***It's Memorial Day. Please take your moment before carrying on with your day.***
(Okay. Onward.)
Both my older brother and sister did El Tour de Tucson with my dad when they were in high school. I remember this as a lot of early morning training rides where they would return red-faced, dying of thirst, and walking funny from hours on a bike seat.
I can't imagine why I wasn't inspired to follow their example.
Anyway.
I'm sure it was a big disappointment to my dad that I stubbornly resisted the opportunity to challenge myself and achieve a big goal and all those other good things that come with doing something insane like a 109-mile bike ride. But I did not like riding a bike, so I didn't. The last time I sat on a bicycle was at least 20 years ago.
Until yesterday afternoon.
A. was feeling sick again; Jack and Poppy were asleep; and Cubby and Charlie were bouncing off the walls. Usually I take them on a walk when I want to get them out the door, but Bug Season is in full force, and they're particularly bad on the sheltered dirt road where we go. Anywhere without a pretty strong breeze is Black-Fly Heaven. So instead I took them on a bike ride, because then we could create our own breeze.
I rode A.'s bike, which certainly was not designed for an average-height woman, but worked fine for the purpose.
Guess what? You really don't ever forget how. Sure, I had a bit of a wobbly start getting going, and I did turn too wide at the end of the road and plow into the grass, but those were minor considering my lack of practice. Cubby found my lack of skill hilarious. "You ride like me, Mommy!"
It was--dare I say it?--kind of fun. Even on a bike that definitely didn't fit me (I had to lean forward on my hands a lot because the frame is too big for me, and holy hell, that is the MOST uncomfortable seat EVER), I enjoyed going faster than walking speed and outrunning the bugs.*
I think I might have to get my own bike for rides with the kids in the future. Much like my return to hiking after having children, bike riding seems to have come back into my life.
I'm sure my dad is pleased. But I'm still not going to sit on the bike for 109 miles, Dad, sorry.
* Except for when we had to stop at their grapevine fort on the side of the road so they could decorate their bikes with ferns and throw themselves down the bank over and over. And when we stopped so they could pick the long grasses and chew on the stems. I got eaten alive then, but that's par for the course with little kids. They never just go from Point A to Point B.
4 comments:
Wow! You got away without Poppy? I guess she is doing better without the constant holding.
I chuckled at your bike story, & the size of the seat. My husbands friend was going to sell his daughters bike & asked my husband if he wanted to buy it for me to ride. I told my husband no, because we live near some very big hills, which I would have to walk the bike up if I wanted to ride that far. Well, I'm now the proud owner of a bike, & so feel inclined to ride it at least once a week, since my husband keeps mentioning how it was a gift. AND now I remember how sore my rear was before when I used to ride. (He even bought me a gel seat, doesn't work.)
Linda
Awesome! Biking is definitely more fun than walking the same route day after day. Please let A. know how much we sympathize with his continuing malaise, but we applaud him for giving you a bit of a reprieve from the house and Poppy, while inadvertently opening up a new world of biking experiences for you in the future. New Mexico will be a great place to perfect your riding technique.
Oh, black flies--creations of the Devil indeed. It's worth moving across the country just to get away from them. Mary in MN
My bike is still sitting in the garage awaiting a trip to the gas station with an airhose. That's the gas station that has an air hose, not the bike. I just bought a new helmet, so I guess I'd better get it ready and ride.
Right after school's out. Yeah. That little thing called progress reports.
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