You must do the things you think you cannot do.
~
Eleanor Roosevelt

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Cycling Fun

A couple of weeks ago during spring break, a friend of mine agreed to come out and help me begin to learn the basics of cycling- when/how to shift, etc. She's an avid cyclist and is currently training for the Seagull Century in the fall so she is a wealth of knowledge for me.

We're both stay at home moms so we had 6 kids with us, which means we wouldn't be doing any kind of speed work or even riding on the roads. No problem since I'm not a technical rider at all...I ride in just one gear and never change even if there's a hill!

Very thankfully Jake agreed to stay with Shane who insisted on riding his two wheeler - we just took the trainers off so he was very happy to be a big boy. The two of them rode on the path and parking lot near the cars while we headed south on the tow path.

Getting ready to hit the tow path.
Yes, his helmet is on incorrectly. We fixed it before we took off.

We had significant rain the days before. The 2nd pillar of the bridge (on the right) is not usually in the water. You can't tell very well, but the water had already subsided several feet from 2 days before.

We let the kids go ahead of us while we hung back a little so she could explain some of the basics to me. I fiddled around with shifting gears a little, but the tow path is flat-as-a-pancake so I didn't get a real feel for the difference it makes when climbing or descending. No worries though, I can keep practicing until we can schedule time for a grown ups only road ride.

We chugged along and Ella started fading. I was trying to encourage her by reminding her she has ridden much farther in the past -we had gone about 4 miles at that point.

She then reminded me that she is always in the seat with Jake for our long rides. Whoopsie!

To her credit, my fiesty little Squirrel did not give up. Yes she slowed down, but her little legs kept peddling. If she ever gets over her aversion to sweat, she'll be a heck of an ultra-runner because she's very determined.

We ended up riding just under 10 miles with just one crash - with 5 little kids (and 1 big one) that's pretty good!


Thank you, Cindy! I loved riding with you and learned so much. I can't wait to ride together again!

3 comments:

Caratunk Girl said...

Sounds like lots of fun!! Glad that water has started to recede!

KovasP said...

So much fun to ride with kids and one crash only is amazing!

Teamarcia said...

that is so great you have an experience cyclist to show you the ropes. I too am clueless about when to shift...I swear I need an Idiots Guide.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails