I didn't take my GPS on our bike trip, and I don't have the bike computer yet, but the best I can figure is that we rode about 9 miles today, and it was a lot of fun!

I topped off the air pressure in our tires before we left to about 60 psi. Sheri filled up both of our water bottles with water and ice and put them in their cages.

Sheri has only rode about a mile or so before this morning and has never had a bike with more than one gear before, so the first mile or so we rode through some residential streets just getting her used to shifting and when to up-shift and down-shift.

The trails in the forest preserve are mostly crushed limestone screenings. It feels different riding on this compared to paved roads, so we spent a little time going slow to get her used to that feeling and finding out how fast she can take sharp turns without the tires skidding out from under her.

We stopped for a drink and a few pictures after about 2.5 miles.





We kept riding north until we got to the dog park. We sat on the bench right in front of the gate where the dogs enter and leave the dog area so we could say hi to all of them. We also had our breakfast here: we split a Toasted Nuts and Cranberry Luna Bar and drank some more water. The sun felt good and we enjoyed watching the dogs so we sat there for about 20 minutes.



The dog park is on the northish side of the forest preserve and there was just a little bit more bike trail to the north of us so we thought we would continue north to see what was there. When we got to the end of the forest preserve the trail kept continuing along a busy road. About two miles down the road is a Dominick's grocery store with a Starbucks inside. We thought we would ride there, have a coffee break, and then backtrack home.

At one point Sheri shifted funny and threw her chain. Fortunately I was able to put it back on without any tools. It only took a minute.



The two miles there are mostly uphill. It was tiring, and we could have made it, but the sky started looking threatening, so we decided to turn around about halfway there and go home. The air started to feel different and cooler.

We stopped a few more times on the way home to because our thighs we getting sore, especially after climbing hills. You can't really see it in this picture but Sheri has a lot of color in her face:





We got home without getting rained on. We sat down for a bit and each had a HoneyBaked ham sandwich and a couple glasses of iced tea. I am going to take a shower now and then we are going to run some errands.

My back has been giving me problems for about the last two months. The last few bike rides I took my back would be hurting pretty good, which seemed weird since it doesn't seem like an activity that would be especially stressful on your back, even if it has been sensitive.

I had my handle bars in their highest position. Before this ride I lowered them, which also shifts them forward a little bit too, and my back did fine. It started hurting just near the very end of our ride, when we were just a few minutes from home.