I am so excited I can barely contain myself. I have not ridden a bike in 35 years. This summer, my son bought himself a bike and my husband had a bike given to him. The only person who didn’t have a bike was me!
Now, naturally, I had to test out the son’s bike. He has a really high bike because he’s almost 6′ tall, but I’m 5’10” so I figured it would be okay for me as well. I was wrong! With the knee problems that I have, he hiked the seat ALL THE WAY UP so that I would not have to bend my knees so much while peddling. While that worked for riding – it was a disaster when it came time to stop!
Yes, I fell off the damn bike. Literally face-planted half in the asphalt driveway and half in the grass. My pride and ego were severely bruised, and my knees were both scuffed up and I had a gash on my left calf and on top of my foot where the pedal caught it.
However, even though I was sore for a day or two afterward, the sheer joy of being back on a bicycle kicked in with a fierceness I have not felt in a long time. So I set out in search of the perfect bike for me and found this:
It comes exactly as shown, and is available in 5 different colors. I chose this light blue model because it gives off that retro vibe that I love so much. I have never been one to enjoy bikes with a gazillion different gears, so this suits me perfectly. It has the larger seat to accommodate my ample butt and I will have no issue with tooling around on this bad boy!
The Virginia Capital Trail
There is one thing that I have wanted to do in the past 25+ years that I have lived in Richmond and that is to explore the city and all the historic landmarks on a bike. I can stop and examine what I want when I want. I don’t have to find a parking spot. It doesn’t cost me a thing to get some exercise and enjoy the scenery of this beautiful town.
The Virginia Capital Trail is one of those goals that I want to cross off my bucket list. The trail is a 52-mile dedicated multi-use trail that connects Richmond and Williamsburg along the beautiful and historic Route 5 corridor. Now granted, with my knee issues, I don’t foresee being able to tackle the entire trail this year, but it is a goal to be able to cross off my list for Spring 2020!
My daughter, April (@freeskinnyapril) completed her goal to do the trail this year. I am so damn proud of her – she’s literally been crushing goals left and right she’s set for herself, and I decided to take a page from her book and do the same.
So my bike is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, and I added the Handy service (for an additional $49) to have a handyman come and put the bike together for me. I do NOT want to wait for my husband to get home, and I do NOT want to wait for my teenage son to put it together, and I know damn good and well I don’t have the patience to put it together. So that extra $49 was well worth it to me.
I literally am so giddy that I feel like a youngster again on the first day of summer break. I cannot wait to get out there and explore the town I’ve grown to love on my bike and take in all the wonder and magic that this city has to offer.
I will be sure to share pictures of our maiden voyage!
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I had to tell y’all the great news! The bike arrived a day early! Hubby came home from work and discovered it on the front steps! So between my husband, my son, and me – we got the bike put together! My son did most of the work. Hubby is going to work on the front fender and the basket later this week (a bracket for the basket is missing and the front fender is bent a little so the tire rubs when we put it on) but other than that it’s PERFECT!
Took it out for a maiden voyage this evening after we were finished to the corner store and back. It was dark, so not as enjoyable as it could have been but I can’t wait to get on it again tomorrow!