National Bike to School Day

On the way to school this morning.

Proud girl ready for the ride home.

Hey Daddy, I want to ride every day

Shortly before making the statement that is the title of this post.

We've been putting in a lot of miles recently, riding all over the place. This activity is due in part to a streak of terrific spring/early summer weather, and in part as an adjustment to my repatriation as a citizen of humanity. Big Sis and Scout in particular have been my avid riding buddies. We'll do our best to ride every day.

Check out that rig. The circus must be in town.

The caboose operator is asleep on duty at the end of the road train.

I've become adept at juggling. I simultaneously manage a Big Dummy with an attached Burley trailer and diminutive occupant, keep a tethered dog in check, and issue air traffic control orders to an orbiting speedster with a skid-happy brake lever. Overall, the whole operation moves surprisingly smoothly. Regardless, people often stop and stare as we go by. I'm convinced it's because they wish they were doing what we're doing.

Scout takes a Denver B-cycle ride.

She didn't think twice about trotting along beside me on an unknown bike. The transition to biker dog is complete.

I suppose this marketing effort is targeting the generation who grew up in the '70s. Works for me.

When we're not riding, we're walking. The lake in the park is flush with newly hatched chicks. The girls were focused on the goslings, but reasons likely varied by species among the observers.

All eyes on the goslings.

Vigilant parents.

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.