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34-year-old mom learns how to ride a bike for the first time alongside her 6-year-old daughter

"I discovered that we’re never too old, too late, or too far gone to try something new."

Photo by KBO Bike on Unsplash

Mom learns how to ride a bike at 34 alongside her 6-year-old daughter.

Learning how to ride a bike is a huge milestone in childhood. Battling through the challenge of balance while pedaling and proper steering to find yourself cruising on a bike is an accomplishment to be celebrated. But not everyone can say they mastered bike riding young.

Instagrammer Sazan Hendrix (@sazan) opened up to her followers about her experience learning to ride a bike when she was 34 years old. The journey challenged her role as a mom, and how she pushed past her own ego about failure and embarrassment to accomplish her goal.

"One year ago, I learned how to ride a bike! Yup at 34, with my 6-year-old cheering me on (and teaching me, if we’re being honest ha)," she wrote in the post's caption. "I discovered that we’re never too old, too late, or too far gone to try something new. Consider this your sign. What is something you want to accomplish this year!? 🥳"

In the post, Hendrix shared that she had always been scared of riding a bike, but decided to conquer it when her six-year-old daughter Teeny decided she was ready how to learn. "Suddenly, I didn't want to just watch her do it. I wanted to go alongside her," she wrote.

So, she went for it. But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. She struggled to learn, and that brought up an internal battle. "But I was so in my head. Every fall made me feel like a failure. I couldn't master it. Week after week, I practiced. And week after week, I got nowhere," she shared.

She continues to explain how her hardship challenged her not to give up just for herself, but also for her daughter. "I felt defeated. Embarrassed. I was moments away from giving up. But I couldn't because she was watching. So I had to keep going," she wrote. "And in the process of learning, we both fell...together. Scraped knees. Bruised egos. Wobbly starts. But I think watching me try, fail and get back up again quietly told her, 'You can too.'"

The story didn't go the way she thought. While she struggled to master riding, her daughter Teeny got it. And her daughter became her biggest cheerleader. "'Mommy, just watch me and copy my footsteps!' So I did. That same day, the day she mastered it...I humbly did too," she explained. "We rode side by side, our wheels spinning in sync, like a moment heaven had written just for us."

Hendrix goes on to describe how parents are, most times, the ones doing the teaching when it comes to their kids. But not so in this case. "My daughter taught me. She reminded me: you're never too young or too old to try something new, face a fear, or keep pedaling after you fall."

On another slide, she shares that since then, she has shared so many biking adventures with her family. The experience made her a better mom. "Best of all I get to carry this story in my pocket. Holding onto it for the days when my kids reach a mountain that feels too big. I'll get to say: 'Remember when Mom learned how to ride a bike at 34?'" she wrote.

The experience also healed Hendrix's inner child who struggled to believe she could learn to ride and made it so that her daughter Teeny got to meet the little girl inside her. "So here's your sign. Go try the thing. Pick up the hobby. Do it scared. Laugh while you learn. You're not too late. You're right on time," she ended the post.

Her vulnerable post had a huge impact on her followers.

"😭😭😭😭 I'm crying. I'm 34 and I still don’t know how to ride a bike, never was taught though I had one growing up. This is inspiring," one wrote.

Another added, "Saz, not you making me cry with this wholesome story about Teeny giving your inner child permission to learn something new. 🥹😭"

And another shared, "What a beautiful core memory that you both will always remember. 😭😭😭"

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For 25 years, Canada has been building a coast-to-coast trail. It's almost done.

Valerie Pringle lives life by a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

After a long and successful career in broadcasting, Valerie has dedicated herself for nearly 15 years to The Trans Canada Trail Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that's building one of the world's longest recreational trails from one coast of Canada to the other.

And, after nearly 25 years of work, they're almost done.

The Great Trail, when finished, will be roughly 15,000 miles long. Image by The Great Trail, used with permission.

The Great Trail, as it's called, started in 1992 on Canada's 125th birthday. New trails were forged and dedicated across the nation to celebrate the event.

Pringle says the founders of the organization had the simple but powerful idea of connecting all the major trails across Canada.

