Well well now

After a week of very long doctor appointments along with many road miles put on the Subaru, I told Rich that I was going to go to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve on Friday or Saturday. Well, even perhaps on Sunday.

My first plan was to go on Friday and to borrow my neighbor's Roadmaster bike she has.

Yesterday afternoon on a whim, I grabbed my keys and headed out the door. I drove to town and did something I never do. I stopped at a bike shop.

Years ago ... probably 1982 maybe? My sister and I went to a bicycle shop and bought matching road bicycles, 10 speed bikes. We eventually went on a pretty epic sister sister road trip of two days and nearly 150 miles. Our bikes were not composite lightweights, but heavy and sturdy Ralieghs that weighed nearly 18 lbs a piece.

Bicycling has come a long way since then.
So have bicycle helmets.

The guy at the shop, Roger, came out and we started looking. And soon I was cruising the back streets of Viroqua on a Mountain/Road bike. At first I was hesitant, then...I felt the joy seeping back into my soul. The warm air caressed my face and hair through the helmet vents and I felt freedom creeping into my body in the form of childish joy.
That 10 minute ride gave me what I had been searching for.

Roger spent a long time adjusting the handle bars to suit me. The seat to suit me, ...and explaining the brake system, the gears, and how to take the wheels off.

We talked a bit about putting a rack on back for things like camera gear, tripods, and even a crate for Charlie. He said it wouldn't super easy, but it could be done.

So before dawn I crept out with my chore boots on and climbed aboard my Bliss 3. What a great name. Bliss. Yep, you figure that out.

The dawn suddenly belonged to me.
The cool damp air rushing past my face as the morning brightened around me.

I literally beat the sunrise to 3 different spots before the sun poked its face over the horizon.

And the morning was ...
incredible.

As I rode from favorite place to favorite place I began to feel more comfortable with being able to shift for the hills.
The feeling of being a kid again was still there, only now I had an incredible backdrop for my ride.

I felt free and resisted the urge to shout out in joy. Geeze, I could have because no one except the wildlife would have heard me.

Watch out trails and backroads.
I'm going to be a 'kid' again.

Oh yeah. I have the neatest bad ass helmet too.

It is a horrid bright green with a neat visor. It is called a Tremor Helmet. Roger said he thought of the movie Tremor when he saw it. I said "The Earth Shall Tremor as I ride!"
He thought that was perfect.

But hey, and old lady can be excited about riding bikes again, right?

Ride on.

The inner child awaits me.

[Yep, it fits nicely in the back of my Outback too!]