First day of school

As incomprehensible and summer-stealingly ridiculous as it sounds, today, mathematically not quite halfway through August, is the first day of school. We made the most of it, and had a nice family ride to get there. Little sis was a bit confused, especially when we towed her big sister's bike home, due to after school activities that will preclude the possibility of riding home.

First solo ride on a two wheeler

First proud moments on her very first new bike.

Our little girl is growing up. This afternoon our nearly 20 month-old was hanging out with me in the bike barn. She took an interest in big sister's old Nutcase helmet, so I sized it up to her and put it on. Before I knew it, together we were assembling a brand new Strider bike that I had bought a while back to have on hand for her when she seemed ready to try a balance bike. That day was today.

I intentionally didn't want to push her into trying the bike. As it turns out, that wasn't my choice to make. When she realized the little red bike was her size and that it was meant for her, there was no holding her back. All I had to do was to help her get a leg over the seat, and she immediately started toddling the Strider down to the street.

I anticipated her interest would last only a minute or two. However, her initial excitement grew into enjoyment, even after a couple of slow-motion falls and a helmet change to her more familiar, lighter standard model. I ended up following her up and down the street for about half an hour.

Smiles and happy chatter.

The Strider is a very light weight, well-designed little bike.

It's amazing how instinctively a balance bike seems to mesh with even very young kids. She's not quite 20 months old, but instantly grasped how the bike worked, with her skills and confidence improving every minute spent on the bike. I know she is a while away from feet-up balancing and cruising. Yet, I'm certain she'll be a balance bike master by next summer, and will likely be on a pedal bike by this time next year. The only limitation will be whether I can find a pedal bike small enough for her to straddle.

Earlier in the day, we rode to the start of a local 5k. The Big Dummy and Julie's Breezer were the natural choices for transport, but we needed to bring our BOB stroller along with us, so I attached the BOB to the rear of the Dummy and pulled it as a trailer. The arrangement worked well, and drew a fair amount of attention as a pedal-powered road train.

Incidentally, today marks my 307th consecutive day of riding a bike. Most days, my rides have not been anything out of the ordinary. The vast majority of my biking days have included riding for utilitarian transportation purposes, a few have featured purely recreational rides, and nearly all have had some element of dog exercising via bike. I had stayed healthy nearly the entire duration of my streak thus far, which I credited with consistent riding. However, a bit more than a week ago I caught a cold that has yet to completely subside, so I suppose the bike/health correlation hypothesis is imperfect. Still, I don't plan to miss being on a bike every day, at least until I hit number 365.

Waterton Canyon family ride

The girls at the Waterton Canyon trailhead.

We went out on a grand family outing today, lasting much of the day. This ride was originally slated to happen yesterday, but a few things cropped up to delay it until today. Apart from the fact that it takes roughly the same amount of preparation for a ride like this as it did for the D-Day invasion of Europe, we missed certain windows of opportunity associated with nap time.

In any case, we were all loaded for this morning, and got to the trailhead at a good time, for us that is. However, the little issue of one of my crank arms nearly falling off almost resulted in disaster. I had decided to ride my single-speed Surly Cross-Check, and in preparation the previous day I'd swapped some 130 BCD cranks with a 46 tooth ring for some 110/74 BCD cranks with a 34 tooth ring. This was something that I'd been meaning to do for some time, but the prospect of towing a trailer uphill for several miles spurred me to action. Yet, apparently I had insufficiently tightened the non-drive side crank arm bolt, and the damn thing decided to mutiny on me after a few hundred yards. After a hurried trip to a bike shop for a wrench and a crank arm bolt, while I left girls temporarily stranded on the trail to have lunch, everything was once again in order. Off we went.

The shades are for speed.

My bean green, single-speed Surly Cross-Check as the tractor towing the Burley trailer.
Note the custom cowboy shirt sun shade. 

During the heat of the day, the shade of the canyon was refreshingly cool. We took our time, which, as anyone with kids will know is the only really viable plan of action, and stopped whenever we felt it necessary. It's a slight, but consistently uphill ride all the way to Strontia Springs Dam, and I new that maintaining positive morale among the ranks was essential if we had any chance of going all the way. Luckily, spirits remained high and muscles held out. It didn't hurt that the scenery was terrific and a light, pleasant breeze was working in our favor. The miles rolled by under our tires.