"They had this inspiration that all Canadians should be able to see [the different parts] of their country," Pringle says. "But who knew it would be so hard?"

The Coastal Trail in Fundy National Park. Photo by Parks Canada and the Province of New Brunswick, used with permission.

Pringle joined the team in 2002. For the past couple of years, she's worked tirelessly to raise the $75 million needed to finish off the 25-year project — just in time for Canada's 150th celebration.

Fundraising challenges were tough, but there was also the little matter of working with hundreds of different agencies, private land owners, and community leaders across Canada's provinces and territories.

"It took about 60 years to build the Appalachian Trail," she says. "We had to be patient."

The Celtic Shores Coastal Trail. Photo by Nova Scotia Trails Federation, used with permission.

By rehabilitating old trails, connecting new ones, and dedicating portions of land along the way, the foundation has created a truly impressive network of gorgeous landscape across Canada.

It's all connected or will be very soon — everything from urban walkways, quiet countryside roads, paddling trails, and deep wilderness paths.

Best of all, Pringle says some portion of the The Great Trail is half an hour or less away from about 80% of the population.

Ridge Road Heritage Trail. Photo by Greg Skuce/Yukon government, used with permission.

If one were so inclined, they could start on a trail in Victoria, British Columbia, wind their way up through Yukon, then trek their way east into Nova Scotia and beyond.

Ride the Sky Trail. Photo by Al Skucas, used with permission.

That's Pringle's favorite part about the project. Not just the preservation of nature, but the way it unites Canadians in a tangible way.

Slave River paddling. Photo by The Great Trail used with permission.

"I tell kids, 'If you turn this way, you can go to St. John's, Newfoundland. If you take a right in Alberta, you can head all the way to the mouth of the Mackenzie River," she says. "You can really think global."

While a few people are indeed currently hiking, paddling, and cycling their way across the entire nation, for most Canadians and visitors, the impact will be much more local.

Trenton Steeltown Park. Photo by The Great Trail, used with permission.

Even Pringle, who has visited many, many pieces of the 15,000-mile trail, has a nearby slice she considers her own.

"My favorite part is along the Niagara River. That's my own personal piece of trail. I walk my labs there, I walk my granddaughter there."

The Great Trail is on track to be fully connected by the fall of 2017, but that doesn't mean the work is over.

Banff Legacy Trail. Photo by Betty Anne Graves, used with permission.

Once all the connections are made, Pringle says the team will continue to renovate and beautify portions of the trail for a long time to come.

In the meantime, Pringle and other members of the Trans Canada Trail Foundation consider this project to be one of the most meaningful parts of their legacies.

"I'm now 63, and this is something I left behind of value," she says. "It's the ultimate gift to Canadians from Canadians."

Canadians who, no matter the distance or cultural differences between them, have always been connected to one another by a love for their country. The Great Trail is simply a wonderful reminder.

Heroes

This glow-in-the-dark bike path shows what happens when you let imaginations run wild.

Poland just wrote a glow-in-the-dark love letter to bicycles.

And no, that's not what you see after you die. That's a bike path in Poland that's designed to glow in the dark. It was unveiled near the town of Lidzbark Warmiński in late September.

It glows blue because of special luminophores built into the pavement.

The synthetic materials absorb energy from the sun during the day and slowly release it at night. The company who built them says they can last for more than 10 hours at a time.

The company that built the path said they were inspired by the Netherland's "Starry Night" bike path but decided to take it a step further. While the "Starry Night" path uses electric LEDs, the new blue path needs no electricity whatsoever.

The path is a test run to see if the technology can be used on a wide scale all over the country.

Right now, the track is only 100 meters long. It's currently being tested to see if stands up to weather and traffic and whether they can build it more economically. Currently, the path seems to be more of a novelty than anything else — a way to beautify the biking experience — but if the results hold up, it's possible we could use this glow-in-the-dark technology to help improve road safety all over the world.

(By the way, the company that built this has also experimented with trying to impregnate asphalt with citrus, strawberry, and rose scents.)

