A new year, a new life

Kristin Wentworth is the sole female staffer at Planet Bike, a professional road and cyclocross racer, and now, a mom-to-be. She contributes regular stories chronicling her active pregnancy.

2011 is going to be a big year for my husband and me. Just under 3 months to go until we welcome the new addition to our family and a whole new way of life. I’m not big on resolutions necessarily but I certainly resolve to live a full and active life with our future child. I know our past way of life will change but that’s going to be part of the fun. We’ve had a good run of weekends filled with long bike rides or races – it’s time for a change of pace.

Thus far 2011 has been quiet with no monster snowstorms or deep freezes. I’ve successfully made it through the first real month of winter and I’m happy to say I got out and cross country skied on 4 occasions. We had pretty decent snow for a few weekends in December and it was great to get outside and do something aerobic. I was a little nervous on how my form and balance would be but I guess skiing is kind of like riding a bike in that way. And I definitely felt better the second day when I had a few laps in my legs already.

I’m certainly not skiing at a very brisk pace and occasionally I’ll become more aware of the extra weight in my stomach and feel slightly tipped forward but really I felt pretty darn good. We live about a mile from a golf course which has a flat 5K loop groomed by the city and luckily I had a couple of friends ski with me for extra motivation. It was cool to see all the little kids out there bravely trying to master their technique. And I even saw a couple of parents skiing with babies in pull behind trailers/sleds. A glimpse into what our skiing life looks like in the future! Oh yes, I will be one of those crazy parents with a Chariot connected to my belt, struggling to achieve forward momentum while pulling a baby (hopefully not crying!) behind me. I can’t wait.

After I stopped commuting I started walking more and while that was nice because I was outside I still felt like I wasn’t really getting my heart rate up much. I wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of riding my trainer in the basement but I’ve now settled into a routine of riding for 30 minutes every day before work.

It’s not real exciting and I do miss the cold crisp outside air but it is nice to work up a sweat and get the heart rate up. I’ve also picked up a pair of 8 lb. hand weights figuring that I might as well do a little bit of upper body work too. Gotta get those arms ready for lifting and holding the baby!

Driving to and from work has unfortunately become my new routine. There are plenty of things I miss about riding my bike to work: the utilitarian simplicity of getting my workout in while getting to the office, not having to fill up my gas tank every other week, the hour and a half of my day when I get to decompress and enjoy the outdoors, seeing the beauty of my city from the seat of my bike. I also don’t like getting stuck in rush hour traffic when it’s snowing and making my normal 20 minute drive take an hour longer! I reluctantly admit, however, that I do enjoy listening to NPR on my drive and being in a warm car when it is below 15 out. Once the summer comes I’ll be ready and raring for commuting by bike again though!

I am looking forward to doing some more walking when I head to San Francisco later this month.  We’re taking one final trip before baby comes (I think some people call them babymoons?) to enjoy being carefree and independent . . . at least as carefree as you can be when you’re nearly 7 months into a pregnancy! Unfortunately no wine country day trips for us but we can’t wait to see the city as well as some Redwoods and we may even try to rent bikes for an afternoon. It will be nice to just get away for a few days and see some sights before things get really interesting in April.

And to end this entry I’m going to recommend you all check out an amazing article about a woman from Wisconsin who took staying active during her pregnancy to another level . . . she rode her bike to the hospital while in labor. Susie Weber is hardcore and admittedly I’m not sure biking to the hospital is in the cards for me – scratch that, I’m not even going to try! I totally admire her and her determination though!

Here’s a link to a local newspaper blog with a 3 month update on the family and a link to the full article which appeared in the Wisconsin based magazine Silent Sports. Also Simply Bike is one of my favorite cycling blogs and the author has recently announced her pregnancy so if you just can’t get enough of reading about biking while pregnant I encourage you to check out her site!

Happy New Year everyone!