This is what hubby does when I need a moment to myself on the weekends:
Isn't that cute!
Some times I even join them.
You can't see this in the picture, but his right pant-leg is hiked up to his knee. Which I mocked a little... until I found out the hard way that this is the mark of an expert rider.
You can spot me easily. I am the one riding SOLO looking like a kid who just got her training wheels removed. I am the one wearing boot-cut jeans with her pant leg covered in grease from the chain.
Do I take one of the kids? uh, that's a definite no! Even riding solo, while he balances one on his back and one in front of him, I am FAR far far more likely to fall off, veer way off trail, have to get off and walk up any slight incline... oh and I can NEVER keep up with him. How lame is that?
In my defense, I didn't have the cycling up-bringing that he did. He biked to his university and back--a 30-40 minute ride through some seedy neighborhoods in a city full of terrible drivers. He even built his own bike once FROM SCRATCH!! I can hardly inflate a tire or put the chain back on.
I got my first bike for my 8th birthday. My parents bought it from D.I. (the Utah version of the Salvation Army). It was, hands down, the ugliest bike on the planet. I wish I had a picture to prove it--you'll just have to take my word. It was a lovely-rusted-purple. One of those bikes with the giant banana seats, with the tip of the foam torn off revealing rusted metal. It also had those extra-wide handle-bars--which was the winning touch! I rode it until I caught wind (from all the other kids' snickering) that it WAS NOT a cool bike.
I didn't have a bike again (because... hello, we were poor!) until college. It was subsequently stolen off of my balcony (a few years ago). I now have an awesome bike that I bought off Craig's List.
Anyway, the point is that I didn't have all that much riding experience and I feel like I don't have the leg strength or the coordination or balance or something needed to properly control such a complex contraption.
I ever-so-generously suggested that we get another bike seat so I could take one of the kids. He said: "That's ok, I can take them both."
He didn't even ridicule my lack of cycling skill--see, now that's love.
2 comments:
This is redeeming. Sounds like a great guy and an expert cycler as well. We had a couple bikes fitting the same rusty banana seat description when I was a kid too. We never caught any flax in my neighborhood in denver though because we had the most kids being a mormon family and no one dared mess with us or else...
I had tons of bike riding experience as a kid, but you know what they say about never forgetting how to ride a bike?
Totally not true. I tried to ride one the other day and couldn't keep my balance to save my life. Good thing my kids weren't watching!
Thanks for stopping by Sweet Life the other day!
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