We had some beautiful weather this past weekend with warm temps and sunshine aplenty on Sunday. I jumped on the opportunity to soak up some vitamin D and exercise by taking a little ride on my bicycle!

I left the house with a questionable amount of pressure in my tires, cutting through some trails behind my garage. After a half mile or so, it became clear that I needed some air.... Once that was squared away, I set out again to ride to Goodyear Heights Metro Park via sidewalks, and it was a bit of a haul to get there. 

I'm not the type of bicyclist who enjoys pushing for miles and miles on a road or the Towpath and I wish I could do cool BMX or mountain biking, but I never really risk it like that. I prefer exploring urban areas, hopping curbs and cutting through lots. Otherwise, my absolute favorite thing to do is to take on gnarly trails similar to those I'd take my four-wheeler upon. From the Portage Lakes State Park to Hampton Hills Metro Park, there's some awesome spots in our area to do so; on Sunday I found yet another at Goodyear Heights.

The thing about this park is that bikes are not common, from what I could tell. Frankly, I don't know for sure if they are even permitted, but I made sure to look around for any signage to indicate one way or another, to no prevail. Given that it's acceptable to be there, you're definitely going to want a mountain bike with some off-road tires and suspension to take on the route that I did. I missed the road to the park entrance that I was planning to go in, so I went from the north of the park back southward. 

It was such a beautiful ride with some moderately challenging parts, and due to my unfamiliarity with the paths as well as wet leaves everywhere, I took it slowly. My bike has a crazy low gear that could climb a wall if I had the traction to do so, but I struggled with putting the power to the ground with my old worn tire and slipped out a couple times. There were gorgeous views 360° and some fun paths and hills. All in all, it was a great time and my favorite way to get some cardio aside from skateboarding. I came home covered in sweat and just collapsed onto the couch feeling accomplished. 

I'm an outdoorsman at heart and I feed off of the sunlight. Cold, grey winter days take their toll on my happiness, and the time change we just went through makes it even worse. It's a struggle, and genuinely my least favorite part about being a Midwesterner. When we do get sunny days in the "ber" months, I hate to see them go to waste. I just can't wait until the next time I get out on my bike!