Bonding While Burning

I have a little collection of extra guest blog posts from the wedding that I ran out of time and desire to post, but they are so amazing I am going to share them through the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy, starting today with Brooke’s awesome post about a bike ride (oh things I love)!
Hi! I’m Brooke and I blog over at Brooke: Not On A Diet! You can catch me chatting about my adventures in calorie counting, not becoming a Bridezilla, and my love for one amazing guy I call B-Fry!
I’ve always been one to workout alone. I didn’t want anyone to judge me if I was horribly out of breath after running a block or anyone to see me in a downward dog. I wouldn’t even workout if B-Fry was home, I’d always do it when he was at work. I didn’t need him to see me barely do a pushup.

Then I got Betty, my bike. When I got her all I wanted to do is go on bike rides and since B-Fry had a bike too, we could go together. I still wasn’t too keen on sweating with B-Fry, but he had a bike rack and could take me places other than my two-mile route around town.
Our first big bike ride was awesome. We started out near the Mississippi River and rode along it for quite awhile until we arrived to a pretty park. Along that bike ride we had some pretty awesome conversations while riding and enjoying nature. Conversations we wouldn’t have had while sitting in from of the computer playing with our Sims family.
The most noteworthy ride was the bike ride with challenging hills. Now Betty is a one speeder with push back pedals, so she’s not built for hills. We went on a new path we didn’t know much about, hoping that it would be pretty flat. After riding for a couple of miles we encountered a ridiculous hill. Betty and I tried to make it up, but halfway up we couldn’t do any more, so off I hopped and up she was pushed. We weren’t thrilled with our situation, but we made it work. A few yards after that was another tiny hill, or so we thought. B-Fry and I started going down the other side, we realized that the grade of steepness was much worse on the other side. B-Fry quickly stated that going back up that was really going to suck. Talk about an understatement!
We rode about another mile before we stopped at a bench to rest bit. These are the times that I always pull out my camera and snap a pic of us. I want to remember that day and the conversations we had. This particular day was especially memorable.

After our obligatory picture and some rehydrating, we head back on the path towards the Jeep. We quickly find ourselves at the bottom of the dreaded hill. B-Fry looks at me and says, “You’ve got this.” I look at him and give a sigh. Betty and I start climbing the hill with B-Fry behind. I’m standing up and pedaling as hard as I can, my chest is burning, and I’m ready to hop off and walk Betty up the rest of the way. But then I hear B-Fry behind me, cheering me on. He tells me I can do it and that I’m almost there. Then before I know it, I’m at the top of that hill!
I know the only reason I made it up that hill was because I had B-Fry cheering me on. I didn’t want to give up because I didn’t want to disappoint him. If I had been alone I would have hopped off that bike and said, “Screw it.” But my cheerleader kept me going.
Sharing these bike rides with B-Fry are great. I feel like we continue to learn about each other while riding side by side. The occasional bike race is pretty fun too. J I’m slowly getting over my fear of exercising with anyone in a 10-mile radius. I’m learning that bonding while burning calories is much more fun!
What about you, are you a loner when it comes to working out? Or do you like your buddies?

Related posts:
First Bike Ride Of 2011Bike Ride To The AirportLove For My New BicycleBike Ride To BotanyBack on the Road