This photo is from April 18th, which marked the first road ride for DD. She & I took it pretty easy, starting with the straight shot down Columns Drive, a 2.5 mile road which ends at a section of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. Columns has clearly marked bike lanes, and often has more bike and foot traffic than cars, which makes it the perfect place to start.
Went over all the rules in advance. Don't panic, was my first one. I knew she'd be nervous and trying to turn around to look at cars she could hear behind us. Cars go around us; we go around pedestrians. Always a helmet, no headphones, and the signal for a left hand turn, which was the one we'd be making at the top end of the street.
Full length of Columns, one complete loop of 5k sand/gravel path at Cochran Shoals, followed by a second, smaller loop of 2 miles, then back down Columns to the parking area. Total trip, 10.25 miles, five of which were road.
And, this past weekend, the newly minted 8-year-old gained serious bragging rights over her older brothers with a 20.23 mile ride on the Silver Comet Trail. Only complaining was about not being able to snack on her pack of Soda Shop Jelly Belly Beans except when we stopped for breaks. We also talked about getting her a kids pair of cycling shorts, since she wants to do more 2-3 hour rides with me in the future. (And, she wants a cupcake jersey.) Next year, she'll need to be on her own bike, or we'll need to purchase an actual tandem cycle. That trail-a-bike is awfully heavy, especially once you add 60 lbs of girl.
Next weekend, B2 and I will be running in the Big Peach 5k while the rest of the family is out of town. He's not a fan of the 1-mile fun runs at many of the 5/10k races, but we found out the day of the Run the Reagan Half Marathon, 10k & 5k that he enjoys the 5k distance. Both of us are looking forward to Saturday.
Which reminds me, I need to hop onto Active.com and get him signed up. (I signed up several weeks ago, before travel plans for the spring birthday trip were complete.)
2 comments:
Congrats to DD--a great accomplishment. I just started thinking about how the heck I am going to control the twins on their first real ride in a few years. Yikes...
You'll get through it the same way our parents did - lots of safety lectures and quiet prayers. There'll just need to be twice as much of both... or do you need to figure exponential with twins, rather than simple doubling?
Of course, you'll go beyond that and get bike helmets, which is something parents didn't even think about 30 years ago.
Post a Comment