On Saturday, July 24th, Weston and I set out to ride 11 miles for our 11th anniversary. No problem, right? Normally for us, this would not be an issue. I have been getting up and doing my #MBF workouts every morning but have not been on my bike much (it needed a tune up and the chain chattered a lot!). Weston has been working long hours, and the boys have kept us busy.
We had been up in Bella Vista on Wednesday to pick up a used dryer and saw a paved trail we wanted to try...so, we dropped a pin on our maps so we could make our way back. We didn't know where the trail went, how long it was, etc. and I didn't look it up on any of the trail apps that we have. Fast forward to Saturday...
We slept in a little later than we planned...we wanted to go to breakfast first - Village Inn, Cracker Barrel, IHOP...someplace decent, so that required a lock for the bikes. Our keys for the lock we typically used were MIA. I finally found keys to a lock we never used, and away we went for a late breakfast/brunch/lunch. Cracker Barrel in Springdale - LINE, Cracker Barrel in Bentonville - LINE. So, off to a retro looking Denny's we went. Definitely not the best choice...the food wasn't horrible, but I cursed the meal later.
Finally - off to ride! As we were heading to the trail head parking lot we realized that the way back was going to be UPHILL. This was NOT a good idea. But, we thought we'd be ok. Fast-forward to taking the bikes off, getting helmets and water packs on...we literally pedaled twice and we were flying at 21 mph downhill. I do have to say, the elevation change looks a lot different on my phone than here on my computer. We came to a stop near the hospital (5k into the ride) where we had to make the call - continue riding and see if the trail had been repaired, or turn around and go back.
I made the call to turn back. I glanced at my watch and saw the change in elevation and knew that I had just gone 3.1 miles and only cranked my pedals one full rotation with effort. I was fully aware that it was going to be an @$$ kicker on the way back. And that is exactly what it was! It took us FIVE more stops over the last 3.1 miles. The 6 stops in total added almost 14 minutes to our ride, which were much needed stops.
Once we got back to the truck, we made the decision to park where we normally would for Veteran's Park or another spot we know of, and ride uphill FIRST, duh! We made a quick pitstop at a Walmart (the one that I heard someone refer to as the "boujee" Walmart) to get Gavin milk and try to find jerky cure/seasoning...we exited the store with a lot more than that!
We ended our day, grilling burgers and on the couch with our feet up.
*Cheers to 11 years!*
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