It's Not Cheating, It's Glorious!

The last two days I have been enjoying spring, and the really wonderful thing is that I have been doing some things that I haven't been able to do in a long time. I walked. I walked more than half-way out Picnic Point and back, and that is the furthest I have been able to walk in over a year. I worked in my garden. I gardened last year, but I remember how discouraging it was being painful kneeling down and getting back up. This year there is almost no pain.

I can't give the bike all the credit, by any means. I was determined to get better this year, and I have a wonderful physical therapist (thank you, Pat!) and have been working hard on the exercises and stretches. Spring and sunshine and warmer days have helped also.

But the bike has been important, both physically and mentally. I feel stronger and I feel liberated. The bike babies me if I need it, but most of the effort is mine - and I have new strength to prove it. That, in turn, helps make other types of exercise more possible. I feel more alive and positive than I have in a while.

I read a blog by an e-biker in Seattle who was asking regular bikers to stop hating on e-bikes. She said some regular bikers hate e-bikes because they're "cheating." Having felt in the beginning that perhaps I was cheating, I can understand that. But sorry, anything that makes me work harder than I was - just by enabling me to get out more - isn't cheating, it's glorious!