Boston Next Weekend, Anyone? With Maybe A Side Order Of Provincetown?

[dr_pretentious]

For years, Dan's been trying to get me to join him for the weekend he does the big charity bike ride for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. He and his college friends spend the year training up, or intending to anyway, to ride 150 miles in two days.

Of course I won't be riding with the guys. Pedaling 150 miles in two days is beyond my fitness level this year, and possibly for the rest of this incarnation. Which is fine.

What I will be doing is schlepping up to Boston Friday, then probably bringing Gareth to children's museums and science centers and such on Saturday and Sunday, and then joining Dan and his friends for a celebratory dinner on Sunday. There's a remote possibility I might spend Sunday in Provincetown, where the finish line is for Dan's ride, if some known fellow grown-up were to join me for the whole day to help keep an eye on Gareth.

It's possible, even easy, for one adult to keep a two-year-old amused, safe, and enjoyable in an environment that's designed and maintained specifically for children. Keeping that same two-year-old amused, safe, and enjoyable in an open field or paved lot on a hot day while hundreds of exhausted, distracted cyclists pedal past the finish line and then meander heedlessly around at fifteen miles an hour to cool down requires the attention of at least two vigilant adults. I can't tell you how many times jeneralist and I narrowly prevented serious injury to the kiddo, to say nothing of narrowly avoiding heatstroke, at the finish line of the Livestrong Challenge last summer. I hear there's a lot of fun stuff to do in Provincetown, but I can only consider it if I've got someone I already know in person committed to spend the day with us there and brave at least half an hour finish line chaos.

Comments

[spindlewand.livejournal.com]

I will be nowhere near Providence on that or any other upcoming day that I can think of, but I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the situation and a two year old. I had to keep mine on a leash in public at that point, and public was like "let's get out of the car and go look at the water in this lovely little park where there are only five other cars in the parking lot" as opposed to the minimally organized chaos of a finish line.

(They are sweet. They are lovely. They are oblivious to danger and a bit short to be seen. Better to keep them in one piece, I agree.)

I do hope you go and enjoy the museums and dinner part, though. That all sounded EXACTLY how I would like to enjoy a long bike ride - elsewhere than on a bike!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

We've had to resort to a leash a few times, like at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and it was a total godsend. There are settings I just don't take him to (like the NYC subways or the DC Metro) because a leash would be the only way to keep him safe, and he's about as amenable to being on one as the average terrier is.

Mantra: The Terrible Twos Are Not Forever.

My definition of a long bike ride is really different from my spouse's. Once Gareth was old enough to ride in a bike trailer, we hitched it up to Dan's bike, and for a few months that evened out our speed and endurance so that it was easy for us to ride together. Dan didn't have to remember to slow down for me, and I didn't feel tempted to push too hard to keep up with him. After a few months, he adapted to the extra weight and drag, and he could outpace me easily even as the kiddo got heavier. Ah, well. He gets his resistance training, and I go at my own pace and get some solitude, which is also nice.