Platte River Trail ride

Be-bopping to her own music down the trail, comme d'habitude.

Earlier this week my daughter and I took a ride with friends David, Joel and Drew along the Platte River Trail. It was sort of a Bike Daddy day with an orbiting squadron of kids. The ride was a bit of an ambitious distance, as it was likely Joel's longest to date, and among her longer rides this year. The two of them ended up riding a straight shot of a bit over three miles in total, an impressive figure considering their stature.

View aft of Joel burning up the track.

Drew rode in the trailer pulled by David, whose impressive tractor rig was an '89 Rockhopper with a fixed gear. At times he had two kids and a bike strapped to the trailer, quite a load to handle with one gear and no coasting. However, he pulled off the challenge with aplomb.

A venerable old Rockhopper revamped as a fixie. A laconic definition of the term bombproof.

After a nice breakfast along the way, the kids decided to become passengers for the return trip. As a bit of a changeup, Joel rode with me on the Dummy and seemed to enjoy the experience. He was a good co-pilot and was happy to oblige in ringing the bells whenever the situation warranted.

My cheerful co-pilot for the return trip.

After we parted ways, she and I took the long route home along the Lee Gulch Trail. The Platte River Trail had been fairly busy with weekend warriors and folks out for the holiday, but apart from a few runners and an occasional group bicyclist, we had Lee Gulch for ourselves. It's a scenic connector to the Highline Canal Trail with a nice crusher fine surface. Because I ride mostly on the street for transportation purposes, it's sometimes easy to forget how many great trails there are in the metro area.

Trail riding is the perfect opportunity for a post breakfast snack on the back of the Big Dummy.

By the time we got home the Dummy had logged about 15 miles for the morning. We then launched into some yard work and she taught herself how to climb a tree.

"I'm taller than you, Daddy!" was proclaimed for all to hear.

Our girl on a fixed gear bicycle

This title won't necessarily lead to a story quite along the lines about what you might be thinking, especially you Fixed gal, but it does indeed feature our girl on a fixie.

Last evening, after our adventures with kindergarten we went to the Littleton Historical Museum, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary. The museum is always an interesting place, as it is a working farm depicting agrarian life in the settings of the 1860s and the 1890s. Because of the celebration the museum brought out some items and exhibits I'd not previously seen. Something that immediately caught my attention was a vintage safety bicycle ridden by a woman in period costume.

Early bicycles and bloomers were an escape from the tyranny of corsets

Of course we quickly sought out the bike for a closer inspection. She bubbled right up to the woman who was riding it and made a friend. As promised, this is where we get to the her on a fixed gear bicycle part of the story:

She'll be able to reach the pedals in in a year or two

According to the head badge the bike was a Romona, built in Indianapolis in 1897. It featured wooden rims, a skirt guard and coasting pegs on the fork crown. The bike apparently came from the large collection of Victorian era bicycles at Golden Oldy Cyclery.

It's too bad head badges aren't still a central fixture of a bike

Looking over the bike up close I began to ponder, with exception to some materials and manufacturing techniques, how little in bicycle design has really changed with the passage of 113 years. Since the time this bike was built, subsequent bikes have been tweaked for lower weight or higher speed, but have never really been fundamentally altered. Right now with the reemergence in popularity of utility bikes and fixies, this bike wouldn't look out of place parked in front of any coffee shop in 2010.

In the past as now, bikes are the perfect way to enjoy a summer evening following a hot day. We took advantage of the cooler air with a slightly extended ride home. 

Aglow in the twilight