Why having children is like having bikes

Today, I was reflecting on the fact that my bikes were my babies before I had babies. Then it came to me just how many similarities there are between being a mother and being a cyclist.

Here is my reasoning:

• Some days with them are truly wonderful. You feel alive and strong and joyful.
• Some days with them are truly awful. You feel like you can’t do anything right and it is all so much slower than it ought to be.
• Some days it seems to take forever just to get out.
• Even when you’re not with them, you seem to think about them all the time.
• There are any number of apps readily available to make you feel bad about how you are doing.
• There are any number of people – family, friends and total strangers – who are more than happy to offer their opinions about where you are going wrong.
• In the winter they make you feel trapped indoors but it’s just not worth the hassle to go out.
• Sometimes you long for a day away from them. But when you finally get one, you just wish you were with them again.
• There is never a good reason to leave the house without a banana.
• You love them whatever age and stage they are at, but still there was something magical about the first time you held them.
• It doesn’t matter how many or what sort you have, they all need your time and attention, and to know that you love them.

I thought about this for quite a long time.

And then I came to a wonderful conclusion:

Being a cyclist is like being a mum.

So cycling is like practicing parenting.

And practice makes perfect.

So I need to cycle more.

Pass me my bike!