the pied piper, revisited
A while ago I blogged about my new bicycling recruits, all under the age of 16. Well, it's fallen off a little. I'll keep the same names for consistency's sake, but the group has dwindled to Me and Bob and our kids. The others like the concept, but don't like getting up early on a Saturday morning to ride, and as we head into summer when the temperature climbs into the 90's in the afternoon, early on a Saturday is the only time to train.
Bob's sons, Ishmail and Seymour both have bikes now. Bob took his boys out for 20 miles last weekend while I was working, so we discussed this weekend. He said he didn't think Seymour, the younger of the two and the one who really just started riding, was good for any more than 20 miles, yet. Ishmail probably wasn't ready to go much farther either. Still, Bob and I are doing 100 miles in a few weeks for the Tour de Cure, so we need to go farther for training. The plan was...we'll get up early and take the youngster, Ishmail and Seymour on a route we knew to be 23 miles. Then we'd drop the boys off and go farther on our own. We decided we'd go east and cross the intracoastal waterway bridge to the beach.
So we got up. After a lot of organizational work (dad, where's my water bottle...does anyone else need a granola bar...has anyone seen my sunglasses) we were finally off. We got most of the way through the 23 miles when Ishmail started asking questions. How far are you going without us? You're going over that bridge? Can we go? I started explaining that the bridge is pretty big, and once you cross it, you have to cross it again to get home, and it's quite a climb. He was undaunted.
By the time we got back home with the kids, the plan had changed. Ishmail and the youngster we coming to the beach with us. I wasn't worried about the youngster. He's done that bridge before, more than once. Ishmail though, I thought was biting off more than he was ready for.
I was wrong. Ishmail got over the bridge...twice...and made it back home. The little man was determined, and it was pretty cool to see. Granted, he was wiped out when he got home, but he made it...for a total of about 51 miles on the morning, easily the farthest he's ever been on a bike, and impressing the hell out of both me and his dad. The youngster passed me going up the bridge...both ways...showing that the kid is getting better at this than his old man. I knew that day was coming. I just didn't know it was here already.
Bob's sons, Ishmail and Seymour both have bikes now. Bob took his boys out for 20 miles last weekend while I was working, so we discussed this weekend. He said he didn't think Seymour, the younger of the two and the one who really just started riding, was good for any more than 20 miles, yet. Ishmail probably wasn't ready to go much farther either. Still, Bob and I are doing 100 miles in a few weeks for the Tour de Cure, so we need to go farther for training. The plan was...we'll get up early and take the youngster, Ishmail and Seymour on a route we knew to be 23 miles. Then we'd drop the boys off and go farther on our own. We decided we'd go east and cross the intracoastal waterway bridge to the beach.
So we got up. After a lot of organizational work (dad, where's my water bottle...does anyone else need a granola bar...has anyone seen my sunglasses) we were finally off. We got most of the way through the 23 miles when Ishmail started asking questions. How far are you going without us? You're going over that bridge? Can we go? I started explaining that the bridge is pretty big, and once you cross it, you have to cross it again to get home, and it's quite a climb. He was undaunted.
By the time we got back home with the kids, the plan had changed. Ishmail and the youngster we coming to the beach with us. I wasn't worried about the youngster. He's done that bridge before, more than once. Ishmail though, I thought was biting off more than he was ready for.
I was wrong. Ishmail got over the bridge...twice...and made it back home. The little man was determined, and it was pretty cool to see. Granted, he was wiped out when he got home, but he made it...for a total of about 51 miles on the morning, easily the farthest he's ever been on a bike, and impressing the hell out of both me and his dad. The youngster passed me going up the bridge...both ways...showing that the kid is getting better at this than his old man. I knew that day was coming. I just didn't know it was here already.
Labels: potpourri
John put this out here at 7:53 AM
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