Growing Pains

It’s hard to take part in Bike to Work Week/Month when you’re a suburban stay-at-home-mom. (Yeah, I know, get a job!) Last year my daughter and I took part by riding our bikes to school, as we did most weeks. This year, however, we actually drove to and from school on each day of Bike to Work Week. How could I be so wasteful? Well, my daughter has been on crutches for the past three weeks. A heel injury caused by a growth spurt and running during track practice has put a stick in her spokes for an indefinite amount of time. She seems to be enjoying the crutches as her new mode of transport; meanwhile, I’ve transformed from Happy Bike Mom to Grumpy Car Mom. On these beautiful spring mornings and afternoons, it is torture for me to drive less than a mile to school, crossing the bike route twice each way. Of course, I am still able to ride my bike wherever I please while my daughter is in school all day, but it’s always more enjoyable to ride with a companion. Our rides to and from school each day gave me my bike fix even if I didn’t leave the house for the rest of the day.

Losing my bike buddy has made me quite jealous of my husband, who has been hitting the trails each weekend with two friends as they prepare for a 75-mile charity ride in October. One friend, B, is an experienced cyclist who is starting again after taking a few years off. The other friend, J, hadn’t ridden since his teenage years, but was inspired to join in after seeing my husband complete a 100-mile ride last spring with the same amount of experience and only three months of training. Despite the differences in their cycling abilities, the three men were enjoying their early morning rides together. This past weekend, however, their ride came to an abrupt halt when J’s pedal clipped a gatepost in passing, leaving him face down on the path with a broken nose and ribs. (Yes, he was wearing a helmet. Didn’t help much.) Doctor’s orders are no cycling for the next six weeks, but I hear J still plans to participate in the charity ride in October. Our friend J has always been a “Can Do” kinda guy. I’m not so sure I could be that brave after such a fall, and I’m hoping I never have to find out.

This weekend we will be making a quick trip to Ocean City, New Jersey, for the official opening (cleaning) of our family’s summer house. My husband and I will bring our bikes along to try to squeeze in a long overdue ride together to blow the dust out of our hair. Hopefully, I will be able to get a few photos of other people enjoying a leisurely bike ride, something that is nearly impossible here. Our daughter will be quite content watching everyone clean and giving her cousins lessons on the proper use of crutches.

Enjoy the weekend, and be sure to stop and smell the roses!

My fragrant trellis roses - no thorns, no pain!

Riding With Mom

One of my earliest memories is riding in the folding child seat on the back of my mother's bicycle, alongside my older sister on the back of my father's bicycle. My heart leapt when I saw this post by Henry of Bakfiets en Meer a few months ago. It seems we were born in the same year and share the same back-of-bike memory. Unfortunately, I didn't even own a bike at the time my daughter was small enough to ride on back, so my daughter missed out on that wonderful experience. Hopefully, she will have enough happy memories of riding next to her mother to make up for it.

Recently I discovered this nostalgic "home movie" on Vimeo, which looks to be about 10 years after my back seat days had ended (at that time I would have been riding my red-white-and-blue banana seat bike). I only wish they could have handed the movie camera to the child so I could really relive that unique feeling of motion from the back of the bike.

Bike Ride from Gobias Media on Vimeo.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom, and thanks for the memories!

Cycle Chick

My daughter is my BBB (that’s Best Biking Buddy, in case you didn’t know [because I just made it up {I think}]). She’s the reason I got back on a bike (see my very first post), and the one person I ride with most often. My husband, on the other hand, is the reason I got a new bike, but that (more interesting) story will be told another time.

When we first started to ride our bikes to school, I felt a little like a mother duck navigating carefully with her little duckling following behind. I constantly turned my head to check on her, asking, “Are you okay?” and “Ya with me?” Naturally, this annoyed and insulted her, so I learned to keep my mouth closed and use stealth-swivel-head-action when I felt the need. Gradually, we both became more confident riders, and these days we ride as near equals. The one instance where our inequality always becomes obvious is on the long downhill stretch on our morning ride into school. Gravity never fails to move the heavier object (me) to the bottom of the hill faster than the lighter object (daughter). Age before beauty!