A friend invited us to ride mountain bikes today. Although we missed our date, I drug out the trailer, aired up a bunch of tires, and took my baby to the park. Meet Sally.
I got Sally on craigslist for $40 when I was teaching Daniel to ride his bike. I somehow thought it would be easier to let him tag along behind me than it would be to chase him on foot. We made it exactly 6 houses before I decided that was the worst idea ever.
When I signed up for my first tri, Sally was in the garage, ready and waiting. No. I'm not kidding. Sally and I suffered through 8 looooong miles together at the TriGirl Mother's Day super sprint last year. I heard "on your left!" sixteen bajillion times (it's a number; trust me). I even heard a dozen elementary school girls chime in with an "on your left!" Sally and I were SO slow that my dad went to check with course officials to make sure there was no way I could've been injured or gotten lost without someone noticing. Nope. She's just THAT slow. Come to think of it, taking Sally to a tri may have been the worst idea ever. . .
When I was approaching the dismount line, I did a perfect flying dismount, threw Sally back up into transition, and ran away as quickly as I could. We haven't spoken since. Well, until today. Although Lia had the time of her life ("weeeeeee!" "Faster, mommy!" "Best! DAY! EVAH!!!" "We're going SO FAST!!!"), I remembered why I walked away from Sally all those months ago. She's probably suited to a teenager at best; a 5th grader at worst. My knees were in my chin and my back was hunched worse than Quasimodo.
Now that I have a tri season under my belt, it occurred to me just how ridiculous I must have looked at my first race. For anyone who was at the TriGirl race - THANK YOU for not laughing at me. Or if you did laugh, THANK YOU for doing so discreetly. I'll be there this year with #BrucetheBike and I may even get to say "on your left!" a time or two.
And to my dear, sweet Sally (riiiiiide, Sally, ride!): Thank you for carrying me through those 8 miles. Without you, I may have never been bitten by this beastly bug.
No comments:
Post a Comment