When we first got here all the kids were as active as can be, and I liked that from my normally glued to the couch and some kind of screen children. As the days went on Matt found it easier to hang out in the house, and Josh realized that I would pull him along while "swimming" with his life jacket on, and well, old habits came back to haunt them. I was hoping the whole family would get kind of out-doorsy this summer, and one disappointment was the lack of biking trails, that I planned on using for family outings. I finally got a book off the internet of short biking trips in the state we are in and found an 8 mile ride around a different lake than ours, which was rated as flat in the book. Matt was not looking forward to the ride. He had slipped back into inactivity and he was happy there.
Today, biking day, I woke Matt up with breakfast in bed, to thank him in advance for not complaining during the ride. Nothing like planting that little seed. I knew he wasn't enthusiastic, and was dreading the possibility of some major pre-teen whining. Then I packed up the kids, and all our gear, and headed towards the other lake. It was beautiful there. I was totally psyched, this other lake had very few homes around it and barely any traffic. It was going to be good!
We found the parking lot, I emptied the car, took Josh to use the public restroom, distributed water bottles, set up, attached and zipped Josh into the trailer I would pull from my bike, and headed towards the road. Then it hit me, this trailer was way to hard to pull, one look back showed the problem. One trailer tire was completely flat and even coming off the rim. I told the guys. Matt threw up his hands and angrily yelled out "What? After everything I went through to get here! No biking?" Uh, cough, cough. "Uh, okay, let's not panic" I told them. These are all bikers, someone must have a pump. Well, oddly enough no one in the parking lot had a pump, but we realized that there was a little ranger station next to the parking lot, I sent the big boys over. Good news! He had a compressor. I pulled the bike and trailer over, bad news, it didn't work, I discovered a 4 inch tear in the tire tube. This bike wasn't going anywhere and the nearest bike shop was about 20 minutes back the way we came. It wasn't going to happen for this trailer.
I told Matt and Evan they could do the ride without me and that Josh and I would follow them in the car. I sent them towards the road to get a head start. I took the trailer apart, put it back in the trunk, reassembled the bike rack, racked up my bike, belted Josh in and pulled out to see how far the boys had gotten, I was trying to be okay with the whole thing, and just glad that this lake was quiet enough that I could send them out on their own. Then they came walking up the driveway back into the parking lot. Evan says "Matt thinks he forgot how to balance." Matt looks weepy. I know that Matt is afraid because he hasn't ridden in a couple of years and am not sure what to do. I really wanted him to have this ride for the exercise and the experience. Luckily I was already in a moving vehicle and he couldn't just hop in. He said "I want to get in the car." I said "No." and muttered a silent prayer that it was the right thing to do. He pleaded. I stood firm. I told Evan to start the ride, he'd been riding on a much busier road with me all summer and I wasn't worried about him. I told Matt to get over to the road and start riding too. He pleaded with his eyes. I said "Matt, I am not stopping this car, you can ride in front of me, or try to catch up to me, but either way you are riding. Choose." With those sad little hound dog eyes, he got on the bike, wobbled a little, and followed after his brother. He did it! He did just fine.
I drove behind them, and the love just poured out of me. Evan stayed in the lead, with all his biking gear on. He had on a biking shirt, biking shorts, and biking gloves in addition to his helmet and his brand new still very brightly colored sneakers. What a get up! I so hope he grows up to be a metrosexual. (You know what I mean, right?) Matt, in all his pre-teen glory was wearing a black t shirt, long gray lounge pants and sandals. I could see his long hair sticking out from underneath his helmet. What a pair! They rode and rode, and I just glowed and glowed from behind the wheel. Matt was spent after 41/2 miles, Evan made it over 6. I was so proud of them.
On the way back to our island we stopped at a road side stand for a picnic. We got our order, sat down at the picnic table and began hungrily wolfing down the food. Out of the blue Matt leaned over to me, kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for making him ride.
yeah for Matt. Good job, too, for Evan. Fix that tire and get ready, you're training for that triathlon and you have photos to take, soon.
Posted by: barbara | August 25, 2005 at 05:52 PM
Oh my gosh! I actually cried at the end of your post. What a wonderful day it turned out to be for all of you. What a great mom you are too - sometimes we have to "push our little birdies out of the nest" and it isn't easy.
No wonder I like you so much - we both have 3 boys! Welcome to crazy land!!
Posted by: Debbie | August 26, 2005 at 07:33 AM