Bike riding day

So, today was a beautiful Aberdonian day. The sun was out, it wasn't warm by any normal standards, but with some gloves on and some layers if felt great. Kelli and I decided that we should take a bike ride.

For those of you who know me well, I tend not to "move" too much. Going on a bike ride was definitely extending the outer limits of my movement. But I thought that going for bike rides at least once a week or so would help to counter-balance the fact that I sit in a chair for 8 hours a day reading.

The easiest place to just jump on a bike trail without going through the city is right by our place. There is a road with a bike lane that runs right along the Sea, and at any time you can just jump off the bike and sit on the grass on a bluff overlooking pretty much everything. So we decided to do that. I was surprised at how easy it was to ride - it has been a while and I expected to hit a wall about 3 minutes into this adventure - but to our surprise, I did not.

We pick up the 2 and half mile trail about a mile into it, and go North along the Sea to the Bridge of Don (see below). The Bridge of Don is the main bridge that goes over the Don River, which borders the city proper to the North.

I couldn't believe how many people were out. I guess you get a good day with some sun and people know to take advantage of it. There were plenty of people surfing (yes, they do surf here), people flying kites, lots of people walking, jogging, roller blading, etc., along the trail. So we decided to stop and take some pictures for you.

After we say in the grass and had a wee bit of a picnic, we decided to head back...and this is where something finally hit me. Evidently, I failed to notice two key elements to our ride up to this point, a ride that was pretty easy for me. The first was that we had gone down a gradual but steady decline the entire way to the bridge - and so, needless to say, on our way back we had a gradual, and at times not so gradual, incline the entire way back. And the second thing was that there was a heafty gust of wind coming off of the Sea that was no longer at our backs as it was when we were coming down the hill - but was now in our faces. So, needless to say, I almost died...twice every 6 minutes. But all in all we had a great time. Here are some pics of our little riding adventure.