I Got You, Babe – Bike butt got the best of me

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/05/2012 (5144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

So I am quite delighted with the weather. So delighted in fact that last week I vowed to ditch the car, save the environment and burn some extra calories by taking my bike for the stretch of my work week.

I even posted it on Facebook, to appear more accountable.

“My fitness goal for this week: drive not my car, but my bike, everywhere I need to go from Tuesday to Saturday. I hope my butt doesn’t mind.”

Well, it turns out biking is a lot harder than I remember and, of course, I had to make this goal on one of my busier weeks.

I consider myself a fairly healthy person and one that is not in the worst shape, but towing my four-year-old and going uphill in Brandon is not for the faint-of-heart. I felt like I was in Ironman or something.

And it turns out my butt did mind.

The first two days were a success. I biked back and forth to work on Tuesday with no trouble, with exception of extremely painful sitting bones. Yep, bike butt. I sat on ice on and off all evening Tuesday and considering putting “Deep Cold” on my sitting bones for the way to work Wednesday but thought that a bit weird and potentially uncomfortable down there.

Wednesday was more of a challenge. I biked to work and then when the Monkey came for a couple of hours in the afternoon as she does a few days a week, we biked (and when I say we, I mean I pulled her and she watched the birds) to soccer practice, where I complained to any other parent I could about my sore bottom. Then we went to grandma’s house and back for a craft night.

I’m going to put it out there right now to any parent that bikes anywhere with their kids — kudos! You’re the bomb! Because by the time I got off the bike on Wednesday night, I thought I might fall over and, well, let’s not discuss my bottom.

I miss the bike I had when I was 12. It was white with a sparkly hot pink banana seat and pink shiny tassels hanging out the handle bars. I was the neighbourhood taxi. I seriously could fit three kids behind me and one in the handle bars. That was an awesome bike.

Why don’t they make adult bikes with banana seats? Of course it wouldn’t be very safe for me to put my Monkey in the handle bars or in behind me on the banana seat. So bike trailer it is.

When I woke up on Thursday, the Monkey had her first field trip with her preschool and I was looking at a 40 minute bike ride there and then back to work and then to dance after work and my nephew’s football practice that evening.

My butt begged for the day off. I gave in and guess who gave me the hardest time about it? The four year-old who I’ve been lugging around in the bike trailer! The very same four year-old who wanted to bring half her library of reading material with her until she saw the look on my face. (I negotiated her down to two stuffed animals in the trailer with her.)

“Mommy,” she said with a disapproving look on her face, “I thought we were going to bike to my field trip!”

I told her I was sorry but we would again bike tomorrow, but right now Mommy’s bottom needed the cushy seats of the car.

I’m sure she told everyone at preschool she didn’t get a bike ride because Mommy’s bum hurts. I took solace in the fact that the better half picks her up from preschool!

Kyla Henderson is a local freelance journalist, business owner and mommy. Her column runs every week in the Community News.

» kyla@lilbitbaby.ca