• It was a nice day and I felt like exploring the neighborhood.
• I just had the bike fixed and wanted to try it out.
• I needed to get out of the house for a while.
• I didn’t feel like doing the “work” I had scheduled for myself that weekend.
• Cross training. I was tired of running and wanted to get muddy!

With those stated reasons in mind I enjoyed a relaxing (and muddy) 12 mile trek through the woods, over bogs and along the shoulder of scenic Route 516. Just as I was returning to my abode I heard a strange electric whirring noise and looked up to see two kids (roughly 7 to 9 years old) riding what looked like a mini-motorcycle and a mini-go-cart. The go-cart kid saw me on my bike and loudly exclaimed “WE DON’T NEED EXERCISE!“.

That’s right the little chubby cherub (sorry kid, but you barely fit into the go-cart… really, you looked quite uncomfortable) didn’t need exercise because he had a go-cart. What frightens me about this isn’t that he decided to be mouthy, but that he saw me on my bike and did not see:

• Someone out for a ride to get from point A to point B or
• Someone on a bike to enjoy the wind in his hair (or through my helmet; whatever) or
• Someone who was just out playing like they were… no!

He saw someone exercising!

Children who perceive a bicycle covered in mud as nothing more than exercise are in for a long and tedious life. All of the media targetted at adults is seeping into the brains of our larvae. If it isn’t battery powered and “Zoom zoom zoom”, then it must be exercise which is work and no child will ever ride a bike or play tag again because “spinning” or “treadmilling” is for adults. Thanks Ballys. Thanks Curves. I’m never having kids or, failing that, at least never going to let them watch commercials.