Bicycle Riding in Living Forest Campground: I Cannot Ride Roads

I wrote in my last post concerning bicycle rides that we were going to Living Forest Campground in Nanaimo for a few days so I could practice riding my bike on paved, quiet roads that are throughout the campground.  My husband has no problem riding anywhere.   Part of the trip was also so we could test out our new screen tent which I am happy to say, went up easily and is bigger and has better roof coverage than our previous one.  This is our second Outbound purchase this year and I hope that it serves us as well as the gazebo we bought a month or so ago has done in rain and wind.  We also took our Copper Canyon tent which we never sleep in, but use to store things and it seemed a good idea to store our bikes in the tent.  Just as well, because there was a sign posted on the washroom building saying that there had been bikes stolen in the campground and to be careful.  Here is a photo of our camp.  The site is large, surrounded on three sides by trees, really a lovely spot.



But getting back to the main reason for our going.. to practice riding on paved roads.  It was clear to me at the start of my ride that this was not going to be easy.  The campground roads are more hilly than I remember, and I haven’t figured out how to change gears and concentrate on my riding at the same time.  Riding at my senior age is not coming easily.  At one point my husband who was in front of me, called out “car coming” and so I went to the side of the road and almost fell over onto the gravel at the side.  Thank Electra for their flat foot technology in moving the pedals forward which enabled me to catch myself.  As it was, I walked the bike up the rest of the hill and then white-knuckled it down the other side, riding the brakes to slow down.  After that it was smooth for a time but then we turned onto another road in the campground and I almost fell off again.  So that was it, shaking I walked the bike back to our camp.  I really think that my fear of what might happen if I fell is most of the reason for my problems in riding on roads.  I am defeated at the thought of  breaking a bone just before I am due to go on Saturday to the hospital for my kidney ultrasound  and on Sunday to my granddaughter’s dance recital.   And how is this trusting the Lord?   I know that my attitude is not good and that an adjustment is necessary.

So after a couple of hours, I wanted to come home.  The campground is only an hour away so at least it was not a long drive.  My husband was not happy with me but this morning I made him some pancakes for breakfast, and today we plan on going to a farm market that is starting today in Chemainus and then riding this afternoon on the Cowichan Valley Trail which is our familiar place to ride.  Husband says it will be a long time before he suggests going camping again, but next time we will leave our bikes at home when we do go camping.

Fly Away - A Devotion

Psalm 90:10  "The days of our years are three-score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

Yesterday we drove to the town of Chemainus, down to the beach where there was a lovely breeze and an outgoing tide.  In the Cowichan Valley where we live it was very hot, almost 90 degrees, and so this breeze was very welcome.  We sat on a log which was shaded by a large tree, enjoying the relief from the oppressive heat back home.

Offshore there is a lighthouse on a rocky knoll and we watched as a group of people set out to walk to it.  If it was an incoming tide, this would have been a very dangerous thing to do as they had small children with them who could walk most of the way but had to be carried the rest of the way. Had the tide been incoming, they would have been trapped.  One of the men was carrying what looked like a large blow-up chair and husband and I assumed that they were going to set out blankets and spend some time on the rocks which had no shade at all.  We couldn't have been more wrong. Not long after they all reached the rocks and had gathered together, we saw a huge dragon-fly climbing up in the sky and we thought it was a kite, because one of the men appeared to be holding a large container where the string would be.  But then the dragon-fly got too far away to be a kite, and we saw that it was a helium balloon shaped like a dragon-fly.  It flew higher, over the trees and towards the town of Chemainus.  Then the container turned out to be a large red heart-shaped helium balloon which climbed into the sky and followed after the dragon-fly.  There was another balloon as well, but it was smaller and darker, I don't know what it was. 

After the balloons were released, the group of adults and children made their way back to the shore and husband and I left the beach and drove home.  I wondered what this balloon-releasing meant.  That was certainly the intention of the trip out to the rocky knoll, it seemed rather a long way to walk to entertain children, and it was the adults that released the balloons, not the children. I came to the conclusion that it was a memorial to someone who had recently passed away, or perhaps a memorial to someone who had passed away years ago. At any rate, when I got home I looked up "fly away" at Blue Letter Bible and settled on Psalm 90:10 "The days of our years are three-score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."