The first outing... (after birth): recovering sensations, but the 'travel with your family' moment has to wait
Let's be honest. Not even in my wildest dreams could I imagine that before Marcos and Lucas were one month old I would be able to get on the bike again... and go pedaling beyond the storage room. Well yes, I have achieved it! And improving the already optimistic forecasts that I mentioned in the Previous post! So now you know, first-time cyclist parents, “yes we can (ride our bicycles)”.
It is true that certain conditions have been met so that I could put on my bike shoes again and be able to hear that magical 'clack' of the clipless pedals again, just 20 days after my last ride... and with two babies in the house. pulls out. The first of those conditions, of course, an understanding couple who wants to return to the sport as much as I do., although it will take her a little longer, because the issue of breastfeeding has her a little more attached to the dwarfs... literally.
And the second condition, in our case, the presence of the AUNT with capital letters, that wonderful sister-in-law who is looking forward to spending time with her nephews and who offers with a smile from ear to ear to stay with her sister for two or three hours, more than enough time to regain sensations with the skinny or the mountain bike, and who The mother in question has support in case the dwarfs become rebellious.
For those of you who do not have that resource as close at hand as we do (AUNT lives two streets from us...), You can also take advantage of the typical and crowded family visit to escape for a while and pedal. You will leave a free place on the couch for someone who needs it more than you... and besides, they will hardly miss you. In these situations, parents are dispensable. The relatives come to see the children and the mother... not you. Don't take this the wrong way... hehehe.
So, Once the agreement is sealed 'you go, I'll stay', all that remains is to check the bicycle well in advance, lest the typical and inopportune forgotten puncture rob you of a few vital minutes of pedaling., as well as the forecast weather for the place and time of the route, more than anything to know what outfit to wear (especially if you are as 'posh' as me when it comes to clothes, colors, etc...).
Everything must be ready so that, at the appointed time, if the dwarfs do not prevent it with some inopportune infant colic or spikes of fever immune to Dalsy, we can escape through the door of the house, clad in lycra and with that jersey that we had not yet been able to wear for the first time, in search of the bicycle, oh beloved and forgotten companion in fatigue.
As far as I'm concerned, the sensations on the bike were like those of a child with new shoes... a little less agile in his legs, a little higher in his heart rate... but equally happy. Happy to feel the wind on my face again, to stand up again to overcome a steep slope, to raise my hand and greet other colleagues on the road, to avoid the typical absent-minded pedestrian on the bike path. In short, happy to feel like a cyclist again. 38 kilometers were enough for it. Enough to remember why I can't live without this sport... and why I'm going to try to instill it in my children as soon as I can.
Next target? Maybe a family travel to a cycle tourism destination? I'll tell you...
Author: Víctor Marcos, Communication and RRSS Bikefriendly
