A Day at The Track

A few weekends ago, on a gorgeous Sunday we finally made it the dirtbike track again. Todd had us ready with four working dirtbikes. That was quite a feat in itself. Mine had been suffering a perpetual flat tire a while back. Todd's bike badly needed some serious "tweaking" (my official mechanical word for whatever they did to tune it up), and training wheels on the smallest bike so both Nina and Arin could ride, if they wanted to. Evan hopped on his bike when we got there and pulled his usual shift, riding every moment we were at the track, and then just conking out in the car the minute he stopped riding. Nina ran a couple of laps around the nice flat parking lot since we were able to beat the rush for a few hours. We encouraged her to try the new flat track and she refused, about ready to quit for the day. In the meantime, Arin got his turn. He is not afraid of much, so he dove right into the flat track. I ran (he told me I was a good runner, what a sweetie) with him and gave him some tips his first time around. After that it was smooth sailing for him. While he was riding Todd and I were encouraging Nina to give it another shot. The spill she had when she first got on the bike over a year ago was still haunting her. I told her the story of my first spill, and how I got back up and tried again (making me the accomplished rider I am today ;) ) She was not convinced. Arin moved over to the mini-track, which has hills and turns that are fun, and great for kids who have ridden a little before, rookie teens and beginning adults who are not too proud to join the kids. Finally, Nina got back on the bike, after that the rest is history. She got going, and we just about had to pry her hands off the handlebars to give Arin a turn. She was the last to quit for the day (about one second after Evan).

I got on the track very soon after we got there, as well. I hate traffic. It was my biggest concern going on a beautiful day like that day. It is not that the other guys on the track are rude, or mean to me. They all have been very polite in the half a second they are in my presence as they whiz by me. It is just that I don't always know where to be. I very much don't want to impede them, and I don't want to have to adjust my run. It is all I can do to concentrate on getting where I think I have the best chance of not biting the dust. My worry was in vain on this day, however. I had the track to myself at the beginning, and I needed it. It had been a year and a half since I had been on that bike. I had a baby in the meantime. It came back to me, though, and lucky for me, there was no mud (I hate mud, too!) and the track was in great shape. I had fun. Riding the bike does not really coincide nicely with the neural pathways I have formed up to this point, but I swear I am formulating some new ones. Now the way my brain sees riding the bike looks nothing like bike riding in the brain of someone who takes to this naturally, and does well at it. My brain sees it more as a what-the-heck-is-she-doing-and-how-do-I-survive-this-wierd-circumstance pathway. But it is exciting to ride when I do it right, and satisfying when I plunk the bike down after catching some air, which I actually do on occasion. Todd laughs at me, and he makes no comment, but he does answer my questions when I have them, and takes care of my bike when I don't know what's wrong. I think this is perfect behavior from a man in this case.

Speaking of my man. He got his turn, and he tackled the big track, humbly commenting on the other guys that jump higher than he does. Oh, stop already. He was finally happy with the performance of his bike, which is probably the first time in years my perfectionist guy has had a satisfying experience on a bike he owns. He said he enjoyed himself more than he had in a long time, which is no small feat for a guy as intense as he is.

So, in short, it was a perfectly awesome day at the track.