It's a Bike Thing

It could have been worse.  Much worse.  Thankfully, I only ended up with a strawberry on my chin, scrapes on my knee, ankle and palm and a very sore elbow.  We had been riding our road bikes for almost 2 hours through the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, when my brain drifted off to la-la land and consequently, my bike drifted off the pavement onto small pebbles.  Road bike tires are extremely skinny, and the bumpy surface made the bike slide right out from under me.  I skidded to a stop, chin first.  The hubby was quite a distance ahead of me, so instead of bursting into tears, like I really wanted to do, I had to get back on and keep riding - total of 34 miles.

We've rode bikes (although not always as vigorously as in the Badlands) all over the world.  One of our first indulgent purchases after college were mountain bikes and all of the accompanying gear - special pedals that special shoes clip in to, hydration packs, helmets, gloves, padded shorts and brightly-colored shirts.  After honing our skills on trails at several state parks in Oklahoma - Thunderbird, Draper, Roman Nose, Hefner - we rode true terrain in Canmore, Canada, and then Crested Butte, Colorado.

The mountain bikes were hung in the garage while we lived in Houston, as I was teaching several indoor cycling classes and just didn't have the energy to fight the oppressive outdoor humidity.  But the mountain bikes were granted a reprieve when we moved to Denver.  Those bad boys were never given a weekend off until the snow was too deep to pedal through.  They floated on the Atlantic to Kazakhstan and by train to Azerbaijan, but sadly, never made it on any foreign trails.

Brooke and Kyle in Munich

We did however rent bikes for a relaxing tour of Munich, Germany, before partaking in Oktoberfest.  We also explored the island of Corfu, Greece, on bikes.  And I ventured out solo along the mangrove swamps of Marathon Island in the Florida Keys.  It's a great way to take in all of the sights, smells and feeling emitting from a town and it's surrounding nature.  My family teases me, "Look!  There's a bike rental place.  We better drop Brooke off now!"  I think I'm addicted to the sweating, wind in the face, rhythmic pedaling and obtainable challenges that a bike can offer.

Brooke in Corfu, Greece

Brooke with a "townie bike" in the Florida Keys (love the basket!)

Happy Brooke, before the fall, in the Badlands of South Dakota

Spurred mostly by my sudden entry into a triathlon, we recently splurged on road bikes.  Until we left for South Dakota, we were toughening up our saddles on the country hills east of OKC.  And before my asphalt face-plant, the worst I had encountered was a chain caught between gears and a flat tire 2 blocks from home.  The hubby got wicked poison ivy on two separate occasions, but I think there's a saying (or at least there should be), you can't keep a good cyclist down.