The longest ride

A couple of my recent articles have focused on riding bicycles, and for good reason. I have been religiously riding my bike for the past few months with intentions of bettering my health. Well, everything has gone, well and I have noticed a remarkable change in both my weight and my cardio performance.

I had not ridden my bike with consistency for a while. That in mind, I started with a short and easy ride with intentions of increasing the distance and intensity level. Well, I quickly jumped up to a 12-mile route.

I was more than happy to remain on this particular route for more than a month without question, as there were ample hills to challenge my endurance. And with a large selection of gear combinations at my disposal, I can still push myself to my limits during this short run.

But I eventually began to grow bored with traveling the same route three days a week, so I began considering other alternatives that were somewhat equal in length and intensity levels.

That in mind, I eagerly accepted when a friend offered to show me a few routes he has ridden during the past several months. The plan was to ride in the neighborhood of 12 to 15 miles. But we far exceeded our target distance during the initial outing.

I was truly stoked upon returning back to my truck. We had just ridden 27.6 miles. This was an alltime high for me. I had ridden just over 20 miles a few times throughout the years. But I was younger then. And I certainly didn’t expect to reach that distance again after only a limited time of riding.

I was satisfied with the improvement and had no intentions of increasing the distance anytime soon. But little did I know, that my next challenge lurked only a couple of weeks down the road.

Sandy and I recently embarked upon a drive to the Fayetteville area, where we planned to spend the weekend. Although we had no specific plans, there were worlds of outdoor destinations awaiting. In fact, this quaint town and her neighboring cities had become known as a paradise for those who enjoy riding bikes.

However, I had no intentions of embarking upon a ride of any magnitude. But little did we know exactly what awaited us.

We immediately enjoyed a 5-mile ride around the perimeter of Lake Fayetteville upon our arrival. There was yet another trail that I had heard about, located within 30 minutes of where we were staying.

The Razorback Greenway Trail extended 36 miles from Bella Vista to Fayetteville. And there were many more miles of trails spurring from the main route and meandering through sections of the six cities located in between.

We had no intentions of traveling far. In fact, I expected to log 8 or 10 miles and call it a day. But the morning temperature was cool and I had no idea how pleasant the trail would prove to be.

I was amazed at how well the trails were maintained. Countless hours and obviously millions of dollars had been dedicated to building a trail system where hikers could safely walk and biking enthusiasts could safely ride.

In turn, we lost perspective of distance and simply lost track of time. We eventually arrived back at the vehicle with ample time and enough energy to partake in a 6-mile journey at yet another location.

Securing our bikes for the day, I was somewhat surprised that we had ridden pretty much the entire morning. We had logged 36 miles through a beautiful setting. But the scenery was simply icing on the cake, as I had just experienced my all-time longest ride.