Now that my bike is back in working order (thanks to Mad Duck Cyclery in Grapevine), I went for my first real ride Thursday night. It was the first time in my life that I had consciously gone riding for exercise rather than simply for fun or for transportation. So I approached it differently. My goal was not to get somewhere or just see the sights, but to burn up my quads.

Mission accomplished.

I put in about 5.5 miles at our local park, which has a really nice trail. In the process I became one of those cyclists that used to annoy me and make me nervous as a runner or walker on the same trail. Now I understand why some cyclists go so fast. Since I’m new to cycling and riding a 31-32 lb mountain bike, I only averaged 10mph or so. But I had a blast. You can see so much more of the world on a bike than you can while running.

Despite the heat (probably low 90s), the ride wasn’t too difficult, for two main reasons:

1. Since I’m going faster, the extra wind helped keep me cool.
2. My quads, not my cardiovascular system, were the limiting factor, the opposite of my running limitation. Before I could really push my heart and lungs, my quads screamed until I slowed down. That works out great, since my primary goal for cycling is to strengthen my legs.

So right now, my plan is to run three times a week (12 miles this week, 13 next week, and so on) and ride once, building up to maybe an hour. I have this crazy idea that my quads are the final piece of the puzzle – that once they are strong enough, I’ll be able to tackle a half-marathon. Or maybe even a triathlon, if I could ever learn how to swim more than a couple minutes at a time. I think Jenny will beat me to the tri, though. She’s planning her first indoor tri for September.