the couch potato’s triathlon

After what has felt like a pretty sedentary last couple of months, I finally hooked the bike trailer back unto my bike and met my friend Bobbie for a park date this morning. We’ve had a lot of snow lately and my bike riding has consisted of mainly me taking short rides to campus on some of the days I teach. It’s been a while since I biked with C. in the trailer behind me and my winter legs definitely felt the extra weight and distance today. But it was also one of the most fun things I did this week; strapping C in her trailer, biking down familiar roads, and soaking in the promise of summer. I know that by the time summer comes we’ll be riding daily with distance hardly a concern. We’ll back back into our familiar routine of setting out by bike and enjoying the season from the vantage point of the bicycle seat.

Today we met Bobbie and her son at a park roughly 3 miles from our house. Bobbie’s not only pulling T. but also biking while pregnant! (See more profiles of women biking while pregnant here.)

After arriving at the park, we locked up our bikes and moved C. into the double trailer next to her little buddy (as seen in the top photo). Bobbie watches C. for me a couple of times a week while I teach or lesson plan/grade and this is how she usually takes them to the park. So they’re used to riding together and enjoy each other’s company in the trailer. We then set out for about a mile long walk looping through the park and nearby neighborhood streets.

At this age, it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep our toddlers in a stroller for walks since they’d rather walk and run on their own. But it’s also hard to cover a lot of ground with them on foot. The double trailer is a pretty good solution for this since they get to interact while sitting in there together, sharing snacks, looking at books, and playing with toys.

Once back back at our bikes, we returned each kid to his and her own bike trailer seat and parted ways. Bobbie biked back to her house with T. and we rode the 3 miles back to our house. Pumping my legs to keep us going uphill on the ride home, I realized that this may as well qualify as my personal triathlon for the week: Bike, walk, bike. My legs are done (in a good way) and I feel great. You may not necessarily have thought so had you seen my grimacing face as I struggled uphill with the extra 40 lbs in tow, but I definitely couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day.

And judging by the looks on their faces, I think they enjoyed today’s bike outing as well.