52 for 52

Several months ago my oldest brother, Steve, turned 60. To commemorate this milestone he and our cousin, who was also turning 60, did a triatholon of sorts. They biked, ran and swam a total of 60 miles. This got me thinking about doing something to celebrate my 52nd birthday. I contemplated doing a bike/walk combo, but finally decided just biking would be good enough. I mentioned my idea to Bob and he was willing to do it with me, so we began doing a little bit of training. I do enjoy my bike and during the spring, summer and fall I try to ride several times a week, usually around 10-15 miles. We went to the bike path almost every weekend for the past month and a half and tried to ride 20-30 miles in order to get ready. My birthday was last week, but our schedule didn't allow us to do our ride until this morning. So....at 6:20 am we started off from CSUB on the bike path and headed towards Enos Lane.

Here I am, ready to start. I bought a pair of bike shorts, which was a very good thing to have done. We rode to Enos Lane, turned around and went all the way to China Grade Loop and then back to CSUB. We had 41 miles under our belts by that time. We took a break and went and got a bagel and rested our legs. 30 minutes later we were back on the bikes, ready for the last push. I did 11 more miles, which took me to 52. Bob did 13 to reach 54 since that is his age this year.

I know it is hard to see, but my odometer started the morning at 145.51 and as you can see when we finished it said 197.54. Do the math and that adds up to 52.03 miles!

I was feeling a little tired at the end, but proud of my accomplishment. I know there are people who routinely ride their bikes 50 miles or more, but I don't think I will make a habit of doing it very often. Maybe next birthday I could do a spa marathon...massage, facial and nails...sounds a little more relaxing!