The Boy, for Tata/E time, chose again to go for a bike ride, and we began the ride in a similar fashion: the big downhill in the neighborhood across a couple of streets, the downhill that I keep encouraging him to turn into an uphill.

“I can’t ride up this hill!” he explained with exasperation. “It’s huge!”

But we rode up other hills, which are often as steep as The Hill but not as long. On one, the gave out quickly. With some encouragement, he got back on his bike and continued the climb.

“Remember: lean into the climb,” I advise as we churn our way up.

“Remember: forget about how far it is to the top. Pick a point in front of you and make it to that point. Then pick another point. And another.”

We made it to the top, and the Boy exclaimed rather stoically, “That wasn’t bad at all.”

When we got back home, we discovered some visitors have returned.