Mountain Bike Date

My friend and I had been planning it for months, but it was a surprise to Brian.

Around 5pm, before Brian arrived home from work, I wrangled up the kids and brought them over to her house to babysit. I then borrowed her mountain bike and rode home.

When Brian pulled into the driveway 10 minutes later I was sitting there with two bikes and a cooler full of picnic food. Brian looked confused and I asked him if he would take me mountain biking.

Mountain biking is Brian's favorite past time. When we were dating he got me a good deal on a bike and we went a few times together. I would complain about the uphills and usually end up walking. Then one time after we were married I crashed pretty hard on a downhill. Then I started walking on the downhills as well as the uphills....hmmm...I was just hiking with a bike at my side - not so fun. Our second year of marriage our mountain bikes were stolen. We were eventually able to replace Brian's bike, but with one kid after another, I didn't really see a need to replace mine.

Over the last couple of years, Brian has really made mountain biking (his form of exercise) more of a priority. He has entered many races, sometimes two per week. He has done really well and he loves it. Of course, he always wants me to come with him. And I say, "How? I have a bunch of kids to take care of and no bike."

So, knowing how important it is to him, I found a way to surprise him with a mountain bike date.

I went with an attitude to work hard and not complain about anything and have fun. Sometimes it was easier than others.

We went toward Alpine to Lambert Park, hoping it would be a good enough beginner course for me. It had been 10 years since I'd been mountain biking. It was pretty challenging and there was lots of tricky stuff, but it was fun to be in the trees and we enjoyed being together. I know I got a good work out, but I'm sure Brian didn't. It was a very successful date.

And I'm happy to report that all my many bruises are finally starting to fade.