So… when the pandemic hit my husband started watching mountain biking videos on YouTube. The more he watched them the more he wanted to try it. He asked me if I was interested in trying out. I said nope. Cruising on a flat surface? Sure. He let it go for a bit but then he brought it back up again. So much so that he bought himself a mountain bike.

He was happy but the bike just sat there for months… then a month before my birthday last year he asked if I’d like a bike so we could start bike riding together. I told him I’d like a cruiser but he ignore that and took me to a bike shop where he and the saleswoman talked me into a mountain bike that has fat tires, multiple gears, shiny and lots of stuff that I don’t know what to do with. Even while we were in the process of purchasing it, I kept glancing at the powder blue beach cruiser with the cute white basket in the front of it. The one I dreamed of having ever since I was a little kid. But for whatever reason me on a mountain bike made my husband happy.

We got helmets, gloves, biking shorts with the butt pads… we were ready to go. We finally put our feet to the pedals and rolled out. It was great… for a few weeks. The saleswoman and my spouse had tried to explain how to use the gear shifts on my bike but for the life of me it didn’t work well for me… my brain just won’t process when to shift gears, which way to go… blah, blah, blah. So I found that when I keep it on “6”, I’m good. I’m not afraid of working out and sweating it up so I decided I’d always keep it there and not switch it. This annoyed the guy I married. He was speed racer… zipping and zooming… he wanted to go faster and explore rougher terrain. I had told him he should go out with his friends that are heavily into real mountain biking. He looked hurt. I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings but I was so not going to do the mountain stuff when I could barely manage the straight flat path.

Eventually, we were getting on each other’s nerves. He wanted to go faster while I wanted to cruise. There was a point where three women were biking on beach cruisers. I was admiring their bikes and feeling sentimental witnessing obvious three generations of women doing something together and enjoying each other’s company. It made me long for my mom and grandmother who have been gone for a long time. I was so captivated by them that I had let them pass me by. My husband was irritated because in his eyes we just lost some race I didn’t know we were having. He was still focused on going faster… I told him to just go ahead without me. I even shooed him.

Then I got mad because that was exactly what he did. I am laughing now as I am writing this but it wasn’t funny at the time. I was more annoyed when a few minutes later I beefed it trying to turn myself around on gravel. I had my hissy fit and declared I’d never go biking again. That was a year ago.

This past weekend we both decided, hey, let’s give it another try. It was nice outside- clear skies, gentle cool breeze and mid 70’s. Perfect for biking. So, off we went.

He stuck by me and maintained my pace even though I encouraged him to pass me and go the speed he wanted to. He seemed content. We got to a point on the trail where we had to ride under a bridge and he told me, “Keep to the right.” I already knew this since we have done the trail multiple times but I said, “Okay.” When we got to a dip and the trail veered a bit to the left, I lost control of my bike but I was trying to play it off. I drifted to the left and my husband yelled, “Keep to the right!” He said it multiple times. I said, “I know. I am just trying to move over so you can pass me!” I was lying, of course. He knew I was lying. I knew he knew that I was lying but I stuck to it.

So… that was the beginning of the crabby couple… what tipped us over the edge was when Mike tried to warn me about a dirt biker. I wasn’t sure I heard him right so I glanced behind me and yep, there was a dirt biker, headed straight for me. Of course, I lost control of my bike. I was irritated, terrified and humiliated. My mind and body was bouncing all over the place. Thankfully, I didn’t fall off the bike but rather somehow managed to hop off and hold onto the bike at the same time. But, I stubbed my big toe and let out a few curse words.

The dirt biker dodged me and said, “Sorry.” Then passed me by.

My husband looked at me, saw the scowl on my face, saw that I was okay but didn’t say a word. I knew he had a lot of words to share but he didn’t. We were quiet the rest of the ride.

It’s crazy because when I was a teen I could ride my bike for hours and do it while eating an ice cream cone. But now… I think I need to pass. I’ll stick with my walking, dancing and playing vr. I can rock it in the vr world!