Before we had kids, J.C. and I used to bike a LOT. Road biking, mountain biking, cycling vacations with friends, fund-raiser rides, tandem rides... we did it all. With kids comes change though, and one of those changes is that J.C. has gotten better, faster, and stronger on a bike while I've gotten fatter, lazier, and more out of shape while my bikes hang rusting in the garage.
A couple weeks ago, we decided that if I was ever going to get on a bike again, I needed a new one - a mom-friendly hybrid with a comfy seat and geometry that won't break my out-of-condition back. Armed with my snazzy new bike (which probably cost less than any single component on one of J.C.'s many bikes), we took our first family bike ride in years.
This is how we used to do family bike rides:
Since our family has outgrown the option of all of us on one bike, we headed out yesterday with Elise on her own bike, J.C. pulling Nina on the trail-a-bike, and yours truly pulling Addie in the trailer. Yes, you read that right. I'm overweight, completely out of shape, can barely turn the cranks as it is, and I was pulling fifty pounds of dead weight behind me. I was excited about going out with the whole family but not at all optomistic about how far we might go. As I trudged up the first hill in the park, and came to a halt about halfway up, a cute couple with a toddler in a stroller walked by, and the wife asked me, "So, is it hard to pull one of those trailers around?" Uhh... did you really have to ask? I mean I'm standing here panting, face beet red, stopped half way up a hill. Isn't it obvious? Between breaths, I exclaimed, "Yes! Very hard." J.C. clearly felt bad about discouraging the poor new parents who had probably thought our family bike ride looked like fun, so he quickly spouted off a bunch of excuses, "It's a new bike. She was in the wrong gear. This is the first time she's gone out with the trailer. She's just not used to it.. blah, blah, blah." Yeah, whatevs. It was still hard.
Despite the rocky start, we continued our ride and actually had a blast once we got to level ground on the greenway. Addie babbled and sang as she was captivated by the scenery from inside the trailer. Nina always enjoys the trail-a-bike, and Elise loves the independence of riding by herself. Although I thought my lungs might truly explode on a couple of the hills, I really had a great time. Now that I've "gotten back on the horse", so to speak, I think we'll be doing this more often. It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon.
As a side note, the girls loved showing J.C. their new "Girls Bike Better" T-shirts that I snagged at the Gap. Gotta have the proper wardrobe for any occasion, ya know!
Just to ensure that we didn't completely disrupt the universe with my freak display of athleticism, we kept up appearances today with J.C. spending the entire morning honing his skills on a mountain bike while the girls and I went out for donuts!
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