Adventures in biking...and such

I do love me some adventures. Not necessarily the crazy, wild, hard-core sort (though I like some of those too, at least i did in the past) but more the real raw, pee your pants laughing kind of quirky stuff that follows me where I go. Well it used to follow me quite often, though I must say my adventures have turned a bit more mundane as of late. This weekend's adventure included things like running a mother's day 5 k and crossing the finish with Wills hand in mine as I smiled for the camera, after which Chad whispered "did you pee your pants!?" followed by me "well just a little when I was pushing it at the end there"...followed by him noting "well it doesn't look like just a little!!" Followed by me looking down!! and then wrapping myself in the Ergo baby carrier. dang gray running pants...don't hide a thing!)

I had a goal for mother's day to find some single track to ride. This used to be a quite easy task, but now as we live in these flat lands east of Denver it's a bit of a challenge. My great trail finding husband felt we could take both kids (will on his 2 wheeler and ruby in the Chariot...or Will AND Ruby AND Wills 2-wheeler pulled by the Chariot) ride east and find some lovely single track (flat, but lovely). So we rode. Will whined. He pulled it together. He whined again. I told him the story of when I first got my mountain bike and decided to go on a 100 mile mt bike ride in Moab w/ a group of professional mt. bike riders (okay. they weren't all pros, just 3 of 9 of them- thank goodness Chad didn't allow me to put that granny cushion on the seat that I though would cushion my tush for 100miles of riding over 3 short days--it really would have looked ridiculous). I told Will about how we started out on the pavement and I huffed and puffed a bit, but thought it wasn't so bad....though then I realized this wasn't even part of the ride. I told him how we dropped in and the down hill was rocky and fast and I sucked it up to look like a bad ass a hard-core rider I could hang. Then I told him about all of that sand we had to ride through (it was Canyonlands after all). I told him how I wanted to whine. (and I did a little to Chad who always sees my worst side- sorry honey). And then I told him how sore my butt was...and then I told him how I biked up "hogback" mountain, (at day 2) and walked part of it and it felt really hard! Then I sped up the story and said in the end I almost kept up (with the pros...when they were tuckered out and not trying so hard) and how it felt good. Then I told him about the Engine that Could. Then Will pushed it, rode up the hill, stopped whining for a few minutes....and then he got in the Chariot and rode with Ruby. Finally, about an hour into the ride (with only 1 diaper and 2 packages of baby food snacks and no water b/c I had cross-threaded the water bottle and it leaked all over the Chariot floor) we realized it was almost 5 pm. I spotted some single track. It was in the trees and near a creek. Although it was flat, there were some rolling hills and some rocks. I rode for a few minutes and smiled...then asked Will if he wanted to hope on. It was mother's day and we both rode on some single track together for about 126feet before Will spotted some rocks and a down hill and melted down, and (in a distance on the path) Ruby spotted rocks on the ground and wanted out so she melted down. We tried to load up the kids and head back home...but we (and the biker that passed us while cringing from our noise) could all see it wasn't going to work. So I sat on the trail and fed Ruby as Will ate the pouches of baby food and tried to suck drops of water out of the drained water bottle. Chad left me with the bike trailer, 2kids, and Will's 2wheeler and he biked like the wind to go home get the car and come get us. We hung out on the trail, and Ruby ate rocks and crawled on my bike. I looked in the distance and saw some fun rolling single track and Will rode up and down a gravel path feeling proud of himself.

Ah, it was mother's day. So Chad arrived a bit later to take us all to dinner. Since it was close to 6 pm we changed our plans and decided to go to a nicer restaurant as I was craving a mother's day drink of some sort. Chad had thrown some clothes together to include: 2 bras a tank top and some jeans (?!). He did a great job packing up the rest so I couldn't complain that he forgot shoes, so I had to walk into the restaurant wearing my bike shoes (click...click...table for 4...click...click)- but only 1 of the bras. The waitress wasn't so impressed with us. Ruby still had a rock in her cheek (not really...I took it out in the car), but away we ordered. Will and Chad had a minor altercation mostly about him zoning out and blocking a party of 8 and a waitress by standing in the corridor and people watching (he really is my kid). So we went to the fountains to get a positive ending to our evening.

We headed home and pulling in Chad noted that was a fun little adventure...just ask I said "BIKE!!" and we heard "CRUNCH" and Chad yelled "FU*@CK"...and then we saw my bike seat stuck in the garage door.

...and after a bit of maneuvering and the kids playing in the driveway at 8pm, and Ruby eating more rocks...it all turned out okay...all because it was my full suspension bike. Ironic how I never get to use my full squish these days, but it DOES in fact come in handy as the shocks take well to garage door and no one gets hurt (except for Will who will likely yell "fu*@ck" during an upcoming biking adventure).