Family Trail Ride

It was Canada Day. Chuck and Erin and I were all off work so we took advantage of the day. No photos. Despite the awesome opportunities. What was I thinking?

This morning I drove the truck out to the north end of the lake with my bike in the back, then rode back home. Got the family up and mobilized. Then I biked uphill from our house to pick up the very top end of the Galena Trail with the three older kids. Chuck and Fiona took the freakin' flyin' shorter route down the highway hill on their bikes to pick up the trail a third of the way along. Fiona managed the braking demands capably by all reports. She had been keen to ride the big hill and had proved herself on shorter downhills over the past week or two, so it was a good chance for her to try it with adult accompaniment.

We eventually all met up about halfway along. We shared some hippie bombs. Then we headed north along the lake for the last 9 or 10 kilometres. Through mud, over rocks, amongst wildflowers and bracken and pine and alder.

Fiona and I arrived at the truck about three and a half hours after we started. The others had been waiting a while. We loaded the bikes in and I drove the three younger kids home, then whipped back out to intercept Erin and Chuck who were riding back along the highway. Found them before they had to deal with the up-hills, so that was good.

Home for some food. Noah madly trying to solve a computer hardware problem. I'm trying to tweak a web gallery and get a video edited. The kids managed to practice. We ate dinner.

Then we had a bonfire and s'mores. Used quality chocolate and Nillas which I think far more suitable than graham crackers.

And then it was off to the fireworks, which were truly fabulous. And home again, and the kids are watching Battlestar Galactica episodes on DVD while enjoying London Fogs. I can't believe Fiona is still awake.

Fiona's bike ticker is sitting atop her mostly neglected blog. She started logging her miles on her bike about 10 days ago. When I suggested a goal of 250 km for this year her eyes got big. I told her that I thought the kilometres would add up faster than she'd expect and she might just surprise herself. As of today she's logged 53.6 km. She's amazed!

Sophie and Noah rode the entire trail from top to tail today. With the little bit of highway uphill to the trailhead, that's a total of 28.2 km. Sophie has amazing stamina; she's not 60 pounds dripping wet, and her bike weighs more than half as much as she does. She's wishing she had her older siblings' power, but I think she'll just need to wait a couple of years until she hits her growth spurt. What she lacks in speed on the uphills she makes up for with stamina on the flats and manoeuvrability on the tight turns of the downhills.

Noah still had juice in his legs at the end. He's getting stronger by the week. Along with his voice dropping a perfect fifth in the past couple of months, he's started scarfing down baked potatoes as a snack. Maybe we'll be seeing a growth spurt soon; he is certainly looking more like a "guy" than a "boy" lately.

Erin did the full trail plus an extra 8k or so on the highway at a her dad's faster pace. For someone who has been so sedentary for much of the past couple of years, she seems to have maintained a fair bit of endurance and strength.