So, Dave and I went riding for a while today, I guess around a mile and a half little trek around town and beach.

It’s too bad my phone is in the holder and I can’t take pics along the way. Everything was going great, I’m learning how to use my pedal assist to catch up when I lag behind, or throttle across the street intersections and up small hills. The breeze felt good in my face when there was some, but not the sand in my eyes when a car passed me and kicked up a bit of sand, swirling on the road. I blinked it clear and kept going, staying in the lowest speed as long as possible to make me work my legs.

The beach is hard packed in most driving lanes, so it was an easy cruise in PAS 2, and with my mirrors, I can see approaching traffic and move over a bit. I’m still working on stops and starts, and actually fell over into David as we were trying To get going at first. I didn’t hurt the bike or myself. I’m just a tiny bit short for reaching the ground, so when I get ready to go, I have it in PAS 1 to assist me, but when on the street, I throttle after stopping and starting. Anyway, me tipping over was a fluke because Dave sometimes gets me rattled when he’s watching me like a hawk. What happened was we were too close together as we were pulling out of our spot in the “driveway” and with the bike on and in PAS 1, I kind of surged forward and got scared I was going to hit him, tried to stop and tipped over.

Yet that wasn’t the scary moment. As we were heading back from our ride, Dave wanted to stop at the IGA for some things to go with supper. We were crossing one of the busiest streets in town, and he crossed and as I prepared to cross, I saw an oncoming car pretty far behind me. I started into the turn and out of the corner of my eye, I saw here right there, had I not veered back to the right, I’d have hit her! How did she come up on me so fast unless she was planning to pass me? Anyway, I saw the look on David’s face and safely crossed the street, thinking to myself, he’s never gonna let me bike anywhere by myself if that kind of thing ever happens again! As we were leaving the store, he said “Don’t scare me like that again.” I told him I scared myself a little too, but I didn’t let it rattle me in the moment. I admit, I need a lot more practice before I go anywhere alone, until we both feel absolutely confident I have it down.