Next Full Moon

Sunday, May 3rd Full Flower Moon

11 November 2009

to all those that know what really time it is


J's first ever trail ride!



Which quickly became his first ever trailside crash...



followed by his first ever trailside recovery.


He really tore it up. Especially in light of keeping up on dinky 12" wheels.



There were moments of panic, in which he forgot the coaster brake and Flintstoned to a stop. There were moments when he used his feet as outriggers and pogoed back and forth down some inclines.


We took the mildest singletracks available. Some fireroads. A very small amount of pave. Not one complaint.

Ostensibly, the plan was to head over to the old Boy Scout Camp and cut the hands off the used-to-be clown-headed swing sets. The heads are long gone. There's one frame/body still standing, but people beat us to it. Those hands are gone now, too. There is one body in the weeds, which location I thought I remembered but could not find. I had stashed the body in the dark of night maybe 4 years ago, after I'd hack sawed the head off. I kept telling myself I'd get around to hauling the body out one of these days. Dang. Who doesn't want a white gloved tube of galvanized steel with chains attached?

Anyhow, we cooked Brown Lunch and fooled around.


J got tired on the way back. We strapped the pink bike (which had been N's 1st bike and then D's, and J's in turn) onto the tail of the Big Dummy and J climbed on board.


We stopped briefly at the stairs, where J decided he wanted to ride the rest of the way himself.


Then we collected some trailside logs for firewood and called it a day.



We should all be so stoked. ~6 miles.

9 comments:

fxdwhl said...

awesome, simply awesome.

Patch Kit Guy said...

I will affirm your kids' claim about Tootsie Pop wrappers showing a Native American Indian shooting an arrow at a star (or some such imagery). The claim is that these wrappers are good for a free lollipop.

I'll make this offer right now: any time one of your progeny presents me with such a wrapper, I will make good on their claim and award a free lollipop.

And if the wrapper shows three unbroken circles, that's good for three lollipops.

I must have prior notice, however, as to be prepared for the onslaught.

Freewheel said...

Congrats to J. I think he's ready for a bike with 20" wheels.

reverend dick said...

Fxdwhl- yep. It has been pretty cool to document his stages here from trailer to this point.

Hey Monterey! What a can of worms-er free suckers you have opened up in here. They will be on you and NEVER let you forget this. You brought it on yourself...


Freewheel-As for J being ready for 20" wheels...not yet. He may have the stand over (haven't checked yet) but the little tiny wheels really engender a feeling of control and, more importantly, safety. He likes to be able to put his feet down, and the smaller bike is just that much easier to handle as well.

I've been through 3 learning curves- OK, I am in the middle of the 3rd- and the short people they respond well to easy familiarity for a while before the next level. We do have a 20" coasterbraked bike for him to move to, and then the 20" MTB (which is a whole other ball of shifting/hand operated braking to master).
Thank you for your kind comment.

Robert H said...

It is posts like these that make me actually want kids. It is scary thinking about having to actually take care of the little bastards, but knowing that I can push my silly hobbies on them? Priceless!

rik said...

how about some 16" wheels and a few haircuts....

reverend dick said...

Both are good ideas...

Little_Jewford said...

photo evidence of ripedness....excellent...

bloodline said...

i'm stoked to send my five year old on point...great that your child held on to the bars when he dumped... keeps the bicycle from becoming a projectile