Habersham Bank

The Swing, and how to get back into it? That is the million dollar question these days.

Sometimes just pure immersion helps. I hoped it would today.

I didn't feel like going to the bike shop but my road bike was in dire need of repair. I'd popped a derailleur cable weeks ago and my bars are in such hideous need of new tape that it's embarrassing, even to me. I also talked to Todd about getting a new gruppo and through it all I could feel the ancient memories working their way back up to the surface.

I got Sophie a new bike about a week before Christmas too, but with the weather and everything else going on, we haven't had time to dial it in. We made time today though, at our favorite learn-to-ride spot: Habersham Bank. Both kids learned to ride there. Iz learned to ride her geared bike there and now Sophie has too.

She was a little nervous about the brakes. She's been riding a coaster brake for years now. Iz didn't have any trouble adjusting though, and as it turned out, neither did Sophie.

Also, Iz got a skateboard like 2 Christmases ago and she wanted to try to learn to ride it again today.

Actually, she got 2 boards, one small and one adult sized. She played around with the little one and I tried to ride the big one. It's so weird. I've got photos and videos of myself sliding gigantic handrails, clearing huge gaps and doing 3 foot backside ollies on the 7-foot half-pipe at the Skatepark of Houston but stepping onto that board today... It was inconceivably foreign.

I remember, way back, other people's boards always felt foreign and if I'd take a week off then it would take a week to get back straight again. I never imagined taking 20 years off though. It's not like riding a bike. It doesn't just come right back. I could feel how to do stuff in my head but making my body do it seemed impossible. I spun a few laps around the bank though and before long I felt confident enough to do a couple of skip-ollies. Before long I was doing frontside 80's but then I crashed on a backside and figured I'd better quit while I was ahead.

Fortunately, crashing instincts do come right back.

Sophie likes her new bike and she's noticeably faster on it. They'll be off until Thursday, so hopefully we can get in a good ride before then.

It's all starting to come back to me now.