Memorial Day Long Bike Ride

Hubby and I headed out to a local bike trail for bike ride on this beautiful Memorial Day. It was in the 80’s and windy—but it felt great to have the breeze because this was a pretty tough ride! There were a lot more hills this time and it was a great workout! Kind of fun going down the big hills too- at one point I was going over 21 mph! Total workout time was 3 hours and 37 minutes. I burned 1415 calories. We have to stop now and then to rest—and of course so I can take pictures to share with all of you. We had a great time!

Since we had to travel a little ways to get to the trail, I had to use one of these—I HATE these. But they’re a little bit of a lifesaver.

What can I say, I live in Iowa…

We discovered new things about the area we live—there are some lakes we never knew existed!

Just a couple of miles into our ride:

There was a lot of art like this:

Hubby:

Tired out me with a helmet mark on my head, lol:

Taking a rest:

The trail:

At one point there was a big bridge crossing the river- it was very pretty!

This was an area that was hit very badly during the floods of 2008. I believe this bridge was  closed because the water was over top of it, can you imagine!?

The bike bridge was easy to go down but it was pretty tough when we came back!

There were lots of signs like this along the route:

We had planned on making a loop but once we got to one park it was closed because of flooding. That was pretty disappointing at 16 miles into the ride and having to turn back around!

I have a liking for bridges and bodies of water- so that’s why I’m always taking picture of them. They’re picture worthy to me, I guess. lol

Pretty flowers:

Part of the trail went into a Prairie Preserve—there were lots of hiking trails that we want to try out sometime!

Me biking. Like I said in my post about being a slow runner, I often feel a little embarrassed amongst the super athletic people on these trails—but I wanted to show you wonderful readers that if I can do this- so can you!! Let’s not let our size keep us back from being active and having fun!

I’ve also always been too embarrassed to wear tank tops in public—but I do on these rides because they’re so much cooler! No more worrying about what other people might think—besides, who is really looking at my arms? lol

And the traditional “finished” picture:

I have to say that this ride wore me out a lot more than the last one. I don’t think I was hydrated enough before starting—but we did pack a lot to drink and we went through it all! But I felt a lot better after we ate lunch.

The stats:

We got lots of sun and the tan line from my HR monitor is getting whiter and whiter—lol. Oh well! I’d rather know how many calories I’ve burned!

I hope that you’re all having a wonderful long weekend—to those of you in the US!

I also want to express my gratitude for those who gave their lives for the freedom of our country and to those who have ever served. Thank you.