Meet Evan

In my quest to keep my vast readership entertained I have enjoyed working with other people to bring you the very best stories.  You got to read about rock climbing, various group ride adventures, and the success of one student on his journey to health in addition to pretty regular updates about yours truly.

Well, I have found another subject so you don't have to read about me all the time.  This young man is an incredible musician in addition to being a great academic student.  He is a percussionist in the band and plays guitar and piano in the jazz band.  He does all manner of unique exercise, and - probably most unusual for a 16-year-old - he avoids junk food, fast food, and in general maintains a healthy diet.

Evan relaxing on the slackline as we chat about different things he's working on.

 Evan will tell you that his exercise isn't even exercise; he just has fun.  From slacklining to unicycling to hacky sack ("they're really called 'footbags' now..."), he is pretty constantly active and enjoys the outdoors.  Evan's dad Paul is a frequent riding partner of mine, and he and I have talked about kids and exercise and all of that stuff.  Paul teaches elementary school (as does Evan's mom, Lauri), and physical activity for kids is on their list of priorities.  So, based on my observations of kids and their habits the past few decades, I asked if they'd all be willing for me to use Evan as a subject of this post.  I wanted people to see how easy it is to not only stay in shape, but sometimes do it just because it's fun.

"You must use a lot of core doing that," I asked as I watched him slide deftly across his 80-foot slackline.  

"I guess?  I don't know, I don't really think about it much."  This seemed to be a recurring theme throughout the afternoon, and I think it's important:  Evan isn't doing these things for "exercise;" he's doing them because they're fun.  The fact that he is indeed building a very strong core, physical coordination, and all of that stuff is a benefit that he's not even thinking about.  When was the last time you did something like that?

The trunk gets wrapped with a towel
to protect tree and slackline.

So what is slacklining?  It's very cool.  It's the same concept as a tightrope, only, well, it's not tight; there's plenty of spring to it.  It's a long nylon line that is strung between two trees or posts, and the activities range from simply walking across it to tricks that are similar to trampoline and gymnastics.  There are slackline competitions and tournaments, as well as plenty of links on the interweb on what kinds of tricks can be done and how to do them.  Evan is working on a few, including one in which you spring from a seated/kneeling position into a standing one.

Checking the tension.  It can be
adjusted for various applications
and/or skill levels.

I know you are dying to know if I tried it.  Yep.  Popped right up there, zipped down and back, and...  riiighht...  I did actually manage, with the assistance of Evan's shoulder and a well-placed PVC pipe as a crutch, to stand on the line for several seconds.  Fortunately my common sense prevailed, and I got right back down - I could feel that my shoulder would strain far too much if I continued holding on to the pipe.  And if I didn't continue to hold it, the potential resulting fall could be devastating as well!  So I got down.

Foot alignment is pretty important - "it seems like
you would want to keep your feet sideways, but
that causes the line to rock back and forth.  You
have to line your feet up with the line."

But here you have an exercise that combines balance, core strength, and a strong mental challenge in addition to allowing all levels of skill to participate.  Sounds like the complete package.  I told Evan that come next spring, when I am definitely completely healed (my PT is more concerned about tendons and muscles than the broken bones), I am learning to slackline!

BUT...  Do I learn to slackline before I learn to...  UNICYCLE??  That's a good question.  Because, as you all know by now, I am certainly good at pedaling things.  Well, with maybe the one notable exception.  And the physics and fun look of the unicycle have intrigued me since I was a youngster and one of the neighbor kids had one.  Can't even really imagine how they work!  How do

Starting with the pedal at the back of
the wheel is the first huge difference
between riding one and two wheels.

you balance on one wheel?  How do you not simply fall on your face (or your Fat@$$) when you start pedaling?  Evan set out to show me how.

"It's probably easiest, when you start, to just sit by something and hang on and just rock back and forth for an hour and it makes the rest much easier."  Sounds like a plan.  We'll start there.

I have to admit that it gets at least mildly frustrating to watch people do something seemingly without effort.  Evan grabbed the unicycle, slid the pedal to the bottom rear of the wheel, stepped up and took off.  I watched with the same fascination I had when I was a kid, still wondering just exactly how this all works.  Forward, backward, quick pauses, all relatively smooth and easy.  Surely anyone can do this...

Forward

Backward...

We headed out to the street where it was level (did I mention that all of the above started on Evan's inclined driveway?).  Again with the PVC pipe, but this time with the assistance of a nearby mailbox, I made several valiant attempts to successfully mount the unicycle.  Actually almost had it once for about two seconds.  After that attempt common sense again prevailed and I wisely decided to postpone any serious learning until later.  (I wonder how long I will be able to use this as an excuse???  But seriously, a fall - or more likely my attempt to stop a fall with my hands and arms - would be disastrous at this point.)  For your entertainment and instruction, here's Evan doing it:

So what motivated all of this?  Simple:  "I saw someone doing it and thought, 'hey, I want to do that,' so I bought what I needed and did it."  It doesn't get much more straightforward than that, I guess.  And the slackline and the unicycle have been joined by several footbags that he and most of the drumline enjoy playing with.  As a matter of fact, Evan and the other section leaders introduced the incoming freshmen to a round of hacky sack on the first day of band camp last week.  (Yeah, I'm not very good at that, either, but at least there's not a lot of danger that I'll re-injure myself.)

More unusual than any of his athletic/leisure pursuits (Evan also tried several sports as a youngster, ranging from Lacrosse to soccer) is the fact that he's probably the only teenager I know with healthy eating habits.  This stems in part from good parenting, but also a lot from seventh grade science class, where Evan got to see Super Size Me: he reports being at least moderately traumatized from the experience and has basically sworn off fast food.  On the day of our interview we grabbed lunch at Jimmy John's, and he says that's about as close as it gets to junk for him.  

Evan is also careful when snacking, which is how this conversation started last year.  Between marching band, jazz band, and pit orchestra, there have been long stretches of time for us to be at school together at rehearsals and performances.  While other kids run to fast food joints or Family Fare for the latest in GMOs, trans fats, and high fructose corn syrup, Evan usually has some gluten-free crackers, veggies, and fruit.  (Honestly, the first time I noticed this I assumed he'd helped himself to some of my almond crackers, because who else eats those??  I thought it was just me and/or my wife.)

How does he manage this while surrounded by peers (and occasionally teachers...) who seem to snack on anything but good stuff?  It's just what he's used to.  The serious junk food doesn't interest him because it's never really been a big deal.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and credit Lauri and Paul for this, or at least for getting it started.  (In a similar vein, Nathan and Erin had very specific tastes for take-out pizza by the time they were five.)

So there you have it.  Good habits started at an early age, a good support system, and a kid who simply enjoys being outside. All wrapped up in a pretty cool individual who is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.  Thanks for sharing, Evan :)

The family garage, where all the equipment is.  Unicycle, bicycles, golf clubs, and a really cool little purple scooter thing that is self-propelled similar to a rip stick (the one that looks like a toddler toy - it's not one).  There's also plenty of winter stuff available!