Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BIKE

So you know how I wrote last month about Anton and his enthusiasm for bicycles?  Well, he finished reading that particular post, and almost immediately sent me a message (he was in the States) to ask where the rest was- about me and him mountain biking in the wine-lands the previous weekend.  The thing is, there is so much of bicycling in our lives, I had to break it down into two parts- there is only so much of cycling that most people an endure.  I thought that 2000 words about bicycles would give Lance Armstrong a run for his money.  

You all know by now that Alex discarded her fairy wheels one wet January afternoon- Anton took her to the park, took the fairy wheels off, and in a matter of 2 minutes Alex was cycling rings around her father.  She told him in a very matter-of-fact manner that ‘of course she could cycle independently, after all, she was nearly 6, wasn’t she’- as if it was a Matrix-type computer program that had just been installed, 5 weeks ahead of her 6^th birthday.

Since then my little baby big girl has taken to joining Anton on his weekend marathon training runs.  When Beth recently acquired real wheels and pedals, Alex felt she also deserved a new bike, she complained constantly that her 16̋ was too small, but I explained that she could wait for Christmas before she got a new bike, until the recent store sales when Anton came across a bike that had been marked down 20%, and Alex offered her 30€ of saved pocket money as assistance to the cause.  She also suggested Anton sell her smaller bike to recoup (okay, that wasn’t her actual word) some expenses- this is how desperate she was for a new bike.  Needless to say, so long as she was willing to give up her pocket money that HAD been set aside for a trip to Claire’s Accessories, I relented in my “New Bike For Christmas” ruling.

As for my little girl, Beth has been on her JD Bug- a balance bike (push bike) since it was unpacked in October.  She is agile, zippy and fast, is determined to be ahead of Alex anywhere she goes, and if she can’t have it her way, she stops in her tracks and howls in dismay.  Alex has learnt to stay just behind her, to keep the peace.  For a while as a rather tepid winter disappeared behind us and we started spending more time on the bikes, letting the girls cycle to the mall was hair-raising.  Traffic, street roads, cycle paths, traffic lights- they were all just too much for them to take in, and if I did get the guts to take the girls out on their bikes, I inevitably had a big fat cry over a glass of wine when I came back- too much shouting, too much running like a hen carrying her head (and groceries) under her wing.  It took 3 months for Beth to learn to stay in a straight line, to stay on the cycle path, and to stop BEFORE heading into the next road at an intersection, even if the relevant pedestrian light was green.  She has learnt though, and I can walk behind her at a decent pace, safe in the knowledge that she will not cross any road without me at her side.  Still, I can never be too complacent, and it is still nerve-wracking. 

But she is getting bigger, and she won’t really be able to push-bike the 3km route to school, so we recently bought her first proper bicycle.  For the first 6 hours I had to hold the bike every time she wanted to sit on it, until she got the hang of that.  The next day she managed to move her feet on the pedals, in a 90°degree curve, and spent the next 3 weeks juggling this 90°degree curve, backwards, and forwards, again and again, slowly pegging away on the pavement.  At last, after about 3 weeks, we managed to get her feet to push through an entire pedal rotation, and now she’s a-for-away, although for the time being, I still have to walk if she’s cycling, and we don’t try pushing her for trips longer than 1 kilometer.  Secretly I hope that by September she can manage the 3km trip to school, but I suspect that will be an unrealistic order.

So some of you might have seen the photos I put onto Facebook towards the end of June of Anton and I mountain biking in the Alsace wine-lands. Anton’s employers paid for a Saturday excursion to Itterswiller- either a photographic hike, canoeing or cycling in the wine lands.  A guide, mountain bikes, helmets and a small back-pack for water were provided, and a briefing (in French) of how to change gears and what to do if you are cycling downhill.  I stood and watched the (very lean) guide as he babbled away in French, providing actions of his words: he stood up partially in his pedals, clenched his knees together, and sort of slid backwards, far off his seat: it looked like a very uncomfortable way of meandering on the flat wine-lands, so I mostly stopped listening, and focused instead on the thumb gears that I would have to endure, instead of the handle rotation that I have on my own bike.

Off we set, bumping along gravel roads, absorbing the sun on our backs, just relishing just being in the outdoors (without having to worry about kiddies) when I noticed a small hill that needed confrontation.  I adjusted my speed and my gears, and tore ahead like an infantile antelope, only to start dying a small embarrassing death, when I ran out of gears, and my legs stopped working.  I walked up most of that little hill, and the guide came to fetch the bike.  There were 2 other times where I had to push the bike, the most memorable being a 75°degree climb out of a village.  You know, it’s just not something you get to do every day, with a derelict building behind you, as you push your bike into the 100 year old vineyards, overlooked by a statue of Christ on a cross.

By then we were at a slightly higher altitude, and had some stunning views of the Gewurtstraminer, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner and Pinot Noir grapes of the region.  As we headed back to the starting point to collect the cars, our guide decided to take us back through the forest.  I have one word:  DOWNHILL, baby!  What an amazing rush.  The road twisted and turned under the canopy of trees, and only when I saw loose rocks ahead of me did I feel unsafe.  At one point the descent was steep enough that I actually felt like I might tip over the handlebars, and guess what I found myself doing: rising up on the pedals, clenching my knees, and sliding backwards over my seat, so that I had a more balance equilibrium.  The rush!  And the pride when Anton caught up with me and gave me a huge pat on the back!  The embarrassment of pushing my bike up those little koppies was completely wasted on the rush of that sweeping downhill run. 

Anton might just make a cyclist of me yet.

PS  Stay tuned for part 3, following this:  Le Tour de France!