The Saturday Morning Bike Army

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

20 May 2006 07:19 PM

This morning, I was driving my daughter to gymnastics when we saw literally hundreds of bicycles speeding past and dominating one full lane of traffic. I lost count when we hit 200 and the bikes kept coming and coming and coming. My daughter, sitting the back seat of the car was as amazed as I was.

"Are we in bike land, Mommy?"

"I have no idea. But that sure is a lot bikes."

"There must be hundreds!"

Easily.

What should have been a five to ten minute drive took more than twenty, as we had to take our time in turning out on the road. Cars were also limited away from the bike lane of traffic. These hundreds of cyclists rode an array of bikes from the recumbent to the two seaters, to the ten-speed to the ten-speed pulling a toddler along behind it in a toddler carriage. The two seaters really got my daughter's interest - she wants a bike like that so she can go along for the ride when Mommy is peddling.

As we traveled alongside the cyclists - I was a bit in awe and I was even more in awe when I saw the signs demarcating their route. They were riding a 40 and 65-mile circuit sponsored by one of the local biking stores. After my daughter's gymnastics class, we saw the cyclists again, they were still at it - following the designated route for their bikeathon and while their numbers were still high, there had been some attrition.

My daughter mentioned the bike army when we got home and my husband wanted to go see, so off we went again to watch the bike army. My husband commented he could see me joining this army of moving bicycles if I had a standard bike again and my daughter immediately latched onto the idea - she insisted that we had to go and look at two seaters. That way she could go along for the ride - every time. I laughed, but I saw that look in my husband's eye and I can see it now -

--sometime this Christmas there will likely be a two seater underneath the Christmas tree and my daughter will get her wish to draft her mother into the bike army.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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