The magic power of cycling

I recently bought my 7 year old her first "big girl" bike so she wants to go riding with me all the time. She puts on her matching helmet, ties her pony tail and wants to race me around our area. We sometimes forget how much of this sport is recapturing the exhilarating feeling of riding a bike we experienced as kids. She also wrote me a book illustrated with pictures and pop ups called "Too Many Bikes" for my birthday. Without revealing the very complex plot and characters, it is the story of a boy (me) who has too many bikes (hence the title) and his mom makes him sell them at a garage sale (the depreciation involved in the sale of a second hand bike alone makes this tale a horror story). But he gets to keep his old bike which is really the best of all and his favorite. It's nice to share this kind of magic with your child. I'm just not sure that sitting down and playing a video game with your child has the same kind of magical effect. I can't wait till she writes the sequel called: "Too little watts per kilogram."

 

Good stuff, Kopride!

Hopefully her next story won't poke too much fun at your extra kilograms!

 

Nice.

 

Cute.

So when are the other sequels "can't have too many wheels" and "Daddy is out on the bike and I'm bored" gonna be penned?

 

great! my little 5yr old daughter now understands that when she goes to bed....her Papa goes out to train on the bike. the big giveaway is that when i get her ready for bed.....i'm already decked out in my kit.

i've seen her watching me doing laps around the hood. can't wait until she's ready to draft behind me one day.......

 

I'm just happy that the book isn't: "Daddy is drunk and sleeping alone on the downstairs futon again." I do try and do a lot of my hard training (indoors on my trainer) after the kids finish their homework and go to bed so I am not sure that she sees my cycling as a huge intrusion on her time. She does gymnastics and her brothers play football so I think she sees that everybody needs to get their time. But there is no question that it is a tough balancing act to get time on the bike and spend time with the family, all while trying to make a living. I also think this whole obesity trend is a problem of parental example. Kids need to see adults actually preparing sensible meals at home and that exercise is a life long pursuit, it's not just kids stuff that gets abandoned when you grow up. I'm not sure that soccer moms stopping at the fast food drive-thru to feed their kids before practice and then plopping their fat arses into a folding chair to watch their kid practice is a great example. In our house, exercise is a daily part of life for mom, dad, and the kids. If most adults counted up the hours they spend watching TV or surfing the net, they would find that they could squeeze some exercise in to the schedule.

 

WELL SAID..

AS much as my daughter likes hitting the local Golden Arches for fries and a burger. It's a rare occurence for us. She's now 5 and constantly asks about food" is this healthy"?? She watches minimal tv during the week. Prefer to get her outdoors to do what kids are 'supposed' to do...play. not sitting around at home in front of the tv. sounds like an easy solution to our fattening population these days.

thank God I have a love of cycling and sports in general. I hit 189lbs this march break. All time high for me. Am now back down to 165-168lbs. thank you cycling!

 

You also have to remember not to be too obsessed with drilling your kids with 100% healthy all the time because that could possibly run into situations that could lead to having self-image problems and eating disorders. Some unhealthy things here and there doesn't hurt, especially if they are active.

 

I hear you. But things that were special events to our generation are now routine. Every day in pre-school is a cake or cupcake day. There is a snack mom handing out cheetos and juice boxes after 20 minutes of soccer practice. Every party some parent is handing goodie bags stuffed full of crap. And there was still Halloween candy in my house when the Christmas cookies and then Valentine crap arrived.

30 years ago, most of us had pizza or fast food a few times a year as a special treat. My mom used to say that she could put a roast on the table for the cost of taking all 7 of us to McDonalds. We never had soda or sugary crap around because it was too expensive compared to good food. Now its much cheaper and everywhere. My thought is to control your own house but don't be the food nazi outside your home. As annoying as the snack mom is, the more annoying is the parent that pulls the snack away and tries to get their kid to eat cucumbers while the rest of the kids are eating chips.

But, what used to be treats are now the staple. And that is putting to one side the fact that I walked to and from school, and back and forth home to lunch, and played outside until dinner. Very few kids are walking or riding bikes to school; and the after school backyard and schoolyard kid organized culture has disappeared and replaced with hovering moms watching their kids do adult organized activities. Most kids today have never played unorganized sand lot baseball.

 

Just good to hear you are riding again...

Last I remember you were dealing with some issues as myself.

Wanted to say thanks again for the doctor recommendation. I actually now use Lutz as my only doctor to deal with the issues.

I will wait till finishes the next book before inquiring about remake rights...

Have fun this summer...

-js

 

Yeah, I am having a pretty healthy stretch. My groin pain seems to have subsided and haven't felt a twinge of back pain since I switched over to this gymnastics program.

Lutz is one of the good ones for chronic back pain. The surgeons are too quick to cut; and he seems to have a very conservative approach. Aside from the wait to see him, he is really the best. You are not the first guy he helped. Hope you are at least getting back on the bike.

Also, I had a sneak peak at the Airbender film while it was a work in progress. Can't tell you about it, (signed a confidentiality agreement) but it clearly is a sign that the anime medium is going mainstream.

 

Glad to hear it has subsided and it looks like you are having fun once again.

Unfortunately my story is not as good. Still battling sciatica and pain and working with Lutz to bring it down. I am even involved in one of his studies. I have started doing a McKenzie PT with a certified McKenzie Therapist. It does help and is very yoga like. Currently my goal has nothing to do with watts but just keeping the pain levels down, try to use no meds and not missing any work.

When it comes it pours so like everyone else business is tough but surviving. We all have our times of challenge and this is mine. It has been a very rough 2 years but still have some fight left in me. Chronic Pain will wear you down though as strength levels are so low I can not even imagine doing much of any exercise. All it does is generate more pian and spasms. Nerve pain and muscle pain are two totally different animals.

-js