Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Bikeaphobia

As expected, my attempt for strength training last week was a bust. Unless you count the 10 minutes of pi-yo movements that I could remember from class? Probably not. I’m going to do a little searching for a good yoga dvd or maybe some new TRX moves that might motivate me to strength train.

As I mentioned last week, I did attend a spin class and really enjoyed it! The instructor is so fun, motivating and always has a great playlist- all of which I decided are the things that keep me interested during spin class and wanting to come back. It’s those few times where there is a teacher that is so boring or has horrible music that I start to avoid the class and just have a negative outlook on it. I got a copy of the latest biking schedule, so I can plan on going to the fun teacher’s class at least once every week. Embarrassing story – the instructor had the theme song from that Night at the Roxbury movie and Jay and I couldn’t help but do that silly head-bopping dance, much to everyone’s humor, we totally got caught! Whoops.

There’s something about bike riding that you should know. I’m scared of it. Like butterflies in my stomach and sweaty palms scared of it. Growing up, I rode my bike a lot and I fell a lot but it never bothered me. Maybe it has something to do with getting older and realizing the potential for injury or maybe it has something to do with having recovered from some major injuries and knowing how miserable that can be or maybe it's just knowing how dangerous it can be to ride on the trails or the road that has created this fear within me, I really don’t know. I have even translated this fear into a hatred for bikes. Wtf, right? I tried mountain biking once and it was ok, but I didn’t do it again... until last week. The hubs is certain I’ll enjoy it and wants me to give it a fair try and for some weird reason I agree. We went on an hour long ride through some easier trails and it was good – I loved the muscle burn and elevating my heart rate as I cranked up hills but the downhill was terrifying. I survived it and even went on another bike ride days later, this time on some hilly and traffic-free roads (seriously, the thought of riding on roads with traffic and potentially distracted drivers makes me ill with nerves) with my dad and the hubs and I actually enjoyed the heck out of it. I get anxiety when I think about going on another bike ride in the near future but maybe by sticking to the trails and avoiding the traffic I can start to enjoy bike riding. Maybe?

You know another funny thing about this whole bike fear? I have a helmet that looks totally hardcore – it’s decorated with flames or bolts and I definitely still scream when I ride the bike down the driveway. Yep, really hardcore.