Exercise and taking care of twins is really, really tough. I don't seem to have any time to myself, and when I do, which is when my husband gets home from work, I am too exhausted to do anything remotely resembling exercise! By the time I have cooked dinner, fed the terrible twosome, cleared up their mess and stopped their fighting, I am too tired to care about how I may look! For a while there I was motivated to go running each evening that Chuck got home from work on time, but too many nights it was easier to sit down to a family dinner, and try to watch Jeopardy (a secret favorite of mine) than to go out running.
I watched an item on the news this morning, about J-Lo and how she's entering a triathlon for charity. She had twins just six months ago and is super fit and incredibly slim. I had my twins 31/2 years ago and am not super fit nor incredibly slim! It seems so unfair! I have a mountain bike, bought it just before I got pregnant and have rarely ridden it since. I feel so uncomfortable on it, so unsafe and never know when to switch gears. There are 17 gears and although I tried to think of using them as I would use a manual gear in a car, I just never seemed to get it right.
So I got to thinking about the bike I had when I was a kid, what we in the UK call a 'sit up and beg' bike. Something old fashioned, without gears, maybe with a basket on the front. I had visions of myself riding around the local town, becoming extraordinarily fit with little effort, and looking great while doing it! The idea took hold and I began to surf the net looking for a suitable bike. And that's how I found Beach Cruisers! How wonderful they are, such beautiful colors and just made for tootling around the town - we don't have beaches in Colorado! But at what cost? They are pretty expensive and worst of all, hard to find in a size 24" wheel. Now I am not a midget, I am 5' 2'' but can't manage a 26" wheel or the larger frame size that goes with that bike. I visited lots of local stores - it's good to spend locally - but was told they don't stock 24" wheels, they don't sell. But when I went online, I found ALL that size were sold out. There's something wrong here I think!
My husband told me I was trying to buy a bike at the wrong time of year, it seems a perfect time to me, I just want to get some gentle cycling in before the winter and the snow hits us. The boys start preschool tomorrow, so I figured I could exercise while they are starting their education.
It took over a week to find a bike, it took many emails and phone calls to online companies and what I discovered is that few of them update their websites when they are out of stock of an item. One company even accepted our payment and didn't even have the courtesy to let us know the bike we had ordered was out of stock, I only found out when I called to confirm the order and check on delivery. But we persevered and I hope to have my bike by the end of this week. It isn't a glorious colorful extravaganza, it's black with chrome fenders, but it does have a basket on the front, although not the wicker one I had imagined! I am so looking forward to riding it, I may never (make that WILL never) enter a triathlon and be as fit and slim as J-Lo, but I will enjoy my rides on the trail and into the town, so I am looking forward to it immensely!
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