Without knowing for sure, I suspected that last Sunday’s 36-mile bike ride might be my last ride on my old bike; and just in case it was, I took this picture in front of the Paeonian Springs sign along the W&OD Trail. It’s been a good bike and has gotten me back on the saddle sharing a sport with my husband once again.

We had a good thing going while running together, training for and running twenty marathons together. Prior to Bill’s marathoning days, he accompanied me on many training runs of up to sixteen miles, and once the marathon bug bit him, he was fully in until a knee injury sidelined him, most likely for good.

 

Being a cardio junkie of levels equal to my own, Bill needed to find another outlet for his pent up energy so he started biking again. Sad to no longer be able to share our weekend mornings together, Bill encouraged me to buy a bike so I could join him on rides. We purchased the above bike a year and a half ago after I insisted on getting a cheap one in case I didn’t enjoy riding.

Many rides later, I acquiesced and made the trip with Bill to his favorite bike shop in Arlington. I headed in with one bike in mind, but left the shop knowing that I needed a totally different type of bike – a gravel grinder. I said goodbye to my dream bike, a beautiful and graceful Bianchi, and said hello to a sporty Salsa!

The Salsa that seems to fit my needs the best is a 2019 model, the Journeyman. We ordered the Journeyman and I’ve since been anxiously awaiting its arrival. We got word on Wednesday that my new bike is in; however, with a trip to visit my mom for the weekend, we haven’t had a chance to pick it up. Hopefully, we can make it down to Arlington once we get home today if it isn’t raining – it’s raining in the Shenandoah Valley as I type…

 

After last Sunday’s ride, we went to a local bike shop and I found these Pearl Izumi bike shoes (affiliate link) on sale. I plan to learn to ride clipped in – wish me luck!

 

Monday morning’s super early client had scheduled for later in the day and my 7:30 was sick so I ran around 7 AM. Since it was light by the time I ran, I hit the trails in our neighborhood. This and one other bridge behind our house is scheduled to be torn down and rebuilt sometime this month so my access to the W&OD Trail will be less direct starting any day now. This could easily have been the last run across this bridge.

 

Because I’d moved some of my clients around due to the Labor Day holiday, I couldn’t get out to run on Wednesday morning and headed out around 2:30 PM when it was 93° with a feels like of 98°. Luckily, I was able to stay in the shade for most of my run by staying on our neighborhood trail; however, my pace certainly showed that I was running in unfavorable conditions.

 

On Thursday evening, we drove to the farm for the weekend to visit my mom for her birthday. Friday morning Bill and I headed out to run/ride in the 60° fog. The change in temperature made my run feel almost effortless for the first few miles, two of which were downhill. 😉

 

After those first two easy downhill miles, we had a little over a mile uphill before turning around to head home.

 

Here’s just a sample of the views along my run…

 

For mom’s birthday, I’d purchased this little chocolate mousse cake at the Wine’ing Butcher. It’s the perfect size for two, but since they only had one left, we cut it three ways and enjoyed every bite!

 

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

Looking ahead to this coming week…

  • Unfortunately, last week I didn’t have time as hoped to write about our very own Trader Joe’s finally opening up in our community. It’s a great story about why it’s important, especially to me, and I hope to find time to tell you about it this coming week.

 

In addition to the runs I mentioned above, here’s a complete run-down of my workouts from this past week (completed mostly in our home gym)…

 

  • Questions:
  • If you ride, what type of bike do you have – road, mountain, gravel, hybrid?
  • What’s your favorite dessert? 
  • Did you race this weekend?

 

And that’s a wrap… Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

*********************************************************************

 

I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking The Long Way Home for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!