Just like Lance

On my mission I learned many things, but one of the most surprising was how other kids could grow up (even in Salt Lake!) and not really feel comfortable riding a bike. (I'm talking about you, Benjamin Metcalfe.) I remember being the youngest and my brother used to tease me because I hadn't learned to ride a bike yet. He would say that when I was in Boy Scouts I was going to have to ride my Big Wheelz 4-Wheel-Jeep up on the mountain bike trails while the other scouts rode real bikes. So I eventually learned how to ride a bike, and after that the family relocated to Murray. In Murray bike riding was a necessity. You couldn't avoid it. We rode our bikes to school sometimes, but mostly it was on the Jordan River Parkway trail, and then to gas stations or grocery stores to buy snacks and sodas with whatever pocket change we could find. Katie Goudie KNOWS what I'm talking about. Where did you most often ride your bikes when you were younger?

Anyway, I didn't ride a bike on my mission nearly as much as I would have liked, I was only in a bike area for 3 and a half transfers, the rest was spent in comfortable automobiles. I like biking and I think we should all do more of it. I read once that if the US increased its biking by 1%, we would save something like half a million gallons of gas annually. So I'm doing my part. Today I went and rescued a bike from the shed at my parents house and took it to the bike shop nearby that my old bishop owns. After they fix it up, I'm going to start biking to work! You just wait. You'll see me around Sugarhouse looking both hipster, and hippie. On a related note, I've NEVER been mountain biking before, if anybody wants to take me on some beginning trails and show me the ropes, I would love to go. Let me know.

In the mean time, here is a cute picture of a brand new missionary that just landed in Houston and bought his bike and hadn't even had his tires slashed while out knocking doors yet. (Actually happened.)