Tabatha Deans

A Leisurely Bike Ride

A LEISURELY BIKE RIDE
The weather has finally remained consistently warm and dry enough that I dared drag my bicycle out of the closet it has lived in all winter. It needed a new tube and some adjustments, but I was pretty eager to resume the wonderful exercise, and truthfully, the really good butt, that comes from bike riding. Being in better shape this year after a year of not smoking, I was eager to test my stamina. Although my bike wasn’t yet ready, Robert and I headed out for what was my inaugural bike ride of the year, on the tandem bike. Our goal was to ride the Cherry Creek bike path and map my route from his house to my office and back. It’s a shorter commute than to my apartment, in theory at least, but I’m not so sure of that. I always feel like I’m being scrutinized when I’m on the back of the tandem. I feel like I should be laughing wildly, extending my feet out with childish joy, like you see in the movies. In reality riding a tandem bike requires a lot of trust and teamwork, with either rider having the ability to crash both at any moment.
The good news is we made it to the turn off near my work and it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. The bad news is the return trip involved some pretty major hills. The worst news is our chain broke just as we headed up the first hill, still several miles from home. Which was also many miles from any road that rescuers could use to access our location. Which was a moot point anyway, since everyone we knew was either at work or school. Now this is the point in our relationship where we had the opportunity to see each other’s true colors. Any of my past relationships would have involved gnashing of teeth, screaming, blaming, pointing of fingers and ultimately throwing of the bike in anger. Aw, heck, who am I kidding? None of my past relationships would have involved a ten-mile-long tandem bike ride.
Neither of us really had pressing plans for the day, and after the initial shock wore off, we just laughed as we began pushing the bike home. It extended our time to chat, and I was secretly a little relieved that I would not have to endure the hell of riding uphill. The weather was warm but there was a slight breeze, so it wasn’t unbearable. As we huffed and puffed our way up the first hill, we realized it would be a long journey. I pointed out the blowing grass on the dam to Robert, and it triggered some brain cells that had apparently been rendered temporarily dormant. He smiled really big and straddled he bike, then told me to get on. Confused, I reluctantly did so, asking if he thought of a way to fix it.
“No, but this part’s downhill.” We did laugh like children then as we slowly started to pick up speed, and there was a feeling of true joy when we realized we would have temporary relief on the hills. We coasted for as long as we could, then pushed with our feet like a skateboard on the flat spots. Eventually we had to dismount and took turns pushing the bike up the hills. But every hill we pushed up, we knew we could coast back down. So the leisurely bike ride wasn’t as leisurely as we had planned, but by the time we coasted into the driveway, day had turned into an adventure.

June 12, 2013 - Posted by Tabatha Stewart | Uncategorized | adventure, bicycle, bike, cherry creek, denver, love, romance, sex, tandem