Sometimes outside of the organized social rides, we come up with our own fun stuff to do. One of the rides, my friends and I dressed up as Peter Pan characters for our friend’s birthday. The birthday guy was Peter Pan, I was Tiger Lily, and there was a Tinker Bell, couple of Lost Boys, a Captain Hook and Shmee . We rode our bikes to a trail, and through downtown, all the way to Peter Pan golf. The weather wasn’t that bad, and people on the street were saying “look! It’s Peter Pan! Hi Peter!!!”. His costume was pretty spot on, and he looked great. We all looked great. It was lots of fun.

Peter Pan golf is a BYOB kind of putt-putt place . We had a pretty good sized group there, and the one memory that keeps recurring in my mind is when we were going down the busiest street, I was wondering if the cars could see our lights when my friend mentioned , “It doesn’t matter how many lights we have on our bikes if the drivers are texting”. That rings in my head quite often…

We ate Mexican food afterwards and pedaled home. It was quite a day, and I still have that Tiger Lily costume. That was the first time that I have worn anything that short in years. I had always been self-conscious about my legs, but with cycling, even though I wasn’t where I wanted to be with my weight, my legs looked the best they have in a long time. Baby steps. It feels good to have that freedom where you can wear cool stuff again. That’s another reason why I keep cycling, because I know if I just keep pedaling, I can have that freedom one day (well, mostly).

Pictured is my helmet that my dad got me for my birthday. I put my Tiger Lily feather on it. I love the helmet, because my dad got it for me, but I think I am ready for an upgrade. It takes me a long time to decide to invest in something related to cycling, because I always fear that I might invest too much money and then it will all be a waste if I stop one day. The good thing is, is it’s already been more than a year, so upgrades to my attire will be sure to follow!