It's like riding a bike

Biking is back. It's cool to ride your bike. It's trendy. It's fun, but most of all it's healthy. I can remember as a kid loving to ride my bike. I had every kind you could imagine. I had the funky psychedelic bike with the big banana seat, ape hanger handle bars, streamers flowing down from the handle bars, a white basket and a horn to top it off. Oh, and it was purple! Kind of looked like the one below, but remember, I had the streamers, basket and horn so it was much cooler.

I progressed to a more sophisticated bike, a red and white ten speed, that made me look every bit of the 10 years old that I was.

Next, was the burgundy and black BMX bike for jumping and riding dirt hills because I thought I was tough.

I loved everyone of them. I had several accidents over the years... scrapes, cuts, bruises and even a broken arm, but I always loved it.

Even today kids still love their bikes.You see them all over and the mention of a new bike for a birthday or Christmas present makes a kid go nuts. Just like the kids today,  I never thought about the fact that biking was good for me; It was just fun. The thing is though it is good for you. It is probably one of the best exercises that a person could do. Biking is great for your cardiovascular system, for toning and shaping mid and lower body, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, strengthening core, and reducing stress. Even better is it is low impact which is great for beginner exercisers and exercisers with joint problems. The great news is anybody can do it. It doesn't take anything special or any special kind of bike. You just hop on one and take it for a spin around the neighborhood or if you prefer go to the gym and ride indoors while you watch TV or listen to your ipod. As you excel and get better and back on track, your options even get broader from spin classes at the gym, to road biking, mountain biking and crossover biking. There is something for everyone.

I love it all. I have a road bike and two mountain bikes and all are awesome. I have ridden in B.(bike) R. (ride) A. (across) G. (Georgia) events to Muddy Buddy trail riding events and it's all just fun. I look forward to summer as time for mountain biking comes back around. I spent my first day today riding at Dauset Trails on mountian bikes with friends. You can tell from the look on their faces that they're excited to be there, right?

Mountian biking is great. It was cool in the shade, the scenery was awesome, and you felt like a kid again riding through the woods. I just doesn't get much better than that!
I actually did act like a kid again....

Even though we were having a great time, we were there for a purpose. All with the intentions to get stronger and healthier. Toning and shaping our legs, improving the cardiovascular system. Each of us had on heart rate monitors and kept track of what our heart was doing and how many calories we were burning. As you can see below, Ashley is making sure Clay 's is operating right and that he is reading it right. We all had a purpose.

At the end of the day, with a few bumps and scrapes from our over zealous riding, we burned anywhere from 900-1200 calories. It was awesome. We worked hard, but had fun. Actually, I would say it didn't even feel like exercise. It just felt like friends having fun and reaping benefits.

I was excited about the fact that after burning so many calories, I could actually go eat some pizza..... but they made me go to subway instead!  I really wanted pizza!   Until next time.......