Tonight I did another training bicycle ride on my indoor trainer. It is great. I got this little “tripod” that sits on the floor, and I basically just plug my bike into it. I don’t have to worry about getting used to a different bike, or different pedals, or a different seat. And, the best reason I got it, I can train through the winter on my bicycle without having to worry about the cold or the ice.
The trainer came with a training DVD. Most of the DVD is filmed from the handlebars of a bicycle during a race, so you get that real feeling of riding a bike. It is fun for me the rider, I don’t know how much fun it is for the casual viewer (you can ask Melody about that).
I did something new tonight, however. Since Melody was home, I was able to ride before the Kase and Gus had gone to bed. So, when they got out of the bath, they came down and sat on the couch, talked to me as I rode, and I told them about what was going on the with the “race” on the TV. The race takes about forty minutes, and we sprinted at the end. Well, we can’t always win, and in the video, we were somewhere between fifth and tenth.
Well, Kasimir got sad about this. He wanted to win. He is my little perfectionist, and tries to do everything just right. If it isn’t just right, there is usually some kind of melt down. I tried to explain to him that it is not about winning, it is about participating. Melody told him to look at all the people, they are all smiling even though most of them did not win. Gus even chimed in, repeating what we had said.
He is hoping that next time I can win. I wonder what will happen when we finish somewhere between fifth and tenth again.
Mel and I are pretty sure we don’t push a “winning is everything” attitude around our children, but yet it has rubbed off on Kase from somewhere. I wonder what we could all learn from children if they had the computer implant monitor like that in the novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card?