Quickie Ride

Who doesn't like a quickie? That's what it's all about when you have kids, a job, endless church committee meetings, a house to clean, etc. You take it when you can get it.

Of course, I'm referring to cycling. Or training in general. It's hard to fit into a busy schedule. And while I would never give up running, sometimes I let other commitments take precedence over swimming and biking.

Anyway, on Sunday I put aside all the housework and organizing I'm trying to do (which never seems to stop!), the projects I'm working on, and even my kid's requests to play with them (and for once I didn't feel guilty), and I went for a bike ride.

I only had 60 - 90 minutes so I decided to try something new. Instead of riding out in the country, which takes too long, I made several short loops in town. I rode out to the corner of 20th and 59th Avenue (by WOW) and first did a short loop: turning north off of 20th by the ball fields and going past the Fun Plex and up the hill to 59th Ave and back to the start. But that was too short. That's actually a loop I run from time to time.

So I decided to make it bigger but still making only right-hand turns. I rode from the same starting point to 71st Avenue. Then I turned right (north) and went to 10th street.....right again and up the hill to 59th Avenue. Turning right onto 59th Avenue means going up a steep hill, after slowing way down to watch for traffic, which made it even harder but it felt great. I like this loop!

I rode this loop twice and then went back home. It was perfect. It took me an hour and 15 minutes and because I climbed a hill several times, I think I got a good workout. I wouldn't want to do this all the time, but when time is short, it was a nice "no-brainer" ride. And that's good enough for me!