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August 29, 2008 | |||||||
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 Girls Whirl: A Mother-Daughter Bike Trek March 29, 2001 Think back to when you were a teenager. What would YOU have said if your mom had asked you to miss nine weeks of middle school to ride a tandem bicycle from California to Florida with her? Be honest. Would you have laughed? Would you have stared in stunned disbelief? Well, Mackenzie Brown, a Seattle teen, perked up and paid attention. NEW Be sure to follow the Whirl Log and find out just how far Mackenzie and her mother have ridden so far! Dear readers, Before I joined goodthings, I worked for another start-up company where I met Kate. I knew her as a risk-taker -- a dyed-in-the-fleece Pacific Northwesterner, devoted to both the outdoors and technology companies. (She's helped launch five at last count.) It was only after we both took a break from that frenzied pace that I got to know her as a thoughtful mother. I learned she was up to something big: she wanted to create a rite of passage for her daughter, Mackenzie -- a rite that would propel her safely from childhood over that chasm of self-doubt that traps many adolescent girls. She wanted to give her daughter An Experience. She wanted to her daughter to have -- for her entire life -- the confidence that comes from climbing a personal Mt. Everest. Mackenzie remembers it like this: "My mother was driving me to my dad's house, and we were discussing the idea of moving to Ireland for my 7th grade year. We had been considering this for quite a while. I was bored and fiddling with the seatbelt as my mother talked. Suddenly, out of the blue, she asked, 'Mackenzie, what do you think about riding our bicycles across the country?' I was so surprised that I caught my finger in the metal part of the seatbelt, but I was also instantly enthusiastic. We talked about the new idea until my mom had to go get some soap to loosen my finger from the seatbelt." The idea quickly took root. First, there was the job. Kate got that handled by taking on a contract project that could end in time for a spring trip. School? Handled. House? No problem -- lined up a renter. Then there were family concerns. How safe is it for a woman and her young daughter on the open road? Well, Kate was an experienced touring cyclist with a cell phone and a planned itinerary with checkpoints. Plus she located a professionally guided bike tour that would be in the same vicinity. The final piece of the puzzle? The transportation. What gleaming combination of metal and rubber would transport them the 3000+ miles across North America? A tandem. But not your 1950s-era, one-speed, vacation-rental tandem. A high-end touring tandem. Kate explains: "Captaining a tandem after riding a road bike is like driving a semi: very similar yet very different. It requires a lot of coordination between the two riders on things to which I've never paid attention. Are you aware of how you usually start? On a tandem, the front rider must ONLY push off once and then totally rely on the stoker (the one behind) to provide the power to keep the bike upright. The drive trains are connected: we have to pedal in unison, coast in unison." I was amazed. Here's a mom who must surrender control to her daughter since, as the stoker, Mackenzie "owns the gas pedal." And here's a teen who must work in unison with her mother for nine weeks. How will it go? Stay tuned. The "Girls Whirl" team will be sending updates as they make their way from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida in April and May. You go, girls. Julie Cason (e-mail Julie) Seattle, Washington Check out a few of Julie's favorite goodthings. TALK ABOUT IT Send the "Girls Whirl" team encouragement (we'll forward your messages to them) or share your own mother-daughter (or father-son, mother-son, or father-daughter) stories. LEARN ABOUT IT Read the Moms Online story of a mother-adult daughter trek to Nepal, "Exorcising Mother-Daughter Angst." Dive into unforgettable Salon articles on the mother-daughter relationship: "One Week Until College." "Escape to the Outback: The Daughter's Perspective." Visit Passages Northwest, an activities-oriented organization fostering leadership and courage in girls and women. Based in Seattle, its resources are universal. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT Take your own expedition! Founded by the first women to cross Antarctica on foot, Bancroft Arnesen Explore is dedicated to supporting and promoting women's expeditions. Says Ann Bancroft: "[The company] represents our ongoing effort to inspire people to pursue their dreams, no matter how different or how difficult it may seem to achieve those dreams." Visit their Web site. Do something with your daughter, like adventuring through books together. For starters, read The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh and Learn Through Their Love of Reading together. Get your copy. Readers Respond Want to share your thoughts or ideas with other people who care about good things? Send 'em our way. |
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