Getting back in shape

Come the fall, my exercise group will be starting up again.  I love this group, run by a friend of mine.  We meet in the gym at our church, and we all work out on one side of the room while our kids all run around on the other.  It's the perfect answer to "how to work out when you have young kids/babies running around."  If Juliette is fussing, my friend adapts the exercises so I can do them holding her.  And my kids have always loved being able to play with new friends during that hour.

But for the summer, I've taken up...bike riding.  I'm using a fantastic second-hand bike that came from my uncle, who lives in the big city and gets around a lot by bicycle.  It's a men's bike, but other than having to get used to the high cross bar, you can't really tell the difference.  A friend and I are trying to go once a week and ride the local trails for 30 minutes or so.  And any errand I have to run in the evening, I'm trying to take my bike.  The nice thing is that I can pretty much get anywhere in town in 15 minutes, which makes the round trip manageable both physically and as a time commitment.

So I'm hoping it not only gets me back into shape faster, but that it also helps with this back injury (muscular) I've got.  I'm seeing a physiotherapist, but the injury is so painful I'm still up most of the night, unable to sleep.  Luckily there is no pain whatsoever once I'm up and going.  But it is so frustrating to have a baby that is such a good sleeper at night, who is going long stretches without nursing and goes right back to sleep after she does nurse, and I'm awake all night in pain.  It is so not fair!