Do you have a favorite day of the week? Mine is Friday for sure. Well technically, it’s Thursday night because that’s “date night” with Alan which include our weekly TV watching (Survivor, and right now it’s Stranger Things!) with pizza and beer. But Friday is my day off work so it’s the official start of my weekend. It’s my “get stuff done” and “long run day”. But since I’m still on a running hiatus, I decided to hit the gym after the kids got on the school bus. I used the weight machines because I haven’t done those in forever. When I tried one that involved my hamstrings, my legs said “NO THANK YOU!!“. Still need to give that some time!
After running an errand and doing some other chores, Alan and I did something super exciting… we bought new bikes!! The bikes are our anniversary gift to each other. A few years back we bought each other our first pair of Newton running shoes. Considering those were $175 a pair I consider that a pretty nice gift! We usually don’t exchange anniversary gifts, but these kind of things are an investment in our health and being there for each other for a long time 🙂
To give you some background – the “bikes” we owned were Schwinn bikes that we bought 15 years ago. Despite being very sturdy bikes, there were heavy, and built more for “camping” than riding distances or speedy. And, we probably should have thought to give them some TLC at some point during their existence with us!
I have to give a shout out to the owner of Cycle Werks, the local shop we bought our bikes from. Jonathon Hoag was a wealth of information for us, since we didn’t have a clue about bikes. We tried a few bikes and found the ones we really loved. Mine is a Trek Lexa 4.
Alan got a Cannondale CAAD 12 105.
The thing I found really cool was how we were fitted for our bikes. “Fitting” on our old bikes was basically adjusting the seat height! But for these bikes he got out a laser light and looked at all sorts of angles. I’m sure this is standard procedure for any “nice” bike these days, but for a newbie like me, it was really quite high tech!
We were supposed to be doing yard work today, but on such a beautiful day, screw it… we’ve got new bikes to ride!! So we took them out for a spin. I was amazed at how responsive and quick the bike was. I tell ya, I am in LOVE with this bike. Next on my agenda, some new (better) padded shorts. Ouf. I am feeling that seat still on my sitz bones. (yeah, new lingo I learned bike shopping!!)
So expect to see some more cycling related things on my blog. We didn’t get the top of the line bikes, but we did get something that would be suitable for doing some races with them. Or maybe even an Ironman (words from my husband’s mouth, not mine!).
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Q: Do you have a bike? What kind – recreation, racing, hybrid, or rusty old thing?
Q: Have you even done a multi-sport event?
Cycle Werks puts on some duathlons in the summer. Heck, I can bike and run! I’ll be giving those a try next year.
Q: Have you seen Stranger Things?? Or are you a Survivor fan?
Survivor starting next week!! Love it! And Stranger Things?? Only on the 4th episode, but oh wow, it’s got me hooked!
Yay for new bikes! I like how you look at the purchase as really giving you and Alan many more happy and active years together! Happy Anniversary! I can tell you two are the best of friends. 🙂 I would bike but it really bothers my ITB- way more than running does!
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My knee actually bothers me when I bike a lot! Right below my kneecap. It always has. I bought a knee strap to see it that helps. Other than that, I have a large knee brace/wrap that I have used in the past. Go figure, biking pains in the knees!! Just my luck I guess 🙂
AWESOME on the BIKES!!! SO COOL!!!! I have actually been looking for a road bike. I have friends of mine that actually do triathlons looking for a bike for me. Hope to buy around December…… No, I don’t think I will get into triathlons, but think biking is awesome for cross training! You will have to give your review of your bike once you have ridden a few times!!!!!
Do you think you will do a triathlon? I will never! I don;t like the swimming aspect at all!!!!!!!!!! NOPE!
And, I bet with getting fitted on bike, you probably won’t have knee issues!!!! So happy for you guys!! That is an awesome anniversary gift!
I think the swimming part is a challenge for most people – including me! I’ve heard it’s like swimming in a washing machine. That would freak me out a bit – other people running into you! But hopefully it’s wouldn’t last long (because of fast swimming!!). It would take some getting used to those aerobars too.
My thing is….. if you start to feel bad or hurt when running or biking, you can literally stop! What if something happens while swimming? You can’t just stop… you have to thread water and still swim to get out of water 😳
I’m going to miss those weird clunking noises from our current bikes! Wait, no I’m not.
We need to buy bike bells to warn people as we approach them, because we will be so stealth like… and speedy!
What a great anniversary gift for each other! I think Adam has the same Cannondale that Alan got – and Adam loves that bike! I see many exciting miles in your future! 🙂
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The Cannondale is pretty cool! These bikes are such an upgrade for us, it would be hard not to like them! 😉
I too absolutely love your anniversary gifting rationale! After so much running, it’s fun to mix it up a bit. A triathlon is a whole new experience- I bet you would love it! I got a new Terry (check out Georgena Terry’s story sometime) a few summers ago & have done a few triathlons. I focused on running this year, but am looking forward to picking some triathlons for the race calendar next year. Definitely looking for calm waters (I did Lake Logan 70.3 in a beautiful calm NC lake). I’ve heard good things about the FIT Family series @ Maumee Bay, which could be fun for your whole family.
I have seen a kids triathlon at Maumee bay when we were camping! It’s always interesting to see the little kids because about half the time they are crying at the end! But then a minute later they are happy. Congrats to you on doing triathlons! Calm waters would be a big draw for me!
Enjoy your new bikes! What a great way to celebrate your anniversary!
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