Courtney and I have started biking around our community as a way to get some more exercise. I used to get most of my exercise playing basketball, but the lack of a nice court near the house and the fact that most of my hoops buddies have fallen by the wayside due to time, distance, and the ravages of age have made it difficult to play on a regular basis (and I left my sports goggles in the back of a van in China). We can’t get access to UNC’s racquetball courts anymore without paying, and I’m not a jogger. So we picked up a couple of bicycles from Dick’s Sporting Goods last Sunday — nothing fancy, just two cheap, decent bikes — and have been riding for about an hour almost every day. It’s the most consistent amount of exercise I’ve gotten in quite a while.

We’ve kept mostly to the neighborhoods and are staying off the main roads until we shake off the rust (I hadn’t ridden a bike since high school). I’m loving it. We aren’t exactly racing or anything, and most likely never will, but it’s good exercise, and the time just seems to fly by, whereas when I ride an exercise bike, I’m literally counting the minutes. I guess I’m just not much for indoor, simulated exercises. In addition to the workout I’ve been getting, I’ve also really enjoyed checking out the different neighborhoods near us, some of which I had never really explored. We do need to go get a gel seat soon though. Ouch.

Some pictures of us tooling around on the bikes: