Yesterday I went for my first bike ride of the year, this being with my son. I have not been on my bike as much as I would like to be, notably since late December. This time last year, I was still cycling about eight miles on a Wednesday to my other job and cycling back afterwards. Due to the pandemic and working from home, that is not taking place now and after stopping that, I realised just how much exercise I got from it and how important it was to helping to keep my weight down. I continued to cycle to my work on weekends, but stopped this at the end of last year as my daughter wanted to come into work with me so that she could do her homework in one of the rooms.
I would still cycle on a Wednesday until we got Leia and since I have been working to vaccinate people (or most of the time, mixing the vaccines) on a Wednesday, I have been cycling even less. So the need to get on my bike was very important. This was even more important as my son rides his bike to school and we wanted to ensure that he was able to do so as he has not been very active over lockdown.
Last week had not been a good week for my relationship with my children, and on Saturday this appeared to get even worse. Saturday had amazing weather, but my son did not want to use this to cycle. He insisted on cycling on Sunday which was not going to be ideal as I was working in the morning. On Sunday morning before I went to work, this did not look like it was going to be a good thing as it was cold and foggy.
When I got back from vaccinating, I showered and got to eat my lunch and recharged by batteries before we went on our bike ride. I have to say, it was really enjoyable, and I was very impressed with my son who was fitter than me on the way to his school and while, as usual, I was better than him on the way back, there was not much difference in it. The most important part of this is that his road awareness was much better. My only concern was his lack of awareness of the dangers of cycling with the sun being low in the sky, but he did really well.
I do hope to continue cycling with him before he returns to school, as well as cycling for my own health, fitness and enjoyment.