Altered Reality

One might claim a cycling blog has decended to the bottom of new chasms of ho-hum when the author starts posting drawings from his kid. Nevertheless, I'm about to do just that.

These were drawn by my oldest as we were sitting in church today. If you can't quite pick it out, the first is a picture of a Mad-Dog rider and a Revolution rider racing each other. I initially protested that the Mad-Dogger is in front of the Rev'er, but he immediately responded that the Rev'er is lapping the Mad-Dogger. At least he has his facts straight:)

The second picture is me on the Computrainer, with the kids next to me on bean-bags, watching bike racing on TV.

My kids have so far grown up spending every Saturday all summer going to bike races, some triathlons, and even a marathon in there. Kim takes them to the gym most days in the week if they are not in school. Will all this change their sense of what an adult does when they grow up?

My family wasn't quite like this, but we were pretty active. My mom often did aerobics in front of the TV, "Hooked on Aerobics" or something like that. She had to do it when it was on, because we didn't have a VCR yet. One of my earliest memories is when I was two. My dad was going running at the track near our apartment in San Jose. I wanted to go with him, so I asked him to "put my shoes on", and he "tried" to put them on his feet -- "they don't fit!" I think he used that joke for the next 15 years. I did a fair amount of skiing, backpacking, hiking, fishing, and hunting in Idaho.

This also reminds me that although my kids are very involved in my sporting and religious life, they know very little of my professional world. For a year Ian thought I rode my bike for work because he saw me ride away or ride home (bike commute) and that was all. This makes no sense. If I really want them prepared for the making their way in the world some day, they need the whole skill set. It is too easy to sort of rely on academic efforts to prepare them professionally, but schools don't actually do this. They are excellent for technical competence, but maybe not good otherwise. Many of us just sort of figure stuff out as we go along once we leave the university and start working. Theoretically, I think home-schoolers might have a chance to do a better job of this.

Anyway, I hope my kids are forming a reality that encourages active rest time. Instead of instinctually vegging in front of the TV, doing something that actually makes life better. Cycling has certainly done that for me.