10 miles on the Yuba Mundo

I woke up determined to get a good ride in today. Bored with all the usual routes and tired from yesterday, I wasn't sure I had what it would take to get to to downtown Walla Walla, but it did sound like a fun trip. We made it (my longest solo ride without Kyle for company), and the promised thunder storms and rain left us alone, even yesterday's tremendous winds seemed to settle down.

We stopped for numerous breaks, at one point (after that dreaded hill I spoke of yesterday) I was sure I might keel over. It takes a good 2 minutes for my labored breathing to return to a point where it might be possible to mutter a few words between gasps, my heart pounds in my chest and I frantically sip water and cling to the bike to keep me upright.

Once we'd made it to downtown I dismounted and walked around for a few blocks, snapping pictures and letting Jack enjoy a little playtime at the park.

After our little walk around we took a short ride towards the Whitman College Campus, then looped back through downtown. We stopped and shared a hot chocolate at a coffee shop and Jack proceeded to greet every single person that walked by, never forgetting to bid them goodbye too. We certainly have raised a very friendly child, but I feel bad for him because quite a few people were stone faced and ignored him. I personally couldn't imagine ignoring a little child waving, smiling and saying a big "hello", but there you go- it takes all types I guess.

We rushed home in a hasty fashion to meet Kyle, and I noticed I'm getting to the point where my legs can move easier. I know that seems like an odd statement- but they literally seem to rotate the peddles in a more fluid motion and my hips rock less. It seems like the first 3 miles are always the roughest and that after that it requires less effort, the rotation takes on this monotonous quality and I find my attention moves from "oh I'm so sore" to "oh look at that pretty flower". We logged just under 10 miles today, which makes me very happy, that is good progress for me.

I recently got invited to write a little piece of "cargo bike advice" for a fellow blogger, Mary at My 3 Little Birds. She was looking for cargo cyclists to provide advice for an article about biking with your toddler, I turned in a little comment and was thrilled to find it published here at Babble's Toddler Times. Many thanks to Mary and Stacy for spreading the cargo bike love and for including us!