ARE YOU SLOW? As we age, we tend to slow down or think that we are slow. But do you feel that you’re slow? Is time passing more quickly, or are you slowing down some? And, are you “got passed by a guy pushing a wheelbarrow” slow? I found out I was. ME If I can help you in any way, please let me know. My “rememberer” is starting to lose the battle to my “forgetterer,” but I’ll try to help if I can. If you like my writing or my reading, feel free to follow me at: ● https://tdseest.medium.com/ ● https://www.facebook.com/tom.seest ● https://gab.com/TomSeest ● https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoyDfCQfxmqitYHBmt_vHOg ● https://tomseest.substack.com/ ● https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomseest/ ● https://mewe.com/i/tomseest ● https://twitter.com/TomSeest

1. ARE YOU “PASSED BY A GUY
PUSHING A WHEELBARROW”
SLOW?
BY TOM SEEST

2. ARE YOU
SLOW?
As we age, we tend to slow
down or think that we are
slow. But do you feel that
you’re slow? Is time passing
more quickly, or are you
slowing down some? And, are
you “got passed by a guy
pushing a wheelbarrow” slow?
I found out I was.

3. APRIL 16, 2015
April 16, 2015, started off like
any other day for me. Well, not
really, but it was another in a
long series of great days.
The ship that we were sailing on
pulled into the Port of Roatan on
the Island of Roatan just off the
coast of Honduras. I was excited
because I was planning on riding
my bicycle around the island. I
had learned that I could take my
bicycle when cruising and had
done it for some time. And, the
day was sunny, and winds were
light.

4. CYCLEMETER
I have an app for my Iphone
named Cyclemeter that I use to
track all of the details for my
bicycle rides, and it serves as
evidence for the tale that I’m
about to tell you. The link
http://cyclemeter.com/6a08acd
34d9daf7a/Cycle-20150416-
0822-29817
will provide you with all the
details for my ride that day. It
records things like my heart rate,
distance, time I’ve ridden, the
speed of travel, etc. Think of the
app as a “black box” that records
all of the details for an airplane
flight, only this works on my
phone on my bicycle.

5. GREAT BEGINNINGS
When riding a bicycle, it’s always
important to start the ride with a
nice slow pace to warm up, and
this island provides the perfect
opportunity for that type of
riding. After clearing the ride with
the Honduran authorities and
ignoring the “He’s gonna ride that
thing in these hills!” stares, I set
out on my bicycle, riding to the
left out of the port and heading
down to the town of Flowers Bay.

6. THE GOING GETS
TOUGH
After passing through the town of Flowers
Bay, you have to turn right and head over the
hill if you want to go to West End, as I did.
And, at the two and a half-mile mark of the
ride, the going started to get tough. But,
that’s when the tough get going. And, I’m
rough and tough and hard to bluff. But I am
slow.
It’s not necessarily that you have to climb a
long way as the climb only measures about
two hundred feet, but it’s the steepness and
grade of the ride. And, I was pushing my
350-“poundish” body on a bicycle up that
steep grade. And that’s when it happened.

7. WHEELBARROW DUDE
At around the three-mile mark, a dude pushing a
wheelbarrow with some bricks, two buckets, and some
concrete mix passed me going uphill while I was pedaling
like a madman (story embellished a little to protect my
fragile ego).
I’m fortunate that the camera on the bicycle recorded my
moment of doom for posterity so that you can all chuckle a
little. The dude was friendly and muttered “rapido, rapido,
rapido,” which translates into something like “move over, and
let the faster people pass” or something like that. After
feeling a moment of embarrassment, I eventually caught up
with him when he went to turn off the road, and we chatted
in Spanish for a moment or two after I could breathe and talk
again. He was a really nice chap, and while our paths have
not crossed again, we remain friends to this day.

8. THE
HUMILIATION
At that point, I had to
decide if I should turn
around and go back to the
ship or continue to see
what was on the other side
of the hill. As a big dude,
decisions like this come
about on a frequent basis.
But I decided to press on,
and I’m so glad I did.

9. HEAD WEST, YOUNG MAN
I was rewarded with a bay that was as
smooth as glass in the little cove town
of West End, which is not on the east
end of the island. I meandered around
the town on my trusty iron steed and
took many photos of the town, the
people, and the bay.

10. THE LONG
WAY BACK
While I could have taken
the short path back to the
ship in the back of a taxi,
I decided that I should
take the long way back to
the ship. And, I was
rewarded with many more
beautiful photos of the
island. I passed by Gibson
Bight, Antoney’s Cay, and
Sandy Bay, and turned
back up the hill after I
passed the town of
Sundancer.

11. NEVER TURN
BACK
I guess the point of my story is
don’t stop, turn around, or
quit even if you are a little
slower. Never turn back unless
you absolutely have to. I would
have missed out on so many
great scenes that I’ll cherish
forever had I turned around
and ridden back down that
hill.

12. ME
If I can help you in any way, please let me
know. My “rememberer” is starting to lose
the battle to my “forgetterer,” but I’ll try to
help if I can.
If you like my writing or my reading, feel free
to follow me at:
• https://tdseest.medium.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/tom.se
est
• https://gab.com/TomSeest
• https://www.youtube.com/channel
/UCoyDfCQfxmqitYHBmt_vHOg
• https://tomseest.substack.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/toms
eest/
• https://mewe.com/i/tomseest
• https://twitter.com/TomSeest