Monday, April 11, 2011

You're gonna do what?

April 10th, lazy Sunday morning. Sydney and Tyler (my niece and nephew) were over the night before and we were wore out. Sue had a doc appointment at 9:00 AM and I was hanging out with the kids. Chocolate milk and Pancakes for breakfast. Was supposed to get up to 80 and I had plans to clean the garage and the cars while the kids played outside. Ash was doing some homework before it got nice out, Abi was dancing to Pretty In Pink by the P Furs and Ciara was being Ciara and coloring. 11:40 AM, phone rings. The In-laws want to take the girls to the zoo at 12:30. 11:50 the girls are fed, dressed and ready to go with snacks packed. 11:51 I get an idea. 11:52 I tell Ash the idea. 11:53 Ashton and I start rushing around to gather up all our gear to go ride at ILRA. Neither one of us have been out to ride yet this year and our stuff was scatter from the front closet to the basement to the garage. He remembered everything he needed and even grabbed some of my stuff without being asked to while I was packing us foods and liquids for afternoon. 12:25 the girls are off to the zoo. 12:30 Ash and I are giving Sue a kiss good bye and are heading out the door to the trail. We head west on 696 and I say to him, "Dude, good work on helping us get out the door." He replies, "dad, I grabbed ROAM. Can I watch it on the way there?" I said, "Only if we can play the music loud." So we jam as I drive and he watches his favorite mountain bike movie. 1:15 we arrive at the parking lot trail head. We get the bikes out, do a once over which included raising his seat, some quick brake adjustments, lubing chains and airing up tires. We also rapped with the guy parked next to us that was about to take out his Surly Pugsley. I wanted to take it for a spin but Ash was all geared up with his helmet, gloves and pack and was ready to roll so I passed on the offer, hit the keyless remote to lock the doors and off we went at 1:30. 3:30 PM we are back at the car and gearing down after an awesome ride together. Yup, my 8 year old rode for 2 hours which include a couple stops here and there for munching on some energy bars for him. We just cruised along at his pace and talked about riding the entire time. He rode great and even tackled some hills, ups and downs, that he couldn't or wouldn't do last year. Very proud of him. So needless to say the cars never got cleaned and neither did the garage. But I really don't think that was the best way to spend an 80 degree day in early April in Michigan anyway. Some quick cell pix of the ride: