Falling Off Track and Getting Back On
We're only human
Dear Diary,
It’s been a long time since I wrote. Oops! Rewind. Sorry, wrong medium.
But it’s true; I haven’t written a Freewheeling blog in a hot minute. I have plenty of excuses! The weather got beastly hot. I started a new part-time job over the summer. Both kids were home from college. We redid a bathroom. I got lazy.
But now I’m back!! The weather is cooling down, I’m settling into my two part-time jobs, one kid is back at school (with the other soon to follow), the bathroom is lovely, and I got off my duff and back on the bike!
It’s true that I didn’t achieve all the goals I set for summer riding. And that’s disappointing. But it’s also okay because there’s still all of fall, which is much more temperate weather-wise. I have realized, however, that I need to plan ahead, put those plans on the calendar, and then adhere to them. One thing I’m currently looking forward to is a trip to the Pacific Northwest in October and I’m hopeful we can do some riding there - perhaps on the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Back here at home, one fun little thing we did recently is ride to a local restaurant not far from home. We popped Penny in the bike basket on Friday afternoon and went over to John’s Table in the Colorado Tech Center. It was surprisingly busy! So busy that they had us wait an hour before ordering food. That was fine because we were waiting for Kid2 to join us from the climbing gym next door and also because we had brought one of our favorite travel games: Kingdomino. If you’ve never played Kingdomino, it’s very fun and not hard to manage at a brewpub or restaurant table. It’s not loud (like dice games), it doesn’t take up a lot of real estate (like Bananagrams), and it doesn’t have complicated rules or require TOO much brain power.
After one round of Kingdomino and a tasty chicken salad, we loaded Penny back up into her basket. By now, dusk had fallen and we got to ride home in near-dark using our headlights and taillights. I also got to finally try out the add-on light I purchased for my Thousand helmet. We discovered that sucker is BRIGHT!!! Very much worth the $25. It has a solid mode and a flashing mode and it’s also magnetic, so you can pop it on or off at will. It has USB charging and can last up to 12 hours. Very handy!
Riding home in the near-dark was exhilarating and so much fun. I felt like a kid again. I miss the summer nights of my youth when I would stay outside playing until the very last possible minute. When the sticky heat of the day finally gave way to the dusky coolness. Crickets, locusts, and frogs converging in an evening chorus of chirps and murmurs. Street lights flickering on. Me - drained from a long, hot day of doing everything and nothing all at once - wearily pedaling up to my driveway knowing I had given that day my all.
These are the memories that came to mind as I pedaled with abandon down the gravel path leading to our neighborhood. It was fun navigating just by a dim headlight. There was a slight intoxicating fear that an animal might dart out in front of my tire or I’d hit a pothole. But flying over my handlebars would have been worth it for this joy ride down memory lane. I remembered to take a picture, but it’s pretty blurry. I’ll have to work on my night photography.
In addition to adding more bike riding back into my weekly schedule, I also want to get back to attending more live music. A couple weekends ago, Greg and I did our first volunteer gig at a multi-day festival. We’re considering adding this to our lifestyle as we near/enter retirement. It’s a nice way to be part of a helpful community while also getting free admission!
In our first foray, we did three four-hour shifts (one per day) in the merchandise tent at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, Colorado. Greg was the “greeter” at the entrance to the store (a perfect job for him!) and I was a “seller” helping people find merchandise - which mainly translated into helping them decide which t-shirt to buy. It was not a bad gig at all and we feel like it’s worth doing more of this type of barter exchange work. The music was excellent and we had plenty of time to enjoy it before and after our shifts.
We’ve been attending Rocky Grass and the Folks Festival at this location for decades now - since the kids were tiny - so it’s always a homecoming of sorts. Planet Bluegrass is situated along the St. Vrain River, a refreshing place to cool off and watch the tubers and kids play, and there’s just enough non-music stuff to do on site. We always see at least a handful of people we know, which is fun. And Greg gets his light-up juggling balls out to entertain anyone in our immediate radius once it gets dark out.
I’m going to leave you with an apt tune from one of the many great artists from Folks Fest. I wasn’t familiar with Pokey LaFarge, but this group was fun and engaging in a very timeless way. Their tune “Run Run Run” is below. (I would just maybe personalize it by singing “Ride Ride Ride”.) Keep moving forward no matter the obstacles, readers! Get out there and cross those finish lines! And if you mess up, just try again next week.
OR…
We can share a cup virtually! :)