Biking Milestone

Ed and I used to bike most of where we went. I think Ed would fill the car up with gas about once a month. But then we had children, and biking everywhere was no longer practical. So we became part of the two-car driving world, ferrying children from place to place.

But last week, I do believe we crossed a big milestone. Ed needed to do some work, so I decided to take the kids on a little trip with me. I tossed some library books that needed to be returned into my backpack, instructed Connor that he was my sweeper and told Helen her job was to keep her bicycle between mine and Connor's.

Both children rode brilliantly. We maneuvered through neighborhood streets with hills, turned onto a pretty busy road with a bike lane, carefully crossed our bikes when we arrived at a crosswalk at the library, and then successfully locked them up - despite the piles of snow blocking the bike racks.

We exchanged our books and then headed another half mile to Connor and Helen's favorite restaurant. For this part of the trip, I did take them on some very wide sidewalks, thinking the road we'd have to travel on was a bit much for Helen.

After dinner, we made it home without incident.

I felt like such a huge milestone had been reached, and Helen's confidence on her bike just soared. She wanted to tool around in a courtyard, but I was worried that the sun would set quickly, and we didn't have the proper lights on our bikes. It had been such a great trip, that I was worried it would get marred at the end by me freaking out because of the lack of light.

I am really looking forward to this summer.

Elaine