Thursday, August 21, 2008

Seeing The Trail In A Different Way

Normally I take my Wednesdays and do work and test rides for Twenty Nine Inches these days. That didn't happen quite that way yesterday due to my cities wonky school scheduling. My children, ages seven and five, start school today. On a Thursday! That meant that our summer schedule of daycare ended last week and for three days now we've had alternative daycare, which included me yesterday.

I told my kids we were going on an "adventure". What I had in mind was to go back down to Hickory Hills and scout out the loop I ride down there while I walked the kids through the woods. I think both missions were a success, but I found out something that I didn't expect.

My mind sees everything from an "on the bike perspective" and that didn't work out well when on two feet. Especially when the little people I was with were working a lot harder than I was!

The loop we walked on doesn't seem very long on a bike. It is one of those trails you have to do two to three times to make it seem "worth it". Otherwise it is over before it starts and you seem like you just got going.

So it was as we were walking along that I found myself saying to my kids, "Aww, it'll be okay! The end is just right up here a little bit." Uh-huh................sure it is! What I found out was the trail is fairly long in reality, at least from a "feet on the ground" perspective! My children were, shall we say........less than pleased with my prognosis of finding our final destination. I think I was able to make it fun for them in the end, but lets just say that they were both pretty worked by the end of it all.

As for me, I saw the trail from a whole new perspective. Especially the down hill, where I was able to take the time to see lines that I wouldn't have time to consider flying by on a bike. I noticed the terrain off to either side, and was able to take in more of the natural beauty of the place at the slower pace I was going than I can while on a bike.

There were some disadvantages though. First being that you can not "sneak up" on wildlife while walking with two kids! Just a bit louder than a bicycle coming down the trail. Then there is time. Where I could do three loops of that trail, I could only do one. Of course, my kids weren't up for a round two anyway. They would have mutinied before going back out a second time!

In the end, we all learned some new things, enjoyed each others company, and had an "adventure". A good way to spend the last day of summer vacation, I think.

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