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Monday, April 5, 2010
Springtime: Hello, Great Outdoors!
It’s officially spring, according to the calendar, and for once, Cleveland seems to have cooperated with the calendar! The weather in the last week has warmed up beautifully, with several days hitting highs in the low- and mid-eighties. Johnathan and I have, in the past, said, “Let’s go for a walk tonight[this weekend, tomorrow, etc]” and then subsequently not followed through. That was the “old” us. The pre-SparkPeople, pre-health-conscious us. The people who knew they weren’t doing good things to their bodies but chose not to care.
This last weekend, instead of our usual inside exercise (Wii Fit or EA Active), we went outside. On Saturday, we went to one of the metroparks and walked for about three miles. Well, Johnathan did. I waited too long between meals and started to crash, so only made it to about 2.5 miles. Even so, that’s a sizable walk for people who had to sit down every so often at Disney just because they weren’t used to walking. It was a nice walk, too; a little blustery and drippy at one point, but none of that was unexpected. Johnathan took his camera, and he got some nice pictures of the water and of a puppy that was out with his family having a picnic.
Sunday, we decided to go out for lunch, and then afterward, “do something.” Something turned into buying bicycles. Since Sunday was a holiday, we probably didn’t have the most options that we might have had on any other day, but darn it, we wanted to go for a bike ride! The first store we went to was Wal-Mart, which was fairly picked over as far as adult bike selection. We decided then to go to the Sears in the mall. Apparently they don’t sell bicycles. Dick’s was closed, so that wasn’t an option. We went to the Wal-Mart at the Steelyard. They had a reasonable selection, if incredibly messy and hard to get through. However, the bike that Johnathan wanted had a damaged seat. Nobody wants to buy damaged goods, but it was pretty much exactly what he wanted, and we were willing to buy a new seat if they were willing to work with us on price to accommodate the need to buy the new seat. They were willing to take $3 off. Of a $150 bike. Well, how generous. Not only did only one person have access to their additional stock of bikes (and of course he wasn’t at work), but then they were unwilling to work with us at all. They also waited quite a while to address the issue, so we did what we hate to do: we left our stuff in an aisle and walked out. Nobody deserves to receive such poor service as we did at that store. We decided we would try one more store, and if we didn’t find anything at that one or had a similar experience, we would just try another day at a non-Wal-Mart store with bicycles. We drove out to the Avon store, which was cleaner than the one at Steelyard anyway. We found a good stock of bikes, and there was someone there willing to help me out when I couldn’t get a bike off the rack or back onto it when I decided it wasn’t the one I wanted. (Ultimately, I got that one, but I got it back off myself the second time.) I got a helmet, and we bought a bike pump and a tool to help us adjust the seats and handlebars. Johnathan found one he liked, too. It was painless! The manager was delightfully helpful, as was the worker on the other side of the aisle. He stopped his work repeatedly to assist us, and answered all of our questions, even going out of his way to let us know to double-check the price of the helmet, just in case he hadn’t gotten them all in order yet. It was a night and day experience with the Steelyard store. We’ve decided never to go to that store again unless we absolutely have no other options and really, really need something.
After our actually delightful experience getting our bikes, we put together our new bike rack and mounted it on the car, then headed to a park in Elyria. We spent a while getting our bikes adjusted. It’s been a while since I rode a bike, so I was a bit shaky at first, and it took a few more adjustments before we really were comfortable with our bikes. The trail in Elyria is just over 2.5 miles long – maybe closer to 2.75 miles. It is pretty scenic, and I bet it looks lovely in late spring and in summer, when the trees have leaves on them.
We had a few technical difficulties with our brand new bikes as we started our ride. My bike seat was loose and we had no tool that would tighten it – they were all the wrong size. So every now and then, my seat would just decide to move! This made it an interesting ride. At one point, my handlebars came loose, too, so I was grappling with a loose seat, only to have my wheel not turn when my handlebars did. We got the handlebars sorted out, though. Johnathan’s bike did much better on our first ride, especially once he figured out how to adjust the angle of the bars.
The bikes didn’t fall apart, so that’s a good sign. I didn’t fall apart, either, though I felt, at some points, like I would keel over and die. I’m really, really out of shape. Johnathan is in better shape than I am, as is evidenced by the fact that he ended up waiting for me sometimes while I needed to sit. My seat is maybe too hard and too narrow for my behind, too, because my butt is incredibly sore today. Not a fun feeling! I think I will get used to it, though, as we go out and ride more. I drove myself in to delightful exhaustion on our relatively short bike ride yesterday. I look forward to doing it again soon, perhaps one evening this week. (After my butt has recovered and we get a new seat for my bike, of course.) We discussed some other parks where we could ride, and I’m quite looking forward to it. It’s lovely to feel the wind in my face as I race down the path, and it’s beautiful outside lately. Not to mention, it’s great exercise. I felt it in places that the Wii Fit exercises just don’t usually get me.
I’m looking forward to the next few months as Johnathan and I trek all over the place with our bikes and his camera. It will be nice to be outside, and it will be especially nice to be outside for our exercise. That kind of exercise is so much less tedious than the inside kind, so that it almost doesn’t feel like work at all, despite getting winded. I think we will finally enjoy the local parks for the beautiful gems that they are, as well as venturing to parts of the area that we have previously talked about exploring, but never got around to going.
Spring has never necessarily been my favorite season. In Portland, it’s a lot like winter, but a little bit warmer and with more flowers. Cleveland gets a true winter, complete with snow, ice, and bare trees, so spring time really is like a new awakening. I can finally appreciate why people love spring so much. It isn’t about the pastels and Easter eggs and cutesy flowers and rabbits – it’s about the beauty of coming out of the bare and gray winter into a shiny, new springtime with new growth. Spring still isn’t my favorite season (I still love autumn above all), but I think I’ve learned to appreciate it more than I ever had before.
It’s springtime in Northeast Ohio, and I plan to take full advantage of it.
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