Sorry for everyone in the great white north, but yesterday here it was about 70 degrees, crystal clear sky, little to no humidity and maybe a 5 knot wind, so my kids and I decided to go out riding. We took the mountain bikes out and after about 2 hours or so of what we call "adventures" (riding in parking garages, playing follow the leader through obstacles on the university campus, "farting" tires - when you ride up and bump nobbies with the rider in front of you and they make a noise) we headed back to the house.
On our way back home we went through a park which had been undergoing some renovations so there were several ruts from the machinery and several of them were full of water. Well... my 7-year old "accidentally" rode (as in left the bike path and rode about 20 feet through the grass away from the path) into the edge of a mudhole. The bike got a little muddy and he had spray on his back and was smiling ear-to-ear.
Then, of course, my 9-year-old asked if she too could ride through, and I thought "OK... what the heck!" Well... lets just say that they continued at this until they found the thickest muddiest nastiest way through and at several points had to dig mud out of their brakes and wheels because they wouldn't turn anymore. Needless to say that they were no longer identifiable as my particular children and it was pretty hard to see that the bikes were red anymore!
Then my daughter began to beg me to join in the wallowing and of course I said "no". I mean... I'm 42 years old, and all ;-) Then I thought to myself: "you know... what the hell... why not?!" I got a good head of steam, aimed right at the deepest, thickest, nastiest part of that hole and blasted right through it!
Well, to make a long story short I kept at it until I too, was only identifiable as the taller of the three monsters from the black lagoon. By that time we had attracted quite a crowd of people enjoying the beautiful weather, and they all had smiles on their faces, living vicariously though our enjoyment.
As we rode home and occasionally passed people (not too closely because we were throwing off a wicked amount of mud from our bikes and wheels) they would break into a huge smile when we got close and saw all the mud (and I'm sure my white teeth stood out on my muddy face!).
As we were in the driveway, all coated in mud, spraying off our bikes, I thought to myself that I don't think I've ever had as much fun on a bike in my life, and promised the kids that WE would do it again!
___________________________________
http://irondad06.blogspot.com/
http://irondad.blogspot.com/
On our way back home we went through a park which had been undergoing some renovations so there were several ruts from the machinery and several of them were full of water. Well... my 7-year old "accidentally" rode (as in left the bike path and rode about 20 feet through the grass away from the path) into the edge of a mudhole. The bike got a little muddy and he had spray on his back and was smiling ear-to-ear.
Then, of course, my 9-year-old asked if she too could ride through, and I thought "OK... what the heck!" Well... lets just say that they continued at this until they found the thickest muddiest nastiest way through and at several points had to dig mud out of their brakes and wheels because they wouldn't turn anymore. Needless to say that they were no longer identifiable as my particular children and it was pretty hard to see that the bikes were red anymore!
Then my daughter began to beg me to join in the wallowing and of course I said "no". I mean... I'm 42 years old, and all ;-) Then I thought to myself: "you know... what the hell... why not?!" I got a good head of steam, aimed right at the deepest, thickest, nastiest part of that hole and blasted right through it!
Well, to make a long story short I kept at it until I too, was only identifiable as the taller of the three monsters from the black lagoon. By that time we had attracted quite a crowd of people enjoying the beautiful weather, and they all had smiles on their faces, living vicariously though our enjoyment.
As we rode home and occasionally passed people (not too closely because we were throwing off a wicked amount of mud from our bikes and wheels) they would break into a huge smile when we got close and saw all the mud (and I'm sure my white teeth stood out on my muddy face!).
As we were in the driveway, all coated in mud, spraying off our bikes, I thought to myself that I don't think I've ever had as much fun on a bike in my life, and promised the kids that WE would do it again!
___________________________________
http://irondad06.blogspot.com/
http://irondad.blogspot.com/