Progress

12 February 2005

After church, we intended to rent bikes from Bicycle Village, which has the biggest bike rental ad in the phone book and on the internet.

Turns out they don't rent in the "off season." Ha! Off-season!!! I don't think there is an off-season in Colorado!!! You should see the number of people out on their bikes right now!!! I mean, not this precise minute, but every day! The weather has been absolutely stunning. Bluebird days. Cyclists everywhere are trying to get in as many miles as they can. Some of my best rides have been in January.

So we headed off toward REI, but my son has a 411 service on his phone, so he called. No, REI does not rent bikes.

East, toward Treads, the next biggest ad in the phone book. Closed Sundays. Funny, the ad in the phone book and on the internet didn't mention that. I was getting pretty annoyed because we now were going to be late to meet The Lizard at Waterton Canyon.

I can't believe no one rents bikes in February because it is "off season." How absurd!

I headed to Wal-Mart and hoped for the best. Really frustrated. Really, really frustrated.

I bought two Schwinn bikes. The Lizard says I did well. He approved. And then he offered to help pay for the new bikes.

Is this guy the most wonderful person on the planet or what???

I turned him down but thanked him, of course, but he promised to maintain the bikes and do some work on both before our next ride. He says both bikes need tune-ups. My son had something pulling or rubbing, and my daughter’s is muddy.

Muddy??? Yes! Muddy! We went on a ride! We were nearly an hour late meeting The Lizard (who does not own a cell phone). But we met him, and we all went up Waterton Canyon. We saw bighorn. I wasn't tired at the end.

I had my son load the bikes in my car while my daughter changed. I wasn't sure if she would come back. She took a long, long time. But she did come back. Miracle of all miracles.

I didn't know if I could trust her on a bike. But she did fine. For that matter, I didn't really know if I could trust my son with a bike. But he did fine. He kept trying to race The Lizard, and The Lizard whipped him. That was pretty funny. Now my son is determined to get in better shape so he can keep up with The Lizard.

Both kids want to do this every weekend.

It was fun. It was like old times. Sort of.

It's scary for me to admit I had a good time and that everything went fine because I'm afraid the next outing will make up for this one.

But fact is, everything did go well, and it was a fun day for all.

I've learned not to expect fun from my kids these days. It's an adjustment to accept fun is what happened today. I've grown so accustomed to emotions on the opposite side of the spectrum, that's all I expect. But today was fun. I would like to do it again. I would LOVE to do it again.

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