Monday, July 11, 2011

Family Bike Ride


On the same week that we bought Kaden his first bike I took him across the river to pick up a bike trailer from a friend. It is not the greatest picture in the world, but you can see him in tow above. Post first bike ride he was not immediately sold on riding in the trail. When we showed him were he could put snacks and a drink though he was all in.

When he got up from is nap that same day we pulled our bikes out to the street and hooked up the trail. It was awkward at first. Backing up my bike was a pain. Getting started on a hill was too. Both of which I tried to do from the start. For the first four miles I was super nervous. Feeling out how wide the trail was. Trying to avoid pot holes for two of us and keeping my cadence smooth.

Eventually I got it, but not without a few lingering complaints. My heel sticks back far enough to rub the connector where the trailer attaches to my frame. If I don't want to scuff it on every pass (hint: I don't), then I have to turn my left heel out slightly to avoid it. Which lead to a little bit of knee joint pain post ride. If I can get over the shoe rubbing I will still have to deal with the biggest flaw of the trailer though.

It is like pulling a giant Lego block. Scratch that a square parachute. It is an aerodynamic mess. What feels like the effort of a 16 mph pace ride, but we are really going 12 mph. I have to work my butt off to keep it going. Hills are the worst, clicking down to my middle ring for stuff I could power up at 18-20 normally. I don't think we will ever take it on a 30-40 mile trip, but it was still really fun.

We spun our way over to my parents house first. He got out and visited with them for a while and we were back on the road. Our next stop was Moe's for a light dinner. Kaden was tickled pink that we rode our bikes there and got to sit next to them outside while we ate. Following dinner we stopped a playground and let him get out and burn some energy. Our first ride ended up being a 13 mile out a back test run, that really was a ton of fun. I could use the exercise.

2 comments:

Grant said...

Really cool that you got a trailer. Maybe a small bit of trailer modification is in order to make it not rub your heel? Could you post a picture?

Wreck said...

I'll snap one for sure when I get back from the beach.

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