Of Ignorance and Bliss

Yesterday was a day of both. After a long week of juggling daycare and school drop offs and pick ups and work, I had a day off to "relax." Big Brother rode to school twice this week and was cargo the other three days because of scheduling and timing issues. Since I was home on Friday, I decided it would be fun to bring his bike to school and let him ride home with me. Then, I scheduled a dentist appointment for him and realized we'd have to ride to my parent's house instead. He's never gone that far on his bike nor has he ridden on those roads. I was nervous and excited and decided that we'd make it work. 

Challenge one: Which bike to use as the delivery bike. The cargo bikes would have been the obvious answer but I didn't want to ride either of them to leave at my parents' house for the dentist. I chose the Mobic instead. I'm not sure if this was genius or insanity but here's what it looked like. 

I actually had to ride holding the Fire Bike's handlebars to keep them from catching my foot. Luckily, it was a really short ride (less than a mile) and no major catastrophes occurred. 

Challenge two: when to ride on the street and when to ride on the road. For the most part, Big Brother is okay at riding in the road next to me. However, as we got to narrower roads with more traffic, I decided he should be on the sidewalk. He loved riding on the sidewalk because he could go faster without me yelling at him to stay away from the parked cars. He was zooming along having a blast while I was in the road having mini heart attacks. 

Challenge three: the ignorant and dangerous SUV driver. Big Brother and I made it to our first big road crossing. Since he still has trouble with quick starts, I had us both on the sidewalk WALKING our bikes across the intersection. I knew it would take us the full amount of time so we waited for a "fresh" green. Our green guy popped up and we started to cross. A woman across from us turning left (it was a green light for her but not an arrow, meaning she had to yield to us and oncoming traffic, of course). She kept turning so I started yelling. She finally stopped (blocking oncoming traffic), rolled down her window and started yelling at me how I'm not supposed to be in a crosswalk with a CHILD and it was her turn to go. It wasn't. I kept yelling that she had to yield and it was our green, too. As soon as there was space, she gunned away behind us as I kept screaming at her. I'm pretty sure my exact words were: "You have to yield, Stupid!" It wasn't one of my finest moments and resulted in a follow-up conversation with Big Brother about why mama got so mad when that woman acted dangerously. 

Finally some bliss: 

Thankfully, it was just another block down to get to a park so we could have our picnic. Big Brother was pretty tired already and we still had about 3 miles to go. We had a wonderful chat and full lunch while I calmed down from the stupid SUV lady encounter. I had to keep reminding myself how rarely things like that happen and it just takes one horrible person to ruin an overall wonderful day. 

There were a few more little meltdowns, from both Big Brother and myself. He got upset that I didn't want him on the sidewalk more than he had to be. "You're NEVER going to let me ride on the sidewalk! Not EVER! It's not FAIR!!!" We had a couple more difficult sections down Alhambra st. where we either walked our bikes or we both rode on the sidewalk together. These are roads that I ride all the time on my own or on the cargo bikes without a second thought. When Big Brother is on his own bike, however, I suddenly realize how inexperienced bikers must feel in that sort of infrastructure. There were even streets with bike lanes that I wouldn't let him ride on. Now I realize who so many people ride on the sidewalk or facing traffic or hugging the gutter or do all those other dangerous things that a more experienced and in-control rider wouldn't consider. I found myself wishing we had more separated paths, something that I had never really cared for; sure they're a nice idea but just LEARN how to ride in traffic, I thought. I was wrong. 

Finally, we made the 3.5 mile journey across town to my parents' house. Big Brother was thrilled and it was wonderful to end the ride with some great shout-outs from people nearby. "Doin' it right, mom!" "Wow! What a big bike and no training wheels!" "Gee, you're really riding that thing!" Big Brother was so proud of himself. "She liked my bike," he would exclaim. At least we saw that the majority of people around were excited to see a kid on a bike riding happily. That one, single, horribly ignorant SUV woman will live in her giant car and drive everywhere, denying her children the joys of biking (and walking in crosswalks, for some reason). What a sad life she must have. 

"Mama, I'm riding my bike and growing muscles!!!"