René, ooh, I LOVE the bars. They do let me sit up nice and high, and unless on a steep climb, I rarely think about them, which, like saddles, means they're great. I got Riv's new long, skinny cork grips! I watched the twining video 100 times and finally got what Mark was doing there. I just kept thinking, "Leah, you can braid hair French, Dutch, upside down, standing on your HEAD; you can figure this out!" And so I did. Then I shellacked it. I'm super good at shellacking. And to prove it, I did it four times. Then I noticed my husband's Clem over there and attacked it with a fresh coat, too. I looked around for more stuff to shellac but there was nothing, so reluctantly I put imy brush away. (Side note: do you all think it's spelled "shellac" as a noun but "shellack" as a verb? It looks right to me.) The bars have 3 quirks: 1. They make the bike want to tip over more easily. 2. I have caught myself veering off a bit and it was not a quick an easy correction. It scared me a bit. 3. The width works totally different muscles on a climb. My triceps and trapezius muscles are working. Fine with me.
But I digress. The Ride Home. Well, you all didn't pray for me because it was AWFUL. It was hot. Hot, hot, hot. Sweltering, stifling, oppressive heat, with nary a cloud in the sky for help. I arrived early because one of my quirks is a continual fear of being late. So, there I stood. In triple digit heat with no shade. Like a fool. I finally collected my 3 charges, only to have one say he forgot his Hydroflask and would be right back. We stood there forever. He comes back with no Hydroflask. Alright, I guess I'm sharing my water. The boys looked a little wilted at the start, but the girl, T, was just about done in by the second block. I kept promising it would get better as the weather cools and her muscles adapt. But she insisted on walking most of that mile-long hill. I had to wear my little guy's backpack, and haul my 5th grader's heavy beast of a pack in my basket. I shoved some of T's notebooks in my saddlesack to lighten her load. She had no kickstand, so I had to hold her bike at water breaks, while fighting to keep mine from toppling with its huge front load. Something was wrong and she couldn't shift to an easier gear. She had her enormous backpack on her back, and it was way too much. The boys' style was severely cramped by all the waiting, but they have kind hearts, so wait they did without complaint. She walked a lot. Slowly. I waited a lot. The boys found shade a ways up ahead and laid on the sidewalk like homeless kids. Not wanting to leave her too far behind, I stood in the blazing sun while she plodded along, and suddenly strange things started happening to me. As I poured sweat (highly uncharacteristic), I noticed my lips had gone completely, uncomfortably dry. I got goosebumps - as if I was becoming cold. I started to get an impending sense of doom, like I might not make the rest of this darn climb, and I began wracking my brain to remember the signs of heat exhaustion/heat stroke. I was past the point of feeling like water was helpful. I had very little left in me. Near the end, I sent the boys ahead so at least they could get home and get cool. I honestly don't know how, but we all made it. I dropped T off, unloaded my bike, got inside, laid on cool tile and ate a lime fruit bar and drank water. I could have wrung the sweat out of my shirt. The boys and I jumped in the pool and were good as new. T has decided she no longer wants to do the ride. Her mother REALLY wants her to do the ride. She wants to practice with her this weekend and get her a front basket. I said if that doesn't work, I had a new bike suggestion. "Anything that would help!" she said. I think an Islabike in her size with the rack, which holds 39 lbs and Ortlieb panniers would work. And it's light and she can even have a kickstand. I sent the info and we'll see. The mom believes T is being lazy (I don't think so) but she's from South Africa, and maybe in that country this is not much to ask of a South African child. American kids, on the other hand...well, they were all surely pointing and laughing at us from the back seats of their air-conditioned motherships. René, sorry you missed out on cycling to school. I envy your kids' flat commute! Thank you for my new bars. I'll have great triceps, thanks to them! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