Cycling is an awesome way to commute, get exercise, and clean up the environment.

A lot of European cities have embraced the bike, and many American cities are catching on as well.

While we still need to improve our biking infrastructures overall, this glow-in-the-dark road shows that infrastructure projects don't have to be boring. They can be imaginative, innovative, and beautiful, too.

Family

How one easy adjustment called the Dutch Reach could save bikers' lives.

It's called getting doored. And it hurts.

Imagine that a cyclist is riding along calmly when an unsuspecting driver or passenger opens their door. The cyclist has little to no time to adjust, sending them crashing into or over the door.

It happened to longtime cyclist Derek Cuellar of New York on Sept. 23, 2016.

"A man opened his door right as I was passing and I ran directly into the door," Cuellar said over email. "My bike suffered minor scratches as my handlebar and shoulder took most of the damage."

Despite a bruised shoulder and dinged-up bike, Cuellar was able to continue his commute that day. And while getting doored is a painful rite of passage for many urban cyclists, it doesn't mean it's not a life-threatening issue.

Image via iStock.

Cuellar is one of more than the estimated 50,000 cyclists who will be injured on the road this year.

That number may be even higher; hospital records indicate that only a small percentage of bicycle-accident-related injuries are reported or recorded by police. In the U.S., more than 700 cyclists die in accidents with motor vehicles each year.

It's scary. It's tragic. And in many cases, it's preventable.

Cyclists wipe tears during a ceremony after an accident involving some of Australia's top women cyclists near Gera, Germany. Amy Gillett, 29, was killed when a car struck her group during a training ride a day before a bike race. Photo by Getty Images.

But there's an easy way for drivers and cyclists to share the road, and it's called the Dutch Reach.

Popularized in the Netherlands, where cyclists make up 30% of daily commuters, the Dutch Reach is a concept taught in Dutch driver education, and it's an easy adjustment that could save a life.

If you are a driver or driver-side passenger in a right-side-of-the-road country, you probably naturally open the door with your left hand. However, with the Dutch Reach, you reach across your body to open the door with your right hand, which momentarily forces your body to turn and face backward. If you're getting out on the passenger side, simply open the door with your left hand instead of your right.

That simple twist allows you to see cyclists, cars, or pedestrians you may have otherwise missed. The maneuver make take a few repetitions to get used to, but a little awkwardness is worth it to prevent a potentially catastrophic accident.

If anyone knows about sharing the road, it's the Dutch.

Cycling has long been a popular form of transportation in the Netherlands. But as cars boomed in popularity in the 1950s and '60s, cyclists were quite literally pushed aside. Cars edged out bicyclists (on roads that were not built for automobile traffic) pushing riders toward curbs, resulting in thousands of collisions.

In 1971 alone, 3,300 people, including more than 400 children, were killed in bicycle accidents in the Netherlands. People took to the streets to protest the senseless incidents. This coupled with the oil crisis of 1973 led to serious changes in transportation policies across the small nation.

Protesters meet with Dutch politician Minister Zeevalking to discuss the rash of fatal bicycle accidents involving motor vehicles. The group was called Stop de Kindermoord which translates to "Stop the Child Murder." Photo by Fotocollectie Nationaal Archief/Anefo/Rob Croes via Wikimedia Commons 

Slowly, progress was made. Car-free Sundays eventually led to car-free city centers and eventually the dedicated cycle routes many Dutch cities are known for. Today around 180 people are killed in cycling accidents in the Netherlands each year. Considering that residents bike more than 500 miles per year on average, the figure (while devastating) is surprisingly low.

Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians need to share the responsibility of keeping our roads safe.

Cyclists don't always obey traffic laws and sometimes go dangerously slow or fast in areas they shouldn't. But drivers aren't guilt-free in this regard, either. Parking and driving in bike lanes, shifting without signaling, and driving while distracted or at dangerous speeds make cycling a risky proposition.

Image via iStock.

Whether you're on two wheels, four, or in a fresh pair of Keds, all of us need to pay attention, watch where we're going, and look out for one another. On the road and in life, we're all in this together.

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