#20

A HOBBY OF MINE

Hmmm... I have a lot of hobbies.  Most of them dealing with the outdoors.  I grew up with a family that mainly stayed inside watched movies and tv, with the occasional hike here and there.  Except for all the times I got to go play with my uncle and cousins on my grandpa's ranch, which we basically lived outside when we visited.  I always loved being outside, up until I moved from Las Vegas, whenever my family was being boring or someone was getting in trouble I would go outside and climb the tree in the front yard and sit there until someone would realize I was gone or I saw friends outside, which was usually a couple hours at a time.  I loved that tree. 

Anyway, I always wanted to be able to do cool stuff outdoors, other than hiking of course.  My older brother always had camp outs and preisthood hikes and stuff with awesome leaders that would take them to do extreme stuff and I always hated being a girl cause I couldn't go... Instead the young women would make chap stick and knit.  Totally unfair, and still a grave injustice to this day.

And then Cassue and I met AJ and Brad...  The spring of 2006, practically every weekend and every day during spring break we were doing something outside.  Either hiking, repelling, rock climbing or canyoneering.  It was intense, but exactly the stuff I had always wanted to do.  Later the ABC's got married and had babies and moved to Salt Lake and Provo, ya know all the crappy stuff that happens when you get older, so we don't do that stuff all the time anymore.  Well together anyway.  AJ and I still go and do every weekend available.

So now to my point... My entire life I've been afraid and not very good at riding a bike.  I think it has to do with learning to ride a bike in Vegas on side walks line with stucco covered walls that are easily run into, and not having very good balance on two feet not to mention on two skinny tires.  Plus, before we moved to Hurricane my parents sold my bike for $20 at a garage sale, so naturally I didn't care to get another one.

My new and current hobby... Mountain and Road biking.  I went mountain biking twice before AJ's parents bought me a bike.  The first time I was proud of myself.  Scared to death but proud that I wasn't too bad at mountain biking.  The second time was about a year later, I was on a super crappy bike on a waaaay to advanced trail for my second time on a bike in roughly 7 or 8 years.  I stopped and fell over and got a huge bruise on my bum, cried for the first time in front of the then future-inlaws and huffed and puffed all the way back to the hotel.  As far as I was concerned mountain biking and me were over.  Then Art and Arta show up at my house with a bike and i'm forced to learn, so as not to waste the awesome present.  So I did and I love it.  This year it has been the activity of choice, and it's so much fun! 

Road Biking....  Well, AJ's family has this weird genetic defect (not really, they're just crazy and I love it).  They like to find cruel and unusual ways to punish themselves, like an annual road biking trip where they ride 300 miles in 3 days.  Its funny because everyone one that does it, loves it.  They chafe, exhaust themselves, nearly die, and before it's over they're planning next year. Crazies!  Every time they do it, they are like hey cyd, you should do it too, and i'm like no.  After Easter of this year I was looking at pictures of a couple years ago and freaked out cause I realized I had gained married weight and have since dropped tonnage.  In doing this we've joined a gym and go rather frequently.  While workin on my fitness I have been doing the stationary bike and have a record distance of 16 miles.  I know its not that much, but its the furthest I have ever been able to do.  Since then I have been pretty psyched about my new abilities and in an effort to keep up with the crazies AJ and I bought road bikes.  They are fun, but they have the tiniest tires ever, plus my feet end up getting clipped into the pedals which aren't always easy to get out.  Remember that lack of Balance I was telling you about, its a MILLION times worse with road bikes.  I have fallen over 3 times, almost got run over by car after falling over once and have basically almost killed my bike, but i'm getting better, just in time for winter.

AJ's Bike:  Now his is Grey, White, and red but this was as close as I could come to an accessible picture.

And this is mine... Well close enough, mine has less green and more white and I think mine is prettier than this one.