I love Melanie. Especially that song. I think about it every time I ride my bicycle. In the past 20 years, I have had to think about it without riding my bike, cuz that's how long it's been since I've ridden a bicycle.
But I got on my bike today and rode it up a hill, and down a hill, and stayed on it for 19 minutes!
That doesn't sound like much for most people, but for me, it was tremendous. Because last week, when my Uncle fixed my bike so I could ride it, I just took it around the block... down two streets, up one, and then home again. And was in a LOT of pain.
My left knee has arthritis in it. So much so that when I've been sitting for a long time, I limp when I stand and start walking. It has to work the kinks out before it will move as it should. Sometimes, I only have to sit long enough to drive to the store and when I get out of the car, I'm limping. And my knee had me thinking that I wasn't going to make it very long on the bike... cuz it was hurtin'. But I decided that I was NOT going to give in to the pain and pushed forward. And do you know what happened? After about the 10th block or so, the pain subsided. The up/down, up/down movement and bending of the knee worked the kinks out of the joint in a way I hadn't felt since I gave up physical therapy. And that allowed me to keep on pushing forward.
But then I had the big hill at the top of my street to face. I was going to avoid it altogether, but since the pain in my knee was no longer a factor, I wondered if I could climb that hill. After all, it's not a very big hill... just a steep hill. So I headed in that direction.
And I was thisclose to making it to the top of the hill. The strength in my legs gave out before I reached the very top. Then I thought that I might just turn around and head on home. But decided that I wasn't going to call it quits just yet. I had more energy in me... it was time to see what my limits were.
I rode about 5 minutes more and then turned towards home. I had to stop at a stop sign because cross traffic didn't stop and it was a major thruway, and when I pushed off, I was suddenly worried that I wasn't going to get up to speed. My thighs were burning!! But I made it and decided to keep the peddling steady and slow... after all, steady and slow wins the race, right? And I really didn't have that far to go to get home. And of course, there was that hill that I climbed to look forward to (cuz this time, I was going to go down!).
By the time I got to my driveway, my legs were a little shaky from the burn in my thighs, but I felt really good! Not so good when I looked at my watch and saw that I'd only been on the bike for 19 minutes. But it was 15 minutes longer than the last time I was on it, so I decided I would take it.
And then I also noticed something else.... I decided! I decided to keep on going. I decided to tackle that hill. I decided I was okay with 19 minutes ... this time!
Next time, I think I have decided I will be on my bike for 30 minutes!
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