I want to ride my bicycle....

Herself is in the process of losing weight & getting fit. I'm rapidly running out of excuses as to why I shouldn't join her, so any help would be appreciated. Her latest thing is that she has decided to ride a push bike round to her friends place that she walks with. I find this very laudable. After all, our carbon foot print is probably quite big enough what with a petrol powered car, a diesel 4WD, a boat with a 2 stroke outboard & God knows how many electrical appliances.. Global Warming ? Burn baby burn, I say.

Anyway, back to the push bike. I dunno why exactly they are called push bikes, because under ordinary circumstances, unless the chain comes off, or you get a flat tyre, or your going up a steep hill, you don't push 'em. You bloody well PEDAL them don't you. Anyway, thanks to the on air garage sale run by our local radio station, we got her a push bike. Just yer basic 10 speed road bike, although the gears won't get used a lot. The only fly in the ointment is that herself hasn't ridden a bike for more years than she is prepared to admit to.

You know the fluttery feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach when your kids, or grandkids first take to the footpath without trainer wheels ? Well, herself wouldn't even let me fit trainer wheels. She was happy with the new pump & the gelpad seat cover, & the little red bell with "I love bikes" on it, & the flash ergodynamically designed hand grips, but trainer wheels ???? Nooooo thank you. Luckily, our drive is quite long & flat so that she can practice. Getting on & off is fraught with hazards, & those initial first few feet untill some momentum is achieved, is definitely a bit wobbly, but she was getting there. Right up until the point that she mucked up getting off the thing & gracefully collapsed into a heap with the bike on top of her.

I'm standing there with visions of trips to hospitals racing through my mind, but she held up both hands & said,"I'm all right." Probably my imitation of putting the boot into her ribs at that point didn't really help a lot, I don't know. Anyway, she is still determined to master the damn thing. I'll probably have to think about getting one for myself soon I suppose. Life can be very cruel sometimes..