And it's well… summer!

Or at least the weather is cooperating. And not only have I taken my newest Wii game somewhat seriously (I'm doing 15 minute workouts at the moment, given that they don't have the clock running the whole time it's longer than 15 minutes… but whatever. I'm still testing the thing, making sure it's not too tough on my wrists among other things (my pushup bars are a huge help when the game wants me to do various plank exercises but I still worry a considerable amount)… but today I went for my first bike ride of the season. It wasn't entirely effortless, of course, because I realized that I needed to put air in my tires before going out for a ride. I didn't own a bike pump.

So after a brief walk to Mountain Equipment Co-op (a store I have been frequenting more and more often in recent years, and which I would likely visit even more frequently if I actually put more effort into doing active outdoorsy things that I enjoy — because, heck, I enjoy doing them a whole lot!) and a discussion with a staff member, I have a pump that while it can be frame mounted is actually able to be used like a small floor pump and works rather nicely. I like it as it takes up less space than most floor pumps, but is actually reasonably easy to use (though perhaps time consuming, pumping up my tires was actually a bit of a workout too, particularly after my Wii workout focusing on leg strength).

So eventually I made it out for my glorious first bike ride of the season. Last year, I never once biked alone (I was always with my then boyfriend, JD). Today, I definitely biked alone, and although my right wrist decided that it hated me for the strain I put on it by biking, I had a good time. I basically did a loop starting from home, going over the High Lever Bridge and then taking bike paths down to Louise McKinley Park and then looping back through the trail system to home. I was only out for about an hour, but as a first bike ride of the year, my body was starting to get tired by the end, and well, I'm starting to get a bit sore in strange places now.

And I mean it, strange places. It kind of hurts to breathe because my chest is somehow sore. Not entirely sure how that happened (pumping bike tires? Wii workouts? biking? Walking isn't the likely cause, but?). Sure, I was breathing pretty heavily when I was attempting to conquer hills on my bike (I've never been good at conquering hills in any case) but that shouldn't be surprising as that's my normal. I'm slowly getting into better shape, I think, which is helpful. Perhaps that will help with the health problems, but no guarantees there (as doctors have no useful answers as of yet… not that I'm terribly worried at the moment)

Anyway… in other news, I *SO* want to play my new Puerto Rico, limited aniversary edition game at some point before I head off to Vancouver on Wednesday (Wednesday will be a VERY long day — I work 5 hours in Edmonton and then head to the airport and will still have my evening to enjoy in Vancouver). I don't have MANY firm plans for my time in Vancouver, but it's quickly filling up. I'm there for a conference (it's pretty unstructured at the moment, as it'll be like 5 of us) which I guess starts Friday afternoon/evening and runs until Sunday morning… but I've already lunch plans with an aunt, evening plans with a few friends and so on to slot in. We'll see what else gets planned in the interim! I want to make it out to Stanley Park, and eat from food carts (JapaDog among others!), and at least try a few new restaurants (you know me, I like food!) — at some point I'll have to eat Asian food, of course! And like every trip, I like to try at least one new thing, and probably check out a bookstore or so… but I don't want to spend too too much — I have so much other travel to spend money on this summer!