So, after years and years out of the saddle, a few weeks ago I bought myself a bike. In the old days I was a madcore mud monkey doing casual races, three to four hour rides in Rotorua (NZ) and generally tearing around like a crazy person. The years have gone by, married life gave me other things to do, and a cushy office job grew my waistline, but the time came to get back in the groove. To reflect my current state of being, I purchased a cruiser - a Schwinn Oceanside Cruiser to be exact. It arrived a few days after purchasing it online, and since putting it together I have been having a lot of fun on it.
It is a magnificent beast, and each weekend since building it I have been out at least once and made the most of the good weather we have been having.
We are fortunate to live close to Altona Beach, so this has formed a big part of my early rides. It sure helps a lot that there are some very good bike paths and trails, along with some excellent scenery along the way.
My second ride was a bit of an exploration attempt as I try to get familiar with the paths and trails in my area. It was fun scooting around and seeing what fun could be had so close to home.
Ride three was on a marvellous 31 degree day, and the beach was absolutely stunning.
The following week ended up being a bit more of a suburban ride. I hate riding on the road so it was not the best, and I got back onto a path as quickly as possible. Still, it was nice to explore the area near where we live and get the lay of the land and work out where paths, trails, and roads meet up and intersect.
Last weekend was my fifth ride and it was a biggie (for me). I rode all the way to Williamstown and back. I was pretty stoked to be able to do such a big ride after only a few weeks back in the saddle. Again, the weather was perfect and it was great to have some beautiful scenery to look at along the way.
It was a great ride, although I did miss a couple of spots with the sunscreen...
And that brings us up to today. One of the things I want to do in the longer term is ride from home all the way into the city on the Federation Trail. So today i decided to have another exploratory ride to see if I could hook up with the Trail.
I was able to find it relatively easily, but it did feel like I was doubling back a long way in order to hook up with it. I think I will need to look into it a bit more to see if there is a more easterly way to join up with it. Regardless, it was nice to get out again and feel the wind in my hair!
Here's to many more!
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