Rolling past ancient rock.

The Cross-Check tugging the trailer under a full head of steam.

Waterton Canyon is idyllic this time of year.

We had a bit more extended break at the bridge, where we snacked some more (thanks for the gingerbread, Oma), threw a few rocks in the water, and took some photos. It's easy to get used to being out of town with some dirt beneath our feet.

The convoy taking a break.

A rare photo of the whole crew captured in one shot.

Me and the girls. I'm happily Semi-Rad today, and actually living up to it.
For what it's worth, I'm definitely in favor of doing over watching.

This can be taken at face value.

The girls. Yes, we're living the dream.

We made it to the top with everyone still smiling, with the exception of the baby who was happily snoozing away. It seems like she's always slept a bit better with a little bit of jostling, whether in a stroller or in the bike trailer. Big sister showed her climbing prowess by sprinting the last several hundred meters just before we stopped for a little rest at the turnaround spot near the dam. Then she got off her bike and climbed any rock she could find. This girl is a climbing fiend.

The whole crew assembled in the complimentary self-portrait mirror thoughtfully installed along the trail. 

A friendly little flying beetle of some sort. Can you I.D. it Tarik?

A couple of sisters having a good time.

Getting down the fundamentals of drinking out of a bike bottle.

Boulder, conquered.

The girls in front of the Strontia Springs Dam.

On the way back down, we got to enjoy the fruits of our labors, alternating between coasting and pedaling for miles. Initially, big sister sought out any ruts or washboards she could find, because as she noted, "I like the bumps." After a while, she concentrated on speed, finding the smoothest parts of the gravel road. She also discovered the 'aero' position by crouching behind her handlebars. I must say that she can scrunch down into a pretty small profile; not much of a target for the wind to hit.  She really cooked up some speed.

Coasting.

Speed demons.

Just when you're least expecting it... 

...she springs into attack mode.

The views along the canyon continued to be impressive, even more so into the late afternoon. A few clouds moved in and diffused the light in ways that neither my camera nor limited photographic talent could capture. When we were most of the way down, we encountered a small group of bighorn sheep grazing along the banks of the South Platte River. A little further down, we saw several mule deer crossing ahead of us.

It's hard to top views like this...

...or this.

This sheep was sporting a radio collar.

They seemed not to be concerned with the human users of the trail.

On the other hand, the deer remained more aloof.

By the time we got back to the trailhead, we had logged about 12 miles. This was a milestone ride for a lot of reasons. It was little sister's first trail ride and longest ride ever. It was her's longest ride while riding on her own bike. It was Julie's longest ride in probably about 10 years. In addition, she also acknowledged that it wouldn't be bad to have a bike with fatter tires for these types of rides, so I may have a to put together a mountain bike for her.

As for me, it was my first ride in which I packed up the whole family in the van to go to a trailhead, as opposed to just leaving our house on bikes. Ordinarily, I am not strongly in favor of driving somewhere to ride. However, in the end, driving was worth it. We've got great places to ride immediately adjacent to our neighborhood, but it wouldn't have been feasible to leave from our house on bikes and get to Waterton Canyon. Perhaps in a few years things will be different. In the mean time, I foresee quite a few more rides like this one, where we are able to explore more of the family friendly trails in our part of the world.

As a postscript, after we got home, we encountered another milestone. Lil' sis did a number of perfect, stiff as a board, Marine Corps pushups and seemingly tried to figure out how to coordinate her arms and legs in a locomotive motion. She is likely only a short time away from crawling. We're simultaneously excited and frantic about the prospect of a self-mobile baby in our not yet fully baby-proofed house.

This kid will be crawling in no time.

Labor Day picnic ride on the High Line Canal trail

View from the Big Dummy.

I'm not ready to acquiesce to the common perception that Labor Day is the end of Summer. It just doesn't feel like it. For the past week or more, the temperatures have been in the 80s and 90s, and look to maintain at roughly that level for some time. Besides, the calendar says it's still Summer until September 22, and I'm sticking with that date.

