my 8 week challenge

Today is Day 4 and I’m happy to say that I definitely got some physical activity today. This weekend I’m playing Mr. Mom while ‘mom’ is off in Vegas playing. That sounds wrong but I know you get the idea. I’m the sole person responsible for Ava’s life this weekend and while it’s not anything new, it’s definitely new while trying to really get active.

Initially my thought was to simply take her to the Calgary Zoo and walk around for a while. We have a membership there that has paid for itself time and time again. Today Ava requested her stroller. “Great,” I thought to myself. This meant I could walk a little faster while she cruised in her stroller to elevate my heart rate. It worked for a while until she wanted to run around and push the stroller herself. Not being one to restrict physical activity, I granted the princess her wish.

I could have stopped there and highly considered that being my physical activity for the day. I definitely broke a sweat when the sun came out as I still had my hoody on. To me though, it felt cheap — like an imitation Gucci hand bag from Thailand or Singapore. I needed something more. I was heading to Canadian Tire to get a street hockey stick for that street hockey league I’m in and decided I’d stop to have a look at bike trailers.

I had been contemplating a bike trailer for quite some time but never really investigated one. Luckily for me they were on sale today. I asked Ava which one she wanted. “The red one or blue one” and she pointed and asked for the blue one. Naturally in fine daughter fashion, she selected the more expensive one. I was happy to pay the difference knowing that Schwin is a quality name and it was what she wanted.

On the way home Ava passed out in her car seat. I mean it had been a long day at the zoo and shopping. I took her and put her down for a nap so I could work. Putting the Schwin Bike Trailer together was very easy. The manual was easy to understand as well. I had it all together and fastened to the bike in under thirty minutes; and that includes reading the manual first.

Once Ava woke from her nap she was excited to see the surprise that I had gotten her. I could barely keep her out of it so decided to load it up with snacks and drinks to head out for a bike ride before dinner. The only drawback to the bike trailer is the maximum speed rating on it of 10 miles per hour. It was very hard to keep the bike that slow. In fact I peaked at roughly 17 mph…my bad. She lived to tell the tale and thoroughly enjoyed the speed. Seeing as it was a slower pace than I had wanted, it was harder to sweat. I decided duration was what was needed. We ended up cycling 10.5 miles in 1:22 mainly on paths and side walks in the area around our home. We’ve decided that tomorrow we’re going back to the Calgary Zoo to see the hippos, only this time we’re biking. Based on plotting out my route on mapmyride.com in parallel with the City of Calgary Bike Route Map, it looks like it will be 10 or 10.5 miles each way. Of course this depends on which route we take. Honestly I’m leaning more towards the longer one only because it’s 95% path compared to the other which is probably 80%. The difference is road riding that has been designated a bike route.

No matter how I look at it, I’m getting more excited every day and tomorrow will be a fun adventure. What’s not to love about getting out and enjoying the fresh air and amazing path system that Calgary has to offer?