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rivendellroseSo, Squidling's camp next week is a bike camp, and it's just on the other side of the lake from us. It's only from 9 a.m. to noon, but he's very excited about doing more with his bike and all... and I realized a bit ago that of course it would make the most sense for him to ride to camp, given it's close and all.
Except my bike hasn't been ridden in 10+ years and was in desperate need of a tune-up, and... I hadn't ridden a bike in 10+ years. Oops.
Okay, no problem, The Boy says I can borrow his bike... except when I tried to ride it I totally panicked because it's a little too tall for me and the seat won't go down any further and it's a heavy, technical-looking monster of a mountain bike, and I Just Could Not Cope. Minor panic attack ensued in which I realized that there was no way I could get used to riding this bike in time to ride to camp with Squidling on Monday.
On hearing that I felt sure I would do better with my own bike, The Boy very kindly hauled it out of storage and out to the local bike shop, where they gave it a tune-up and fixed everything that had gone utterly sideways in the last decade of disuse and poor storage (it used to live on our deck, in the old apartment, because where the heck else could we fit a bike?). So yesterday I take out my newly fixed bike and determinedly attempt to ride it. And fail. For, like, fifteen minutes I'm struggling in our very steep driveway and alley trying to figure out why I can't get this thing going properly, until it occurs to me: MOVE IT TO A LONGER AND FLATTER SPACE, DUMBASS.
So I walk the bike across the street and over to a long, flat area of sidewalk, and, lo and behold, I manage to get up and moving, and go back and forth on the long block several times before deciding that's enough for one (very hot) afternoon.
But it was not going to be enough to get us to the camp on Monday. So this afternoon, after The Boy left to take Squidling to his regular Thursday appointment, I loaded up my phone and keys, a water bottle, and a small first aid kit into a little backpack and walked my bike out to the lake, where I practiced a little bit on the path and then, with mounting but still uncertain confidence, out onto the protected bike lane around the lake. AND IT WORKED. I went halfway around the lake, then turned and came back (wasn't sure about the bike lanes on the other side, and my thighs were reminding me it's been a decade since I did any bike riding!), and tomorrow we're going to go out as a family and do the whole ride around the lake so that I can get more used to the bike lanes and all, and figure out how to turn out for the location where the camp is and all that.
But, honestly, between this and the fact that this was the year I actually managed to start driving again a little bit (after TWENTY YEARS), I'm feeling pretty proud.
Oh, and we watched Wreck-It Ralph for movie night last night, and he loved it. YAY, he likes movies now!!!
Except my bike hasn't been ridden in 10+ years and was in desperate need of a tune-up, and... I hadn't ridden a bike in 10+ years. Oops.
Okay, no problem, The Boy says I can borrow his bike... except when I tried to ride it I totally panicked because it's a little too tall for me and the seat won't go down any further and it's a heavy, technical-looking monster of a mountain bike, and I Just Could Not Cope. Minor panic attack ensued in which I realized that there was no way I could get used to riding this bike in time to ride to camp with Squidling on Monday.
On hearing that I felt sure I would do better with my own bike, The Boy very kindly hauled it out of storage and out to the local bike shop, where they gave it a tune-up and fixed everything that had gone utterly sideways in the last decade of disuse and poor storage (it used to live on our deck, in the old apartment, because where the heck else could we fit a bike?). So yesterday I take out my newly fixed bike and determinedly attempt to ride it. And fail. For, like, fifteen minutes I'm struggling in our very steep driveway and alley trying to figure out why I can't get this thing going properly, until it occurs to me: MOVE IT TO A LONGER AND FLATTER SPACE, DUMBASS.
So I walk the bike across the street and over to a long, flat area of sidewalk, and, lo and behold, I manage to get up and moving, and go back and forth on the long block several times before deciding that's enough for one (very hot) afternoon.
But it was not going to be enough to get us to the camp on Monday. So this afternoon, after The Boy left to take Squidling to his regular Thursday appointment, I loaded up my phone and keys, a water bottle, and a small first aid kit into a little backpack and walked my bike out to the lake, where I practiced a little bit on the path and then, with mounting but still uncertain confidence, out onto the protected bike lane around the lake. AND IT WORKED. I went halfway around the lake, then turned and came back (wasn't sure about the bike lanes on the other side, and my thighs were reminding me it's been a decade since I did any bike riding!), and tomorrow we're going to go out as a family and do the whole ride around the lake so that I can get more used to the bike lanes and all, and figure out how to turn out for the location where the camp is and all that.
But, honestly, between this and the fact that this was the year I actually managed to start driving again a little bit (after TWENTY YEARS), I'm feeling pretty proud.
Oh, and we watched Wreck-It Ralph for movie night last night, and he loved it. YAY, he likes movies now!!!
no subject
Date: 2026-07-10 03:42 pm (UTC)Fun fact: My WA state licence expired during Covid when they randomly wanted me to make an in person appearance to renew. I guess I could have explained the whole living abroad and it's Covid situation to them, but the reality is that I don't actually live in the US anymore (and don't intend to) so I've left it. But I'm not licenced to drive in the US! I get treated like a foreign driver now! This was a mindboggle when I went back to the US (Arizona/Texas) a couple of years ago.
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Date: 2026-07-10 06:08 pm (UTC)Oh no! How does that work, driving as a foreign driver? I don't remember having any trouble when we briefly had a rental car in the UK, but I could see the states having different regs for that kind of thing. And for sure it would just feel weird.
no subject
Date: 2026-07-10 06:47 pm (UTC)The last time I went to the States I got an International licence (or I did anyway, I think they only last a year or two), so I can technically drive in the US while visiting but I have to pay extra insurance and coverage fees. For that trip my sisters just decided to do the driving. Which was fine by me. I'm used to driving on the other side of the road/car now, every time they did a right turn on red I was covering my eyes!
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Date: 2026-07-12 04:57 am (UTC)He's a very good driver! But my anxiety was going crazy from the whole wrong-side thing nonetheless.
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Date: 2026-07-12 05:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-07-10 08:33 pm (UTC)Congratulations on getting back to cycling! My last adventure in trying to get back on a bike as an adult was not at all successful, it's so much harder than people make it sound.
no subject
Date: 2026-07-12 04:53 am (UTC)Honestly, the first hour or so of my trying to get on the bike again was absurd. Here I am, forty-three, in a city that is very bike-obsessed, and I kept wobbling off and forgetting how to get going. Now I'm doing significantly better, but I still can't remember how to make anything but a very slow curve turn, so that's... exciting...