C'mon Spring!

Anticipating the warmer weather--and daylight lasting longer into the evening--we bought a pair of bicycles. One of our New Year's resolutions was to work out together, so we were going to the gym after I picked up Uchenna. But it was too much like work, which is the last thing you want after work.

Going for a little ride in the evening, or on a Saturday afternoon--now that's some exercise we can stick with.

We hear we have an extensive system of trails through the center of town, running both north and south and east and west. Actually a river runs down the middle of town, and it's a terrible flood plain. So they made it all a park with these trails. We're looking forward to exploring them.

It was a blustery day in February when we went shopping, but at least it wasn't raining, or snowing. With our tax refund in our hot little hands, we found a place in Tulsa touted as "the largest bike shop in Oklahoma."

Specialty shops are great--they know their stuff, and they really fix you up. The guy showed us how to attach the bike rack to our car, so we and the bikes could get safely home. I just hope we remember how to do it again ourselves when we decide to go farther afield than our own neighborhood and surrounding environs. Like over to those trails.

Bikes have come a long way since the last time I rode one, which I think was about 7th grade. Officially ours are called comfort bikes: for one thing, the distance from the seat to the handle bars lets you ride sitting up straight. We like that better. Also, they have larger seats, fat tires like a mountain bike, a ton of gears (more than I will probably ever use), and a front shock absorber. I thought my tire was a little flat--it had a certain familiar squishy feel as I was riding--but then I realized it was just the give from the shocks. So now we're ready to get in shape in style and comfort.

(It's the helmets that really make us stylin')

Of course, this being Oklahoma, the weather gods have an ironic sense of humor, to say the least. This was the scene on the first day of spring.

(We wouldn't be biking on this particular Saturday.)

Fortunately, the temperature bounced back up pretty quickly, so the snow didn't hang around long.

(By Monday, the only snow was the bit hiding in the shadows, and by afternoon even that was gone. Glad we didn't bother shoveling our driveway--bet those who did felt a little silly).