Ugh.
In case you were wondering, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. The situation is slightly worse–my entire family has The Crud. What started with a cough from little Vivian has now become an entire family of four moping around, generally feeling sorry for ourselves. I finally took Viv to the doctor and it was, as I suspected, nothing more than a particularly persistent case of a respiratory virus that we can expect to be fighting for the next several weeks and there really isn’t much else to do but wait it out. The NP did put Viv on albuterol, which is serving as a type of baby speed. When remembering that Viv is already suffering from a case of being two, I hope you all feel as sorry for me as I do.
So there has been very little riding for me, aside from a short trip to a local eatery for a Mommy-Sofie date night last weekend. Poor Jesse has been stuck riding in spite of being sick and tired, as we only have the one car and his early teacher schedule pretty much eliminates the possibility of us car-pooling. I’ve suggested calling a cab, but apparently the benefit of being The Sorriest of Us All outweighs the benefit of hitching a car ride to work. Friendly competitive martyrdom aside, I really do admire his dedication. I don’t know how he does it, but his commitment to biking makes me want to figure it out.
Well, that was among the most stressful 20 minutes of my life…
Today was to be the day that I would venture into the unknown. I do not like the unknown. I am a little bit controlling (something I’m discovering isn’t entirely conducive to biking) and I want to know how to do things before I do them. And yes I understand this is not really all that pragmatic – I said I was controlling, not pragmatic. Doing new things if I can try them out alone is generally best; however, this unknown would also have an audience. An audience of college students no less. That definitely ranks high on my “things-I-hate” list.
It’s certainly not boring…
Oh, what a day. Friday’s ride went so well that though I was a bit anxious about going solo, I was mostly excited about starting this venture. I rode Sofie up to school and got the most classic look from the traffic volunteer. He was directing the cars and all the sudden I appear and he just kind of froze. Then he gave a big laugh and directed me along just like everybody else. It was priceless.
The best laid plans
My lovely new Xtracycle Radish came just in time to take it out for the Pedal 4 Pride community bike ride that Jesse and I were set to volunteer for on Saturday. Friday night before the ride, Jesse and I stayed up super late (well, what passes for late in these parenting days) working on our bikes to ensure they were ready for the ride. The ride required that we ride down to the Parramore District and then lead a bike bus over to the VegFest and then drive the bike bus back to Parramore and head home. This was no small feat for our family of four, so we wanted to be prepared! Finally, after adjusting seats, filling tires, attaching lights, we were good to go. I was rotating my pedals when we heard a slight “swoosh” sound.