Christmas and bike-riding in February

Lo, it was a mild winter’s afternoon in early February when the gods of dexterity shined down their radiant light upon the predictably hapless and bumbling Kate. The gentle and dazzling light shimmered down from heaven and seemingly put the awkward Kate on Marionette strings controlled by a calm and adroit puppet master. For the first time in her uncoordinated life, filled with spills and simple motor inabilities (like ice skating or jumping with the left foot forward), Kate was doing something she had only dreamed about. She was being coordinated. She was showing a sense of balance.

Yes, Kate was riding a bike.
It’s an embarrassing tale, actually, filled with sob stories about how she never had a bike growing up and about how she was teased throughout her school years. How could she live with herself, they’d tease. Had she also never eaten a booger or done one of those cries when your you can't control your breath and your diaphragm does this weird contraction thing that makes your senten. (breath) ces. sound li. (breath) ke. like th. (breath) this?

But, on Feb. 3, in a flat field near the small, leafy town of Erbenheim in central Germany, she rectified those slurs and rode a bicycle. She would have made Lance Armstrong proud.

However, I don't want to paint TOO rosy a picture. She did fall a couple times.
And here are some pics and videos to prove it.

Click here to see her accomplishing a 90-degree turn. Sort of: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9078864911299792574

Click here to see Kate riding away into the sunset: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3038451245881733723

Click here for a video of Pecos crashing into me while I'm trying to film Kate riding a bike: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8489731993008588292

And click here to see Kate, after a fall: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5123744351037970286

Also, Kate and I celebrated Christmas a bit late this year (that is, after all, how she got a bike in the first place).

Here are a couple pics of that celebration.

Me in some tight jeans.

Jolly ol' Saint Pecolas.

Kate as nervous as can be.Kate, showing off some College Park pride.The dogfather.