Biking mania has hit our house.
My husband has resumed riding his bike to and from work. Our sons and their friends have transformed me into a shuttle to local mountain biking trails.
If I could burn calories for every drive up to Fox Mountain or Esler I’d be a lot trimmer.
When I lamented this recently to an RCMP officer during a road block on Hodgson Road he suggested I run on the spot while waiting for my bikers to return.
He’d seen me going through with the bikers to drop them off at Snakes and Ladders.
I have yet to get on my bike this season.
I need a new one, but that will have to wait for my income tax return.
In the meantime, it’s made me think about the wonderful invention we call the bicycle.
I was a late bloomer when it came to bike riding.
I’m not sure why, but I was eight when dad taught me how to ride.
He’d run along beside me as I pedalled my big old red one-speed.
When dad felt I was ready, he’d let me go and I’d wobble along, until I was balancing on my own.
As soon as I was a capable rider, the world became my oyster.
Our family never owned a car while I was growing up, and because pedalling was faster than walking, I now had independent access to a larger world.
My friends and I biked everywhere.
Once in Grade 9 we biked to Harrop — about 30 kilometres — to spend the weekend at one of our classmates’s homes.
Another time I biked 23 kilometres with my brother to camp at Kokanee Provincial Park.
My prowess as a cyclist wasn’t always the brightest.
On two separate occasions I chipped my two front teeth.
The first time attempting to do acrobatics when my foot got caught in the spokes. The second time turning around too quickly while I was showing off in front of the neighbourhood boys.
I’ve seen so many people out on bikes in the last few weeks and it makes me smile.
Cycling is a reminder of how far we can go by simply putting one foot in front of the other, even though there can be bumps and scrapes along the way.
Monica Lamb-Yorski is a staff writer with the Williams Lake Tribune/Weekend Advisor.