My long time friend JoshAge: 36
Occupation: High School Chemistry teacher
Married, 6 kids (11yrs to 2 yrs old)
Josh lives in humid Greenville SC.
Josh is a daddy.
Josh doesn't like to spend $4.00 for a gallon of gas when he doesn't have to.
Josh recently sent me an email stating: PS- If I can share a personal milestone- I recently passed 5,000 miles of commuting to school on my bike.
RIGHT ON!!
I call myself a cyclist and I haven't logged that many miles on my road bike in the last 3 years. I suspect Josh wouldn't consider himself a "cyclist" in the snobbish sense, and I suspect his outfit doesn't include brightly colored spandex quite as often some of ours does. But he's a man among men when it comes to riding a bike.
To get a better understanding of his adventures I quizzed him about his commute etc...
______________
How far is your commute?
"6.6 miles one way. Averages around an hour for the round trip. Best time one way 22:37 (the wind was going the right direction)"
Do you ride year round?
"During the school year. (I try to ride a Mt. bike some when I am in AK so it won't be such a shock when I start again in Aug. It is always a shock. It may have something to do with the temperature/humidity change.)"
Any weather? Snow?
"If it is pouring rain when I go to leave in the morning I will sometimes take the van- assuming Kim doesn't need it for errands. I have ridden in snow a couple of times, but never when it was sticking to the road. I had to take about a week off from riding at the start of this semester because of snow and ice still on the road from our amazing 8 inch snow fall we got this year. The coldest I have ridden in was about 11 (Farenheit, not Kelvin)[Remember he is a chemistry teacher] There was ice in my water bottle and icicles starting to form in my beard by the time I got to school. My toes were cold too."
Do you ever take the kids?
"I take them around the neighborhood. Sattler (11) did the route one way with me once. Kim and I took all 6 of them on a 6 mile ride on the Swamp Rabbit trail last Thanksgiving. Two in a trailer I pulled and the rest moved under their own power."
Josh, it's riders like you that do the rest of the cycling community proud.
Ride on.
Now that's the spirit that moved our country westward! Not much of that left anymore. Maybe, because, parents don't make their children shoulder some responbility much any more. I think parents do their children a disservice my not making them responsible for cetain age appropriate chores.
ReplyDeleteNow, my son----the one whose blog this is, who I am proud to call my son----when he was going into Jr. High started his own business----yard maintence business. He learned to budget his money and paid his own way through college. Mother and fathers need to stop coddling their boys and let them become men. A wise woman speaker I heard gave this advice, which fortunately, I heeded: "Treat your son like the man you want him to become." My son was in 6th or 7th grade then, and I made it my goal to do that. I don't know that I was always successful at that, but today I have a son of whom I am very proud. And can appreciate others who were raised in like manner. Go Josh! Go Scott! You give mothers a reason to be proud.
Your proud Mama
I'm pretty sure I have passed Josh on my way to work. Somehow, though, it does not sound as invigorating to say that I have logged as many miles to work - in my truck. Way to go Josh!
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