Cheating on my trails with a dirty bike...

So I am currently undergoing some difficult decisions in my life...I started riding my new mountain bike last week and instantly became super addicted to it...I also just picked up a pair of 24kg kettlebells which are entirely too heavy for me right now. I am excited about the kettlebells and have mixed emotions about the bike.  On one hand the bike provides me with a form of exercise that my doctors will agree with...I get the "running that much/often is bad for you" and "you really should look into riding a bike or swimming".  I think both of these things are probably (definitely) good ideas and should be explored with as much attention as possible.  The issue I have is that when I start to do something new, I become so absorbed and obsessed with it, all other endeavors tend to fall to the side.

A few years ago when I started running seriously, I cranked my mileage from the regular 10-12 miles a week to 50-60 miles a week and was absorbed.  I was falling asleep early, losing a ton of weight, getting toned (I also hit the gym for 3-4 hours a week) and enjoyed all the benefits that come with tons of healthy exercise.  I had ankle reconstruction in May of 2010 and the result was a nice gift of osteoarthritis and a group of doctors telling me to stop running and start crosstraining more.  I decided after several months of repeat visits and a new set of lesions developing on my ankle cartilage (whats left of it) I decided to drop a few $ on a used mountain bike and started to get into strength training a little more.  The problem is that I feel in love with the new stuff and fell out of love with the old stuff (running).


There is the possibility that I am in "lust" with my new hobbies (I am prone to a bit of impulse and the resulting weeks of extreme behavior) and the shine will wear off in a few weeks.  I am going on a nice run tomorrow to get back to my original love, running.  I feel like a nice long run on the trails I fell in love with back in the day will do me good.  I am hoping that I will be able to split my time between the two love affairs I have while still keeping them both happy and not leaving either of them wanting...wish me luck, I feel like I am cheating on both of them...