Crushed It Today

I took my sons down to Huxley today and we rode the bike path to Cambridge and back. It was a great day and I think I had more fun on this ride than I have for years. The reason I had such a great time is that I finally scored an adult trike for my oldest son, Marshall. Thanks to the awesome generosity of one of my longest running bike buddies, Mr. Terry Grimes (not the frame builder,) I was able to get a really nice trike for Marshall, for free! 26" wheels, kick and hand brakes, a basket, and a nice loud Sturmey-Archer hub. It ratchets while pedaling and freewheeling. The kid just can not get the whole balance thing on two wheels, so I put him on three. He loves to ride and has been begging to go on errand runs, around the block, to and from school, you name it he wants to ride to it! It has been really thrilling to see him discover the joy and simple fulfillment of riding a bike. Now if I can get him some confidence and move him to two wheels before he becomes complacent and wants to ride a trike all his life! In time.

You get a sense of the talent that went in to making this mural, as well as a sense of the size of it, if you look for my Bridgestone fixed gear in the corner of the picture. We gawked at this picture (looked as real as a picture) for 15 minutes. I was proud of Mitchell when he took his helmet off "for respect." He's 8! As we walked back to our bikes a roadie was riding up the street and I waved and said "Hey" just out of habit. He turned around and came back to us and it was none other than young Jeremy Venable! We chatted for a few minutes and then he had to ride on. He and his brother Paul are strong rider/racers. I never saw anyone bust up their equipment in racing as much as those two! Just out of strength, not crashing or anything. Just overpowering their gear. Must be nice to be young. Later!