No Pain, No gain!! Bicycling & going uphill!!

QNeed I say more!!  Im sure we’re all familiar with the saying no pain, no gain!!  That’s the expression that came to my mind as i was struggling to peddle up very steep hills as we took a family bike ride around our neighborhood!! I’m not ashamed to say before the ride was over, yes I walked my bike up the last hill….lol😂..

What are some of your favorite outdoor things to do for exercise?? Fun?? I love walking, hiking, even running but getting on a Bicycle, that’s hard for me! I loved it as a kid, going around town and having fun with friends, but Our streets were flat in Washington state… fast forward living in Maine…let’s talk about them steep hills!! Those are the pits! But my husband and kids love riding, so it’s usually off we go…! We’ve been in full swing this summer for a couple weeks now so this is now one of our favorite pastimes!! Even though my daughter is 9… she tries her best to keep up!! I hang in there too!! Lol!

During our life before kids my husband would take a yearly 40 mile bike ride!! Yes he loves Bicycling!! I shy away from it normally but one year I joined him… let talk about the excruciating pain I suffered, I even wanted to stay at a bed and breakfast when I was close to my limit…But no I didn’t do that either… that would have been awesome.., I pictured myself soaking in the tub….eating something with lots of carbs…..but nope….I was encouraged to go alittle more.,, so when I went a couple miles more and reached a total of apx…25 miles we had to call reinforcements…his mom to pick me up.. nope couldn’t do it., and yes I walked my bike at times then too!! But Kuddos to the hubby… he is awesome!!

So back to the present…,I don’t have pics from our ride the other day….. it was about a mile and half around our house In the countryside… lots of trees around..it was gorgeous out,, but glad I didn’t take any yesterday, it wouldn’t have been pretty, The hills were pretty steep and some very long and very steep…. (there is a difference.i dislike them both. )..but I love my gears set to 1 and 1!! That was so helpful and    Going slow and steady.,,.lol..

Here’s are our stomping and riding grounds now!!

I do have to say bicycling is a wonderful thing to do for your legs, especially your quads!! Yay!! And that’s probably why it’s so hard for me to peddle uphill, I have such weak legs….so no pain no gain is correct and hope the more I ride the stronger these little legs will become, I want stronger legs!!

Mountain biking!! My goal this summer… ride to the top of mountains and ride without walking my bike around my neighborhood!! Lol!

One of the things about getting into shape that I’m learning is that it’s important to use muscles you normally don’t use, and strengthening the muscles you have!!¡ doing this helps you avoid injury when your participating in sports or things like walking and running as well!!

So my kids and my wanting to build more muscles and avoid injury is continuing to inspire me to stay active, hope it can inspire you too!! Maybe on another post I’ll tell you about my hip imbalance and physical therapy that helped me become aware of the need to build muscles in my hips and thighs!!

So You can do it.., alittle at a time, try riding on flat paths and build yourself up.,, you can most certainly do it!! Hope you’re  having a wonderful summer and getting out there and staying active!!! You Go!!!