Through This Ride Freedom and Journaling Prompts for the 4th of July

I didn’t know that this wasn’t something all families did.  I took it for granted.

For some kids, summer vacation means a week or two at a cottage or the beach, a trip to Disney land, or a road trip.  Some lucky kids may even take a trip to Europe.  But, once upon a time in the late 80s and early 90s, the big event of our family vacations was a family bike ride.  When I was too little for a bike of my own got to ride on the back of Papa’s bike, and Ann was seated on the back of Mom’s.  Then, as we got older, we graduated onto our own bikes.  

Most of the time, we just rode around our neighborhood or a few neighborhoods in town, but as we got older, longer rides were introduced.  A few years in a row, we’d drive the bikes to a long paved trail and ride for an hour or so before we turned around.  I never liked the first half of the rides when we’d drive to some trail far from home to start the bike ride. Like most I imagine, trying something new and outside my comfort zone has always been challenging, especially at that age.  As a kid, I remember complaining a lot at the beginning of a ride, especially when we were on a route we’d never done before.  I’d complain about how hot it was, wondering how far we would have to ride or how long we’d have to be on our bikes.  I’d always get over that initial desire to stop riding, and the not wanting to do it would transition into something else. 

It’s that “something else” feeling that’s hard for me to put my finger on now. It was part joy of being with the family all together doing something different and certainly part loving riding my bike, even if I was outside my comfort zone.  This is probably how I learned the importance of “type 2 fun”. Type 2 fun, for those that aren’t familiar, is fun that is challenging and uncomfortable in the moment but rewarding in retrospect.  This type 2 fun always ended up filling me with pride in riding so long and so far, and there was normally ice cream involved, which was certainly a powerful incentive.

As a kid, summer = riding my bike.  I was allowed to ride pretty much anywhere I wanted to go within our neighborhood. I knew what streets I wasn’t allowed to cross, but the rest was fair game, and I liked to explore.  It was freedom.  Now, at almost 42, I don’t ride my bike as much as I did when I was a kid or as much as I did in my late 20s and early 30s.  But I still ride, and my bike still feels like summer and joy. 

There’s a quote on the top tube of my commuter bike that says, “Through this ride, freedom”

I feel the freedom to my bones every time I get on a bike and I can’t think of a more fitting July 4th activity than a bike ride.

Here are a few Fourth of July Journaling Prompts for you today:

1) What activities bring you joy and make you feel free? When was the last time you did them?

2) When does your freedom feel most threatened and why?