My father-in-law always says, "we're a biker family." He says this usually when we are packing up 10 or so bikes for an afternoon outing. And a bike family we truly are. I bet there are about 20+ bikes between the members of Josh's small family of 3 children.
Already Josh is starting to collect images and supplies in hopes of making a bike for Monet. Have I mentioned that she's not yet one? I must say this makes me a bit nervous considering that Monet's genes come theoretically half from me. My husband, unlike me, can maneuver around any situation on a bike. He grew up mountain biking and really is quite impressive. I on the other hand, ride around things, and even that causes me trouble.
Last Friday I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Scoutie Girl. Tara just got a new bike and unfortunately took a tumble. You can read about it here. Her story made me laugh, rude of me I know. It brought back a flood of "falling memories"...
I grew up in Illinois and I now live in Utah. If you've never been to either of these states, there is one huge difference between them. Can you guess? Well, Utah has mountains and Illinois does not. By the way, you don't pronounce the "s" when you say Illinois; just letting you know in case you were curious.
Sorry, took a little road trip there, no pun intended. Ok, so we're back on track. When I moved to Utah and I road my bike for the first time, it was a huge shock to me. I couldn't believe the size of the hills. I tried riding up this one hill by my apartment complex for an entire week before I made it to the top without having to stop. Really, they're tremendous! And when I decided to take up road biking, you know be "official" about it, get all the fancy gear, well that was an interesting day.
Picture this, I'm inside, bike gear on, including my new fancy clip in bike shoes. That's right, "official bikers" where shoes that clip into the bike pedals. It's more energy efficient, like green energy kind of, except that you're saving your energy instead of the earths. So I'm inside and I'm trying to learn how to clip out before I fall over. I've fallen about 15 times and have rug burns all over my one knee. After a while I get the hang of it and I decide to go for a ride.
I'm out riding and I'm feeling good, "official" really, my father-in-law would be proud. As I approach my first stop light, I say to myself, no big deal, just slow down and clip out, you did it 100 times inside. I approach the light and, YES, I did it, I clipped out. This might be a good time to mention though, that the light was on a slight hill, a Utah hill which I guess we could also call a mountain. The light turns green, I pick up my loose foot to clip in and the gravity of the mountain pulls me down to the ground, hard. I have an entire row of cars waiting behind me, wanting to go through the light. By the time I get up, the light has already turned red. I now have to sit there, absolutely embarrassed, my face now as red as the rug burns on my legs. I sit there and wait till the light turns green again, angry eyes of people running late staring at me.
I'm happy to report that I made it through the light that second time. I wish I could report though that this is my only falling story. It is not! I fall and run into thing constantly. Just ask my husband and my students.
Falling is funny really. In the moment we are embarrassed, egos bruised, and physically hurt sometimes, but as time goes by these falls become something we don't mind sharing. I find that interesting. I think maybe this is a good life lesson for me, to have a sense of humor about the mistakes I make, if not in the moment, maybe as time passes?
Wont' you please share a funny falling story with me today?
It's Monday, I think we could all use a few good laughs.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment