Posts Tagged: bike

Pedaling through plumerias

A bike/run through the Koko Crater botanical garden, with plumerias in peak bloom.

A bike/run through the Koko Crater botanical garden, with plumerias in peak bloom.

Every night I ask the boys what they’re thankful for as we say prayers. Ben always says “Gwamma” (except for one night when he said “Dante” – a boy we met briefly while swimming two weeks ago). Tonight Sam said “For making me go up the big hills on my bike.” We both struggled a bit on our bike/trail run today because there was more of an incline than I remember and it was very rocky. Ben was bouncing all over in his off-road BOB stroller ;0 and Sam would pedal hard then get off and push. But as we puffed and pedaled, we noticed lots of cacti, some of them in bloom, and plenty of birds chirping. We had a good time out there, learning persistence. We also had a chance to talk about studying hills before speeding down them on the bike. So we’d stop at the top of a hill, look it over, pick a good path down then head off. Sam really handled some tricky stuff well, like when your front wheel jumps around as it skids on rocks. Those of us who have done some single-track know that if you stay relaxed and trust you’ll stay upright, you generally do. It’s when you panic and tense up that you manage to run into exactly the thing you were hoping to avoid! (Jenni I’m thinking about your recent race and would love to hear more of your stories!) So in talking over how to stay relaxed, I mentioned Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” to Sam – he has heard the song, and I think understood the metaphor. You just pretend you’re rolling down the hill like a big stone, bumping around a bit on the way but heading down just fine. It’s an odd sense of sharing control with gravity – you’re really not in 100% control at all but the trick is to keep from tensing up. Tough to do. So on some of the hills that looked really big at the start, we walked part way then he got on. When we rounded the last curve, Sam said to me “When you’re on the hill it doesn’t look as big and high as it does when you’re at the top.” Good observation, buddy. You will do well in life with an attitude like that, knowing that you will get through it and it won’t be as daunting once you’ve committed yourself to completion. Love you boys!