Y’all know that I love hiking, but road biking is my go-to cardio workout. 

I’ve been biking in and around Chicago for over a decade, but avoid mountain biking because I like to keep all my teeth intact. Yes, yes, go on and laugh at the dissonance of my logic, but I’ve never (*knocks wood*) been injured on my road bike. Now, riding injured… that’s another story.

Southwest Michigan is the playground for many Chicagoans. (I love it so much, I relocated here!) It’s an active, outdoorsy area where you can get as much fresh air and small-town charm as you can handle. One of my don’t-miss activities is the annual Apple Cider Century Bike Ride in Three Oaks, Michigan. (It pays to sign-up early so you don’t miss out!). Now, a century ride is not necessarily for the novice biker. And one hundred miles is not for me. I have always focused on and completed the quarter-century. (That sounds better than 25 miles, right?) I highly recommend this event – it’s an entire weekend of biking, good food, and fun. Plus, you meet new friends who also love the sport of biking.

I’ve done this ride a handful of times. I was so excited to do the ride one year, that I signed up 8 months in advance to take advantage of the ‘early bird’ discount. As luck would have it, I broke my foot about 2 weeks before the ride. It was either my second or third broken foot, so I was well-accustomed to “life in the boot.” (aka a CAM Walker). When getting fitted for yet another one of these fashion ‘don’ts,’ I asked my podiatrist, Dr. Supna Reilly at Performance Podiatry Partners if I could still participate in the ride. Cautiously, she agreed as long as I didn’t get off the bike on the broken foot.***