So now we ride bikes.

The past few months at the gym my exercise of choice has been the stationary bike.  Some how I've gotten it in my overly-ambitious little brain that this summer we will all be taking better advantage of the forest preserve that flanks our subdivision and we will become bikers.  I even went on craigslist and bought a bike trailer for the girls to ride in (no where in my vision of summer-time fitness was there a baby on a tricycle being pulled by a dog leash, hence the addition of a Burley bike trailer to our garage).

Before you start thinking I'm some kind of "fit" person, let me tell you that although I do own a bike, that bike has been sitting in the back of my shed for the past three years.  Before that, my bike was sitting in the back of the garage for three years.  I vaguely remember biking from my condo to work down Lake Shore Dr. one summer, which would have been about 7 years ago, but other than that... I'm pretty sure the thing hasn't been used.

I took the bike into the bike shop for a tune-up as there were clearly some issues... like the front brake being disconnected, the tires being flat, a kryponite bike lock permanently locked around the body, and a happy family of spiders living amongst the spokes.  The nice bike-repair-guy didn't even bat an eye, what a sweetheart.

I got the bike back and eager to try out the bike trailer strapped that sucker on and buckled up the girls, with helmets on, for the inaugural ride.  We made it around the block.  The bike and trailer work just fine.  Mom does not.  I really did not expect that hauling fifty-two pounds of kid would be soooo hard.  Good thing the forest preserve is flat.  I'll be working my way up to that journey for at least another month.