CYCLING ENTHUSIAST WITH a CHILD? THAT IS POSSIBLE!
Raising a child and being an enthusiastic long-distance cyclist – it all works somehow. I got into cycling 4 years ago, when the child was almost in school. Since then, I’ve been riding road bikes, fixed gear, gravel and tracklocross.
FROM TREKKING TO ENDURANCE BIKE - THIS IS HOW IT ALL STARTED
I have always cycled with my daughter. Whether it was the 15 kilometres to kindergarten or a weekend camping at the lake – nothing was possible without a bike. A lot has changed since then. Where the small car was parked 5 years ago, the Omnium Cargobike is now parked. The distances became longer and my child has meanwhile exchanged her bicycle trailer and the child’s bicycle seat for her own 26er Holland bike. With the independent child, the distances I travelled also became longer.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD - CYCLING AS FEMINIST POLITICS
Raising a small child as a single parent presented me with unexpected problems. The balancing act between self-sacrifice and self-fulfilment can sometimes hurt. After my bike rides, I often had to put up with the question of who would look after my daughter. In the meantime, my network is stable and recognised; the father is now present for the child to a similar extent as I am, so fortunately this question is no longer asked so often. Still, doesn’t it take a village to raise a child? Why doesn’t society recognise that the father and other family members can also be “there” 100% of the time? My articles are also about these questions: What share do I take in the care work? How do I deal with my guilty conscience when I am on a 2-day trip with a girlfriend? Where does this guilty conscience come from? Spoiler alert: I looked at how fathers manage similar trips and how often they are asked who is looking after their children during this time. The results will surprise you. Not.
I have now found my second home at “The Women All Ride”. I write about my journey from single parenting to riding in a group, take you to the first fixed gear races and long 24-hour long distances. It’s always about the question of how long distances and training preparations can be combined with everyday family life.
An important point is the eternal self-questioning: When am I really ready for XY event?! What do I need to even start? How do psyche, body and everyday life influence the training routine; what are the typical mistakes at the beginning? And why am I actually doing all this?
LONG DISTANCE - OPTIMAL TRAINING FOR LONG NIGHTS ON THE BIKE
How I train optimally with my 30-hour job and child, and how I listen to my body and my cycle, is what I want to share with you at TWAR. Little by little, I’ll write more about my journey from trekking bike mom to tracking mom. Collecting training data is certainly not everything in cycling and not equally relevant for everyone; but if you only have a small time window per month due to your cycle and everyday life, a targeted training that is designed for the hormonal peculiarities is particularly efficient and helpful.
THE WAY TO YOUR OWN EVENT
I’ll tell you about the dream of organising your own events, using the example of the mill brevet. How do you plan a mill brevet with a broken shoulder, a child, paid work and only one month’s time, when the day only has 24 hours? And why mills at all? And what are the stones on the bumpy road to organisation in the age of Covid?
You guessed it: without networks, the community♥ and the constant reflection on how we see ourselves as women in a “male domain”, none of this would be possible.
I want to take you on my journey – from MB400 to parent consultation, from homeschooling to structured training plan, from after-school care to Northcape.
Ride on!
More about Marie Beulig:
Photo Credits
Header: Romy Birkigt (IG: romyb_photo)
