Reptile encounter

I initially perceived it as a stick and rolled right past, luckily just missing riding over the head of a big bull snake sunning itself in the middle of the trail.

Big Sis, following a little behind, saw what happened and was less than interested in making a close encounter. However, she was brave enough to provide a cautious smile and pose for scale. The snake was approximately as long as the girl is tall, which is quite a big snake for our little corner of suburbia.

We later saw a small garter snake (alive), another small garter snake (dead), and a shedded garter snake skin, but none left quite the same impression. In all, it was a good ride and a pleasant Memorial Day.

Adios, 2014

Whatever width of rubber you prefer, may you keep it rolling in 2015.

Happy Halloween

Summer Solstice

A couple of days ago we took advantage of the longest day of the year to ride to the park in the late evening. Inevitably, a little dog piling ensued in the freshly cut grass. It would be difficult to not enjoy a place and time like this. Photos by Julie, aka Little 29er Mommy.

Gratuitous cute kid pics, with a fatbike thrown in for good measure

This evening, the girls were ready early for trick-or-treating.

October has been sparse in activity here, but not in real-life activity. Rest assured things have been quite busy around the old bike ranch, so busy in fact that this oft neglected blog has once again nearly shriveled up. So, to make up for the neglect, at least in part, the following are a bunch of photos that are chock full of seasonal flavor. Enjoy!

To start, a couple of weeks ago, our local farm had its annual pumpkin patch sale. As has been the case in the past few years, it was a cold, wet, muddy event. We quickly dashed in, grabbed our pumpkin and got out.

Our furry little creature seems to enjoy sharing the ride with a large vegetable.

We braved the drizzle long enough to have a little fun along the way.

A week or so later, the weather was nicer. I took the opportunity to test out the Daddying capabilities of the Pugsley. The results were quite positive, however riding in rain or dust would undoubtedly result in dirty, unhappy conditions for anyone riding in the trailer. A nice layer of snow, on the other hand might be different. I have a set of kid-sized skis that quite likely have a future in place of the wheels on the Burley trailer at some point this winter. A fatbike pulling a ski trailer is something that I haven't yet seen anywhere else. You are correct in determining that my benefactors at the National Science Foundation are getting their money's worth out of me. They encourage us to color outside the lines.

Pugsley power. How does Big Fat Dummy Daddy sound?

Aww, how cute.

Scout has been with us for 11 months now, and is a changed, confident dog.
Though, we haven't mastered 'sit' or many other non-bike related commands quite yet.

Last night, we finally got around to pumpkin carving. Big Sis drafted the plans and I did the knife work. She decided to go with a classic design, talking of the design process of the mean girls who drew on Charlie Brown's head during It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Deftly, I avoided volunteering my sparsely haired, pumpkin-sized head as drawing material. By the way, this year's airing of The Great Pumpkin was asininely scheduled on Halloween night at 7:00 by the brainiacs at ABC. Don't they realize that's exactly the wrong time to air a traditional Halloween special, because no one will be at home to see it? This conflict is obvious to everyone except a network executive, apparently.

In any case, I'll have to say that the results of our pumpkin project turned out quite good. As is the case with most farm-raised pumpkins, the seeds were perfect for roasting.

This is what happens to eyes when a flash illuminates an otherwise completely darkened room.

The girls' eyes aren't so bugged out in a room with the lights on.

This morning, the girls were up early to get ready for the day-long sugar fest that is Halloween. I continue to be astonished at how the holiday is an entirely different experience as a parent. I confess that Halloween and Valentine's Day are not as popular with me as I edge ever closer into becoming a grumpy old man.

The costumes turned out pretty good this year. Julie sourced the pumpkin costume and parts of the Word Girl costume. As the seamstress of the family, I sewed the satiny cape and constructed the Word Girl emblem on the red shirt. Her venerable red rain boots filled the role as superhero boots. For those who aren't parents or at least viewers of afternoon PBS programs, Word Girl is actually a quite entertaining and intelligently written show that is a gem among programs aimed at children. It's well worth checking out, especially for the quirky villains.

All dressed up and ready to go. 

Our little pumpkin.

Word Girl is ready to fly.

This coming weekend is fatbike Halloween for the Denver area. At least, that's what I expect the Unicorn Petting Zoo as advertised by Surly and Salvagetti to approximate. I'll bet on more beer and fewer pumpkins, however. I plan to make my way over to meet some of the Surly goofballs from the mothership, rub elbows with many of my fellow fatbike colleagues from the region, and throw a leg over a Krampus or two. If I survive the encounter, you can count on a report right here at some point in the future. That is all.

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.

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.

Mother's Day weekend

The loss of a second tooth has made corn on the cob more of a challenge.

Even the most casual reader may have noticed that this blog has remained dormant for some time. The lack of activity herewith closely coincides with a recent tenacious string of illnesses that I have endured, culminating in sinusitis and bronchitis, neither of which I can wholeheartedly recommend. However, I am starting to feel better even as I continue to hack phlegm and eject mucus. On that happy vision, I present the following photos to show some of the highlights of this weekend made possible by terrific weather.

Following the first backyard barbeque of the year, the perfect Saturday evening called for an after dinner ride around the neighborhood and a local park. The day had reached in excess of 80F, which seems fairly hot for this time of year.

The air temperature was perfect; the only detraction being intermittent clouds of gnats at eye level. After a brief stop, we decided to venture away from the lake where the gnats seemed to concentrate.

Vamping for the camera.

The view from the reverse features the setting sun over the lake.

For this ride I chose my Surly Cross Check, a bike that has been under-ridden in recent years, mostly because my Big Dummy is usually just too convenient. However, it's worth the effort to grab the Cross Check, because it is a great bike in its current configuration as a very clean and mild-mannered single speed. It being a single speed placed me on the same footing as our girl on her bike, and in my depleted state I struggled to keep up at times.

The blur in the distance is our little hot rod.

This morning, she and I presented Mommy with breakfast in bed. I think it was appreciated. Afterwards, among other things we had a nice ride, although the 85F heat seemed to melt us at times. In all, not a bad way to spend the weekend.

Carrying carefully.

The clock is in fact displaying double digits. Good for us all.