Sometimes other things are just more important

Last night I was on the way home from work and since I knew that CB had a teacher workday I was hoping dinner would be ready and I could eat and get my brick out of the way early. As I neared home she called and let me know that her mom had invited us over for dinner and she had made taco salad in an order to keep me away from high carb foods.

Being that the family is dealing with the death of the oldest member, laid to rest this afternoon at 99 years old, I figured although I would have rather stayed at home the family would probably like to be together. Not to mention considering everything, CB probably didn't feel like making dinner anyhow.

Before leaving home we discussed our evening plans. She planned to convince her mom to go for a power walk with her and I would start my brick from their house. She drove over in about the same time it took me to ride my bike.

After dinner was said and done she tried to convince her mother and middle sister to walk wither her and had no positive results. She decided to go home and grab our dogs to walk with her instead. As she got ready to leave I threw on my bike shoes and headed out.

Once outside, Gracie, the youngest sister at 11, was outside riding circles on her knock off razor scooter int he drive way. I decided I would ask her if she would like to ride her bike with me since I had planned to just ride the mile loop in their neighborhood for my workout.

Gracie smiled and said "let me go put on some shorts!". She returned a few minutes later wearing gym shorts and the pink, skull covered skateboard helmet I got her for Christmas. CB tried to talk Grace out of riding with me momentarily telling her that I ride fast and was going to ride 15 miles. I explained I would ride back over with Grace as soon as she was tired and then get on with my workout. I decided instead of the 15 mile goal I would just ride for an hour then go home and transition.

Gracie rode three miles with me, death gripping her brakes and averaging 8 minutes per mile. After 3 miles she said her legs hurt and I rode back home with her. I made up for the slow miles by sprinting another 4 20+ mph miles and then took a long way home through the neighborhood trying to practice cornering at speed (I realized cornering is a weakness as I ride mostly rural roads and my first race is a tight, technical course).

Much like many of us, I get caught up on data, results, key workouts, and racing. However, tonight I decided that it was more important for me to not worry about "hitting my workout" as much as to encourage an 11 year old to play outside. It was more important to share my love of riding all types of bikes with another generation.

I have been riding a bike since I was 4 years old; I have had bmx, mountain, now a road bike, and I can't wait to turn my old bike into a fixie. As a kid I played outside until it was dark. If we lived near woods I walked all threw them, I built trails with a rake. I designed dirt tracks and  jumps for bike racing. If we had trees I climbed them, ofter taking a backpack and other activities into the tree to play with. If we had a yard I dug holes in it (using kitchen utensils). I was always outside. My sibling and my in-law siblings which after 10 years feel like my own, are not like that. They mostly watch tv and play on the computer. That is why in this case I knew that my race day performance is not as important as sharing this with Grace. If shorting this workout costs me a minute on the course I will gladly take that minute knowing that Gracie had fun riding her bike with me.