First bike ride for our little one

Scout inspects the Burley hitched to the Titan.

Today, the weather was so beautiful that I was inspired to dig the old Burley trailer out of the garage. It hasn't had a lot of use since I got the Big Dummy, but it is well suited for certain purposes. In this case, the goal was to take Lil Sis on her first ride. After a bit of work, the trailer was clean enough and the tires were aired up. We were ready to go.

Contemplating her surroundings.

The car seat was a tight squeeze in the single-seat Burley, but I made it work. Soon, the whole family was under way on our trip to the park. I pulled the trailer with my old Titan, while Scout trotted along with me on my left and big sister rode on my right. Mommy followed closely behind to provide reports of the baby's ride experience. It seems as though she liked it, and was soon gently jostled to sleep.

Our big girl just lost one of her upper front teeth yesterday.

We were soon at out favorite local park. We rode the trails and made a couple of loops around the big grassy field. After a while, the shade of a big tree lured us in to rest on the grass for an hour or so while the baby slept.

The girls hanging with the old man.

A couple of youngsters achieving high-speed, low-altitude orbit in the field.

Scout has turned out to be quite a biker dog. She'll happily trot beside me for miles.

Mommy resting. It was her first bike ride in quite some time.

The beauty of the day continued into the evening. Of course, this necessitated a meal in the back yard. It turned out to be the first traditional summer barbeque of the year. I know that the weather system is all screwed up and that late April shouldn't be as nice as this, but it sure is hard to complain. There may be plenty of time for complaints if July and August turn out to be crispier than usual.

Using her remaining choppers to take divots out of a cob of corn.

We've had successive nests of House Finches on our back porch for the past six years. These little guys were enjoying tag team feedings from their parents. I know all too well how the parents feel.

6 weeks today

Smiling, for now.

BDD, Ph.D.

A blurry self portrait.

Lucky Denver B-cycle number 100.

I successfully defended my dissertation today. I've enjoyed the ride of being a student, but am grateful to be able to move on to the next stage of my life. Even better, the next stage will allow me to investigate an even wider range of the effects of bicycle use.

Thanks to the many people in the Denver bicycle community and elsewhere who have helped me along the way.

Dirt biker!

Biking with a daughter and a dogter

A couple of kids; one each of the furry and not-as-furry varieties.

It's the middle of Spring Break, so we took a chance to catch some sun. There are some decent dirt trails at a large open space a couple of miles away, so we packed a lunch and made it into a half day adventure. 

At this point, one had gotten wet, but the other was still dry.

In addition to trails, another attraction was a stream with some great little sandy alcoves to explore. The enjoyment of racing twigs downstream and digging holes in sand seems to transcend species and generations. 

Need a volunteer to help out with that sandwich?

She likes to be the leader.

The springtime has brought out an abundance of flora and fauna. We found quite a bit of wildlife, including aquatic creatures.

This was quite a large crayfish with an impressively big green claw.

This wild creature was newly discovered to be a water lover.

I almost forgot to mention that Scout has become quite a bike dog, and happily runs along on a leash and harness next to me. She's got great endurance and we can go for five or six miles at a time. I still need to build her a rig to ride on the Big Dummy for longer distances and greater speeds.

Proof of the biker dog.

We got home just in time to help Lil Sis with a bath.