Last weekend, I decided to join some Mid-State Chapter people at Highland Recreation Area for a mountain bike ride. I was still sick, but I felt tremendously better than I had for most of the week.

The guys were sweet, to say the least. They would ride ahead of me, stop, and wait, even though I told them just to keep going. My friend, Jon, even rode behind me and chatted for a while. Keep in mind that I felt like I was dying and climbing brought about super heavy breathing and a bit of that fuzzy feeling in my head. Once we hit the entrance of the B loop. I told the guys to go ahead, and that I would ride D loop and wait for them in the parking lot.

Two of the guys did all four loops, and they were pretty tired by the time they reached the D loop. They worked on their crashing skills and got a few scrapes that they showed off while Jon cooked some hot dogs and brats.

I did over 9 miles, that day. It was difficult, but I did it. I also chose to take a few more days off of riding.

Friday, I went to Island Lake Recreation Area with my parents to ride the bicycle paths. I rode to Kensington Park and did the bicycle path around the lake. On my way back to the trailhead parking lot at ILRA, mom called me and told me that she and dad where also doing the Kensington bike path, so I finished the ILRA bike path and turned around to go find them.

I did almost 30 miles, that day. It was a pretty good ride and I felt pretty good. I also learned that when coming off of a bad illness, it’s probably best to forego the difficult mountain bike trails in favor of gentler road riding.