“We are not going to be old and just watch TV.”
Today, I grabbed our toolbox and headed over to Bill and Nancy’s home to do a tune-up on their pair of adult trikes. This is not something I normally do, but when they bought their matching trikes last summer, I promised that I would check in on them every few months and tune ‘em up as needed. I have never wanted to keep someone pedaling forward as much as these two. Loads of health issues and surgeries have taxed their postures and attempted to weaken their bodies, but as Nancy says, “That’s why we have to keep trying to move. We have a lot to do still--so we must make ourselves strong.”
So off to their retirement community I went today and found that they have indeed been using their trikes. Their odometers read 60 miles for Bill and 42 for Nancy (she had another surgery a couple of weeks ago, but he’s been keeping at it). They ride through their community and over into their small town, packing lunches in their baskets, cruising through the bike lane with lights in full force because, as Bill reports, “Old people can’t see--we need to be as bright as possible so no one can miss us.” Neighbors come out to see if they are racing again and to cheer them on. They give a new meaning to fun.
Resilience. It’s infectious. On the opposite side of the age spectrum, we celebrated Justin’s 14th birthday yesterday in a series of bike related adventures. First off, a mountain bike trip to Black Rock. Our good friend and extraordinary rider, Kalan, joined us (thank god). Justin’s excitement was off the charts and he was game to try ANYTHING. Luckily, he didn’t come home broken. Puppy-like, he followed Kalan up and down the trails, “Can we do that? Can we do that?” became the verse of the day. And to “Can we do that?” the answer can never be no. Hell yes, mister. We will do it all. And we did.
Bodies aching we made it back home just in time for his next road ride with one of our favorite people, Robert. Justin didn’t even wipe the mud out of his hair. He kitted up and was off for another adventure. Robert being the awesome guy he is noticed that Justin might need to be warm and added some arm warmers to the little man.
This tribe of ours is defined by an intrinsic need to keep moving forward--to not be sidelined. Ever. Young, old. It really doesn’t matter--we can’t keep still and we will wring this life dry.
