Let the cycling season begin

You know it’s cycling season in the Princess/Big Ring household when Princess wakes up at 3:40 a.m. only to discover she’s alone in the bed, and that Big Ring has been up for hours already in preparation for the early morning viewing of Paris-Roubaix.

Apparently his brain had gone into overdrive shortly after we turned the lights off for the night Saturday, and instead of trying to shut his thoughts out, he decided to embrace them. Starting at 1:30 a.m. Big Ring went whole hog on a video project he’d been story boarding in his head for hours.

It’s not surprising really given that we were blessed with two days of sunshine this long weekend (mixed with some torrential downpour/sleet/hail) that had Big Ring in his glory atop his mistress Mademoiselle Lapierre. I kid you not, the second that sun comes out, I am lost to him. There’s hours of him solo on the road, months of him watching early morning viewings of races including the Ronde van Vlaanderen (which was pretty great this year to see all the places we rode with our beloved cousins!) Giro D’Italia, Le Tour de France, and many, many more. There’s endless mornings of him quizzing me as to who won this race or that race…

And secretly, I love it. Because his enthusiasm, his smiles, his joy at being back on the bike has a bit of a domino effect, shooting some of that same enthusiasm through my own legs. I, too, got back on the bike this weekend. Mr. Foldy that is.

Because I’ve stopped running for the pregnancy time being, and because I’m bored as hell walking briskly, I felt a change was in order. Hello Mr. Bicycle. However, I was somewhat concerned Zing would cause the aches in my lower back to go into nasty spasms, and so I opted for Foldy, which has me in a more upright sitting position than leaning over.

It’s been awhile since I was last on Foldy, about two years I think, so I needed a refresher on how to unfold/fold him back up again. But once I was on him, feeling his frame against my thighs, hearing the sing-song whir of his wheels, gripping his handlebars, caressing his gear shifters, and feeling that cool, sunny wind slapping my face with his speed beneath me, I was once again in love.

You better watch out Big Ring, because while you may have your Lappierre, I have my Foldy – and he’s a beauty 😉