Swing

Day 97. Summerside to Charlottetown. 74 miles. 5880 miles TTD. 2130 feet elevation.  Weather perfect.

Typically, on family bike rides, I keep myself at the back of the pack. I have the tools and a pump to fix anybody broken down, and I don’t want to ride back to them but rather catch up with them. Additionally, I feel responsible. Perhaps it’s also that I just don’t want to see the chaos and mayhem of the mob of kids racing each other ahead. However, today, I took the lead.

When I arrived at the front, I found a highly energetic, unruly, opinionated, and hard-headed group of kids. In other words, I found a group of Gogarty kids. This group had already abused one coach, my brother Mike, who had left them to their own misguided decisions after trying hard to reign them in. Threatening to jam a stick into the moving spokes of anyone that disobeyed, I took the lead of this wild pack.

We laid some ground rules. I would stay in front, and the two people, one to my side and one behind me, would be the leaders for two kilometers. Every two kilometers lead people would peel off to the side and then take up a position in the rear. I reminded them that keeping a safe distance would avoid crashes, but knowing better than me, they tried to crash anyway.

We began riding as a group. It was  a little jerky at first, but we quickly settled into a rhythm. Leads went to the rear, and the two in the back moved up. We continued to ride quickly down the trail as we tore through 20 km in about an hour. It felt like everyone wanted to keep going, but it was time for lunch, and we pulled over at a beautiful gazebo and park.

With a good convenience store nearby, everyone was able to stop and have a good meal. By that, I mean pop, chips, and round things shaped like hot dogs but with unknown ingredients that are rolled on a grill. Somewhere in that mix, I was given a chocolate potato chip. I now have a new addiction. After some rest and food, the team was ready to roll despite some persistent, understandable, butt complaints.

Fueled and rested, we put ourselves back in formation and prepared to ride. This was the final leg of today’s 45-mile trek. The kids seem to have as much energy as at the beginning of the ride. We rolled out, and we’re now smoothly rolling together with almost unstated switches from front to back. We were flying through the trees as a united team. You felt the energy, and those that were slightly slower pulled into the strength of everyone. It felt like what they call on rowing teams swing. Everyone worked perfectly together, making for an outcome better than could be had by the sum of the parts. It was wonderful to be with my grandkids and especially to experience swing with them.

It seemed just minutes, and we were already far down the trail arriving at our final rest stop. We then broke into families to carefully ride the last couple of miles into the city and to the Rodd Royalty Inn. Amazingly, the kids still had plenty of energy to tear apart the swimming pool and water slide