On Tuesday I led the Tuesday Night Ride for the Harmon Bike Club (join us, 5:30pm at The Hub.) While we were queuing up, a gentleman came out and reminded us that the Ride4US is taking place at Point Defiance Park on Saturday. This "all-volunteer charity raises funds to purchase ultrasound machines for pregnancy centers who provide entirely free services for as long as care is needed." I'm going to take the girls in the trailer for the 5-mile ride, free pancake breakfast, and bouncy toys. We were told that the longest route (62 miles) is the toughest metric century in the South Sound. There's also a walk and a motorcycle rally - talk about covering all of the bases!I made it home from the ride with just enough daylight left for Gwen's maiden voyage on the trail-a-bike. We traded someone two panniers for it (Chris, I think we both got a good deal!) and it works great. I can't tell you how excited she was to be pedaling with me. She was very chatty as we did a short loop around the neighborhood.
The next night we started a little earlier and went for a 3 mile ride in our matching reflective vests. She takes being "a real bike rider" very seriously, we even had to stop so she could stretch. However, for someone who used to yell at me for going more than about 10 mph on our Xtracycle, she now loves going fast on the down-hills.
The positive experience with the trail-a-bike gives me hope that we may one day go on an epic family bike tour, like this family that was featured in today's News Tribune. They took their 9-year old son on a 4000+ mile ride from Shelton, WA, to Washington, D.C.
Until then, we'll keep pushing the pedals around town.
5 comments:
Totally great! My Izabella was excited to see someone enjoying the Trail-A-Bike. She said she didn't like going fast until riding the Trail A Bike as well. So stoked to see it working out for you. The panniers work great! Good trade!
C@TRH
Nice pictures. Good that you and Gwen have some big kid time on the bikes. The rain coats look like they fit pretty good. Take care, Cheers! mom
I am all for a good trade or barter. Since we hads twins first & then another when the twins were just about 3, we never considered the trail-a-bike. I sometimes feel a bit bad that my guys missed that experience (although we could consider it with #3 who just turned four). Anyhoo-- so cool to see your various set-ups and read the blog from the family cyclists you linked. Inspiring. Might be a bit harder to do as a family of five however. Perhaps a tandem and this http://community.bikefriday.com/image/view/1963/_original# ?
The Madsen is just the perfect "bike to preschool" bike. We just finished day 2. :-)
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