Getting some Exercise or just having fun!

Last Monday, I and another foreigner named Fernando went and bought some cheap mountain bikes. Much to our wives' dismay that we were spending a little money and much to their joy that we might use them to get some exercise.

If you know me, you will be surprised to know that I didn't get the best bike, just one that will do. Wow, I can't believe that I just said that. I got a Chinese brand called UCC, fairly nice aluminum frame with lower end Shimano components. A suprisingly nice bike for the price.

My bike.

Then on Wednesday, we went out for our first ride. Left around 5:30, and rode for about an hour when I noticed something sticking out of my tire. Just a small thorn, so I gave it a pull and all the sudden I hear a ssssss....sssssss.ssssss. A slow leak already on my first ride.

Needless to say, that day's riding was done and we quickly headed home while I had some air left. On the way back to Fern's apartment, he went off a curb and got a flat as well.

We rolled into his place limping along like... well like something that limps. We figured we would just bring the bikes back to the shop and they would fix them up for us the next day. (Yes I can fix bikes but I don't have any tools here yet and the shop insisted that, if we had any problems, we come on in)

Our first ride.

The next day I met up with Fern and, to our suprise, we had not 2 flats but 4 flats. So we walked our bikes to the bike shop about a mile or so away, and yes, we did look ridiculous walking our brand new bikes down the street.

The shop owner laughed out loud when he saw us and asked us what we did and where we went. Fernando knows a little Chinese so he explained. The shop owner said something like this in Chinese "oh umm, don't go bike there anymore!" We laughed.

Turns out that we had been riding around through thorns, little tiny thorns. After about an hour and 18 kuai (Chinese money) later, he had us all fixed up. Then, he even took some time to show us on a map where we should go biking.

Some of the uphills were a little tough. :)

Fern having some fun.

That brings us to today (Sat.). I met Fernando about 11 this morning and we took off into the hills behind his campus. We rode up and down the back roads and hills for about two and a half hours. It was nice being out in nature just enjoying what the Father has made. It was also a lot of fun.

Me heading down the trail. Yes, it drops down about 200 feet on my left. Ain't no thing.

Fern and I taking a rest!

When I got home I checked my GPS and it turns out we only went 9 miles but we acended and decended over 1200 ft. On one of the downhills, I had a top speed of 30 mph. Not super fast, but fast enough to get my heart racing.

This is the real reason I got the bike: get that heart rate up and lose some pounds hopefully. Keep thinking of me and my goal to lose some weight. We will be back in MN this summer and I need to be swimsuit ready.