Summer and Recovery

I realized that it has been months since I posted.  It isn't like there has been a ton going on and I have been too busy to do anything.  Quite the contrary actually!  What with three months of recovery from a collar bone that became disassociated from itself multiple times (i.e. broken to bits and dislocated on one end) and a nice family vacation on the beach there hasn't been much riding going on from my end.  I never imagined it would take so long to get back to things from a broken collar bone but injuries have that way of forcing you to reinvent yourself.  I took the bus a lot.  I wore a fanny pack instead of a backpack.   I walked my daughter to school.  My son and I took the bus to school.  Took a bit longer but we played and talked more.  It was a golden tinged silver lining.  Frustrating at times but a rather wonderful time.  I kind of got out of the habit of riding or maybe I should say I got out of the habit of thinking of riding for everything I can.  It was a strange switch.  I found myself walking or jumping on the bus before getting the bike after I was back on two wheels.  Habits are funny things.  So is a shoulder full of screws and plates.

Now that we're all back riding and summer is full upon us we, as a family, have learned some things.  First and foremost we've learned to hate the tag-a-long and the trailer.  The tag isn't much fun to ride really (from the perspective of the pilot) and the trailer is bouncy (from the passenger's view) and antisocial (from the pilot's view).  The long tail has been more of a revelation that we realized.  So much so that we really "need" a second one.  I'm convinced of this to the extent that I'm willing to sell all but my road bike to get one with the understanding that it will be my daily bike.  Yes, I really just said "sell everything".  It would be rather refreshing actually to just have a long tail and a road bike.  What with the kids having bikes now and my wife riding the xtra or her townie we have a fairly full stable.  replacing a buggy, trailer and tag with a single bike would save some space (which we don't have much of really).  The long tail bike has allowed to feel freer to just jump on and go somewhere and we can talk while we ride.  The communication part is pretty big.  It allows us to share what we see and for the kids to feel like they are a part of the ride and not just baggage.

The other thing we learned is that family vacations are invaluable.  Our two week trip to the beach showed how close our kids are to each other and how resilient we all can be if we want to.  We drove..... for three days....with two kids under 6.  We also did it without movies, video games or computers.  We played games, sang songs and listened to books on tape or read books aloud.  Some would say it was a retro road trip.  I'd take credit if I could but we don't have any of those things in our daily life anyway so it wasn't that hard.  It's more of a reminder that kids don't need all that stuff and neither do adults.  The drive was kind of like while my collar bone was busted up.  We reinvented ourselves.  We compromised.   It's kind of like being a bike-centric family.  It is all a balance with a goal in mind.  For our drive the goal was dipping our toes in the Pacific (or getting home coming the other direction).  For our daily life on the bike the goal is different but it still motivates us and inspires us.