Parade & Storm Evasion

First things this morning I drove my road bike and I to Ryan's house.  We pointed ourselves west and pedaled past Fredericksburg to Shreve for the Memorial Day parade.  KT and Daniel met us for the parade.

Daniel seemed to really enjoy the progression of the parade.  The Triway band came by playing followed by all forms of exciting vehicles including old cars, tractors, a large tow truck, a cement mixer truck, firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars.  Basically all the vehicles an almost two year old boy reads sees in his books.

Daniel's first parade experience.

 

After the parade we said good-bye to KT and Daniel and headed back towards Apple Creek.  As we climbed Harrison Road the sky was dark to the south and west.  As we continued through Fredericksburg on Harrison we began to hear thunder coming from behind.

We began trading pulls in an effort to get home before getting wet or, even worse, caught in lighting.  Turning north on Carr we saw the black skies coming our way.  Thankfully we pulled into Ryan's driveway having only felt a few drops of rain.

Within three minutes of making it to Ryan's house the storm hit with persistent lighting and hard, blowing rain.  Wow, if we had needed to ride even a mile further we would have been in a bad situation.  The good Lord was watching over us!

Mohican Quickie

KT and I made a Friday plan that ended up working so well, we hope it can be soon repeated.  It went something like this:

• I left work promptly and was home by 4:30.
• KT had loaded our bikes onto the car rack, packed most of our gear, and made some PB&J sandwiches.
• The night before we asked my parents about having Daniel down for dinner, and the grandparents were onboard with the plan as well.
• By 5:15 we had dropped off Daniel and were continuing to Loudonville on SR3.
• Despite the slog of Memorial Day trucks and campers, we were at the mountain bike parking area by 5:45 and riding to the trail head shortly thereafter.
• We rode the short loop.  KT did a good job of testing but not crossing her limits as we pedaled the course.  She did a log crossing and a couple technical sections too.  By her own admission, she had a death grip on the bars for most of the ride and says it will be a goal to loosen up and relax more the next time.
• After a short wade in the river we were back in the car and headed to my parents.  We reached their house around 7:30.
• Back home, Daniel had his bath and was off to bed by about 8:30, right on time.

And now, some blurry cell phone pictures...

When I grow up I want to be a mountain biker!

Today felt like a breakthrough day on the new mountain bike.  Ryan and I went down to Mohican to ride at the state park, and I'd say I felt pretty good on the fat tires.  

 

We spotted Chris and Lorena, from the cycling club, in the parking lot before heading to the trail head.  They were muddy and talked about the effect three previous days of rain had on the trail. 

 

With Ryan at the front, we proceeded to climb away from the trail head and settle in on the single track.  I was getting a much better feel for the bike and how to keep traction on varying terrain.  Having Ryan up ahead was a big help, as I could mimic his lines.  Plus, watching ahead was helping me keep my vision down the trail instead of on my front wheel.

After pedaling across the covered bridge we proceeded back into the woods for a climb Ryan called Mount Doom.  It was a good one, a challenge for my new found traction acquisition skills.  At the next road crossing, maybe mile 14 or 15, we diverted from the mountain bike trail to ride roads back to the parking lot, as I was expected back home.

Good stuff, good stuff!  I had a great time on the bike in the woods.  It makes me look forward to learning more on future rides, and Ryan's wheel is a good one to learn from.

My legs never looked this abused after

a road ride... well at least not on the outside.

Muddy MTB Break-in

Today we did our first trail ride on the new bikes.  KT's mother made the day possible by coming down to watch Daniel while we headed off to Findley State Park with Ryan and KT's friend Katie.

A 45 minute drive from our house, Findley State Park has an 8 mile mountain bike trail described as appropriate for beginners.  We found the trail head and headed into the woods, soon learning the biggest, constant obstacle of the day would be mud.  Though it hasn't rained for several days there were many puddles along the course and one section was closed.

We had plenty of riding to get a feel for our bikes.  Ryan showed us how to take charge in several places, and we followed behind walking our bikes.  KT and Katie did a good job sliding around the mud and decided they were hardcore, if for no other reasons, based on their muddy appearance.  KT had a stunt-ful flop sideways over a log, resulting in a rear end to ground impact.  She declined the opportunity for a blog picture of this particular bruise. 

 The after-party: cleaning muddy bikes in the front yard.

Katie had us puzzled when riding a section of road between trail sections.  She successfully drug her foot down a hill to stop her bike and herself before riding into a lake.  Turns out her brake ceased to function but Ryan had her fixed up in short order to continue riding, and braking without shoe soles.

AA's new bike, post de-muddin'.

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the bikes in their mud covered state.  After arriving home we did a bike washing session in the front yard.  Of course Daniel was in on the action and did his best to be helpful, only occasionally spraying people instead of bikes.

Look out, 22 month old on the hose!

It's KT's birthday today and she declares the day a fun, successful experience on her new bike.  We're looking forward to getting them dirty again!

Welcome Home Fatter Tires

Breaking news... we just bought two mountain bikes!  For a while I've been thinking about venturing off the pavement and onto some trails.  KT has also expressed an interest in some multi-terrain riding.  With her birthday coming up this Saturday, I bought her a Gary Fisher mountain bike as a birthday gift.  And, using some "rewards points" from work, I almost paid for my GF bike.

Daniel watching mom ride around the yard

on her new mountain bike. 

Hopefully we can make it out for a trail ride this Saturday.  In the meantime we have been riding around the yard like kids, along with our kid, and will probably make a trip over to the high school to play around on the bikes.

Before long I imagine we'll be buying

a mountain bike for this guy.

Top Down Approach

Here's a new idea I'm working on, it's my top down approach

to getting dressed for a morning commute.  :-)

If I'm going to ride to work, I like to set out my gear the night before in order to make a quick, mindless departure in the morning.  We're talking alarm clock sounds at 6:30 and I'm pedaling down the driveway by 6:40.  To accomplish this requires a game plan and my new game plan uses the basement steps.

On each step of the basement stairs I set a piece of apparel.  The items are arranged in the order they should be put on, planned out based on the weather forecast for tomorrow.  Simply enough, open the basement door, step down, put on item, step down, put on item, etc, etc, and by the time I reach the last step I should be ready to roll out, after grabbing my bike from around the corner and hiking back up stairs of course.  Minimal thinking is involved, which is good when I'm still half asleep from waking up only 4 minutes ago.

Tomorrow, if all goes as intended, will be my second usage of this method.  ;-)