Regardless of my peculiarities with acceptance of seasonal change, the rest of the family seemed ready for a ride. With the day off from work and school, we assembled the necessary items to have a nice ride to a favorite picnic spot. While I was packing the cooler, filling water bottles, and checking tire inflation, Julie made sure that the baby's fuel tank was topped off. Lil Sis has recently taken up the big girl pursuit of eating food. On the menu today was a first experience with carrots, followed by sweet potatoes, the old standby of her food eating career, which now spans a little more than a week.

The only problem she has with eating is when the spoonfuls don't arrive quickly enough.

Once we were loaded and fueled, we hit the trail. We selected the High Line Canal trail as the focal point of the day. The High Line Canal trail system meanders about 66 miles throughout the Denver Metro area, beginning at the outlet of Waterton Canyon, where just a couple of days ago Nicholas and Lael entered the Colorado Trail. The High Line Canal system is one of the best easy recreational features of the region, and has a long history in the development of Denver and surrounding communities.

The canal and a parallel maintenance trail were originally built in 1883 for the purpose of agricultural irrigation. As agriculture gave way to urban development in the modern era, the canal is only intermittently filled with water, but the trail has become the premier non-paved trail system in the metropolitan area. Because the trail runs parallel to the canal, any changes in elevation are very slight. The trail only occasionally intersects with streets with motorized traffic, and often underpasses have been constructed to facilitate crossing major roads. Parks and recreational facilities are located throughout much of its length. Additionally, the High Line Canal has long supported more vegetation than ordinarily occurs in our semi-arid region, meaning that much of the trail is shaded by Cottonwood and various other trees lining its course. All of these features make the High Line Canal trail an excellent choice for recreational family riding.

Our little bike convoy cruising along the High Line Canal trail.

Shady parking for the trail train.

Hungry riders chowing down, while an alert dog makes sure nothing goes to waste.

Most of Denver and its suburbs have views of the mountains of the Front Range. Though peaks and forests may appear to be crystal clear and not too distant, for us, the mountains and even the foothills are just too far away to be readily accessible without hopping in a car. Little verdant oases like those sprinkled along the High Line Canal trail and elsewhere within our part of the metro area are easily accessible by bike, and allow us to feel as though we got away from the city, at least for a little while.

Our first objective was lunch, and as I was carrying the bulk of the food, I was more than happy to redistribute it to everyone else. After putting a big dent in the food, we spent some time looking at crayfish and other aquatic life while cooling off near a section of Big Dry Creek. During the heat of the day, finding a little bit of water for cooling off makes a ride just that much more fun. Both human and canine components of our group took advantage.

Darting little fish hide in the shady outcroppings along the banks of Big Dry Creek.

For a cattle dog mix, presumably with an ancestry in parched, landlocked environs, Scout sure seems to enjoy being in water.

Smiling in a snazzy bike outfit, thanks to the ever stylish Fixed Gal.

There were plenty of people out on the trails today, many of them riding bikes. From an informal accounting, the majority of bikes seen were mountain bikes of multiple vintage, but a wide range of other variants were represented. Single-speed cruisers, skinny-tired road bikes, and recumbent trikes, all plied the unpaved trail.

However, our bikes, loaded with kids and equipment, a sizable cooler, various picnic paraphernalia, and a dog pacing alongside, still deviated noticeably from the norm. After four years, the Big Dummy still draws about as many looks and questions as it did when it was new. Julie's Breezer Villager is now more than 7 years old, and remains her favorite bike of all time. It has a comfortable upright riding style that is perfect for her purposes, and has required remarkably low maintenance. It's just about the perfect Mommy bike.

The Surly Big Dummy continues to be a do-it-all family truckster of a bike.

The Breezer Villager carrying its share of the load.

As we took our time, alternately riding and stopping to check out playground equipment, we started to get hot. At some point, some of us began to accurately predict when "rain" might selectively shower individuals in our group. Of course, the source of these showers was quickly found to be errant streams from water bottles, arched just right to drench unsuspecting riders. This degenerated into an all out soaking of everyone involved, with some protest but little complaint.

Just prior to a full-scale escalation into a water fight.

Scout knows that at the end of every ride...

... a welcome dip in her water tub is awaiting.

So, that was the bulk of our Labor Day. Just remember, Summer is not over. Here's to its continuation for at least the next 19 days.

Our girls, little and big. Ages 6 months and 7 years, respectively.

Lest the occasion slip by unnoticed, welcome to the double 20-year old club, Jennie. Drinks are on me, next time you're around.