:12 to do 12.02 miles and burned 821 calories apparently.

I ended my trip at the same grille (of course), and got a grilled chicken salad, which was delightful again. Husband and I are planning on going riding on Saturday... if only because we're going to eat at the grille AGAIN because on Fridays and Saturdays they have baby back ribs available, and they looked incredible on the Facebook page!