Since she could speak she has coached me on my real bike trainer “Go, Mom, go! Faster, faster”, but now, thanks to Dad, we’re hitting the open road. Hannah has had her own bike for two years but attempts at family bike rides have lasted 10 minutes and required a lot of coaxing, bribes and eventually threats. So Dad bought a bike trailer to attach to his bike while I ride my beach bike with the baby seat and Ella. Dad decided it might be a good idea for us to switch and put the trailer on my mountain bike so I could get some extra miles in when Ella naps and he works on his dissertation. We decided to do a test run of the Mom/Hannah combo over at the Marine Corp Base as they have a nice flat bike lane.
In the triathlon the bike is definitely my weakest event. I need to spend more hours in the saddle and since my husband does need to complete his PhD by August, I need to find ways to fit in extra workouts with kids in tow. I have a double jogger which makes it possible to have both kids with me while providing added resistance training in the form of 80 lbs of squabbling siblings. It even has a rain guard which one likes on in the rain and the other hates. However it kills my form. So we’ll try the bike.
As we unload at the Marine Base, Dad explains that Mom hasn’t had the extra weight of the trailer or passenger before and Hannah will need to be patient and sit still while Mom gets the hang of it. As we take off I suffer from my traditional dread of traffic vs. bike but now with the added responsibility that half of my most prized possessions is on board and I’d better not careen us into traffic or trees. As we start off I can feel us beginning to fish tail a little bit, as I glance over my shoulder I see Hannah standing on her pedals, turned around chatting to her Dad behind us. “Sit down!” I hiss. Clearly this is going to be a lot of fun for both of us.
As I start to get the hang of it the bike begins to wiggle again,
“Hannah sit down.”
“There was mud, it was going to get on my shoes I had to pick them up!”
Dad calmly reminds both of us that Mom is new at this and its going to take some time for her to get used to this. Hannah thinks this over, and I know this because Hannah does most of her thinking out loud.
“Mom doesn’t know what she’s doing. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.” This wasn’t helping my confidence level but we weren’t wiggling so I let it go, for a while, then it started to grate on my nerves. Then the demands for food started.
“Can we go to MacDonalds””
“No.”
“Please, I’m dying! Can I have ice cream?”
“Its 9:30 Sunday morning. You’re not having ice cream, besides we just had breakfast.”
“I’m thirsty. Do you have any cranberry juice?”
“No, drink your water.”
“I don’t want water. Can we go to the playground? I never get to do anything I want.”
After half an hour of the singing, swinging rider I began to realize the benefits of my coach.
“She doesn’t know what she’s doing, she doesn’t know what she’s doing,” Hannah continues to sing.
“Have you fallen over yet?”
“No!”
“Then clearly I know what I’d doing!! Find a new song to sing, now!”
“The butterfly flies in the sky. Pretty, pretty butterfly.”
Our 3 mile journey certainly felt like 56 miles and then I recognized the brilliance of Dad’s plan. Hannah’s role wasn’t only to strengthen my physical endurance (which her constant swaying and dancing certainly will) but also my emotional and mental endurance. If I could manage to sharpen my focus and block out the endless demands for ice cream, playgrounds and bathroom breaks I might be able to face the challenges on the race course and also any negative thoughts that jump into my head when things don’t go my way. It helps me to work on finding a Zen state even when I’m being bombarded with challenges from the person on the planet who best knows how to push my buttons!
So on the road keep an eye out for the Mom/Hannah combo, we’re hard to miss and if you listen close you can even hear my coach, “Ride like the wind!” (thanks, Electric Company!).
This cracked me up. ;)
ReplyDelete