...not horrible.

Is how D answered when I axed him how today's ride was.


Since the camping trip last week ("It sucked.") was so hot and bothersome for him, I've been thinking. He really put in the hard effort for that ride (even with the epic bitching) and it was very much off the couch. I have not been taking him riding. Largely due to my selfish preference for going at my own chosen speed, but also because both older children say that they don't want to go with me.

"It's no fun."

"It's too hard."

I am again saying "It's too bad for you, my friend." to all of that. So today I dragged him out on the condensed sneaky loop. It was condensed in that we drove up the hill to near the top, and I got the car without him later. This allowed us to skip a lot of uphill (which he dislikes) and a lot of traffic ( in which I dislike for him to ride), and begin his conditioning. I believe I have mentioned here before how we used to be ski bums in a fine little town on the Western slope of CO, and how lots of kids in that town were incredible skiers but were burned out on the whole thing by age 10 because their parents had forced it on them and how I want to avoid that with bicycles and my own offspring...well, those are words I should heed.

Today was a search for the middle ground of hard and fun. It began with pave but quickly switched to dirt.

We had an impromptu clinic on riding steeps. This is his 2nd ride on the 24"wheels, and it is taking some adjustment. Looking at how he's had to spiiiiiiiiiin to keep up on his 20", this seems to be a mostly welcome change.




Getting "stuff" out of his shoes.




After a reduced-yet-still-substantial circuit, we broke out the pocket chainsaw and sawed some logs. We used the 2man technique to good effect on the 12" (old and dry) log, but the freshly fallen 18"er broke us, and we'll have to take it in stages.


Then it was time for Brown Lunch.


To begin we cleared away the duff. Then we set out the pan/lid as a base to avoid a forest fire.



Guess what I forgot today?




Jack axed about Esbit legitimacy...I will say (again) that this stove is supremely useful. Compact, able to use natural/local fuel. Practically foolproof, and I should know.





See?



We sat on the hillside log.



We looked out on this.


Then we ruled it downhill some more to crawl back home on pave. 6 hours. 0 complaints.

Not horrible.